Author: Eric Diaz

‘Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox’ – The Geekscape Review

by Eric Diaz

At the San Diego Comic Con last week, I was lucky enough to see the world premiere of the seventeenth DC Universe animated feature, which hits DVD and Blu-ray on July 30th. I’m going to admit right off the bat–I’m going to have a hard time being totally objective in this review of Warner Brother’s and DC Entertainment’s latest animated straight to video film Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, which is based on Geoff Johns’ mini-series event Flashpoint  from just over two years ago. You see, Flashpoint was the event that led to DC’s universe wide relaunch known as “The New 52,”  which, in my opinion, has been frought with more negatives than positives. But even putting that negative bias aside, the truth is that The Flashpoint Paradox is a movie that while exhibiting some entertaining ideas and fun action sequences, tries to bite off more than it can chew and ultimately suffers for it.

The story of The Flashpoint Paradox is relatively straightforward, and much like the comic, centers around the Flash, Barry Allen. This is the first DC animated film to center around the Flash, and although the official title has the words Justice League in it, make no mistake…this is a Flash story through and through. The opening shots of the movie feature Barry Allen as a little kid, and shows us a close relationship with his (single?) mother Nora. One day, she is brutally murdered in a home invasion while Barry is away at school, and this quest to find her killer is what leads Barry to the life of a crime scene forensic scientist. It is during his time as a forensic scientist that Barry has the accident that makes him into the Flash, but we don’t see that presented here. I realize most hard core comic book fans are at least vaguely aware of the Flash’s origin story, but having said that, many casual fans who don’t know it might be sampling this movie, and jumping from the traumatic event of Barry Allen’s childhood to his adult superhero career might be jarring. If you are wondering how Barry Allen becomes the Flash, it isn’t covered in this movie. In fact, almost all of this movie expects you to know the basics of the DC Universe in some form, and that is but the first example of many.

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So we flash forward (no pun intended) to the Flash fighting his villains,collectively known as the Rogues, and just as he is about to succumb to their evil machinations, Flash calls in his Justice League friends to bail him out. This is where we get our Batman cameo, with classic Batman the Animated Series voice actor Kevin Conroy providing the voice of Bruce Wayne once again. Conroy is the definitive voice of Batman in my opinion, so any chance to hear him as the Dark Knight is a treat, even if it is really brief in this movie. This is maybe my favorite sequence in the whole movie, as the Justice League have to individually disable a bomb planted on each of the rogues by Flash arch nemesis Zoom, the Reverse Flash. Unfortunately, we don’t get a whole lot of insight into what makes the Reverse Flash hate the Flash so much, although he is pretty brilliantly voiced by C. Thomas Howell. If you’re not already a comics fan, you are screwed if you want further insight into just what his deep seeded animosity is based on. Still, this brief scene of the JLA doing their thing and finding unique ways to disable each bomb is maybe my favorite part of the whole movie. Sadly, for me it all kind of goes downhill from here.

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After the opening credits, we cut to Barry Allen waking up in his office to a very different world. Barry wakes up to a world where his mother Nora was never murdered and is alive and well, but  in this world, Barry is no longer the Flash and has no super speed. There is a very different (and gun loving) Batman protecting Gotham, Cyborg is America’s #1 hero, and Wonder Woman and Aquaman are at war (or, more truthfully, Themyscira and Atlantis are at war.) A war that has resulted in Aquaman sinking continental Europe, and Wonder Woman and the Amazons taking over England and killing all the men. Superman is nowhere to be found. Barry doesn’t understand or remember how this world came to be, so he seeks out the one person he thinks can help him…Batman. But this Batman isn’t Bruce Wayne, and to say anymore is a fairly massive spoiler, so I’ll stop short of that. But I will say it is one of the cooler reveals of both the movie and the original comic. Barry and Batman try their hardest to restore the alternate timeline back to the normal one, all while an impending World War III is about to happen if Wonder Woman and Aquaman go to war.

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So all of this sounds cool right? Cool alternate universe story, good animation, all the stuff of fanboy dreams. But something about the whole things bugs me, and I can’t put my finger on it. And it could very well be under the circumstances that I saw it at San Diego Comic Con, to a packed house of enthusiastic fans. While that sounds like the ideal conditions, it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. See, this world exhibited in this movie is extremely violent and dark; Wonder Woman and Aquaman start a war simply because they have an affair that goes sour for example, and Wonder Woman kills Aquaman’s wife Mera by beheading her, and then begins wearing her crown as a trophy. We even have a rather gratuitous shot of Diana holding Mera’s severed head up (this got cheers from the audience for some reason.) Also getting applause was a Batman who killed wantonly, lot of severed limbs and horrible deaths, and even a scene where Wonder Woman kills a little kid. The more over the top the violence, the more they ate it up, and this seems to be the version of these characters we’ll be seeing for years come. It might be the DC Universe that these fans wanted, but it wasn’t the one I wanted. So while technically this is what you’d call an “Elseworlds” story, it sets the stage for a much darker animated DC Universe, and it isn’t one I’m really looking forward to, but it going to be the one we’re stuck with.

There are also tons of cameos from other DC Universe characters, to the point where they are just there as fan service and not much else. Lois Lane (once again voiced by Dana Delany) is a war correspondent and underground freedom fighter on “New Themyscira”, and we get even more cameos from characters like Etrigan the Demon, Deathstroke, (voice acted once again by Teen Titans‘ Ron Perlman) and even Captain Marvel, renamed Captain Thunder. But due to the movie’s eighty minute running time, there just isn’t time to properly develop these characters beyond just as “hey, I know that guy!” and on to the next shot of someone being bloodied up a bit. Some of the subplots should have been cut out entirely to make the movie flow better and seem less like cameo-palooza.

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Overall, this movie is a mixed bag. The voice acting is hit and miss; Barry Allen is voiced by Grey’s Anatomy’s Justin Chambers, and I hate to say, his voice acting is rather flat and bland, which doesn’t help when the character who he is portraying has a bit of reputation as being a bit boring and bland as well. Other voice actors fare better, like Kevin McKidd from Rome as Batman II, and veteran actor Cary Elwes as Aquaman. But unlike most DC Animated movies, where the voice acting is often the best thing in it, this time it wasn’t very memorable. The animation style is more anime influenced than any other DC animated movie thus far, and is actually pretty good and a nice change of pace from the usual style these movies go for.  This is the first of the DC Animated films without the influence of Bruce Timm, and you can tell. I miss his guiding hand, and I just can’t help but feel he would have made the production team of producers James Tucker and Alan Burnett and director Jay Oliva try a little bit harder. The final product is perfectly ok, but I kind of expect better from Warner Brothers animation and DC at this point.

“Cape & Cowl” Cosplay Documentary Arrives Online

by Eric Diaz

Cosplay is a huge part of the geek community, and director Andrew Bush displays some of the better DC Universe cosplay in his new short film Cape & Cowl. From the official description:

“Cape & Cowl is a genre-bending documentary short exploring the world of “cosplay,” or costume play. Abby Polakow, a costume designer, creates costumes for those wanting to take their appreciation of comic books, character design, and superheroes to a new level. The “cosplayers” also reveal how wearing costumes affects them on a more personal level.”

Another reason to check this film out is that it features Geekscapist Molly Mahan as Black Canary! So what are you waiting for? Check out the video below.

