Strictly speaking this is not the end
for the world of The Destroyer.The
books are still being published as is the Legacy spinoff series.But this is the end of playing catchup with
the series which started in the early 1970s.I started collecting in the late eighties and now have finally caught up
(if I had more time I'd reread the whole series in order) thanks in large part
to fact the entire series is now available as ebooks.151 books, a spinoff series of six books so
far, a movie (and a new one in the works), a TV pilot as well as Marvel comics.
(There are new comics that I need to get)
It feels weird being caught up, the
hunt for Destroyers has been part of my life for 30 years now.The Destroyer I can't remember how I discovered
him it might have been a copy of Inside Sinanju at the cheap books in the
corner store visiting my grandmother.It
might have been a library book.It may
have been the back cover blurb for the Doc Savage video (which was definitely
my introduction to Buckaroo Banzai).
When I found The Destroyer, I was in
love. The characters are great.Chuin
should be the most offensive character in the world but he's not. Some would
say that he's racist but it makes sense because he IS far superior to everyone
else. He’s a frail looking little old man but heaven help you if you upset him
or interrupt his soap operas.
Then there is Harold Smith the
incorruptible WWII veteran cheapskate with a computer system that can
infiltrate any electronic information.Smith was asked to head the agency CURE by Kennedy and has been in the
job since the 1960s.
Remo is the meat in the sandwich of
these two extremes. The Newark beat cop conscripted into an eternal battle with
outré threats to America. He's the guy who cleans up Chuin's bodies when the
old man kills someone who has annoyed him.
A lot of the Destroyer has made its
way into other things Person of Interest, Knight Rider, The Karate Kid.
The Destroyer lead me to explore
other series and was why I wrote Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction.Being able to write a Destroyer short story
for the More Blood anthology was one of the greatest moments of my life.
Recently Derrick Ferguson announced that he was doing a list of 50 New Pulp movies. The end result can be found here
When he announced it, it for shits and giggles I thought I'd try and see how well I'd go at predicting what would be on his list.
So here is my list the ones in red weren't on Derrick's list.
50 New Pulp Movies
1. Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins
2. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
3. Sahara
4. Indiana Jones Quartet
5. The Rocketeer
6. Sky Captain
7. Hudson Hawk
8. Our Man Flint/In like Flint
9. High Road to China
10. Darkman
11. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zizzou
12. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
13. The Fifth Element
14. The Phantom
15. Romancing the Stone
16. Jake Speed
17. Dark Avenger
18. Dark Knight trilogy
19. King Kong 2005
20. Kong Skull Island
21. The Mummy Trilogy
22. The Goonies
23. Cutthroat Island
24. Sunset
25. Shoot em up
26. Captain America: The First Avenger
27. Atlantis the Lost Empire
28. The Punisher 2004
29. Big Trouble in Little China
30. National Treasure
31. Cast a Deadly Spell
32. The Black Mask
33. Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen
34. Brotherhood of the Wolf
35. The Black Samurai
36. The Black Scorpion
37. Billy Jack
38. Congo
39. Machete
40. The Man with the Iron Fists
41. Second Hand Lions
42. The Specialist
43. The Transporter
44. Cleopatra Jones
45. Coffy
46. Foxy Brown
47. Black Belt Jones
48. The Equaliser
49. The A Team
50. The President's Man
So with only 14 out of 50, I'm a poor prophet of Derrick's choices but it just shows the wide range of New Pulp movies out there (that is movies from after the 1950s in the pulp style)
As a fan and collector there are some
items that are an easy hole to fill.The
Cape, one season 10 episodes, buy the DVD done. A single movie like Sky Captain
and the World of Tomorrow similarly easy to complete the search. An ebook
megapack might get the complete works of Edgar Wallace or H. Rider Haggard for
99c.
Others take a bit more work I own and
have read all 135 JT Edson novels, I own all seven seasons of MacGyver, the two
TV movies, the novel (which I got Richard Dean Anderson to autograph) and the
2012 five issue comic book miniseries.And I've watched all the episodes of the 2016 revival.
It takes time and dedication.Recently I've realised that I've had three
things that were nearly completed or caught up on so once I'd finished them I
thought I'd share my thoughts on those things.
First we have Teen Wolf.Loosely based on the 1985 Michael J. Fox
movie of the same name. (The 1985 movie spawned an animated series and a sequel
Teen Wolf Too starring Jason Bateman as the cousin of the original).
