Space Channels' Mark Askwith recently had an interview with long-time friend and author Neil Gaiman about his novel Coraline and the just released movie of the same name posted on Spacecast.com. Listening to this got me reminiscing about a show that I believe was Mark's brainchild 'Prisoners of Gravity' or POG as we affectionately called it. I used to watch it on TV Ontario (now on Google Video) at weird hours in the early morning. On that show Neil Gaiman was voted as the writer fans most wanted to hear from, then mostly due to his success with the Sandman Series. It was and as far as I know the only show that truly talked about the art and craft of the books, comics, and films being created. This wasn't an 'Entertainment Tonight' publicity grab, but actual interesting and in-depth insights into all the things we loved. People are incredibly more accessible with the advent of podcasts, blogs and twitter to name a few, but back then this was the only way for me to connect with these people; other than going to a Convention. Neil's blog is actually one of the bigger ones on the net! I distinctly remember thinking how smart, talented and thoughtful the interviewees seemed about their work. It was inspiring.
Its good to see that Mark is on the Space Channel payroll and it can only mean good things for the viewers. Sometimes at night I pray to the heavens that POG will be reborn, seeing as the world of Video podcasting makes this more attainable than ever before. Hey a guy can dream. Until then, I'll continue to stare up into the heavens and cry, "Commander Rick why have you forsaken me?" and imagine that he's still up there in orbit reading these words and smiling.
'Nance' the often scene stealing AI of the show.
Until then, there is always this POG fansite, Signal Loss, who were kind enough to let me use these pictures.
Rick Green as Commander Rick / Enrico Gruen