Richard Daborn: my corner of the 'net.

Starhyke Show Update

2012-01-14T00:03:00.000Z

Back in the mists of 2011 I blogged about a new independent Sci-Fi comedy show, Starhyke that was launched on DVD..

See here: My Starhyke Review. (Thanks to the Starhyke creators aka Andrew Dymond and Claudia Christian for liking my original review!)

Well a UK TV channel recently started showing the first series. Showcase TV has started showing episodes on Friday and Sunday afternoons. Great stuff! Keep a look out for it!
Who says madcap styled humour was dead, not these guys! I thought it was a well put together little show that has a lot of promise and laughs! My kind of humour!
Hopefully now it has found a channel, it will get more attention and a second season can be eventually comissioned.
(I want to know what happens to Dotty! I like Dotty, mad as a box of frogs! Whoops! Possible slight spoilery thingy there!)

If you like madcap style humour, give it a look!

'Starhyking across the universe! On the starship Nemesis with a bunch of berks!'
(Sung to the tune Star Trekkin' by The Firm!)

Showcase TV,
Sky Ch 201
Fridays/ Sundays around 2pm.
Subject to change.

Showcase Schedule.

Starhyke Facebook Group

(Yes, that is the awesome Sir Patrick Moore in a cameo role! Yes the chap bottom left as if you didn't know!)

Alien Universe fan painting and fan fiction.

2012-01-13T23:08:00.002Z

This is a piece of fan art i created based on the Alien/ Prometheus movie franchise. A human scoutship encounters a second Alien derelict adrift in a nebula. What horrors lay within its strange hull.... A pen line drawing, digitally watercoloured using Art Rage Pro. Click pic for large version.

The scene is based on a short piece of Alien fan fiction I scribbled years ago called Alien: Infinity. Its set around 50 years after Alien 3.

Alien Infinity: fan fiction synopsis.
The scoutship above finds this Alien ship after a tip off. The crew go aboard where one of the crew finds the pilots chair empty. He gets into the chair where by the ship tries to physically merge with the hapless crewman. The crewman is torn apart by this machine but somehow hes still alive, fused with the ship. The rest of the crew tow the ship back to a space station to huge press publicity where scientists and military begin to probe the vessels secrets.

The Alien Crewman is found to be alive, this 'Space Jockey' is in suspended animation, he is awoken and after much alarm at his awakening as he attempts to escape, he is captured. Using telepathic communication he tells the protagonists in the story he was part of a convoy to deliver Alien eggs to the homeworld of another alien race the Space Jockeys are at war with. A war they are losing.

It turns out the Alien was genetically engineered as the perfect weapon of war. Its spores were meant to be delivered to the enemy homeworld where they would multiply and destroy the population. The Space Jockey ship, part of a convoy, was attacked and the pilot had to hide in a nebula in suspended animation where he remained for thousands of years due to ship malfunction. The Space Jockey recognises the human race and tells them an awful secret. In creating the Alien, various DNA traits were sampled across a thousand worlds. Part of the Alien structure was based on the DNA of primitive humans abducted thousands of years ago.

At this time Alien eggs are found onboard the space jockey ship but are quarantined. However an agent of the Weyland Yutani Corporation steals an alien egg and smuggles it away. However it breaks open and the Facehugger inside infects the agent. Hours later the chestburster bloodily emerges and the Alien gets loose. In the intervening hours the Alien multiplies. The space station security police and the military fight a losing battle to kill the aliens. The station is evacuated as military warships arrive to torpedo the station and destroy it to stop the Alien getting loose.

Eventually in the fighting, the Space Jockey and the protagonists find themselves trapped on the Space Jockey starship. The Space Jockey says he intends to complete his origonal mission. The warships try to stop the ship from leaving but the Space Jockey destroys them using his ships advanced weapons before destroying the station himself. However he is killed when an Alien spore infects him during a three way fight between the heroes, the Space Jockey and a number of Aliens that get on the ship. What emerges from the infected Space Jockey is an Alien ten times more lethal than an ordinary Alien.

This super Alien kills much of the remaining heroes however its killed when a crewman lures it outside the ship where its blown away by the ships weapons at point blank range.

The story ends in a twist when the crewman from the beginning of the story, still fused into the ships systems gets his desire to go home to earth confused with the ships origional orders in his deranged state. He seals off the heroes from the bridge area as he jumps into hyperspace back to Earth, not to go home, but to bomb it with the Alien spores thinking its the enemy homeworld of the Space Jockeys...

The follow up to this synopsis would have seen the survivors of the above incident joining an expediction to the Space Jockey Homeworld. Information obtained from the Jockey ship. The mission would be to find information which could help in the fight against the Aliens which are now loose on earth. The mission would have seen the protagonists enter basically a Gigeresque hell...