The only thing this new version took
was a teenager named Scott whose best friend is named Stiles and is a
werewolf.Instead of Scott Howard we
have Scott McCall.
McCall played by Tyler Posey (who was
nearly Jacob in The Twilight movies) is a teen bitten by an Alpha
werewolf.The big mystery of the first
series is who is the Alpha? The series was darker and scarier version yet it
still had comedy.Dylan O'Brien was the
MVP of this series always there to help his friend Scott with a quip and some
great physical acting.
The series kept me on the edge of my
seat for 100 episodes, a Tie in novel and a three issue miniseries.
Characters came and went Scott grew
eventually becoming a true Alpha through his own strength of character.
The show played with mythology
bringing in kanemas, chimeras, the wild hunt, were jaguars, kitsunes, banshees,
were coyotes and skin walkers.I was
pleasantly surprised that the werewolf/vampire war seen in several other shows
never got played out here.
I can't complain about the ending as
it was left open for a spinoff starring Scott's beta Liam (Scott bit him to
save his life) or a follow up series set a few years later.
I'm fully expecting Dylan O'Brien to
have a great career after this show.
Firstly the intention of this timeline is
to work much of the Tomb Raider Franchise into one cohesive timeline.I am limiting this to event in Lara Croft’s
life so no expansions on the history of the artefacts she finds.I am working on the assumption that the new “Survivor”
game continuity is a prequel to the earlier games and that the “Legend” games
are also part of this continuity.Any
speculation on my part to explain any discrepancies will be clearly indicated.
There have been three games called Tomb
Raider the 1996 original, the 2000 Gameboy game and the 2013 reboot.I will be referring to the games as Tomb
Raider followed by their year.
Other adventures will be referred to by
their subtitles as we know they are Tomb Raider products.I will also be referring to the source for
each entry and the media type (So the novel Tomb Raider: The Lost Cult will be
referred to as The Lost Cult (novel))
I won’t be including fan productions as
much as I have enjoyed many of them. I also won’t incorporating references to
Lara Croft (in Rob Hayes Adventures Rob tells a female friend she is not Lara
Croft) or characters dressing as Lara Croft (Ally McBeal, Looney Tunes, Dexter,
How I met Your Mother.) The holographic projection of Lara in an episode of
Totally Spies is also excluded.
I’m excluding advertisements that treat
Tomb Raider as just a game for example one of the later Lucozade commercials
has Lara drinking a Lucozade while the game is paused.
Timeline
14 Feb 1968 (Core Design Bio)
Lara Croft born to Lord Richard Croft and
Amelia Croft (Legend - Game)
1971 - 1979
Private Tutoring 3-11 (Core Design Bio)
1977
Lady Amelia Croft and Lara are in a plane
crash.Amelia disappears and Lara walks
out (Legend –game)
1979 - 1984
Wimbledon High School for Girls 11-16 (Core
Bio)
1980
“Pre-Teen Raider” (Re/Visioned animation)
(Gail Simone advises that Lara is about 12)
1984
Training with Von Croy in Ankor Wat (The
Last Revelation –Game)
“Black Isle” (Chronicles Game)
1985
Lord Richard Croft dies (differing accounts
are given in Rise of the Tomb Raider– Game, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – Movie and
Legend –Game)
Speculation Lara is adopted by her uncle
Lord Henshingly Croft and his wife.Neither are fans of Lara adventuring and try to mould her into a proper
lady. The adoption explains why in 1996 her father is listed as Henshingly
Croft in the first game.
