Crazy couple of weeks around the home, if you're interested, you can read them over at mikebeane.com. But the one that effects this place the most is that my ISP was bought out and now we're going through conversion to new (different?) operating procedures. My email has been in and out of existence for two weeks now, which is trying at best. I know that I have a few emails of stuff worth posting, but I can't get to them. If my memory serves me, Dan Fiorella is becoming quite a name over at Cracked magazine, now given the prompting to use his 'roving talents.' Dan also sent along more Roy lyrics, but they're lost in transition for the moment.
Loaded a Mac emulator last week and I really hope the text here doesn't look as crappy as it does in Netscape 3.04 for the Mac users. My apologies if it does. For some reason, I never got the hang of settings. I did decide today that the yellow font was a tad bit much at I'm looking at switching to something that won't cause cataracts while reading along. This change will only be apparent on pages that are made from today on. Someday I'll change the other pages and spread uniformity. Yellow...what was I thinking?
Finally, a guest book. Drop a line and leave your mark when you stop by Betamountain. I added a location entry in hopes we can show how global the Galaxy Rangers are. So, enough already, go and sign.
03-30-01 ("About", DanF, Roy's Lyrics, LEE MOVES!!!!)
Enough teasing! The "About the series" section is complete. Big thanks to Fatima for doing her homework and putting together such a well done piece. Go grab a hot chocolate, get your 'Crunchies' and read all about the series.
From the mailing list, check out the latest issue of Cracked (#355, Digimon cover) for some more Dan "I don't care as long as the name on the check clears" Fiorella.
The editors hype reads as "One of the hottest writers in the biz, Dan "How Do You Spell That" Fiorella transmits two hilarious computer treats: a look at COMPUTER SIMULATION GAMES, and a peek at deleted scenes from DVD's!"
Also, Dan has a new home for his writing madness over at http://www.thevines.com/leaf/AA0001793206/. Stop in and check it out. We pimp Dan out quite often here, don't we? Got GR related news? Send email to pimp_me_not_dan @ betamountain.org and we'll post it when we update!
THIS JUST IN: LEETHOMPS MOVED TODAY!
It's has been a long, unsolved mystery to whether or not there is a person at Lee's terminal (Lee's the other webmaster here - RB), but as described below, we have an eye account of Lee actually making noise in IRC..
[14:55] *** Now talking in #galaxyrangers
[14:55] *** Topic is 'Welcome to the Psychocrypt'
[14:55] *** Set by Bruinhilda on Mon Mar 26 19:16:53
[14:55] *** ChanServ sets mode: +o Rabbi_Bob
[14:56] <Rabbi_Bob> Hi Lee
[14:56] <LadyNiko> wow, Lee spoke
[14:56] <LadyNiko> he just wandered off to get lunch
[14:56] <Rabbi_Bob> and I missed it..
[14:57] <LadyNiko> "LeeThomps wanders off to get some food stuffs"
[14:57] <LadyNiko> that's his only comment for the day :)
[14:58] <Rabbi_Bob> hehe..this will make the update
[14:58] <Rabbi_Bob> <VBEG>
[14:58] <LadyNiko> RB, you're evil :)
[14:58] <LadyNiko> something to go down in history....
There you have it folks, a "first person second hand account" of Lee moving about while on IRC. We'll keep you posted if he returns or if Sasquatch makes an appearance as well.
03-23-01 (William Hanna 1910-2001)
William Hanna passed on yesterday at the age of 90. Mr. Hanna, along with partner Joseph Barbera, brought to the world Huckleberry Hound, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, the Jetsons, Atom Ant, Johnny Quest, Quick Draw McGraw, Top Cat, Magilla Gorilla, Pixie and Dixie, Josie and the Pussycats, Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, The Smurfs and numerous other cartoon characters that many of us grew up on. There aren't any words that can follow an act like his.
03-10-01 (WGAE 53, Megaman, FanArt, more..)
From the mailing list, check out the 53rd Annual Writers Guild Awards Ceremony. Of particular interest, check out the gentleman standing in the background right of the 5th, 7th and 12th pictures (the 12th has Jane Curtin, the host, speaking with him) and you'll see Dan Fiorella. According to Dan, unfortunately there are "no pictures with my bow-tie actually lighting up."
