CJC | Geekscape

The SHIELD Debrief: Season 1, Episode 4 – “Eye Spy”

by CJCOctober 16, 2013

“Maybe I should learn to fly.”

A fitting opening to an episode that proved that “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is hitting its stride in its fourth episode, with an offering of mix-it-up action with emotional and humorous beats peppered around where you’d like them. What “Eye Spy” did well was set up what we were going to see (SEE what I did there? AND THERE?) while still making it entertaining to watch. With our eye… balls… No, I’m not gonna do that. We’re done now.

We knew that Coulson was probably right about his wayward agent Akela Amador. We knew that Ward’s mention of Skye’s training would come back as a beat later. We knew that the feed was looking at the van before they did. All this, but the storytelling rhythm managed to make us still want to see what would come of it. Especially noteworthy was the very ending shot (not THAT ending shot, but the story end), with the voice-over on Akela Amador finally getting her first uninterrupted, unwatched, sleep in years. From the emotionless, inhuman faces of the opening shot to this very vulnerable idea of someone closing their eyes to sleep, it was an inspired arc.

Agent Coulson had something of an Obi-Wan Kenobi moment this episode, getting to delve into his regrets of the past with former agent Akela Amador. The concept that his trainee had gone to the dark side did not sit well with him — or at all — and he clung to the thought that there was another explanation. This shows a certain vulnerability in Coulson, as he reenacts his own resurrection through the thought-to-be-dead rogue agent. Unlike the agent we saw making the hard choice with Dr. Hall in the previous episode, this was a Coulson not quite willing to take that commitment. Though it remained firmly in the line of saving everyone, even one person doing wrong, if you can.

“Go for short bus.”

Even Ward got to participate in this episode’s speckling of humorous lines, proving that, despite Skye’s running joke, he is not a robot. He continues to break out of his shell at a similar pace as the show itself. Even though he’s not as much a vehicle for the audience as Skye intends to be, it’s important for us to emphasize with him as much as anyone else, as he was the character we started with. There is more to Ward (hopefully), and as he peels back, he may prove to be one of the more interesting characters. Fitzsimmons were regulated to their usual background science chatter, but their participation in the entire scene in the van was precious enough to save them this episode from what otherwise would’ve been their descent into obscurity and uselessness.

“You value me.”

Our lady spy Skye is developing: she still hasn’t learned how to use a gun quite properly but that’s a note I appreciate. Showing her learning, and failing, instead of just becoming badass overnight is a smart choice and keeps her from teetering over the edge into truly annoying. She’s also showing signs of being subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) overwhelmed by what’s been going on, which is another thing to remember: she used to live in a van down by the river. It’s reasonable for her to be in over her head right now, and it’s a note to appreciate when that comes out in the character, even if some may find her quips obnoxious.

Skye has also developed as far as her relationships, as clearly Ward is giving her more responsibility — you don’t let just anybody see through your eyes these days — and she’s developing a possible two-way fondness for Agent Coulson. Something that’s going to bite her in the ass when her continuing Riding Tide connections surface (possibly even in the next episode, if our preview is any indication. But don’t trust previews. I mean it. I know.) Skye and Coulson’s moments in the van allow us to remember that she’s a little girl out of her depth and he’s just a human beneath that suit (or is he) fighting daily against the superhuman. It’s the taste of humanity that we crave, and have come to expect, in Whedon pieces and I’m hoping that the next episode doesn’t split that open too soon.

We also saw Melinda’s value continue to rise. She sure does not go slowly into that good fieldwork. Kicking it into high gear, she proved that she was going to protect Coulson, even if that potentially meant from himself and his emotional decisions. Though they seemed to smooth things out by the end, I don’t expect this will be their last disagreement on how to run matters.

“That’s not me anymore.”

A telling line for Agent Coulson tonight, whose changes are beginning to wear on those who knew him best before. It’s possible that his and Melinda’s fight is a result of his new and possibly not improved (for SHIELD) loose attitude, but we also know this his former protege noticed it — and something else? Did she close her eyes and see that Coulson is not truly Coulson? SHIELD strings us along for another episode with the promise of a development in that direction. With Melinda on the case, I think we are guaranteed to see more and more of this mystery unravel.

Theories are, naturally, bouncing all over the internet. He’s a robot. He’s Vision; that’s a popular one. What do you think? Let me know, or I’ll assume that you’re all the robots instead.

Jeez. You’d think a robot would have something more productive to do with its time.

The SHIELD Debrief: Season 1, Episode 3 – “The Asset”

by CJCOctober 9, 2013

“We don’t have truth serum.”

After last week’s episode, I went into “The Asset” hesitantly, to be sure, but this week’s fare delivered more on par with the first episode: not spectacular, but very entertaining. It’s quick, witty, action-packed stuff, and if Agents of SHIELD can stay in this realm, then it’ll be on a fairly good leg, but still with room for improvement. It’s notable that in the episode not meant to bring the characters together, it did a better job of it, and without being quite as obvious. Though, it’s arguable that EVERY episode has the purpose of bringing the characters closer together, so there’s that. There was progress with Melinda, who decided that she needed to be back in combat if she was going to continue with the team — partially in order to save Coulson’s butt. There was a defining moment for Coulson himself, when he had to make the hard choice during the fight from Inception to either save some lives or potentially save a lot of lives. Coulson choosing to live in the moment and save those who were present, as well as Hall’s argument that these were decisions SHIELD made all the time, was a nice hark back to my complaint last week that SHIELD was too “white knight”. Two for you, Agents of SHIELD.