1984-1987
Gordonstoun Boarding School 16-18
1987-1989
Swiss Finishing School 18-21
1989
21 yo Plane crash Lara is only survivor
(Core Bio)
1990
Excavation Massacre (Legend – Game)
The Beginning (Dark Horse Comic)
Tomb Raider 2013 (game)
The Ten Thousand Immortals (novel)
Season of the Witch (Dark Horse Comic 1-6)
1991
Secrets and Lies (Dark Horse Comic 7-12)
Queen of Snakes (Dark Horse Comic 13-18)
1992
Rise of the Tomb Raider (Game)
Baba Yaga The
Temple of the Witch (Rise expansion – Game)
Cold Darkness
Awakened (Rise Expansion – Game)
Blood Ties (Rise
Expansion – Game)
Lara’s Nightmare
(Rise Expansion – Game)
Spore (Dark Horse Comic 1-6) (Spore
features a 1996 flashback this must be a 1976 flashback)
Trial and Sacrifice (Dark Horse Comic 7-12)
1994
Finds Bigfoot (Tomb Raider 1996 – Game)
Finds Ark of the Covenant (Tomb Raider 1996
- Game)
1995
Philosopher’s Stone (Chronicles – Game)
1996
Raider 1996 & Anniversary (Games)
Unfinished
Business /Shadow of the Cat (Tomb Raider 1996 Expansion – Game)
1997
Tomb Raider II
Golden Mask
(Tomb Raider II Expansion - Game)
Tomb Raider/Witchblade (Top Cow Comic)
Lucozade (commercials) (the last commercial is not counted)
PlayStation Commercial
“Tibet Air” (Short Story)
1998
PlayStation Commercial
Tomb Raider III
Lost Artefact
(Tomb Raider III Expansion – Game)
Seat Cars (Commercials)
Spear of Destiny (Chronicles –Game)
Die Artze “Manner Sind Schweine” (Music
video)
Tomb Raider 2000 (Game)
1999
“Hemos terminado con él”The Companeros (Spanish TV Episode)
Brigitte Magazine (Commercial)
The Time’s Exclusive Bonus Level (Game)
The Last Revelation (Game)
Tomb Raider Chronicles (Framing Sequence –
Game)
The Amulet of Power (Novel)
Origins (Top Cow One Shot)
Dark Aeons (Glenat Comic)
The Greatest Treasure of All (Top Cow One
Shot)
Tomb Raider 0 (Top Cow Comic)
The Medusa Mask 1-4 Top Cow Comic)
2000
Merlin Stone 5-6 (Top Cow comic)
Dead Centre 7-10 (Top Cow Comic)
Chasing Shangri-La 11-12 (Top Cow Comic)
Dark Crossings (Top Cow One Shot)
Fathom 12-14 - the Resurrection of Taras (Top
Cow Comic)
The Tomb Raider Technical Manual (Book)
2001
Merlin Stone 5-6 (Top Cow Comic)
Dead Centre 7-10 (Top Cow Comic)
Chasing Shangri-La 11-12 (Top Cow Comic)
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Movie +
Novelisation)
Curse of the Sword (Game)
Grim Reaper 13-15 (Top Cow Comic)
Pieces of Zero 16-17, 19-20 (Top Cow Comic)
Year of the Cat 18 (Top Cow Comic)
Tomb Raider/The Darkness (Top Cow Comic)
2002
The Prophecy (Game)
The Osiris Codex (Game)
The Quest for Cinnabar (Game)
The Elixir of Life (Game)
The Trap: The Path of The Tiger 21-23 (Top
Cow Comic)
Medusa’s Garden 24 (Top Cow Comic)
Endgame 25 (Crossover with Witchblade/EVO)
(Top Cow Comic)
Tomb Raider: Apocalypse (Game)
The
Eye of Osiris
The
Shadow Falls
Armageddon
Journeys 1-12 (Top Cow Series)
2003
Abyss 26-28 (Top Cow Comic)
Strange Flesh 29-30 (Top Cow Comic)
Conquista 31 (Top Cow Comic)
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider The Cradle of Life
(Movie + Novelisation)
Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness (Game)(The Action Adventure/The Board Game/Flash
Game versions and comic adaptation issues 32-34)
Epiphany (Top Cow comic One Shot)
G4 – (Commercial)
Visa - Monster Chase (Commercial)
Scarface’s Treasure (Top Cow comic One
Shot)
Monster War (Top Cow comic One Shot)
2004
The Lost Cult (novel)
The Black Legion 35-37 (Top Cow Comic)
Bloodstone 38-39 (Top Cow Comic)
The Man of Bronze (novel)
Risen 40 (Top Cow Comic)
Spirit Walker 41-42 (Top Cow Comic)
Takeover (Top Cow comic One Shot)
Sphere of Influence (Top Cow comic One
Shot)
Arabian Knights (Top Cow comic One Shot)
2005
Tower of Souls 43-44 (Top Cow Comic)
Inner Demons 45 (Top Cow Comic)
Gathering Storm 46-48 (Top Cow Comic)
Vendetta 49 (Top Cow Comic)
Alpha/Omega 50 (Top Cow Comic) In this
comic Lara finds the Fountain of Youth and is seen adventuring into the far
future.