1
2
3
The newest addition to the menu links is Megaman's GR Video Page. It seemed appropriate since most of the F.A.Q.'s are concerning "WHERE CAN I FIND....??!!" Megaman has a rotating collection of GR in RealPlayer format and when you can't find it anywhere else, find it here.
Ann K. has another offering of (amazingly done) original art on her site. Check out A Photo For Eliza and the others if you haven't been there already.
As of this morning on eBay: 16 items found for Galaxy Rangers. Missing something in your collection??
On a final note, a short time ago I mentioned that I had not read any of Christopher Rowley's books. Well, I just finished Dragons of War last night and I must say that I really enjoyed the story. Now the hardest choice will be to start the series at the beginning or to go to the next book to keep the flow. Either way, I'm hooked. If you haven't read any CR yet, give it a shot.
03-02-01 (Cracked, FanFic, About, Poll, ScottH)
From the mailing list, check out the latest issue of Cracked (#354, Eminem cover) for Cracked Cliques by Dan Fiorella (credited as 'Fiorello').
More GR FanFic hits the web as Ann Kniggendorf offers up "BeSODed" for reading on her site.
The 'About the Series' section is very close to completion. We had some wonderful last minute input from Master Kaymo and we should be seeing it very soon. You'll be glad you hung in there for this one!
From out of nowhere came a poll from the RangerLegacy mail list. Check out http://www.egroups.com/polls/RangerLegacy to vote for you favorite villain character that you love to hate!
Being a veteran of the Navy, I can appreciate the home-sickness of being away for lengths at a time, so I'd like to take a moment to say 'Hi' to one of our Ranger-L list members, SSgt Scott H. (RangerH), who is abroad in Italy with the American forces. That said, and yes, we are crazy...:
HI SCOTT!! <VEBG>
The current icon gallery
02-11-01 (C. Rowley)
From the mailing list, Christopher Rowley has had another book published:
An announcement from the sales department.
The Second Book of Arna, "THE SHASHT WAR" by Christopher Rowley is now on its way to sales outlets across the US etc..
We were able to find the book over at Amazon.com. Click here to check it out! (Thanks Kaymo)
Note: It ends up that the cover pictured above is part of the promo batch and the 'Shast' misprint led to the pulping of those copies.
I must admit that I have not read any of Mr. Rowley's works to date. In an ironic twist, I was checking the eBay links on the menu (below the site disclaimer) for functionality and ended up bidding on an auction (link good until 3/8/1) for a couple of his books and won.
There quite a few screen caps that get generated when putting together an Episode Guide entry. Rather than waste them, they are going to be posted at http://betamountain.tripod.com/screencaps/ from now on.
Re-worked the archive section and now you can browse the archives forward and backward by using the links at the bottom of each page. And, because it was needed: 404error.html
Little laugh for everyone:
01-26-01 (Mandell, Cracked, RCon4 & more..) - RB
Check out a story over at http://www.space.com/ that furthers our 11-17-00 post from Robert Mandell on his collaboration on an upcoming movie adaptation of Larry Niven's Ringworld
In more shameless plugging, check out CRACKED magazine's issue #353 (Pikachu cover) and look for "Rites of Passage," co-written by Dan Fiorella! #352 should be on the stands at the moment.
The voting for the location of RangerCon4 is complete. The word from Lady Niko is that while Seattle was the winner, the powers that be have decided on St. Louis. I'll post the results on the next update and we'll see if LN will be posting info here for the next RangerCon or not. Personally, I don't think that having Plagos count the ballots was such a good idea. Recount.......
Betamountain received the rough draft last night for the upcoming "About The Series" section and we're pretty happy with the contents. Expect a good, long and in-depth look at the series. I'm learning new things at the moment about the series just by reading it myself! Fatima delivers.
Always giving the good word after I fall, CGfWiG clued me in about the AOL Editor's Pick mentioned earlier this month:
Hi! Just to get you down :), the Editor's pick is there because I marked the site on DMOZ, and AOL just displays the DMOZ data. (don't kill me :-)
I guess I'll have to send back the party balloons ;P
Tuesday 01-16-01 - R.B.