More info can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/capeandcowl

‘Man of Steel’ – The Geekscape Review

by Eric Diaz

Seven years ago, I came back from an opening night screening of Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, grinning from ear to ear over the movie I had just watched. Having grown up on Richard Donner’s original Superman: The Movie, Singer’s love letter to that film was heartfelt and beautiful. Sure, as a longtime fan of the comics, there are elements of the modern comic book mythology I wanted to see on film, but at the same time, it was nice to have the “Donner-verse”- for lack of a better word- get a more proper closure than the abysmal Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. But despite my sincere enjoyment of that movie…even as I watched it, I knew deep down that this was the absolute wrong way to re-launch this franchise. You don’t make a sequel to a movie twenty-five years after the fact, especially to a movie that not everyone in the movie going audience has seen. And yes, I know Star Wars did it, as did Sam Raimi with his recent Oz movie. I’d say Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz are maybe the only “old” movies that still have the same cultural currency with today’s kids as when they were originally released. Richard Donner’s Superman isn’t in the same league, sad to say. This generation needed their own Superman, and they got yesterday’s Superman instead.

Well, the Millennials finally have their Last Son of Krypton with the release of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. As I did several years ago, I left the theater grinning from ear to ear, although this time, flaws and all, I feel this is how you reboot a character for a whole new generation. Whatever flaws the movie might have, director Zack Snyder, writer David Goyer and producer Christopher Nolan have succeeded in making Superman cool again.

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The Good Stuff

Henry Cavill as Superman

Although he’s not a man of many words in this film, Henry Cavill’s Clark Kent is the definition of stoic hero. When he first appears in this movie, he’s already a hero in fact, helping people who need it wherever he goes, just on the “down low,” as they say. He’s simply not a public figure wearing a cape, but he is no less of a hero from the moment we first see him onscreen. Despite what some people might say, this isn’t “emo Superman,” wondering whether he should be helping people in need; helping those in need is just something he just does,because he’s the only one who can. His only struggle is with whether or not he should let the world know who he really is, but once Zod appears and takes that choice away from him, he steps up to the plate. Cavill might not have the wink-wink-nudge-nudge almost camp quality of Christopher Reeve, but that version was simply for another era. Brandon Routh was just doing a Reeve impression (although a very good one) and Tom Welling spent ten years watching practically every character in the DC Universe put on a costume and become a superhero before he finally did. But Henry Cavill is finally a true Superman for this generation. Also, it should be noted, he is spectacularly hot.

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Amy Adams as Lois Lane

I’m gonna go right ahead and say it–Amy Adams is probably the best Lois Lane yet portrayed in live action (sorry Margot Kidder, Teri Hatcher and whatshername from Smallville.) The Lois Lane we get  in Man of Steel is anything but a damsel in distress, just waiting to be captured by some villain, or just a googly-eyed lovesick woman. Sure, previous Superman films told us she was a great journalist, a Pulitzer prize winner even, but we never saw her going after a story really. Amy Adams’ version of Lois is on to a huge story from the moment we meet her in this movie, and isn’t letting anyone get in her way. It just so happens that the story she is after turns out to be Superman himself. Of course she gets herself into danger, she’s Lois Lane, but she never once feels like a victim.  If I have one quibble about this version of Lois, is that Amy Adams kept her signature red hair. She’s getting paid a lot of money for this part, she could at least dye her hair, since Lois Lane is a pretty famous brunette character. But it’s a minor quibble, and I’ll gladly take a redheaded Lois Lane if she’s portrayed as well as she is in this movie. This is probably the most feminist friendly version of Lois we’ve yet seen in film, and it’s about damn time.

But it’s not just the two leads who do stellar work here–Russell Crowe’s Jor-El is great, and unlike Marlon Brando, his “ghost” isn’t just a talking head, he is a crucial part of the action. Kevin Costner and Diana Lane are equally perfect as Ma & Pa Kent, given far more to do character-wise  than their counterparts were given back in the 1978 film. And Michael Shannon is a totally different Zod than Terence Stamp played, but no less wonderful. And although Laurence Fishburne doesn’t have a huge part as Perry White, he comes off as more of an actual character this time and not just as a stereotype of the angry, demanding boss he was in the past.

The Action

Without a doubt, Man of Steel has the best superhero action in any movie of its kind to date. (Almost too much to be honest.) The action is relentless, brutal even, and spectacularly rendered by the effects artists. The destruction brought upon by General Zod on Metropolis is the equivalent of twenty 9-11’s. Sure, so was the finale to  The Avengers, but director Zack Snyder here really shows us the real terror on the regular human populace, particularly in one scene where a Daily Planet employee is trapped under some rubble, hanging on to dear life as destruction rains down on the city, We see candlelight vigils for the fallen at the end of The Avengers, true…but we never really get the sense of just how horrible an alien invasion like this would really be for those trapped below, with city blocks just wiped out and left to ash. The filmmakers don’t flinch, although they stop short of showing actual gore and bodies. This is still PG-13 after all.

And then, there’s the fight scenes. Oh man, are there fight scenes. For comic book fans like me, this movie is like finally getting to see Superman unleashed in live action for the very first time, fighting villains who are his true equal and not just lifting heavy objects and saving people from disaster. It is a comic book geek’s dream come true. This is the Superman every kid imagines they are when they put a towel around their necks and run around the back yard, the one seen in comics and cartoons. Frankly, the one who kicks serious ass.

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The Adherence to Modern Comic Book Mythology

One constant that keeps turning up in the more negative reviews of Man of Steel is how this isn’t “really Superman,” or “this isn’t any Superman I know.” It seems that for a majority of critics, especially all the ones over a certain age, it is pretty clear the only Superman they really know is the Christopher Reeve version from the old movies, and not much else. The Donner/Reeve version has cast a very long shadow over the Superman mythos ever since that first film was released; obviously Superman Returns was pretty much a straight up sequel to those movies, and both the Lois and Clark and Smallville television series took tons of cues from the Donner films, right on down to that last shot of Tom Welling on Smallville opening up his shirt to the tune of John William’s iconic theme. But the truth is, the comic book lore has changed a lot since the days of the original movies, and it is great to see a version come to life on the big screen that reflects them, even if only in part.

Being a comic book writer himself, screenwriter David S. Goyer knew exactly which of the modern iterations of Superman to use as inspiration, instead of going back to the old days of the forties, fifties and sixties versions of Superman. Much like he did with The Dark Knight trilogy, Goyer looked to the modern stories of the character instead. The idea of a Krypton with a genetics-based caste system comes from John Byrne’s 1986 reboot of the character (also called Man of Steel.) Much of the look and design of Krypton, as well as the notion that the S symbol means “hope” in Kryptonian, comes from Mark Waid’s series Superman: Birthright. The reveal from Pa Kent to Clark about his alien heritage, one of the best emotional beats of the movie, is lifted directly from Geoff Johns’ Superman: Secret Origin. And Jor-El’s speech to Clark about humanity? Lifted straight from Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman, arguably the greatest Superman story of the last several decades. In short, David Goyer did his homework, and finally gave fans a Superman not rooted in the now distant era of the Golden Age and Silver Age of comics, but in the comics of the modern era. And it is long overdue.