We also saw Skye progress as a potential field agent, rather than just a nerd at a computer, which left her hacking to a small cameo, but not her background: villain of the week, Tamoh Penikett lookalike David Conrad attempted to lure our Rising Tide undercover while she was… undercover (but kinda not?) into working for him. Skye chose her new SHIELD family, partially thanks to some personal sharing by Ward (anyone else really enjoy the flip they pulled on ‘Big Brother’?), but that doesn’t quite resolve how we saw her answer the Rising Tide query in the previous episode. So, surely, we have more testing of the loyalties to come in the future.

This week’s episode also played out like a small movie — giving us the origin story of a potential reoccurring character that ties into Marvel legend but remained accessible to casual viewers (like me). While anticipating the “end credits” scene to be exactly what it was, I still enjoyed the potential for growth, and for that decision to come back to bite Coulson in the ass. Hard decisions are about consequences, and good storytelling doesn’t make things easy for the characters.

“I saw plenty of action with the Avengers.” “… And you died.”

More importantly, really: Coulson still wears his suit when coming in from a water approach and climbing a beach full of patrols. Notice how Ward went all Mission Impossible, but Coulson was having none of that.

We got to see more combinations of characters like that, and the quote above, as relationships progressed. Fitzsimmons even managed to perform jobs separated from each other, giving them slightly more defining characteristics. Though, anyone else catch that even Coulson calls them by their shipper name? And speaking of ships, hopefully male! Fitzsimmons will find more personality than just trying to impress Skye in the next episode. They deserve their own moment to shine so that Skye and Ward don’t overtake them as far as personal sharing goes. It’d be nice to see someone else take an interest in the geeks, or for them to step forward, so that it doesn’t become too overloaded with certain characters over another. Balance is important with an ensemble cast, lest some become extraneous or just there to make the others look cool.

Other things of note: Melinda handed over ALL Headquarters’ communications to a known terrorist hacker? All of them?! What happened to not trusting her? This certainly seems like a step. Though I suppose we might imagine that HQ’s communications aren’t exactly in lay terms, but that doesn’t mean that Skye couldn’t do some damage with that information if she wanted to. Also, shouldn’t they wear more protective shielding than they do when handling unknown, dangerous artifacts? Everyone’s just standing around in their civvies. It seems vaguely irresponsible, if you ask me. Which you didn’t. But this is my review and you clicked it, so nyeh.

“Saying his name repeatedly does not increase productivity. Or… maybe it does.”

Lampshades! Don’t know what I’m talking about? Go drown yourself in TV Tropes and come back here after a year. No? Okay, well, lampshading involves clicking the light on a usual cliche — turning it upside-down. When Agents of SHIELD has Fitzsimmons call Coulson out for doing the typical frantic shouting of names during a countdown, it’s the pointing out of a cliche. Of course, then it works, so that’s a whole other layer of humor. It’s important to have layers, which is often what saves SHIELD — well, the show, not the organization, as most of them seem to lack in certain variations of humor the higher up you go. Skye’s finding out the hard way that making quips during a briefing is not exactly the go-to reaction. Though, hopefully, she’ll learn the lesson and not be “that person” every time or we’ll be back in cliche town.

Another example is Fitzsimmons miming Skye’s breasts and then ending up just saying “boobs” after all.

This episode also did well with tie-ins that while not perfectly subtle were also not stupidly in your face — like the PSA message of last week. Most importantly, the comment about creating muscle memory harkening to Coulson’s being “rusty”.

As a parting thought: what do you think about Coulson’s lack of muscle memory? Are those not his muscles? Is it not Coulson? And how many episodes do you think will go by before we see villain Hall (back as Graviton, of course)?

The SHIELD Debrief: Season 1, Episode 2: “0-8-4”

by CJCOctober 2, 2013

“It means… we don’t know what that means.”

A quote referencing the mysterious origins of “0-8-4” missions but, unfortunately, also a bit of how I felt about the second serving of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Sold by critics as a solid block of entertainment, the show does deliver with quippy lines and fast-paced action scenes, but something– particular– still seems lacking in the sophomore showing. To be fair to SHIELD, it was born into a world where Breaking Bad just died: we’re used to a bit more complexity in character, and in storytelling, that requires us to see people gunned down more regularly and argue a bit more violently. So at least SHIELD makes itself accessible and available by being good, clean entertainment, however I feel that’s harming its structure. It can be good, clean, and available, but it can’t allow itself to become too comfortable in that and sacrifice interesting storytelling in the process. Especially it can’t when we know that behind it is a team capable of transcending such typical fare.

Overall, “0-8-4” had slightly less humor gags and more action — a solid enough plan, except that the action felt very stunted and too purposefully placed exactly to make our heroes learn the lesson of the week. Everyone’s arguing in the beginning? How convenient, now we have a common enemy. It didn’t even let Coulson create that common enemy (he’s kind of experienced in being the motivation by now), but pulled an “old friend betrayal” out of a hat. The trouble of the episode itself, a Tesseract-referencing dooms-day-device had little to do with anything except to sit there and be powerful. It was then handled by the end of the episode just in time for a little hint at a Big Bad in the Rising Tide living on through Skye’s communication.

“We just can’t seem to understand each other.”