2006
Legend (game)
The Reckoning (game)
Puzzle Paradox (Game)
2007
The Keys to the Kingdom (3 Parts)
(Re/visioned Animation)
Revenge of the Aztec Mummy (Re/Visioned
Animation)
Angel Spit (2 Parts)( Re/Visioned
Animation)
Lara Croft Legacy (Re/Visioned Animation)
Raising Thermopolis (Re/Visioned Animation)
A Complicated Woman (Re/Visioned Animation)
2008
Tomb Raider Underworld (Game - also has a
board game)
Beneath the
Ashes (expansion Level)
Lara’s Shadow (expansion
Level)
2010
Lara Croft and Guardian of Light (game)
2013
Lara Croft Reflections Card Game (Game)
2014
Lara Croft and Temple of Osiris (Game)
2015
Lara Croft Relic Run (game)
Lara Croft Go (Game)
Lara Croft and the Frozen Omen (comic)
2016
Lara Croft and the Blade of Gwynnever
(novel)
TOMB RAIDER MEDIA ITEMS
Games (indented items are additional
downloadable Levels)
The Core Series –Original Timeline
Tomb Raider 1996
Unfinished
Business /Shadow of the Cat
Tomb Raider II 1997
Golden Mask
Tomb Raider III 1998
The Lost
Artefact
Tomb Raider: The Times Exclusive 1999
Tomb Raider the Last Revelation 1999
The Tomb Raider Chronicles 2000
Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness 2003 (The
Action Adventure/The Board Game/Flash Game versions and comic adaptation)
Crystal Dynamics – Legend Reboot
Tomb Raider Legend 2006
Tomb Raider Anniversary 2007
Tomb Raider Underworld 2008
Beneath The
Ashes
Lara’s Shadow
LARA CROFT and the Guardian of Light 2010
LARA CROFT and the Temple of Osiris 2015
Survivor Reboot
Tomb Raider 2013
Rise of the Tomb Raider 2015
Baba Yaga The
Temple of the Witch
Cold Darkness
Awakened
Blood Ties
Lara’s Nightmare
Gameboy Games
Tomb Raider 2000
Tomb Raider: Curse of the Sword 2001
Tomb Raider: The Prophecy 2002
Interactive TV Games
Tomb Raider: Apocalypse 2002
The
Eye of Osiris
The
Shadow Falls
Armageddon
Tomb Raider: The Reckoning 2006
Mobile Phone Games
Tomb Raider: The Osiris Codex 2003
Tomb Raider: The Quest for Cinnabar 2003
Tomb Raider: The Elixir of Life 2003
Tomb Raider: Puzzle Paradox 2006
Lara Croft Reflections 2014
Lara Croft Relic Run 2015
Lara Croft Go 2015
Board Games
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of
Darkness 2003
Tomb Raider: Underworld 2009
DVD Game
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Action
Adventure 2006 (adaptation of Angel of Darkness)
Flash Game
Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness 2004
Books
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Tech manual by
Michael Jan Friedman 2001
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Movie Novelisation
by Dave Stern 2001
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life
Novelisation by Dave Stern 2003
Tomb Raider The Amulet of Power by Mike
Resnick 2003
Tomb Raider The Lost Cult by E.E. Knight
2004
Tomb Raider The Man of Bronze by James Alan
Gardner 2005
The Ten Thousand Immortals by Dan Abnett
& Nik Vincent 2014
The Blade of Gwynnver by Dan Abnett &
Nik Vincent 2016
Short Stories
“Tibet Air”in Lara’s Book: Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider Phenomenon by Douglas
Coupland 1998
Movies
Lara Croft Tomb Raider 2001
Lara Croft Tomb Raider Cradle of Life 2003
TV
The Companeros “Hemos terminado
con él” 1999(tie in for Last Revelation)
Commercials
PlayStation 1997 & 1998
Lucozade 1998 & 2001
Seat Cars 1999
Brigitte Magazine 1999
Visa Monster Chase 2003
G4 2003
Video Clips
Die Artze “Manner Sind Schweine” 1998
Re/Visioned 2007
The Keys to the Kingdom (3 Parts)
Revenge of the Aztec Mummy (1 part)
Angel Spit (2 Parts)
Lara Croft Legacy
Pre Teen Raider (about 12)
Raising Thermopolis (after first Game)
A Complicated Woman
Comics
Glenat
Dark Aeons 1999
Top
Cow
Tomb Raider Witchblade 1997
1999-2005
Tomb Raider 0
The Medusa Mask 1-4
Merlin Stone 5-6
Dead Centre 7-10
Chasing Shangri-La 11-12
Grim Reaper 13-15
Pieces of Zero 16-17, 19-20
Year of the Cat 18
The Trap: The Path of The Tiger 21-23
Medusa’s Garden 24
Endgame 25 (Crossover with Witchblade/EVO)
Abyss 26-28
Strange Flesh 29-30
Conquista 31
The Angel of Darkness 32-34 (Comic
Adaptation of Game)
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Now I've been on a bit of a Tomb Raider jag lately - I got the 20th anniversary book which introduced me to a bunch of new stuff.. I also bought and read Lara Croft and the Blade of Gwynnever
There seems to be three different "series" or in the games
So the Classic series is the Games from Tomb Raider 1996 to Angel of Darkness (2003) that is the games by Core design.