This fan fic was written about 5 years ago, it's not based on anything to do with Prometheus. It would be interesting as a fan, to see if the new Prometheus movie is anything like my own hopes and ideas.

I'm looking forward to Prometheus!

Hardwar Re-Imagined project 2012

2012-01-09T15:12:00.000Z

This year I hope to get my Hardwar Re-Imagined project well underway. Ive already made a good start with my Police Cruiser aircraft in my gallery:

A little about Hardwar...

Hardwar was a game released back in 1998, created by Software Refinery based in Leeds England. The game was a freeform trading and combat game similar to the Elite series of games. The difference was it was set on a planet rather than deep space. The player played a fighter pilot in his ship, trading among the buildings and hangars of a city called (Misplaced) Optimism. A cratered colony metrapolis on the surface of Saturn's moon of Titan. The colony was cut off under mysterious curcumstances 100 years before when the corporations pulled out. Now its a fight for survival among the 50,000 residence and multitude of factions which makes up Mis-Ops. As you trade and fight you make more money for better equipment and aircraft and as you progress you unravel a plot that could destroy the city and everyone in it.

The game over the years achived cult status among a small group of fans and a few attempt to remake the game have either dried up or are still ongoing. The game was very much ahead of its time. Techno soundtrack, full motion cutscenes with real actors, graphics and AI ahead of its time. The story was quite dark and had a slight penchance for black humour. The whole atmosphere of the game and the way it was put together makes it one of the most unique games evermade. There has been nothing like it since.

My Re-imagined project is to take this game and redesign the vehicles/ equipment/ buildings as if the game was made today with todays graphics in mind. Its a project to help me work on a singular project practicing my conceptual ideas and design something completely different without losing the idea of the game.

My police cruiser is a good start.

Here are some cutscenes from the game so you can get an idea of what im talking about!

General gameplay footage in HD:

Combat gameplay HD:

I'm currently working on a Swallow, and Moon Taxi arcraft redesigns. Keep watching.

StarHyke: Review

2011-03-18T16:25:00.009Z

I've recently enountered a little known British Science Fiction comedy called Starhyke. It was made back in 2008/9 and stars Babylon 5's own superb Claudia Christian in the lead role. I'd heard various comments about this show and when i saw it on sale I decided to buy a DVD copy.

I was pleasently surprised, its a funny, witty clever little show with great special effects, stories, acting. It shamelessly sends up science fiction like a mad thing! For a sci-fi comedy it works. True it wont beat Red Dwarf which always will be king of the sci fi laughs however Starhyke knocks the frankly terrible Hyperdrive rightly into third place. It reminds me a little of the old Captain Kremmen cartoon in the 70's made by the late great Kenny Everett with a contempoary slant. Very madcap, slapstick styled humour.

The show also has a solid ensemble cast with experience in science fiction and comedy. Jeremy Bulloch who played Boba Fett in Star Wars, Suanne Braun, Hathor in Stargate SG1 and featuring special guests in the form of Red Dwarf's own Danny John Jules and the ever awesome Sir Patrick Moore.

I'm surprised the show hasn't been picked up by one of the many digital channels here in the UK. Starhyke is better than a lot of the comedy crap thats out there today. If you are looking for the very PC styled humour thats about today, truck on. If you like wild, mad, send up sitcom styled humour, this is for you.

The show is made with love and care and it shows. The DVD has all six episodes and a bonus disk packed with bloopers, auditions, makings of etc.

A great first season attempt and deserves a lot more attention and a second season!

Goto: www.starhyke.com
I bought the DVD from here: www.play.com

Artwork showreel 2010

2011-03-18T14:52:00.002Z

Here is my video show reel to some of my artwork. It was made back in 2010 and hopefully i will be soon updating it when time permits.
The gorgeous music is composed and performed by my very talented friend Brendan Perkins.
It features artwork used for an as yet unreleased documentary all about the Alien movies fandom.
If you click on the video you can see it on You tube, select 720p HD to see the art and hear the music in all its glory.

Hardwar redesign project update.

2011-03-18T14:43:00.001Z

I've recently been working on artwork for a remake to the cult 1998 computer game Hardwar. I was already working on a personal art project redesigning the game with modern computing in mind, when the opportunity arose to join a proper concerted effort to bring the game up to modern standards. The project is still in very early stages, no release date set as yet.
In the mean time here is a sketch from of my origonal art project.

Police Cruiser: At least with us you know what the time is, have a safe flight sir...!

Judge Minty, a Judge Dredd fan film.