For an episode that was very — too — obviously about making the team work together, I still felt very little for the characters we’re being offered. The closest so far was Skype’s (yes, I still type that instead) way of whittling down Agent Ward’s robot exterior and her misguided attempts to use humor with a crowd not quite prepared for her. This felt like a solid play, and a good way to keep Skye as a grounded everyman — as the audience’s way in — rather than the overly snarky potential she had going in the pilot that offended me so much. However, it was too little for a team that didn’t quite deliver. Also, whose plan was to blow a hole in the side of an airplane miles up without being sure that Coulson had any idea what was about to happen and could secure himself. In a way, though, this plan showed what the show is lacking in: grey areas. The idea that “we hope Coulson can take care of himself” shows what we know to be SHIELD’s pragmatic attitude towards getting the job done, not necessarily the way the “good guys” might enjoy. That’s the idea premise behind manipulating the superheroes of the Avengers; they are the good guys, the heroes, and the ones who are allowed to think those misguided idealistic things, while SHIELD knows better. The world is not black and white, and neither is this operation. It’d be nice to see that reflected more in the team, instead of two scientists I can’t understand between lingo and accents and their general ability to blend into a single, babbling unit.

So is the idealism all coming from Coulson? Has the afterlife changed him? These are possibilities I would enjoy exploring, but would like to see hinted more in the show to prove that there’s a depth I’m watching to be revealed. Clark Gregg manages an honorable performance, but he won’t be able to carry the show forever — nor will its hilarious and well-timed cameos. Maybe. Okay, this one was pretty good.

We’ll talk good for a second, then: besides the cameo, Skye did improve, we did see a tiny bit more out of each person’s background despite the constant need for action, and I cannot not applaud Coulson’s ability to use the exact same tone of voice when agreeing with someone and arguing with someone while letting you know just how he feels. There is, as ever, potential with Agents of SHIELD, but it needs to start mining it if it wants to become something more than just “entertaining”.

And maybe it doesn’t?

Am I wrong? Sound off below or I will assume I am queen of the world.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Debrief: Season 1, Episode 01 – ‘Pilot’

by CJCSeptember 25, 2013

“The world is full of wonders.”

On the surface, Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD treads where Heroes, Alphas, and even the 70s’ Tomorrow People have dared. In practice, it’s a gleaming hour of pure fun tumbling through the fully realized Marvel universe to bring to life the potential of a new and exciting corner of superheroes. Only these heroes are less super, and more suited, as the premise (and all the ads) points out. It’s about the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, which has been seen in glimpses in previous movies and at the forefront of The Avengers. The concept itself — a ragtag team of ‘who would’ve thought it’ agents and non-agents working together to fight the odds — does not blow away on its own. It will be the cases and the characters that make it.

However, peppered with quick one-liners and quiet visual gags, Agents of SHIELD redeems its flagging concept with its unending sense of humor and the subtle delivery of twists. Rather than throw them in your face with act breaks and music of impending doom, SHIELD chooses to roll just as naturally into its secrets as it does into everything else, helping you roll with the flow instead of be distracted by gags.

“This is the new world.”

In the realm of tie-ins, SHIELD does a complete job fitting itself into the niche of Marvel movie-verse. From direct references to billionaires in flying suits (said in the show as if it’s not crazy at all) to super-soldier serum to the ultimate question of is this team going to be able to act like a team: SHIELD delivers a Marvel super rollercoaster. Add in references to “with great power” and a Clean Slate concept, and the show’s not only self-referential but gleefully self-aware (as well as rival-aware). It’s grounded in both our world and theirs, when Ward mentions cosplay girls surrounding Stark Tower, allowing us to experience what would be an extraordinary thing (superheroes!) in a way we can understand (geekery and fanning!).

How is Coulson alive? Will the show ever solve that mystery?

It’s interesting to note that the superheroes — the crowning Heroes of New York! — are considered to be at a security level unequal to knowing that their beloved Coulson is alive. This is highly indicative of the kind of operation Nick Fury runs. People only know what he believes they should know, and it casts an intriguing, darker light when you remember that this is an operation run by humans deciding what’s best, and they use the superheroes like tools; assets to be respected, but ultimately steered. Behavior like this has gotten villains in the past in trouble, and it would be glorious to see its effect on SHIELD in the future.

“We’re not exactly a team.”

It’s not uncommon for the Whedons to turn typical concepts on their heads, but SHIELD is only halfway there due to a slightly underdeveloped cast of team members and a lukewarm plot that’s a mix of Luke Cage’s origin story and Iron Man’s Extemis storyline. The strong members of the cast naturally include Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson, whose consummately overworked everyman is tempered perfectly by his quick and quiet delivery of wit. He can stand his own against superheroes and unruly teammates alike, with the occasional splash of badassery — like his ability to duck like a mofo; though, really, who didn’t expect those car doors to come flying off? Ming-Na Wen follows, as Melinda May, and Coulson’s second-in-command (they don’t say as much, but come on). Her quiet no-nonsense attitude is different than Coulson’s half-smile pleasantness, but she harbors the same ‘this is why I’m in SHIELD’ skills beneath. She was also introduced with the best possible hook: a seemingly uninjured, and capable, agent choosing a desk — something Coulson or Maria Hill would kill to get away from. We look forward to knowing more about her simply from that.

Melinda May was a great contrast to Coulson.

The rest of the crew suffers from less introduction — or too much introduction. Brett Dalton as Agent Ward is brought in as our point-of-view, letting us see him in action before he’s introduced to the story. At first, he’s the typical vigilante-type agent: the lone-wolf who’s too cool for the world. However, in getting to see Coulson systematically break him down with his differing tactics is pleasant enough to hopefully keep him from becoming just impossibly annoying with his snobbery and disagreeing. He might be an effective foil for Coulson, should he learn to operate on his level, but, for now, we can hope he just won’t get in his own way and that any reveals for him in the future, though not hinted at yet, are intriguing.