The Legend series all the Games from Tomb Raider Legend and includes the new games that have been branded as Lara Croft.
The Survivor series are 2013 reboot and associated tie ins.
So I naturally wanted to see how it all fit together and I found these videos
Most videos tend to consider the Legend series a continuation of the Classic series without explaining why Lara's father's name changes from Lord Henshingly Croft to Lord Richard Croft, such as this one:
Others consider the Survivor series as prequels to the original games
Perhaps the most detailed is this video which includes the Tomb Raider novels:
Tomb Raider: A Line through Time and the addenda
I found these really interesting and I can see his reasoning for three different game continuities (Classic, Legend and Survivor) . I have issues with the addendum which just states that each new thing is a new timeline so in a one minute video he creates several timelines - Movie, Top Cow, Journeys, Re/Visioned animated and a cameo on Totally Spies.
Looking just at the Angelina Jolie movies - The 4th Snake offers that the movie Lara's Date of birth is 17/4/1972 and then just states that he doesn't have a source for that "fact" but just runs with it. Why use this? Given that the Legend games use designs (Croft Manor) and history (Richard not Henshingly Croft) based on the movies and there is a large gap in his timeline with no adventures from 1996 until 2007 it would make sense to incorporate the 2001 and 2003 movies into that timeline.
The Top Cow Tomb Raider series is just mentioned as being on a sliding timescale but issues 32-34 adapt the Angel of Darkness game suggesting that they should be considered part of the Classic timeline.
Personally I like the idea that it's all a single timeline with the new games as prequels. I also toyed with the idea that the Lara seen in the new games is the daughter of the original Lara.
My next post will be a Tomb Raider Timeline including a number of things that I haven't seen in other timelines. I will be building on the information in the above videos and 20 years of Tomb Raider as well as Crossovers and Crossovers Expanded.
I remember back in 2001 being quite excited to see this in the cinema. However, the ENTIRE 97 minute run time my wife payed out on Angelina's breasts. There had been articles in the paper about how the star had a C cup and Lara Croft had a DD cup and they compromised with padding Jolie up to a D cup and my wife (and I'm pretty sure her sister was there too) nothing but comments about how fake the breasts looked. Kinda took me out of the movie.
Fast forward a few years and I get the DVD and my wife and I watch the movie with one of her friends - if you guessed another 97 minutes commenting on Jolie's breasts, you'd be right. So the other night I watched this on my own.
Each time, I've enjoyed the movie as an action adventure movie. Had this been Indiana Jones and the Triangle of Light - I still would have enjoyed this. It's not a great movie but it's fun. Jolie sets up her action cred which allowed her to do films like Salt and Wanted. The aerial ballet scene was a great set piece showing us Lara using her brains and athleticism to take down a number of heavily armed intruders intent on stealing the mystical McGuffin she's found. Because Jolie did a lot of her own stunt work I believed in her as Lara Croft - perhaps slightly more Goth version with black hair and outfits but it worked.
I was intrigued by the idea that some of these artefacts can only be accessed during planetary alignments - because magic? Which meant that Lara was literally racing against time as the next alignment wouldn't come for another 5000 years - however at one point had Lara let them make the error they were going to make it would have solved her problems but wouldn't have made for much of a movie. I could nit pick more but those things came after the movie was finished and I was following along the adventure as Lara proves herself smarter that the Illuminati and their henchmen.
I also enjoyed Christopher Barrie's Hillary the butler and Noah Taylor's techie Bryce. Both offered support and light relief to the movie and I especially enjoyed Hillary's donning bulletproof vest and slippers while loading the shotgun during the invasion of Croft Manor.
The movie still holds up fifteen years later and is worth watching if you enjoy the Indiana Jones or the Brendan Fraser Mummy series as I do.
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