What TRON LEGACY looks like - our sneaky peek

Way back in 1982, Disney's part computer animation TRON blew our young minds. True, the plot was perfunctory, the acting only so-so and the dialogue somewhat stilted, but the computer generated cyberscapes were quite amazing, the disc fight was fun and the light cycles, well who didn't want a light cycle?

It certainly blew a few other people's minds since Chuck has a TRON poster on his wall and the Pixar bods regularly quote it as a major influence on them.

And so we come to TRON LEGACY, due out in the UK in late December. Part sequel, part remake 25+ years on it's one of the most eagerly awaited films in the science fiction genre for some time and last night we got to see 20 odd minutes of stuff from it.

Well needless to say it looks fantastic. The visuals (all rendered in 3D these days of course) are pretty special with the fancy new light cycles and updated space paranoids and tanks all given much more depth and texture. Also the suit effects (some of the weakest in the original movie) are hugely improved.

What of the plot, acting and dialogue? Do you really care? Well if you do then the plot seems to be a bit of a retread, not a lot of it was actually shown, with Kevin Flynn's son going into the grid after his father, the acting was fine without being spectacular and the dialogue was, well let's just say it was there and leave it at that.

The most important thing that we can say about the 20 odd minutes that we were treated to is that they felt like only 5 and that can't be a bad sign.

Five Reasons Why We Love Chuck

Tonight marks the end of CHUCK's third season on Channel 1 (Virgin 1 as was) and we're going to miss it despite being safe in the knowledge that there's another season yet to come. Here are the top five reasons why we love CHUCK.

1. IT'S CHEERFUL - In today's depressing world of austerity measures forced on us by governments paying to bail out the incompetent and greedy bankers, we all need a little bit of happiness and sunshine in our lives. Despite moments of angst here and there, CHUCK is relentlessly upbeat and happy and we love it for that. The default expression on most of the characters' faces are smiles (well, OK usually confused frowns, but smiles are a close second), there is lots of fun banter and only the bad guys are mean. Chuck may have lost some of his innocence, but the show retains most of its.
2. GUEST SPOTS - this third season has had ex-superman Brandon Routh in it throughout, but there have been plenty of other familiar faces that have popped up, but in fun cameos rather than just tawdry stunt casting. Ex-starship captain and quantum leaper Scott Bakula is great as Chuck's oddball father in the largest supporting role, but Jordana Brewster's short time as Chuck's squeeze in season 2 was also pretty good. Others who have made single episode appearances are Christopher Lloyd, Swoosie Kurtz, Armand Assante, Kristin Kreuk and Gary Cole.
3. THE TRIO - When casting the lead trio, the producers got things absolutely right. Zachari Levy has an easy everyman charm that anchors the show as the central characer, Yvonne Strahovski is gorgeous and can handle the action stuff with aplomb, but also has the hint of vulnerability that the part requires and Adam Baldwin can bring gales of laughter with a simple frustrated growl. Make no mistake, these three are the show.
4. THE MINOR CHARACTERS - Everyone gets good lines in Chuck whether it's the General who is only ever seen (to date anyway) on screen, the best friend, sister, Captain Awesome or Buy More manager. Though some of these are increasingly sidelined as the show develops they continue to get the laughs. The various bad guys who appear from week to week, usually bemused by the trouble they are caused by the apparently incomptent Chuck, are usually good value as well.
5. JEFFSTER - The musical duo that is Jeffster (Scott Krinsky and Vik Sahay) are stuck somewhere between the so bad they're brilliant and the just plain bad. Their performances on the show are utterly superb entertainment and they even performed live at Comic Con. Jeffster Rock - though whether that's a good thing is open to question.

Hot girl as Princess Leia alert

Princess Leia in a gold bikini was a sight that was burned into the imagination of many an impressionable mind when RETURN OF THE JEDI came out and it's clearly an image that has been retained by those kids now that they're grown up and making shows themselves.

Yvonne Strahovski is the latest one to grace our screens in the CHUCK episode CHUCK VS THE SANDWORM and she looks great.

Our other favourite was Jennifer Aniston when she dressed up in FRIENDS.

Certainly better than some of the examples you see walking around Collectormania.