Fatima was able to contact Shelly Shapiro (credits) who is now working at Del Rey Publishing as an editorial director. Shelly was surprised that anyone even remembered the show. Well, here we are!! If we're fortunate enough to get any information on the show from Shelly, we'll be sure to post it right here. Thanks Fatima.
New semester starts for me today and I have high hopes for another good session (like seeing if I can make the Dean's List for a third semester). Things will slow down again here for a bit. Fatima is cooking up the 'About the Series' section, so we've got some new material to look forward to. If all goes well, it will be making an appearance the first weeks of February.
While I should be getting ready for school, I decided to spiff up the site with some DHTML overlays on the menu links. In the near future, I'll try to get the overlay to set more to the right so that it won't clutter the menu itself. If you have any comments or problems with them (or anything else), drop me a line at comments @ betamountain.org and I'll see what I can do. Also, here is an 'issues' list if you do have problems. I was directed to the DHTML overlays by way of the forum at www.pcnineoneone.com and the actual overlay instructions can be found at http://www.bosrup.com/web/overlib/. How's that for credit plugging?
Guess I have to go get ready for school now. *sigh*
Friday 01-12-01 - R.B.
I like to check out how people get to Betamountain.org on the Net occasionally. I stumbled across AOL's Galaxy Ranger listing and found that we hold the (Editors Pick) star!
Saturday 01-06-01 - R.B.
Happy New Year!!
It a new year and already we've got something cool to serve up! Dan Fiorella offers up a follow up to his Space Moby episode guide entry with Boomtown! Check it out in the Ep Guide section.
Just what does robot lion pilot do on his vacation? We think he may spend his time trying to strike it rich. Any link between our Boomtown settler and Hunk? You decide!
Wednesday 12-13-00 - R.B.
Happy Holidays!!!
It's that time of the year again. Here's wishing a happy and safe holiday season to everyone. Plagos make excellent stocking stuffers and psychocrystals can add that 'warmth' as a fireplace decor. Word has it that the Queen has a chimney leading straight into a psycho-chamber in hopes to catch herself on big elf this year. From the archives last year, sing along everyone:
On the Twelfth day of Christmas, Commander Walsh gave to me:
Twelve Goosemans Goosing,
Eleven Blasters blasting,
Ten Plagos bumbling,
Nine Kiwis dancing,
Eight Spy Droids,
Seven Black Hole bandits,
Six Mellie-poo's!,
Five Evil Queens,
Four shining badges,
Three data discs,
Two robosteeds and a Bubblehead in a pear tree...
And remember....
Watch out for the snow if you're traveling!
Ken Landgraf has gotten his own domain name this month. Check out www.kenlandgraf.com sometime. You'll find some really nice artwork for sale there including original G.R. stuff!
A little behind this month, but finals are here (finally). Looking through the email box tonight I found an email that Ken sent along with a little bit about G.R. promo items and working on the series:
....It was wonderful reading all your comments about the show. It was fun seeing the toys also. I remember going to Burger King and seeing the Galaxy Rangers promotion... I think action figures were given out . I still have the special napkin that was printed especially for Burger King.
Another thing that was weird about GR is that bathrooms were in the same loft space so when someone went to the "can" somebody always threw wet toilet tissue or a rubber band over the stall at you!! Looking back it was pretty funny! Sometimes guys would shoot rubber bands at you from behind your back... that was very annoying since we were suppose to be drawing... towards the end of the series everybody started showing up late for work because we knew the show was to end. I lived in New York City at the time so I'd arrive on time.... other guys commuted in from Long Island and Staten Island.
Thursday 11-30-00 - R.B.
Happy Anniversary
One year ago, on November 7, 1999 (archive), Betamountain.org became a website. Through the help and coordinated efforts from the fans of the series (thanks to everyone for their contributions), this site was made possible. As it stands, we've got a ways to go before completing the site, but here we are, one year later. Not too shabby for an idea that was tossed around for 2 or 3 years (even longer than I may know) before it materialized.
One of the finer pleasures of working on the site is the chance to hear from the people that actually worked on the series. To quote a chat that took place yesterday, "We have a pretty impressive list of "in contact with's, considering that the show is 14 years old now," and it's true! We've had the pleasure of hearing from Robert Mandell, Christopher Rowley, Dan Fiorella, Ken Landgraf and John Rawlins over the past year. It's great to see people that are connected with their fan-base and who take time out of their day to say "hi." Thanks.