The Bad Stuff

As much as I’ve been heaping praise on this movie, it has some real, basic problems that keep it from being truly great. Chief among those problems is the non-stop A.D.D-ness of it all. Director Zack Snyder barely ever lets his movie slow down for even a moment, and the pacing of this movie is nothing short of relentless; it steamrolls over you and barely gives you a moment to come up for air and breathe. Seemingly as a response to the glacial pacing and retro, romantic vibe of Superman Returns, which most fans hated, this movie is nearly constant action. Barely a few minutes go by before we go from one action scene to the next. In short, they overdid it, and as spectacular as those action scenes are. I could have taken one or two out, or at least trimmed them down in exchange for some more character moments, particularly between Lois Lane and Clark Kent. And although Hans Zimmer’s score is fine, occasionally more than just fine in fact, it still can’t hold a candle to John William’s classic Superman score, maybe the one part of that film that hasn’t dated in the slightest. While I totally agree with the choice to go for a totally new theme, simply to differentiate this movie from the last, nevertheless it should at least be somewhat as memorable, and it simply isn’t.

 

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Final Verdict

Man of Steel isn’t a perfect movie by any stretch, and it’s probably not even in the top five superhero movies ever made for that matter. It lacks the gravitas of Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies (Goyer did a better job on the script level on those movies as well, although he had help from Jonathan Nolan. He might wanna call him up for Man of Steel 2.) It doesn’t have the strong characterization and excellent dialogue  of Joss Whedon’s Avengers or the first Iron Man. But it is easily on par or surpasses Marvel’s Thor or Captain America, just for sheer epic scale and spectacle alone. And in the end, that is what Superman, the world’s first superhero, needs to be: Epic. Unlike Superman Returns, I couldn’t take someone like my mom to see this movie. She’d feel overwhelmed by the CGI carnage and relentless, modern A.D.D. pacing. But this Superman isn’t for my mom’s generation, or even mine (your humble author here is approaching forty.) This Superman is for the Xbox generation, and it is high time they had a version of this mythology to call their own.

Final Score: 4 out of 5

“Star Trek: The Next Generation”- Season 3 And “The Best of Both Worlds” Blu-ray Review

by Eric Diaz

Ever since the high definition restoration of Star Trek: The Next Generation was announced last year for Blu-ray, the show’s third season was the one all the fans have really been waiting for. Year three of TNG was the “now we’re cookin’ with gas” season, where the show finally stepped out of the shadow of the original Star Trek, and became a legitimate pop culture phenomenon of its own. By the time the season came to its end, and Captain Jean-Luc Picard was assimilated by the Borg in Trek’s first ever cliffhanger, arguments like “is Picard a better Captain than Kirk?” seemed like relics of the past. TNG had finally carved its own niche.

Star Trek: The Next Generation had a rough first two seasons creatively…and that’s kind of putting it mildly. Although the show was a ratings hit from day one, TNG had serious creative problems from the get go. Writers and producers came and went, and two original cast members left early on; Denise Crosby (Lt. Tasha Yar) left at the end of season one, and Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher) was fired around the same time. The 1988 writer’s strike cut down the number of episodes in season two, and by the end of that particular season, the show’s replacement chief medical officer (Diana Muldaur)  had departed the series as well. The Next Generation wasn’t a show that was living up to its premise or its cast, and by the end of the second season, TNG was a series in crisis.

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Enter Michael Piller, the series’ new show runner and head writer. Piller was in charge of the writing staff on season three, and he made two massive changes to the way the show was run that changed the series’ fortunes forever. First, he made a declaration that from now on, the series would shift away from “alien of the week” or “guest star of the week”,  and focus on character, first and foremost. Any given episode would be a Data episode, or a Worf episode, or Picard episode, but they all had to be focused on one of the series’ main characters and their emotional journey, and not just the moral quandary or “lesson” of the week.

Michael Piller, the man who saved Trek.
Michael Piller, the man who saved Trek.

Secondly, Piller instituted an open door policy in regards to script submissions, which meant fans and amateur screenwriters could send their scripts to Paramount in hopes of catching their big break. Most of the scripts ended up in what they called the “slush pile,” with most never to be used. But the cream rose to the top, as within that pile were some true gems. Some fan favorite episodes that season began as fan submissions. Add to that a new director of photography, Marvin Rush, who gave the show a more lush, filmic look, sleek new uniforms for the crew and a brand new opening credits sequence, and from the first episode that year, Star Trek: The Next Generation season three was almost like a soft reboot that the entire series needed. And it paid off, in spades.

Now these episodes are finally being released on a six-disc Blu-ray set from CBS Home Video, and if you consider yourself a Trek fan at all, I highly recommend going on Amazon or hitting Best Buy or wherever on April 30th when this puppy is released. Skip the first two seasons if you must, but this particular set belongs on your shelf.

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The Episodes

The original Star Trek had their best year from a creative standpoint during their first season on the air. By the time they reached their third season, having barely made it back on the airwaves, and with their budget slashed in half, the quality of the show went down the drain. In that third and final year, the show’s cancellation was something of a mercy killing. Next Generation had the opposite problem–after two years of struggling, the show came together in year three, and because of that, they boldly went where the previous Trek never did; into a fourth season. And a fifth, and sixth, and so on.

After struggling for so long, TNG found its groove, and most of the season three episodes range from good to great. In fact, unlike most other seasons of the show that have some obvious stinkers, I can only think of one out of 26 episodes in season three that would really qualify as bad in any way (and for the record, that episode is Menage a Troi, a “comedic” episode focusing on Deanna Troi’s mother. Every season had one of these Mrs. Troi episodes, and 90% of them were terrible. This one is no different.)  But the rest of the twenty five episodes on this Blu-ray set are the cream of the crop for this series. Episodes like The Offspring, Sins of the Father, The Bonding, Who Watches the Watchers, Tin Man, Hollow Pursuits, Sarek, and most especially Yesterday’s Enterprise and The Best of Both Worlds, are among the very best episodes of the show’s entire seven season run.

Episodes Rating: A-

Data and his daughter Lal, from the episode "The Offspring."
Data and his daughter Lal, from the episode “The Offspring.”

The Restoration

The team at CBS Digital has once again done an astonishing job on the HD restoration of the series, surpassing their work on season one. As someone who has seen these episodes dozens of times over the past twenty plus years, it is still amazing to see them in such jaw dropping clarity. In many ways, I feel like I’m watching them for the first time. One could never really see all the details on the sets, or the costumes, or the model work before in such great detail, and it is a true testament to everyone involved just how well everything holds up to the unforgiving clarity of high definition. The folks at CBS Digital have set the standard for how one restores classic television shows from before the high-def era for modern audiences, specifically those shot on 35mm film, but edited on video tape. If you’re only used to watching the show the old way, or in re-runs on Sci-Fi Channel or BBC America, then you’ve never seen the show. Because of this restoration the colors and details pop like never before, and the show looks like it was shot yesterday, not twenty three years ago.

Restoration Rating: A+

The Extras

Once again, the team at CBS, spearheaded by Robert Meyer Burnett and Roger Lay Jr, have created the definitive look back at this seminal series with various behind-the-scenes documentaries. There are two all-new hour length documentaries; the first is Inside The Writer’s Room; hosted and moderated by Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane, himself a massive Next Gen geek. This feature reunites four of the writers from the glory days of the show, Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, Rene Echevarria and Naren Shankar. This feature is pretty loosey-goosey in terms of how it is structured, but it’s a blast to watch these four just get together in a room and shoot the shit about the glory days of the Trek franchise. Everyone is pretty candid about not only the good times, but also the bad times, and some of the crappier episodes they produced (they had to churn out 26 of these in a nine month period every year…they’re not all gonna be classics people.) All four of these guys have gone on to long careers in the television business, but it is obvious how much they all still love Trek and look back fondly on that part of their lives.