Chloe Bennet plays Skye. Let’s pause on that for a moment because… Skye. Also, because I originally mistyped it as ‘Skype’. Skype suffers the most from unflagging tropes: the sassy, overly skilled hacker, who has a quip for everything and nobody can possibly be better than her. It takes a certain kind of person to let you feel okay watching your favorites get taken down a notch, and Skye doesn’t quite fulfill that before besting Coulson, and SHIELD, at encryption. Luckily, Coulson has a few other things up his sleeve, but Skye, though she possesses a few quality lines (including that cough-and-miss-it comment about cosplay), trends dangerously towards the cliche. The hope for her is that now that her ‘recruitment’ is out of the way, she can begin to blossom. And hopefully not into some kind of double-crosser, thanks to whatever techno-gadget she shoved into her bra.

Yep, Skype was pretty annoying. — Yep, Skye was pretty annoying.

Ian de Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge play Fitzsimmons. Yes, Fitzsimmons the unit. This joke is made early on, but it’s unfortunately prophetic, as the two don’t manage to separate from each other much in terms of character development or usefulness. The power of bickering accents aside, they are also cloaked in a sense of typical characterization they must shed — and likely will, if Whedon’s past is any indication. So we’ll give them another episode or two before any full analysis.

We’ll end with a shout-out to Ron Glass, and the opening of the floor to you, to agree, disagree, or just do what internet commentators do.

Let’s all just agree on one thing: Lola’s not making it through the season.

Behind The Kickstarter Curtain: ‘The Astonishing Adventures of Heracles Flint’, Interview with Creator Nick Moore

by CJCSeptember 23, 2013

Today on Kickstarter, we explore the weird and wild of steampunk storytelling with Nick Moore’s “The Astonishing Adventures of Heracles Flint“, a promising action-filled steampunk and horror extravaganza that not only allows, but invites prospective writers to come roll around in the Victorian dirt with Heracles and his team a while. The adventure pits the titular Heracles Flint against a time-travelling Dracula who obtains this infamous time-travelling device from a descendent of H.G. Wells out on one of those carefree time-travelling sprees. That’ll teach you to drink and time-travel (unless you’re drinking necks, apparently).

As an opener, I interviewed Mr. Moore on why we should be giving Heracles Flint a first, second, and possibly a hundredth look.

So I have to say it: Alan Moore… Nick Moore… steampunk comic-style…

No relation unfortunately, but maybe there’s something about the name that makes us seek out the weird. Shame he’s not a relative as trips to the pub would be damn cool! I am a huge fan though with his run on Miracleman, rather than everyone’s favourite Watchmen, being my top comic read. Strangely though I’ve never actually read his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen books!!

Was Kickstarter your original goal for this project?

Not originally as I’ve been tinkering with Flint’s world for years before Kickstarter launched in the UK allowing me to submit a project. Every passion project at some point, if you want to let other people into the little universe in your head, will need money behind it to grow and flourish. Kickstarter gives me two things if it’s successful. Firstly a professional edit of the book, which is a necessity for any writer. Apart from checking spelling and grammar, it’s a pair of fresh eyes to ensure you haven’t sliced the same vampyre twice, and the airship is pointing the right way when battling on the Las Vegas strip. When you’re in full flow little crucial details can trip you up.

The second thing is art. While comics are a huge passion of mine, I’ve a 10,000+ collection causing stress fractures in my house, I’d already spun the novel out of a movie idea, and didn’t want to change formats having expanded the tale to try to fit it into a comic, yet. But the chance to have those characters made real as comic art was too good to pass up, so the funding also goes to bring the services of fantastic artist Bentti Bisson on board. He’s already done one amazing piece for me to make sure we were on the same page creatively, and wow he just stepped into my head and laid Flint out in grand comic book style. I really want the Kickstarter to work to get all his character pieces done as a showcase of just how good he is.

Have you slept at all?

Ah… no 🙂 Crowd-funding is all about getting eyes on target, as no matter how good a project may be if no one knows it’s there, you’ll get nowhere, there’s no crowd-funding without a crowd. While there are plenty of tools to let you automate Tweets, G+ posts, etc, there’s still a huge amount of work in setting that up, and trying to balance getting the word out without spamming networks to death. I hope I’m getting that right with reaching 41% funded in less than two weeks, though the lack of sleep is making things blurry.

Steampunk opens up a rich opportunity for world-creation as well as social commentary. What’s your favorite twist about the genre, and how do you keep it all straight in your head?

I have no shame in saying I’m an action fan, and I think my favourite thing is the element of shock and awe you can give to a Victorian setting. Everything is sedate and oh so very proper, ladies and gentlemen dressed in their finest, horses hooves and carriage wheels on cobblestoned streets is about as loud and busy as it gets. Then you can smash into that street with a four story high mechanical man, all gears and boilers, smoke belching from huge chimney stacks on its back, and a maniacal crackpot inventor sitting in its chest pulling levers. You get to quickly and spectacularly shatter that civilised veneer, that was always pretty thin as it covered horrible divisions in society between the rich and poor. This was the era that found it ok to stuff children up chimneys to clean them, maybe some people still do, but I can’t get any of my three to fit!

As for keeping it all straight, reading is the key, along with Evernote, man it’s a blessing. If you want to write about a place or real person from the era that Steampunk springs from, it’s essential to read up on them and find out as much as you can. There’s a wealth of history to play with and it’s a delight to delve into historical figures, and learn about things that don’t make it into the general view people might have of them.