2010-08-23T13:50:00.000Z

I have recently been drawn to a new fan film currently in production in the UK. Based of a character from the 2000ad comic strip Judge Dredd a future law enforcement officer. Judge Minty is about one of those future cops. An aged Judge at the end of his career is shot in the line of duty. Laments as the loss of his judgement and the fact he can no longer continue the line of work he loves. The story follows him as he takes retirement/exile from Mega City into the cursed earth wastelands. 'Taking the Law unto the Lawless.'

Ive been a fan of 2000ad and Dredd ever since i was a kid, and although i liked the 1995 movie based on the comic book it wasn't really the Dredd i grew up with. This fan film is the first thing ive seen that has so far come close.

If the finished product is as good as the teaser below, then this could be one of the best fan movies ever made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2JhQXCjTLY Teaser trailer.
www.judgeminty.com Film website.

Police Bastard

2009-04-06T13:44:00.006Z

My friend Simon is drummer with a Birmingham based punk band called Police Bastard! (Great name!) Now I've recently done a flyer poster for them to advertise their forthcoming UK/ European tour.

The flyer is a simple Photoshop 7 manipulation. I'm also working on a few other ideas for them, watch this space.

Click the link on the right of the page for their MySpace page.

A novel idea

2009-04-06T12:48:00.006Z

I have so many ideas. That's the trouble with being a creative type, sometimes you have either not enough ideas, or too many. I have too many, I have books and pads and bits of paper piled up all over the place with many doodles, notes and assorted scribbles! I need a bloody librarian to sort through it!

One thing I like doing which adds to this barely organised chaos is writing a little story based on a design. I will write a little background to a spaceship or creature design. No one ever sees these little notes, more for my own pleasure.

Well over the past few months I've assembled my notes and organised them into a story, several in fact and I've begun to turn my hand to writing a novel, a friend Rob Glenn has done exactly that, he's written several novels and got them published. I actually designed the cover for his last novel called Sinema (see picture) and he's given me plenty of encouragement to give it a try.

I have scribbled enough material over the years for three stories, a Matrix type of story, (Three: working title and the one I'm working on.) One set 1000 years from now (Eden: working title) and centres on a future society/alien invasion and one set on the cusp of the end of the world. Its going to be fun but hard work. I like action packed, pacey stories with a twist in the tail and that's the type of story i intend to write, basically what i like! If other people end up liking them, so much the better!

I'm almost at the end of the first chapter of Three, I'm just writing as it comes into my head, for a long time I didn't know how to proceed but I read that the best thing to do it just write naturally. When you go back over your work later that's when you realise the mistakes you made or extra bits you want to put in/take out. Its interesting stuff!

New art project: Hardwar Re-Imagined.

2009-03-25T17:30:00.004Z

I've been working on a new personal project called Hardwar ReImagined. Hardwar was an old game made back in 1998 that has received a small yet loyal cult fan base. The idea basically is for me to use my artistic skills to redesign the game as if it were a modern game to be run on modern contemporary hardware. Besides i'm one of those cult fans!
Here's a screenshot of the original game.

This is a Police Fighter or 'Moth' as its known in game overflying a huge dam.
I will post my progress on here as an when.

Battlestar Galactica ends...and i can't say i'm impressed.

2009-03-25T17:10:00.006Z

I've read so many sci-fi novels over the years, and many of them use God or the implication of God or fate to explain away the ending of their novels. To me this smacks of one of three reasons: Time constraints, lack of ideas or unable to explain away the story leading up to the last chapter.
I was dismayed that the wonderful series ended on exactly this note. It was all God's Plan. It was all fated on faith. A whole plethora of plot threads and the best they could come up with after five years was 'God did it'
Thanks a bunch.
I will say this for the finale: the first half of the finale was an awesome battle sequence, however it went south fast in the second half. A big battle, a story does not make. Also Battlestar is known to be a very bleak show, and the finale ended on a uncharacteristic chirpy note. I was expecting, and hoping half the cast got killed off, not one of the major cast got offed. Very disappointed. A typical over sentimental end. I also felt the finale was rushed, there was enough material to extend the show for another season, but the powers that be either didnt want or care to continue the show beyond the fourth season and they needed to wrap the show up quickly.
In all i have to say i was rather deflated by this ending, it could have been so much, much better than it was...

Woking Town: First Light

2009-03-20T03:04:00.006Z

I took this while on night-shift in Woking town centre at around 0530 hrs last week.
I usually keep a small compact camera with me in case of a nice sudden picture.
I tweaked this in photoshop.

Christmas comes FAR too early...

2008-10-19T21:00:00.002Z

OK, enough is enough...
Its 19th of October and they have started Christmas advertising on the telly.

On behalf of the exasperated general public i say: FUCK OFF