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The other main documentary Resistance is Futile: Assimilating the Next Generation, is split into three parts- Biological Distinctiveness, Technological Distinctiveness, and The Collective. This covers the show’s transition is season three from a troubled show looking to find its voice, into a pop culture phenomenon by the end of that year. Co-executive producer Ira Steven Behr is mainly featured in this documentary above most of the other writers, and has great stories to tell, mostly about butting heads with the other series main producers Rick Berman and Michael Piller (an ailing Gene Roddenberry was still in the mix at this point as well, although most of his crazier suggestions were mostly ignored by just about everyone, kind of like everyone’s crazy ol’ grandpa.) Ira Behr was only on staff for that third seasons, and is pretty candid about the show being hell to work on at the time.  In his words, no one back then knew they were in the middle of the show’s creative renaissance, they were all just trying to make it from week to week and not go totally crazy. And there were many times were they came this close to a staff mutiny, especially when dealing with the less than warm and cuddly Michael Piller.

There are other great features here too, including four audio commentaries for some of the most beloved episodes of the season The Bonding, Yesterday’s Enterprise, The Offspring and Sins of the Father. Three of these feature Ronald D. Moore, who has some particularly funny stories to tell about his very first gig in Hollywood, long before he was the much lauded creator of the new Battlestar Galactica. Once upon a time, he was the guy who happily came in to work on holidays and brought everyone donuts, mostly afraid that someone on staff would realize he was only hired there on a week-to-week basis, and some higher-up would figure it out and fire him.

A fifteen minutes tribute to the late Michael Piller is included here as well. Piller of course steered the course of the show that third season, and stayed a part of the Trek family throughout the rest of Next Gen, co-created Deep Space Nine and Voyager, and stayed with the television franchise all the way until the second season of Voyager. He also wrote Star Trek: Insurrection. Sadly, he died of cancer in 2005. Interviews with the former writing staff and his own wife and son are showcased here, a fitting tribute for a man for whom the Trek franchise owes its continued existence to. While it is clear that his writing staff often butt heads with him, it is clear that just like a stern dad that pissed them all off on occasion, they all still loved the hell outta the guy, and miss him dearly.

Rounding out the extras are an HD Gag Reel, and several scenes with the late actor David Rappaport (Time Bandits) from the episode The Most Toys. He originally played the villain in that episode, Kivas Fajo, but only a few scenes of his were shot due to a suicide attempt he made during the time he was making the episode. (He was replaced by actor Saul Rubinek.) Not long after he was replaced, he succeeded in killing himself, but during the restoration of the episodes for HD, his footage he did film was discovered, and is included here–a rare glimpse into what might have been. An all the special features from the old DVD sets are included here as well, in standard definition of course. No stone was left uncovered.

Extras Rating: A

But WAIT! That’s Not All!

Also on April 30th, CBS Home Video is also releasing a special stand alone release of The Best of Both Worlds two part episode, featuring the famous Borg cliffhanger from season three, and the second part from the as-yet released season four, edited together as one epic movie. This single disc release has its own series of extras, unique to this release, including a gag reel, an audio commentary (not on the season three set, I might add) and a behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of this now classic two-parter. Of course, some fans might feel it’s a cash grab, and truth be told,  it kind of is. But what self respecting Trek nerd doesn’t want The Best of Both Worlds: The Movie on their shelf? You know you’ll watch it more often than most of the Next Generation feature films.

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Overall Rating For Both Releases: A

CBS Digital has gone above and beyond the call of duty for these Blu-ray restorations, and the discs show just how much TLC was put into these releases. The work from everyone involved here has been nothing short of amazing. I simply can’t wait for seasons 4-7, and The Prophets willing, Deep Space Nine in the not-too-distant future. Both Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3 and The Best of Both Worlds are available everywhere April 30th, 2013, and are highly recommended.

Wonder-Con Wrap Up: A Quick Chat With James Robinson of DC’s Earth-2

by Eric Diaz

One of the highlights of DC’s whole “New 52” reboot has been the series Earth-2, from writer James Robinson and artist Nicola Scott. Set on an alternate Earth, Robinson has taken the old Golden Age icons of World War II, for decades portrayed only as old men from a bygone era, and re-invented them as young, new super-heroes, who have take up the mantle of heroism in the wake of the death of their world’s version of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. I caught up with writer James Robinson at this past weekend’s Wonder-Con in Anaheim to chat a bit about upcoming events in the pages of Earth-2

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Geekscape-So I’m a really huge fan of yours going back to the Starman series from the 90’s; I wanted to ask first since you are in way the curator of the Golden Age characters at DC for the past few decades, between Starman and The Golden Age and starting the previous run of Justice Society of America, how did you feel about taking on this new Earth-2 book just in general, having to re-invent all these characters and take all their history away? And did you have any second thoughts about it?

Robinson- I was a little dubious at the beginning, I wasn’t sure If I wanted to do it… I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing. But then pretty early on, what helped me was realizing that at one time, those Golden Age characters were all young guys. We are so used to thinking of them as these old guys with this history, but at one point they were young, and what I tried to do was capture and distill the thing that made them great when they were these young Golden Age characters, so once I began to do that– and especially since the first Golden age character I began to develop was Jay Garrick (The Flash) I’m very proud of the fact that he sort of has a personality now, and I’m not sure that he had one before, he was just this cool older guy, but now I know how he would act, how he would think, and I think that readers have begun to respond to that too. So that’s really what began it for me. And then with Alan Scott (Green Lantern) creating a character that was this big “Type-A” personality, making his character as rich as I could and as full as I could, because I knew I was going to make him gay, and I didn’t want to make that his only personality trait.

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Geekscape-Well, as a gay fan I want to thank you for that. I’m really happy that you did that, because we need more of that in mainstream comics. Now you’ve said in other interviews that on Earth-2, Wonder Woman was the first super hero as opposed to Superman, which is why people with super powers are referred to as “The Wonders” on Earth-2. Because of that and her role as the first iconic hero, is Earth-2 a more open and feminist culture? will we see any effect of having Wonder Woman be so prominent in that world?

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Robinson-Yes you will, and you’ll see them both in general stuff as you see the world taking shape, because I’m still building the world every issue. You’ll also see it very specifically with Fury and her backstory, and who her father is… that will blow your mind when you find out who her father is.

Geekscape-Does she even have a father?

Robinson–She has a father. She wasn’t sculpted out of clay.

Geekscape-Now was your Wonder Woman sculpted out of clay? (the main Earth’s Wonder Woman was changed from being sculpted from clay to the daughter of Zeus as part of the New 52 reboot)

Robinson–I believe so. I wanted to keep that part of the mythos alive, but with her daughter Fury there is a whole back story and a whole drama about who her father is, and it ties in to the whole more feminist culture and everything, so just bear with me.

Fury, introduced in Earth-2 issue #8, is the daughter of Wonder Woman and an unknown father. In the old continuity, Fury was the offspring of Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor, but James Robinson says that's no longer the case.
Fury, introduced in Earth-2 issue #8, is the daughter of Wonder Woman and an unknown father. In the old continuity, Fury was the offspring of Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor, but James Robinson says that’s no longer the case.

Geekscape–We recently learned that Earth-2 will be getting a new Batman with a whole new identity. (In the upcoming Earth-2 Annual) Does that mean we will be getting an all new Superman and Wonder Woman as well, with different people assuming those names and identities?

Robinson–No, Batman’s going to be it.

DC's recently given us our first look at the new Earth-2 Batman.
DC’s recently given us our first look at the new Earth-2 Batman.