'Forever in Shadow' cover — ‘Forever in Shadow’ cover

How much does historical accuracy factor into Heracles Flint’s world?

Historical accuracy is a double edged sword when it comes to writing fiction. You can have great fun tying a character into a factual setting, but it can quickly become a creative nightmare if you can’t get room to manoeuvre in that setting to tell your story. For Flint’s world I haven’t rewritten history as many Steampunk themed tales do, as the battles Heracles and his Society of Esoteric Technica fight are kept away from the public. Their efforts are meant to spare the everyday person from the horrors that the forces of darkness want to visit upon them. It’s the small, I suppose geeky, details of history that I get to have fun with. For example Queen Victoria fell down stairs in Windsor Castle in 1883 which had a permanent effect on her health from then on. That tiny detail I work into her appearance in the story just for the lark of having it there, it’s terribly geeky 🙂

You list several impressive genres in your description of the story. Tell us something loveable about these genres that can be seen in your book.

The story touches on several of the ‘punk’ genres of sci-fi in some way or another, and the expanded universe, will give more focus to each one. In addition to these the classic monsters of horror are also along for the ride. Vampire hordes led by Dracula himself, none of whom sparkle by the way. Werewolves, who are a misunderstood society pushed to extinction by humanity. Frankenstein’s butt kicking bride, a McDonalds loving stranded alien, and a traveller from the 22^nd century. For Steampunk elements, aside from just having the general air of Victorian science fiction, I have the staple of the genre, the airship. A grand leviathan that makes it to present day Las Vegas to take on some modern aircraft above that brilliantly crazy city. As for the other fringe sci-fi elements we have, without wanting to give too much away, cyborgs, biological nightmares, other worldly nanotechnology, and some lightning infused Teslapunk.

Now how about something new that this world brings to the genres.

Beyond the fact that I don’t think I’ve seen a story that mixes up the wide range of sci-fi and horror that runs rampant throughout the book, I hope the thing it brings is accessibility. Flint’s first astonishing adventure is a wild ride that acts as a mainstream on ramp to the many genres it incorporates. It will allow the deeper themes of those genres to be further explored in the planned sequels, the expanded universe, and in other tales featuring the characters together and on solo adventures. If you ask people in the street if they’ve heard of Steampunk, or perhaps Atompunk, you’ll most likely get a blank stare. I hope to be able to give them a doorway through which new readers will take their first steps into a fantastical new world, within which they find tales to make the heart race, and challenge their attitudes on many social issues. If I can gain an audience for my stories, and signpost them to William Gibson, G. D. Falksen, or Gail Carriger, I’ll be a happy man.

What’s your hope in regards to opening the world of Heracles Flint up to other artists and writers?

I’d love to be able to build a platform for other talented creators to set up shop in a corner of Flint’s universe, and create spin off novels, comics, maybe even web series or radio dramas featuring the characters. I’m writing some new ones just for this purpose and it will give people the opportunity to make things like roleplay blogs, which Tumblr is brilliant for, though there’s far too many Tony Starks on there 🙂 The book establishes a time-line of events that spans over a century, and the sequels will expand that further. There’s the potential for a new comics and novel universe waiting for people to dive in and have fun, the sky’s the limit. It would be so amazing to head to my local comics shop, or make my weekly download from Comixology, and see some of my characters in books that have other people letting loose with their imaginations.

Who would win in a fight: Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Heracles Flint?

Hmmm this one is hard to call. While Heracles is a Victorian era gentleman he has a healthy respect for women’s abilities as warriors, and is all too aware that some may outclass him. So as soon as he sees Buffy is capable of possibly kicking his ass he’ll give no quarter in his efforts to put her down. He’ll also have an edge due to a handy array of gadgetry so I’ll give this one to him 🙂

Thank you to Nick Moore for sparing some of his blood, sweat, and no-sleep filled time with Geekscape! You can donate to the Heracles Flint society here. In fact, one of the rewards even includes your visage as a society member! Don’t wait. Act now. The world may depend on it.

Is ‘Revolution’ The ‘Star Wars’ TV Show You Didn’t Realize You Were Watching?

by CJCSeptember 23, 2013

A classic Hero’s journey: our intrepid young protagonist meets with an old mentor who sets him or her on a quest of great importance. There are trials along the way, and a crew of motley others. This is the place-setting for this little movie called Star Wars that happened once — and a hundred trillion other stories out there. However, as I’m watching Revolution, the NBC series created by Supernatural man Eric Kripke, more than a few plot points began to nibble at my brain. “This is familiar, self,” I said to myself, triggering the opening of a word document, and the list that you see before you now. Kripke, an admitted Star Wars fan, has hidden not just a few plotlines from the classic trilogy within his TV piece Revolution. We’ll compare using this handy shot-next-to-shot technique.

1. We start with our distraught Hero, spending a moment alone covered in angst and wanderlust after having been denied the ability to travel and feeling trapped at home, with a broken family lacking in certain parent role-models. Note the handy “Return of the Jedi” lunchbox that stores all of Charlie’s happy memories. That’s when tragedy strikes while the hero is away, thereby killing the reason for staying home in the first place. Convenient!

2. Here we see the main hero being told that he/she is similar or shares traits with a supposedly dead family member. For Luke, it is a genetic leaning towards telepathic badassery, while for Charlie, it is that she is “strong”. You may judge for yourselves who won the family lottery on this one. There’ll be more on this later on.

