It’s been a wild year. Here’s a look back at the top dozen posts on Nerdvana, as determined by your clicks.
1. ‘Shada’ screening
A lost Doctor Who classic left unfinished, due not to the BBC’s early practice of carelessly literally throwing out episodes but rather due to a strike, Douglas Adams’ “Shada” finally saw completion as a hybrid live-action/animated presentation. We covered its video release as well as its little-promoted screening on BBC America earlier this year.
How you can watch Shada, the Doctor Who lost episode – completed with animation
2. Game of Pheromones
Old Spice has become known for its creative advertising, but the frangrance firm’s marketing team rolled a natural 20 when they mimic-ked a Dungeons & Dragons (3rd Edition) character class. The attention to detail, except for being a couple editions out of date, was impressive.
Old Spice gets in the game with D&D-inspired character class
3. Wii hardly knew ye
This has been the year of the long goodbye for the Wii Shop Channel. Although the system is still alive and kicking with at least one recent release, online services are on the way out. Closing for good after Jan. 29, 2019, the venerable online marketplace and gateway to the original Virtual Console service is already essentially shut to those who didn’t redeem Wii Points by now. Our how-to guide for making the most of the time left was our third most popular article of 2018.
How to make the most of the Wii Virtual Console – while you still can
4. Classic Doctor Who upgrade
This was the year classic Doctor Who joined the high-def world of Blu-ray, starting with Fourth Doctor Tom Baker’s iconic first and last seasons, then Peter Davison’s first season as the Fifth Doctor. It’s an era of old-school Who that we’re pretty fond of here, so we were pretty excited — and so were you.
Classic Doctor Who comes to Blu-ray, starting with Tom Baker’s 1st season
5. Square Egg
The convention landscape is changing, and with it some big events are going to look very different. Already transitioning through another name change with their signature event, from the original Phoenix Comicon to Phoenix Fan Fest in 2018 to Phoenix Fan Fusion in 2019, Square Egg Entertainment announced staff reductions and event cancellations.
Job cuts at Phoenix Fan Fusion owner Square Egg Entertainment
6. Skylanders enshrined
The toys-to-life fad has mostly passed, but Skylanders — the product that made it red-hot for a while — was honored with a place this year in the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Figures.
You might be surprised where Skylanders video game toys have ended up …
7. Solo grub strikes out
Solo: A Star Wars Story was our only big-screen trip to the Galaxy Far, Far Away in 2018. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a fun adventure. The accompanying Denny’s menu, however, can stay buried in the spice mines of Kessel for all we care.
Review: Denny’s ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Blaster Fire Burger – I’ve got a bad feeling about this …
8. D&D goes stellar
It’s been a banner year of Dungeons & Dragons adventure releases, such as Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Dungeon of the Mad Mage. More exciting, possibly, is that the iconic roleplaying game continues to attract a higher profile among celebrities that can only help to grow the hobby everywhere for everyone.
D&D teases next adventure storyline, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, plus Dungeon of the Mad Mage
9. Ravenloft returns
Stakes were raised for players of the Neverwinter MMO game, to the devilish delight of players everywhere.
Neverwinter: Ravenloft takes MMO beyond Forgotten Realms to macabre Barovia
10. Shark Week
Cap’n Klute, Arizona’s only shark-diving, shark-poetry writing, shark conservationist (who isn’t actually a Cap’n — do not rely on him for nautical advice — ed.) returned to walk you through another weekful of those wonderful sharks.
11. Snap app
Thanos’ Shap Heard ‘Round the World in Avengers: Infinity War led to a fun Facebook camera gimmick that let everyone identify with their favorite dust-destroyed superheroes, and forget the horrible liberties the social network takes with all our data everyday.
12. Revisiting B5
Babylon 5 became available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, to the delight of nostalgic sci-fi fans everywhere.
Thanks for being there for Nerdvana in 2018 and beyond!