So, we've got this name rented for another year. Hopefully we'll get the episode guide finished and tidy up loose ends in that period. Until then, keep dropping by, join the mail list if you haven't already, check us out on IRC (kudos to Heidi, our little IRCOp) and keep your fingers crossed for a DVD release (sorry, I had to mention that....).
Betamountain.org
Wednesday 11-29-00 - R.B.
He promised it and he delivered it! Dan Fiorella (see credits) submitted his Episode Guide entry for Space Moby this week. Thanks to Dan for taking the time to re-tell the tale and thanks to Ryan Murphy for kicking the Web TV into high gear, supplying the entry with screen caps. Do you have a favorite episode? Submit an Ep Guide entry by contacting @betamountain!
Be sure to check out the LINKS section. 19 sites are currently list. Is yours?
Saturday 11-25-00 - R.B.
Hope everyone had a safe and good holiday. Got word back from Ken Landgraf (see credits) last week and he's alive and well in New York. He gives a thumbs up in the website (who couldn't?) and gave us the following on the very first days of working on the GR project:
I got the job at Galaxy Rangers from an ad placed in the New York Times Sunday News paper. I had already drawn for DC comics and Marvel comics so I got the job right away. Most of the other artists I don't think had too many professional accomplishments . Mandell created the series but David Gregg was in charge of getting the work out.
Several art directors gave out the daily assignments these were mostly young guys. I was about 29 or 30 at the time . The first day we didn't draw, we helped move furniture to set up the front office where Gregg and Mandell worked. The first room on the left was where Kirney worked. I think she was a producer (her sister is a producer on Courage the Cowardly Dog).
We would all get a section of the storyboard to work on so we never knew what the entire story would be. Years later I got a complete set of all the episodes to find out I had worked on almost all of 'em. As soon as we finished the boards which were done in pencil they would be edited and faxed off to Japan where they would be animated. - Ken Landgraf
Thanks for the info Ken!
The LINKS section is now OPEN! Got a GR site? Got a personal site? Head on in and add it to the list!
Friday 11-17-00 - R.B.
Word from Robert Mandell (credits) this week. As always, he's juggling an obscene amount of projects.
Books: Keep an eye out for some children's book series that will appear in 2001 & 2002 (Rave, Web Warriors, and Avalon, Web of Magic, to name a few). Coming up soon is a comic book series written by Chris Rowley (credits) and illustrated by Justin Norman called "The 3rd Degree."
In the movie area, a live action feature of Terry Brook's Magic Kingdom For Sale is in the works. Robert says "if you haven't read this book, it's terrific stuff." Also, an animated feature based on the classic Larry Niven (check out All The Myriad Ways - R.B.) series of Ringworld is in the works.
TV (does this man not rest?): Another join up with Chris Rowley, these two have something that is still being shopped around (so I'm keeping quiet for the moment). Expect a kick-butt, all CGI action TV series down the road. (We'll post more when it develops.)
Galaxy Rangers (Thought I'd forgotten?): The pursuit for a release (be it VHS/DVD) is holding a backseat at the moment while Cartoon Network is reviewing "Tortuna" and "Shoot Out" for a possible broadcast window. (Dea Connick Perez is the VP of programming down there in Atlanta - R.B.) The possibility of sending some eps to W.B. for review was mentioned. If all else fails, "we'll continue to pursue the video releases..."
So, with all that, we'd like to say "Thanks" to Robert for taking some time out of his schedule and entertaining ours interests.
Ran across a new discovery today during a routine eBay search for Galaxy Rangers material. Found a listing for some storyboard art from one Ken Landgraf (see credits)! Ken's got his own website up. I'll be sending off an email tomorrow and hopefully we'll get some comments from Ken and his latest doings.
From the mailing list, Daniel Fiorella has had another article of his posted and this time is at the online newspaper IM-UR. Drop by the site, get to the search page and enter "Fiorella" in the search box. As always, you can keep up with Dan's work at "Fiorella's Page o'Stuff" (Thanks Daf)