3. This militia lapdog who has complicated personal feelings about his own family while seeming to blindly serve his purpose likes to throttle people who question his faith.

4. Our hero goes to a shady bar in a new shady city in order to find a no-morals, scrappy Rogue who will be able to help to take him/her where he/she needs to go.

5. This woman yells at the disorganized man who rescues her in a manner to which she is either unaccustomed or wholly against.

6. They then continue to get along smashingly.

7. The Rogue doesn’t want to help, but a heavy dose of hero idealism ends up changing the tide.

8. A giant piece of technology is a symbol of power for the villains.

9. The Brit dies.

10. The Rogue goes to an Old Friend for assistance, and the Old Friend pretends at first to be angry with the Rogue.

11. They are then betrayed by the Old Friend. This betrayal eventually leads to the main girl needing to dress up like a hooker and infiltrate enemy territory.

12. The Rogue is captured by a Bounty Hunter.

13. A sexy villain reveals that a previously beloved family member is actually a figure of power within the enemy’s hierarchy. Once again, the family lottery: Luke’s father (omg spoiler u guys) is the right-hand man of the most evil thing that ever Emperor’d an Empire, while Charlie’s uncle is the reformed former co-creator of a militia (that might be an actual spoiler). Vader just has slightly more movie to go before he’s sort of there. We’re also treated to the fact that:

14. A supposedly dead family member is not actually dead and is, in fact, living with the enemy and giving them assistance. This assistance’s nature manages to change thanks to the interference of family members — a brother and a sister.

15. They seek to blow up the symbol of power, but are afraid that an ally is onboard. Bonus points if this ally is the blond brother of a main character.

Bonus: Once again, folks: shining idealism is the answer to all your problems.

What do you think, geeklets? Am I making this all up in my head out of a desperate need for a TV show about Rogue Squadron, or is there something to the parallels? Sound out below!

Revolution returns Wednesday, September 25 at 8/7c on NBC for its sophomore season. Find out how the dialogue between Star Wars and Revolution changes now that the power has come back on.

Behind The Kickstarter Curtain: An Interview With ‘Fake Geek Girls’ Creator Sara Clarke

by CJCSeptember 12, 2013

Kickstarter can be a magical place of dreams coming true, thanks to the combination of the world’s creativity and generosity. One of the best parts is how you get to connect and share an experience with the creator, and the other backers. But I figured it couldn’t hurt to take that one step closer, and really get into the grit of some of the Kickstarters that peak my geek interest. During my explorations, I came across ‘Fake Geek Girls‘, a webseries project about a video-game designer and her booth babe friend, both trying to scrape along in the world of geeky femininity. Sara Clarke, creator and geek girl herself, graciously agreed to answer some of my questions about her web series project ‘Fake Geek Girls‘:

Let’s start at the very beginning: where were you born? No, okay. How about: where did the idea for Fake Geek Girls come from? Are there certain geek aspects of your life that you feed from?

About a year ago, I got really into the idea of writing about women in tech. I wrote a full length sitcom pilot about a young woman who gets a job as Employee Number One for a tech startup. While I was working on that, I’d hear my downstairs neighbors, who are actors, shooting their own videos and uploading them to the web and using them for their reels. The thing about spec sitcom pilots written by unknown screenwriters is that there is very little chance of them ever being produced. So I was sitting alone in my apartment tapping away at something I knew nobody would ever see, overhearing my neighbors actually make their own movies. Which is when it hit me — why not go down there and collaborate with them? Julie-Joy Voss, who plays Jessa in Fake Geek Girls, is one of those downstairs neighbors. I adapted my sitcom about startups into a web series about video games and geek culture in general, she called up a bunch of actor friends, we busted out the camera, and Fake Geek Girls was born.

Regarding geek aspects of my own life: I am a dyed in the wool sci fi TV/movie geek. Doctor Who, Star Trek, Firefly, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica. Buffy and Game Of Thrones, too, though they’re more fantasy. Anytime there’s a new SF series or franchise on the horizon my geek alarm goes off. Right now I’m really excited to see the Tomorrow People reboot the CW is doing. Unfortunately, it’s not really that interesting to make a web series about people who are really into a particular TV show, so I needed to pick a different aspect of geekdom for my characters to be obsessed with. Which is how video games happened. I’m a gamer, but not a very serious one. Luckily, Julie (the actress who plays Jessa and the producer of the show) has a serious Left For Dead habit, so we’ve got our console gamer bases covered. I’m also really into tabletop gaming and hope we can incorporate that into some future episodes.

Obviously, even from the title, you are commenting on the culture and stereotypes of the girl in geekdom. What do you feel these stereotypes are, and how do females perpetuate or fight against them?

It is really hard to be a girl geek. From both angles, actually, which I think is something that isn’t as talked about. There’s the issues that are being discussed a lot right now, of the way women get treated within geek culture, and inclusiveness, and needing women within the industries and franchises that make up geekdom (more female game designers, filmmakers, etc), and the fact that there’s no such thing as a “fake” geek. But from the other angle, as a female geek there’s also backlash from the “girl” side of the equation. I got made fun of constantly by other girls in school for being a Trekkie. Reading sci fi novels, playing Dungeons & Dragons, making video games, collecting comics, and activities like that aren’t really seen as appropriate hobbies for a girl. I think that’s why female geeks are in such an uproar about all this stuff. It’s like, we get excluded from mainstream culture just like male geeks do — if not more-so, as geeky stuff becomes more mainstream — and THEN we also get excluded from geek culture. So where do we go? I see a lot of the conversation about “geek girls” as being about women trying to carve out a space where we can be ourselves. It’s not so much about combating stereotypes as it is about just existing as we are.