Geekscape-It seems in other interviews you’ve mentioned other classic Justice Society characters like Hourman and Wildcat as all eventually appearing in Earth-2, but the one I haven’t heard mentioned at all is The Spectre. Do you have plans for him? Or is he off limits to you?

Robinson–He’s not completely off limits, it’s just that for now, they have plans for him on the main Earth. When we begin at some point in the future to have more interaction between the two Earths, I would definitely like to bring the Spectre in and use him. Because as I’ve said to (DC Editor-In-Chief) Dan Didio, just like there is only one lot of New Gods (in the Multiverse) there aren’t Earth-1 versions of them and Earth-2 versions of them, and in my mind there is only one version of “God” (for the whole DC Multiverse) In the DC Universe, however you might feel about faith or atheism or believing in God, if you live on a DC world that has a Deadman and a Spectre and Phantom Stranger on it (all agents of a Judeo-Christian God in the comics) there is no way you can deny the existence of God. There aren’t multiple versions of God.

Geekscape–Well, Mr. Terrific does! (Michael Holt, the modern-era Mr. Terrific, is an avowed atheist.)

Robinson-Well, that’s one of things I’ve never quite bought about that character. If there is one God, then there is only one Angel of Vengeance for God (which is the Spectre) so it makes sense that he would come to Earth-2 at some point.

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Thanks again to James Robinson for taking the time out to talk to us.

WonderCon 2013: “Superman Unbound” Premiere Review

by Eric Diaz

It’s hard to believe it has been almost seven years since the end of Justice League Unlimited and the start of Warner Brother’s series of straight-to- video animated films; it seems like only yesterday they announced at San Diego Comic Con the imminent  arrival of feature length PG-13 versions of classic comic book stories  Superman: Doomsday, Justice League: The New Frontier and Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (I’m sadly still waiting for that last one to appear.) Many cynical geeks out there thought this straight-to- DVD venture would last a couple of years at best, but since then we’ve had sixteen of these films come out, most of which have been pretty damn good. Some have actually even managed to be great.

While Warner Brothers has been downright terrible at getting their non- Batman DC Universe live-action movies off the ground these past several years, in the meantime their animated division has been cranking out great product. Their last release was an excellent two part adaptation of Frank Miller’s seminal The Dark Knight Returns. After that movie, many fans were left wondering “just how do you top the Dark Knight Returns?” Well, the answer is you don’t even really try, you just keep chugging along and try to make the next movie the best it can be and not try to worry about following up on a classic. The result is Superman: Unbound, which premiered last weekend at Wonder-Con in Anaheim. Once again, Warner Home Video has used Wonder-Con as an opportunity to give fans an early screening of one of their films, which won’t appear on store shelves or on iTunes for another month or so. Judging by the enthusiastic crowd reaction, DC and Warners have another fan favorite on their hands. Superman:Unbound, while not quite a classic, was more than a worthy entry in Warner’s line-up of DC Universe movies…and possibly their best solo Superman entry to date so far.

Superman-Unbound-Brainiac

While Dark Knight Returns was a tough act to follow, Superman: Unbound is still a very entertaining entry into this series of DCU animated movies. Based on writer Geoff Johns’ and artist Gary Frank’s run on Action Comics from issues #866-870  (collected in trade form as Superman: Brainiac) this movie is pretty loosely adapted from that  original story, taking some major story beats and artistic designs from the original comic, but adding several other story points of their own while deleting others.  For example, the movie version has a totally different opening act than the comic, and Pa Kent is nowhere to be found in this movie, just Ma Kent. (SPOILER-in the comic book version, he dies as a result of Brainiac’s attack.) In the original comic story Clark and Lois are already married, while in the movie their dating life leads to much romantic tension and an extra layer the comic story lacked. The end result of all these changes though is that this is maybe the best of the Superman animated movies so far, beating even All Star Superman, which was a fine movie overall, but had to lose way too much of Grant Morrison’s original story to really be totally successful as a seventy minute film. Unbound is also leagues better than the last Superman DTV, Superman Vs. The Elite, which never really came together for me at all, and I kind of view as a pretty big misfire.

The story this time  begins with Lois Lane (played with appropriate dry wit by Stana Katic from the TV series Castle) being kidnapped by dastardly high-jackers yet again, in this instance while usual timely rescuer Superman is out of town (there is some big earthquake somewhere else, conveniently.) This changed opening to the story allows us to be introduced to Supergirl before Superman, who in this version of events is new to Earth and not everyone (especially criminals apparently) are aware that there is another Kryptonian on Earth who can also save kidnapped reporters and deflect bullets. Supergirl helps save Lois, but not before Superman shows up and gives his young cousin Kara a piece of his mind about her always being angry and a bit reckless, and trying to be a super-hero before she was quite ready. She quickly reminds him that unlike with how he grew up, she wasn’t raised on Earth and is still mourning a dead world that, for her, was still alive and kicking some three months back. This version of Supergirl is played by Molly Quinn, also from Castle, and she gives Kara the right dose of teen giddiness (that changes into adolescent angst at the drop of a hat) that makes this version of Kara Zor-El such an good take on Superman’s cute cousin. Unlike other past versions of Supergirl, this one actually evokes the mood swings of a real teenager. Just with heat vision.

superman-unbound-trailer (1)

We then get some pretty amusing banter between oafish bro-dude (and Daily Planet Sports columnist) Steve Lombard and Lois Lane, where while hitting on her at the office, he begins to wonder just what the real truth behind Clark’s double life might really be (“he’s super fit, but not into sports, dresses well” etc) All suggesting that Clark Kent must of course really be gay (ironically, the actor playing Clark in this is Matt Bomer, who actually IS openly gay, and was also once this close to being cast as Superman in live-action once.) When Clark shows up finally, we find out that Lois and Clark are secretly dating, and he has let her in on the big secret. But while Clark has let Lois in on his true self and and actually started a real relationship with her, their couple-hood must remain a secret from everyone else, lest any bad guy find out the truth about him and use Lois to get to him and blah, blah, blah, -you know the drill.

But this Lois isn’t having any of this “secret relationship” stuff, and lets Clark know it. She’s been getting into (and out of) trouble since before they met, and doesn’t like the new dynamics of their relationship, where Clark clearly has the upper hand and holds all the cards. The dialogue and characterization of Lois and Clark here is very real and pitch perfect, and really, really made me miss their relationship in the comics, before it all got rebooted away by DC, and Lois was replaced with Wonder Woman as Superman’s main squeeze. This seems like an even dumber decision in the wake of the great Lois/Clark chemistry exhibited here by Bomer and Katic. This movie proved once again that Lois and Clark can work as a couple when written the right way.

From here on out the story plays out almost exactly like it did in the original comics, with a robotic probe from alien artificial intelligence Brainiac coming to Earth and fighting Superman, leading Supes to go on an interstellar journey looking for the real thing, as well as the city from Krypton known as Kandor that he miniaturized decades ago  and stole before the planet went bye-bye. The basic designs created by artist Gary Frank for Brainiac from the original comic are used here, as is the look of Brainiac’s ship and all of his drone minions. Frank’s version of Brainiac is maybe the best one yet, combining  elements of all the Brainiacs that came before, with a touch of H.R. Giger and The Matrix, so it was wise of the production team to keep as much of that look as possible. Brainiac is voiced here by Fringe’s John Noble, who is appropriately cold and robotic, but with just the right amount of emotion when the story calls for it. I’m not sure Noble outdoes the voice work of Corey Burton (who voiced the character for Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League) but as with all the voice actors on the Bruce Timm animated series, they are a tough act to follow, as they kind of defined those parts for a whole generation.