With that in mind, what was the inspiration for the main characters?

I wanted to make kind of an “odd couple” comedy duo of geeky ladies. So you’ve got Jessa, the stereotypical nerd, a game designer, socially awkward, the person who you’d immediately recognize as a geek. Her foil is Kat, a booth babe, who at first you’d assume wasn’t a geek at all. But she’s just as into it as Jessa is, and in fact it’s Jessa who wants to go out on a Friday night while Kat wants to stay in and play video games. I was kind of envisioning Eddie and Patsy from Absolutely Fabulous, but into geeky stuff instead of fashion.

Did you always have Kickstarter in mind as a method of continuing the project?

Yes and no. I definitely wanted to make sure that we had an audience for the show, and Kickstarter is a great way of finding that out. You know people really want to see more when they’re willing to put in a little bit of cash. On the other hand, I didn’t think “Oooh, I know, let’s make a Kickstarter for a webseries!” The Kickstarter campaign came out of wanting to make sure there was really an audience for something like Fake Geek Girls. And we’re finding out that, yes, there sure is.

Where do you see Fake Geek Girls going from here?

Prime time! Just kidding. Fake Geek Girls was conceived very modestly. Our main goal with the first episode was to actually DO what Julie and I came to Los Angeles to do. In her case acting, and in my case writing. So in that sense, the show is already a huge success. Now that we’re finding an audience and gearing up to make more episodes, I’d like to get a little more ambitious in terms of the production value onscreen. We’d like to shoot some episodes on location, and we’d also like to have a better costume and prop budget so we can show off a little more of geek culture on the show. Cosplay isn’t cheap, unfortunately. I mean, I guess everyone hopes their webseries is going to make them famous, but personally I just want to keep making the show, and making it better.

What’s a dream location or gag you want to try with the show?

I’m trying to shoot an upcoming episode entirely on location in a comic shop. I won’t reveal which one, but it’s probably the coolest one in Los Angeles. I would also LOVE to shoot at a con but so far I haven’t found one nearby that would work in terms of our schedule. I would love to have the Season 2 finale be at Comic-Con, assuming we get a Season 2.

Let’s hear a funny story about filming the first episode.

We planned for Kat to have a bunch of really cool nerdy tattoos. I bought this expensive tattoo printing paper and spent an afternoon designing some stuff. Then, the morning of the shoot, when we were doing everyone’s costumes and makeup and all, it turned out that I hadn’t read the instructions for the tattoo paper and didn’t have one of the tools we needed. But we printed them anyway, put them on as best we could. And they looked great! That hour of hacking the fake tattoo process totally paid off! … But you can’t actually see them on camera, just due to a fluke of the angles we used. Whoops. Just know that Kat has some extremely bitchin’ tattoos, which hopefully you will see in an upcoming episode. It was a bonding experience, crammed into the bathroom in Julie’s apartment, sticking things to different parts of Katie, hoping it would look OK. And I learned that I am an extremely talented seat-of-your-pants improvisational makeup artist. Also, always read the directions BEFORE you’re actually on set!

Who would win in a fight: Altair or the Prince of Persia?

Hm. Assassin’s Creed is the first video game to make me REALLY wish I was a more serious gamer, so I’m going to have to say Altair. I love the whole aesthetic of the Assassins and the parkour stuff and basically I wish I could live inside that game. Also, I feel like in a fight Altair could probably sneak up on just about anyone and kick their ass before anyone knew he was there. That said, I bet Governor Elaine Marley from Monkey Island could teach him a thing or two. The Assassins don’t seem to have the wordplay angle happening much.

Thanks for this glimpse behind the Kickstarter curtain, Sara! You can find ‘Fake Geek Girls’ at their Kickstarter page, or you can even watch the whole pilot episode here. Personally, it’s a deliciously cute glimpse into two geeky lives, and you’ll probably feel quite accomplished when you’re done watching. See what I mean.

Also, donate. Please. Because she made a reference to Monkey Island and, how appropriate, you fight like a cow. (omg, why isn’t that up there in the fight question!)

Equip It! The Geeky Book Wearables You Need

by CJCSeptember 9, 2013

With all the booming new stores on this little thing called the internet, it can be difficult to sort through all the possibilities for purchase. So let Geekscape be your guide. In the traditions of old, we’ll help you figure out what to take to make it a little less dangerous.

“A new lease on life for books.”

Ever wanted to carry your favorite book with you without lugging around the whole thing? Now you can, and not in a shiny, new book smell-less, electronic reader format, either. Retro Beads & Bangles offers you a recycling opportunity that looks adorable AND literate. Using book pages to make jewelry is not unique to the internet (as you’ll see below), but Retro also branches into brooches, bracelets, the using of sheet music, and old board-game pieces to make unique and specialized accessories for every day. These beautiful earrings, necklaces, and cufflinks immortalize famous names and phrases from classic — and currently popular — literature for a fair-ish every day price.

Shipping policies are not listed, so customer may beware — or want to read the 76 customer reviews before deciding.

“What a novel idea!”

Pretty Little Charms, also out of the UK, offers similarly recycled book jewelry. The categories featured here are Game Of Thrones, JK Rowling, Mortal Instruments, Divergent + Twilight, The Hunger Games, Narnia + LOTR, Alice in Wonderland, Pride and Prejudice, Sherlock + Classics, and Dictionary/Other. The charms feature different shapes, as well as colors: some heart-shaped in silver, others a beautiful copper with a steampunk-like accessory hanging off of the main jewelry. Compasses accompany sections of map and silver wolf heads sit next to “direwolf”. It’s all very appropriate and well placed. Pretty Little Charms also offers rings in pairs, offering a chance to celebrate your favorite geeky ship either with your special someone or all on your own if you’re greedy.

The charms that come with the sections of words, and the choice illustrations for others, are really what makes Pretty Little Charms’ selection glow. You can carry your favorite character or phrase along with you in stylish fashion.

All items are $3 shipping for the first item and free for additional items. There is a fair return policy: anything can be returned in exchange, except for earrings (hygiene!) and you foot the shipping.

Pretty Little Charms would like you to note that these items are NOT waterproof. They are made from books! Therefore, care should be taken when you’re deciding where and how to wear them.

“Wearable literature.”

If jewelry isn’t your thing, then head over to Storiarts, where you can acquire pages of classic literature printed onto a scarf, or writing gloves. How fancy would you feel if you owned something called “writing gloves”? Tori Tissell produces these wonders by hand, with the text chosen from such pieces as “Pride & Prejudice” and “Sherlock Holmes”. You may also custom order if you have your own choice of words (book paragraph, music, poetry, etc) prepared. Storiarts’ scarves look gorgeous and, as they say, will make you feel both “warm and intelligent”. Just be sure that your chosen text is not copyrighted and can be reprinted and sold without bringing terrible consequences down upon Tissell’s head. That’s the polite thing to do.

All items are shipped via the USPS and tracking is available. Storiarts accepts returns or exchanges within ONE week of delivery, but if you do a custom order then a full refund cannot be granted, so choose wisely. And not poooorly.

Have you found any gems on Etsy recently? Sound out below!

Equip It! The Geek Glamour You Need In Your Life!

by CJCSeptember 3, 2013

I spy with my little eye… something geeky. It must be Espionage Cosmetics. As their lineage page states, Espionage is the “brainchild of a certified MUD professional make-up artist and a gun-totin’ smokin’ hot Staff Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps”. That’s a lot of badass right there to go with the sparkle. That should let you know that it’s perfectly okay to wear that flashy color, no matter your job. Unless you’re an actual spy. Then you probably want to be slightly more subtle. Or maybe you don’t. What do I know? There’s a spy themed set, so I suppose you can run wild, all you international information gatherers, you.

Espionage currently has 10 different geeky color sets, from “ice and fire” to “fps”, as well as prepared looks to peruse. Let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to wear something called “headshot”? If you don’t, send it my way (just not with a sniper rifle; I kind of need my head to, you know, wear the make-up). For the moment, all of the sets of four run at the medium range price of $28, somewhere in-between what you might find in other stores, depending on brand.

Right now — or, at least, for the next 24 hours — Espionage is also running a Kickstarter for its new line of wrap-on nail art; lucky for us, also in the geeky mindset. Having more than doubled its original goal, this Kickstarter is offering tremendous stretch goal prizes to anyone donating in the $100 racket or above, so this is the perfect time to sneak in there and get some beautiful Time Lord or Firefly art for your fingernails: it’ll spice up any cosplay, or just any day in general. Consummate professionals, the great minds behind Espionage have provided a themely video on how easy it is to apply their special brand of nail-art:

http://youtu.be/C3mfdxiDHH8

As it is, my lovelies, I haven’t gotten my hand — or fingernails, or eyeballs — on a set of this brand yet so there’s no personal review, but when I do you’ll be the first to know. Or, if you partake, please let us know in the comments section what you think and how the experience went!

Why You Need This: Because you want to feel geeky, oh so geeky, and be pretty while doing so. Or is it the other way around? Nevermind. The perfect fusion of femininity with geek-itude should easily convince any glam geek who’s into the make-up arts that Espionage Cosmetics has the right credentials for the job.

So, go forth and stay geeky, super spies!

Equip It! The Geeky ‘Star Wars’ Dress You Need

by CJCAugust 29, 2013

So, ladies first! Etsy hosts a barrage of personal sellers, including repurposefulPUNK, a store that turned over-sized retro t-shirts into glam geek dresses and dolman style shirts. Shorts, Stormtroopers, and Tardises were also on display. Currently, the store is on hiatus, but if you head over to the link then you might be able to grab the very last of the original listings, or contact the owner for a possible custom order.

Shipping is speedy (though keep in mind the hiatus now!) and friendly, and there was even a little extra surprise when I ordered; everything you could ever want out of an online shopping experience. When she was in full business, Carmen was loose and easy with the discounts and sales codes: a true giver.

My suggestion? This vintage Star Wars dress, fashioned out of an old t-shirt and fitted with comfortable bands at the sleeves and hem. Owning one myself, I can verify that the production is top-quality and the dress sinfully comfortable to wear; the material hugs but is slightly stretchy, so I never felt like I was about to flash anyone, but it also doesn’t bag too much in the flattering areas.

When I wore it, I got photographed and highlighted in a “geek chic” article during Star Wars Celebration in Florida. I do find I have a slight problem keeping the sleeves to stay up on my shoulders all the time, but that could depend on how you wear it. Be advised, the neckline is pretty wide.

The best part about Carmen’s clothes, however, is the recycle value. With her “refurbed, reconstructed, recycled & redesigned clothing”, old articles that might have gone to waste get new chic life. It’s worth it to support that, as much as know you’re gonna look good geek-style.

So, go be one of the last ones on the block to own a repurposefulPUNK dress or shirt and stay safe out there, space explorers!