SupUnbC_12192_02

More than anything else, it is the brisk pace and non stop action that make this one so fun to watch, and the action in this movie is really top notch and well animated.  Unlike some of the other recent animated versions of Superman, this version of Kal-El does NOT pull his punches (the fact that Brainiac is a robot helps when displaying all the gratuitous destruction and still keeping a PG-13 rating. Luckily for Warners, robots don’t bleed or have internal organs.) In the fight scenes of this movie, you understand why they went with the title Superman: Unbound; without worrying about having to kill anyone, Superman doesn’t waste time and kicks ass and takes names. It’s a blast seeing this version of Superman for a change, the kind that doesn’t hold back and just lets the villains have it every which way possible.

It should be noted that this is producer James Tucker’s first DC Universe Animated film that he has produced and directed; up until now DC animation legend  Bruce Timm has been the executive producer of each of these films, and now his protege Tucker has picked up the mantle to do these. I can say now that the transition has been smooth, as this movie maintains the same quality of all the best of the Timm projects. Still onboard is Andrea Romano, voice director for the ages, and as always she gets great performances out of her cast. It is a shame that each of these movies is a “stand alone,” because I would love to see this group of actors reprise these roles again. Overall, the combination of fun characterization with good voice acting, great fight scenes, and a good villain make this movie worth watching, maybe even a few times over.

Grade: 3-5-stars

 

Superman: Unbound is released on May 7th, 2013

Christopher Nolan & Zack Snyder On ‘Justice League’: Weighing The Pros And Cons

by Eric Diaz

Last night, movie super-scooper “El Mayimbe” of Latino-Review dropped his biggest nerd nuclear bomb of the year so far, revealing in a video message on his website that Warner Brother’s Justice League movie, which last we heard was once again in limbo, is indeed anything but. He revealed that Warner Brothers has hired Christopher Nolan to produce a Justice League film, with Zack Snyder probably directing and, most likely, David Goyer writing the script. In other words, the exact same creative team behind this summer’s Man of Steel.

 

Perhaps the biggest news in all this is that Warner Brothers wants Christian Bale to resume the mantle of Batman, which means instead of JL introducing the world to a whole new Batman, as was said to be the original plan, the movie would play off the continuity of Nolan’s previous Batman movies. This is all a bit of a shocker, as Nolan has insisted these last few years that his Batman saga is a stand alone story, unrelated to any larger DC cinematic universe. In fact, he has denied involvement with any Justice League movie project in the past. And while this was all probably true when he said it, nothing can change one’s mind quite like having a Brinks truck full of millions of dollars in cash brought to your house, as Warner Brothers surely did to get him on board in some capacity, and help save Justice League from potential disaster.

 

Justice

 

The inclusion of Nolan and potentially Bale just made the budget of this movie skyrocket into the stratosphere; these guys are not going to come cheap. But Warners must realize they stand to gain so much more by including them, it is worth the price. Right now, Disney has not only Marvel and Star Wars, but two of the biggest names with geek cred attached to them in the form of Joss Whedon and JJ Abrams.

 

To have Justice League even come close to competing with them, they know they have to pull out all the stops, and that means bringing in Nolan and Bale, and throwing lots of $$$ at them to get them to play along. While geeks everywhere are likely doing a happy dance at this news, I’m here to weigh the pros and cons to a Christopher Nolan produced Justice League. While this is surely good news…that doesn’t mean there won’t be any potential downsides to it.

If these new rumors turn out to be true, then these two guys have a lot of reasons to be $miling.
If these new rumors turn out to be true, then these two guys have a lot of reasons to be $miling.

 

The Pros

 

The positives of a Christopher Nolan produced Justice League are obvious; for starters, he is easily the greatest genre filmmaker to come out of the past decade, hands down. Having a talent like Nolan overseeing  Justice League  in a “godfather” capacity means that you’ll have someone with excellent taste who knows crap when they see it, and won’t tolerate something half-assed and low quality. It doesn’t meant the movie is going to be automatically good, but it does mean it will have integrity and not just be seen by the general population as a knock-off of The Avengers (and yes, I know the Justice League came before the Avengers in the comics–the average moviegoer does not know that.) His name alone attached to this project adds a level of quality and prestige (no pun intended.)

 

Up until now, the only name creatively attached to Justice League was a writer from the television show Castle. This excited exactly no one. Warner Brothers knows they need a name with both geek cred and mainstream cred to compete with Abrams and Whedon over at Disney. And for them, those names are Nolan and Snyder. And by making the Justice League movie an extension of the multi-billion dollar Dark Knight franchise, this instantly makes the film an event for not just geeks, but for moviegoers all over the world. It is the safe choice and the smart choice.

 

christopher-nolan-talks-bane-74582-00-470-75

 

The Cons

 

Yes, believe it or not, there may be cons to a Nolan produced Justice League. My biggest, and really only, concern is that Christopher Nolan just doesn’t really like super-heroes all that much. He has stated as much in interviews in the past. Sure, in many many ways, his Dark Knight trilogy is closer to the comic book incarnations than anything yet put to film about Batman (except maybe the Bruce Timm/Paul Dini animated series from the 90s.) However, Nolan also has a serious penchant for “de-comic booking” almost every aspect of Batman’s world as to appear more “real.” For the most part, that worked like gangbusters on Batman.

 

The jury is still out on whether or not it worked for Superman, but so far, the early buzz is very, very good. But there is simply no way to de-comic book a concept like the Justice League. Aside from Batman and Superman, you have a guy with what amounts to being a magic ring, an immortal Amazon, and a guy who can run at the speed of light. Much like the Avengers, the JL is pure comic book tropes in all their multi-colored glory. I seriously hope we don’t get a ‘realistic” explanation, Inception style, for how the Flash’s power works, or how Green Lanterns ring functions, or any of that. It just isn’t needed.

 

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Hopefully, Nolan allows writer David Goyer (who I’m just going to assume is going to be writing this) to take the reins of the story here; he’s a fanboy writer who is steeped in comics lore, and even co-wrote a lengthy run on Justice Society of America with Geoff Johns in the early 2000’s. The best thing Nolan can do is stay out of the way of Goyer as he comes up with the story mechanics, because Goyer understands the dynamics of a big, cosmic super-team stuff in a way Nolan probably never will. Goyer’s weakness is his dialogue, but then that’s where Christopher Nolan’s brother Jonah usually steps in and helps out.

 

Whatever ends up happening, we don’t need a grim, realistic take on the Justice League. In my opinion, the two very best incarnations of the team are Grant Morrisson’s run on the comic from 1996-2000, and the Bruce Timm produced animated series. Both were colorful, wild, and filled with big ideas, but were not campy or cheesy. That is where their inspiration should come from. If Synder does indeed direct (which would be likely) based on his past movies he is certainly not afraid of the more comic-booky aspects of the League.

 

While not as overtly talented as Christopher Nolan, both Snyder and Goyer have the comic book sensibilities that Nolan lacks.
While not as overtly talented as Christopher Nolan, both Snyder and Goyer have the comic book sensibilities that Nolan lacks.

 

Ultimately, this is a very minor “con”–especially since Nolan won’t be directing the movie and will have less need to force his own aesthetics onto the final product. In the case of a Justice League movie, having Nolan involved will ultimately mean much more pros than cons in the end.

 

So What Can We Expect?

 

Assuming this is all true of course, we know next to nothing about what a Nolan/Snyder Justice League movie would look like, but it is likely that Warner is starting from scratch with the story and script. Which probably means no Darkseid as the villain, as he was reported to be in Will Beall’s now tossed-out script. One thing I do expect to stay is the idea of a “five members only” League, especially now with Nolan involved. Aquaman and Martian Manhunter are just a  wee bit too fanciful for Nolan’s aesthetic, and even if he isn’t directing, I’d imagine his first suggestion would be to keep the cast trimmed down and get rid of those two characters. But DC’s “Big Five” of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern are sure to be included. They are the core of the League, and to be fair, the core of the entire DC Universe.

 

Since 1940, in one way or another, DC Comics has been publishing these five heroes continuously in some form; only Flash and Green Lantern were considered popular enough to have their own comic books alongside Supes, Bats and Wonder Woman in the 40’s, and although they went away in 1952, they were revived in new forms just a few short years later and have been published continuously ever since. No other DC super hero characters can claim such long uninterrupted runs, which is why these five characters are the backbone of the DCU, and are certain to be included in a JL movie. Anything or anyone else is gravy. But bank on those five being on the team, no matter how much Chris Nolan may hate the idea of magic green rings.

 

Another question is whether a movie like Justice League come together in time for summer 2015 at this point. While it seems unlikey, remember Joss Whedon was not officially announced to direct the Avengers until Comic-Con 2010, two years before that movie came out. And that turned out just fine. So it isn’t impossible, especially if this is something that they have been working on in secret for some time.

 

These five heroes have been, in one form or another, the core of the DCU for 70 years. Expect all five to be in a Justice League film.
These five heroes have been, in one form or another, the core of the DCU for 70 years. Expect all five to be in a Justice League film.

 

So What About The  Future Of The Batman Franchise?

 

Up until now, the party line has been that Justice League was set to introduce us to an all new incarnation of Batman, who would then be spun-off into a whole new Batman movie series. If Bale returns instead, his role will probably be strictly limited to appearing in Justice League movies, and his asking price for that alone will probably break the bank. So forget fourth, fifth and sixth solo Batman installments with Bale starring in them. So does that mean no Batman movies while a JL movie series is happening? A movie series that could possibly go on for a decade?

 

There is an obvious solution to this–you make the new Batman film franchise based on 90’s animated series Batman Beyond. This way, you can have a younger Bruce Wayne appear in the JL, and an old Bruce (with another actor–maybe Clint Eastwood, whenever he’s not busy talking to chairs) appear in Batman Beyond training a new protege in the future.  Warner Brothers probably saw the lukewarm reaction fans had to Sony rebooting Spider-Man so quickly, and fearing a similar reaction to having “Batman Begins… Again!” so soon probably made them re-think their strategy. A Batman Beyond movie series is the “have your cake and eat it too” solution, as it would keep the two franchises from conflicting with each other.

 

A Batman Beyond movie would keep the Batman film franchise alive, all while combing the best elements of Batman, Iron Man and Spider-Man.
A Batman Beyond movie would keep the Batman film franchise alive, all while combing the best elements of Batman, Iron Man and Spider-Man.

 

Of course, this is all still rumor at this point, but “El Mayimbe” has quite the track record when it comes to these scoops (and if turns out to be false, expect Latino-Reviews credibility to plummet just as fast as it went up.) If it is true though, then Justice League just possibly went from being an industry and fanboy joke to being a real contender.

Somewhere, Ryan Reynolds is waiting for Christopher Nolan's phone call. He will call...right?!
Somewhere, Ryan Reynolds is waiting for Christopher Nolan’s phone call. He will call…right?!

 

‘Star Wars: Episode VII’: If Han Solo Returns, Who Else Might Tag Along?

by Eric Diaz

This past weekend, Latino-Review’s resident super movie scooper El Mayimbe confirmed for many what has been speculated ever since last Fall, that Harrison Ford will return to the role of Han Solo in Star Wars Episode VII. This one piece of information confirms a lot of things about what to expect from the next trilogy, mostly that these sequels will take place relatively close in time to where we left things off in Return of the Jedi. With the casting of Ford, this means that this film will likely take place only decades later, not a hundred or even a thousand years from where we left off storywise, as has been speculated by some. This makes the guessing game a whole lot easier about which elements of the classic Star Wars films we will see going forward. The focus of these new films is almost certainly going to be on the children of Han, Leia and Luke, with the classic trilogy characters taking a backseat to the new kids. The classic trilogy trio will likely be seen in much smaller roles, kind of in a “passing the torch” kind of way. While nothing is for certain, based on what we do know, here are my educated guesses as to who and what we will see in Episode VII, as well as what we most certainly won’t see.

 

Luke Skywalker/Mark Hamill

 

If there is any one single character from the classic films that is almost a virtual shoo-in for a return, it’ll be Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. There is very little we know about whatever George Lucas outline they are said to be using for Episodes VII-IX, but everything we do know has come out in bits and pieces over the years from interviews with Hamill, who always said that Lucas promised him a role similar to what Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan had in the original film, as the older Jedi mentor figure. And now that we know that Han Solo is a character in this movie, there is almost no chance that Luke won’t be back as well. In a nice bit of cosmic happenstance, Hamill will be the exact same age in 2015 that Sir Alec Guinness was when he played Obi-Wan in 1977.

 

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Chances For Coming Back – 10/10

 

Princess Leia/Carrie Fisher

 

When I first heard the announcement of Episodes VII-IX, my honest to goodness thought was that of all the human characters in the original trilogy, we would probably only see Luke return. But since that time, not only has Harrison Ford been all but confirmed, but it has been quickly revealed that Lucas informed both actors Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher of the new episodes as early as last August. Why tell Fisher if he didn’t want her involvement as well? And now that her man Han Solo is confirmed to return? It is pretty close to a safe bet she’ll be back too. I don’t expect Leia to have a huge role here, we will probably see her as the President of the New Republic or something similar, not to mention as a mother figure to whomever the main character (or characters) probably will be.

 

Instead of using make up and digital trickery to try to de-age her, I think the opposite action needs to be taken; age her UP, make her a cross between Margaret Thatcher and Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter series. The only reason I give Leia  a slightly lesser chance of returning is that I could see Carrie Fisher, someone known to be somewhat neurotic about her physical appearance (if you’ve ever watched her one-woman shows, you know what I mean) choosing to leave her Leia Legacy behind as gold-bikinied hottie that millions of fanboys got their first erections to, and leave it at that.

 

The image of Carrie Fisher on the right is one of her more flattering recent pics. Instead of trying to make her look younger through lipo, botox and who knows what else, my suggestion is age her up.
The image of Carrie Fisher on the right is one of her more flattering recent pics. Instead of trying to make her look younger through lipo, botox and who knows what else, my suggestion is age her up.

Chances For Returning- 9/10

 

Chewbacca/Peter Mayhew

 

Another iconic character who was sorely missed in episodes I-II. We all know actor Peter Mayhew has already stated he is down to return and play Chewie, but frankly, even if he doesn’t, another 7 foot huge actor could fill the part and almost no one would know better (sorry Peter.) Besides, where Han goes, Chewie goes. Everyone knows that.

 

chewbacca

Chances for Returning: 10/10

 

R2-D2 and C-3PO/Kenny Baker & Anthony Daniels

 

And here are the last of what I’d say are the “shoo-ins” to come back. Lucas has long stated that the droids are the connective thread through all the trilogies, and we know that where Master Luke goes, so do his faithful droids. I guess the only question is, will either of the original actors inside the metal shells come back? Kenny Baker was barely needed in the prequels, as technology improved greatly by the time shooting the newer movies began. That is even more true today. And Anthony Daniels is currently in his late 60’s. Will he still want to get into a hot metal suit on a set for hours at this point? Even if he doesn’t, and they find another actor to fill the suit, it is pretty much a guarantee that Daniels will at least provide the voice of Threepio for as long as he’s still alive and kicking.

 

DroidDuo

Chances for Returning: 10/10

 

Lando Calrissian/Billy Dee Williams

 

Ok, here is where things get a wee bit murkier. Lando could come back, but at this point I think he would just be brought back pretty much just to be there. This movie isn’t going to focus on the old guys, and having four old actors all essentially in mentor roles is kind of pushing it. He’s not really part of the Skywalker family per se, I’m just not sure what role he’d really have to play at this point in the story. But if all the original important characters come back, and they leave the only ethnic character from the classic series out, Disney could get a lot of crap for that decision. Of course, if they include an all new African-American character, well, then that solves that particular  problem, and they don’t suddenly have to find a role for Grandpa Lando.

 

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Chances for Coming Back: 6/10

 

The Emperor/Ian McDiarmid 

 

The biggest question on everyone’s mind, at least concerning the story of this new trilogy, is just who the hell is the villain going to be? If Episodes VII-IX are meant to round out the saga as started in the Episodes I-VI, then it would figure they would continue to use the same villain: Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious. In creating the original saga, George Lucas has had no problem borrowing liberally from sources as varied as King Arthur legends, old westerns, World War II history and lots more. He once stated that Obi-Wan in Episode IV was based in part on Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings, and seeing as how both “died” in the first chapters of their respective trilogies, only to come back more powerful than before later on, you can see the connection. So if Gandalf is Obi-Wan, could the Emperor be maybe… Sauron?

 

palpatine

 

Go with me here; what if after decades of a hard-won peace, in a distant part of the realm (or the galaxy in this case) the disembodied spirit of Palpatine grows more powerful, and begins to have his minions build an army. This allows for for a return of familiar Star Wars iconography, like Imperial Star Destroyers and Storm Troopers, but with a modern twist–recognizable but slightly redesigned and improved. This storyline is similar to Dark Horse Comics’ Dark Empire series, but in that particular set of stories the Emperor came back as a clone, and I don’t see them going that way here. Instead, I see him as a disembodied presence, and probably just his voice (voiced of course still by the great Ian McDiarmid) who might not even take physical form, much like Sauron in Lord of the Rings. The goal of this trilogy might be for the grandchild (or grandchildren) of Anakin Skywalker to prevent the return of the Sith, which would then undo Anakin’s fulfillment of his destiny. Still, Abrams might want a whole new villain for his version of Star Wars, which is why I don’t think the return of the Sith is anywhere near a done deal yet.

 

Chances for Returning: 5/10

 

Obi-Wan Kenobi/Ewan McGregor

 

Say what you will about the prequel trilogy, even the most ardent prequel hater will grudgingly admit that Ewan McGregor nailed the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Add a little old age make-up, some translucent blow glow, and he can appear in a cameo communing with Luke from beyond the grave. Ewan McGregor has recently said he’d be down for any return to the Star Wars saga, and having grown up with the classic films, he would probably love to be in a movie with the original cast.

 

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Chances for Returning: 7/10

 

Yoda/Frank Oz

 

Everything I just said about Obi-Wan applies to Yoda as well. If I were Disney, I’d keep the Yoda/Obi-Wan cameos under wraps as much as possible, leave it as a surprise for audiences. Of course, in this age of online scoops, good luck keeping that from being spoiled if it does end up happening.

 

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Chances for Returning: 7/10

 

Anakin Skywalker/Hayden Christensen

 

All right, This might piss off fanboys the world over, but if ghostly Ben and Yoda come back, that implies Anakin would too probably. If Palpatine is indeed the villain again, then Anakin’s chances double for a return appearance, as who has better insight into Palpy but his former apprentice? A lot of fans loathe Hayden Christensen, but under the direction of JJ Abrams, I could see him giving a decent performance, much like he did in Shattered Glass. Besides, it would probably just be a cameo anyway, so I wouldn’t sweat it too much.

 

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Chances for Returning: 6/10

 

Boba Fett/Temuera Morrison (Or Whoever)

 

Although loved by fanboys the world over, I can’t see how they would explain Boba being around some thirty years after movie going audiences last saw him as being “slowly digested over a thousand years” in the Sarlaac Pit at the start of Return of the Jedi. Yes, I am aware that various comics and novels have explained how Boba survived that little indiginity, but most casual moviegoers have not read any of those, and I can’t see JJ Abrams spending valuable screen time explaining how Boba managed to still be alive and kicking decades later. Boba might get his own solo spin-off movie set during the classic trilogy (I think this more than likely) but don’t expect him in Episode VII. Still, he is very popular,  so anything is possible. I won’t go as far as ruling it out completely.

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Chances For Returning: 2/10

 

Jar-Jar Binks/Ahmed Best

 

Relax, geeks. This will never happen. Everyone knows Jar-Jar is the most hated character in all of sci-fi, symbolic of everything wrong with the prequel trilogy. You might see cute little in jokes, like a gravestone with his head on it, or something similar, but yeah…Disney won’t allow for Jar-Jar in this new trilogy, so everyone go ahead and breathe a sigh of relief.

 

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Chances For Returning: 0/10

 

Locations/Planets

 

The Star Wars galaxy is a vast one, made up of thousands and thousands of planets, and I think this is something JJ Abrams will want to explore more. I don’t believe we will be visiting many already seen worlds from the original saga, and they will be mostly creating whole new ones instead. I can’t forsee a reason to return to planets like Hoth, Dagobah, Bespin, or almost any of the others for any reason other than viewers already know them. There are two big exceptions to this rule though, and they are the following:

 

Tatooine

 

While Tatooine is the planet said to be the farthest from the bright center of the universe, and essentially the armpit of the galaxy, it is the emotional home planet of the Star Wars saga, appearing in five of the six films. I’m not sure how it will factor in, but at some point in Episode VII-IX, count on visiting Tatooine, maybe as the home of hermit Jedi Master Luke Skywalker.

 

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Coruscant

 

The capital world of the Republic, then the Empire, and then presumably the New Republic as well. It was originally meant to appear in Return of the Jedi, although using a different name. If Tatooine is the Star Wars galaxy’s version of a no-name small town, then Coruscant is New York City. While the prequel movies spent way too much time in this one location, the capital world is too important to to be ignored, and is bound to make at least an appearance at some point in these new movies.

 

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Chances of Seeing Both Planets: 8/10

 

Starships

 

The Millennium Falcon

 

One very important ingredient missing in the prequel trilogy was the lack of a central starship to serve as de-facto home for the protagonists, which is what the Millennium Falcon was to the core group of characters in the classic trilogy. The Millennium Falcon is the most beloved spaceship in sci-fi history, right next to the starship Enterprise; there is almost no way it isn’t making a comeback this time. I don’t expect Han to be piloting the ship anymore though, I expect him to have given the old girl to one of his kids…although I could see Chewie remaining as co-pilot to his “niece” or “nephew.” One thing is for sure though, expect to see the return of the Falcon, and expect it to still not work half the time.

 

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X-Wings, Y-Wings, Etc.

 

If you look at the starships in the original trilogy, the Imperial armada all have a sparse, uniform look with little in the way of deviation; Star Destroyers for example are all angular and stark white and colorless. The Rebels on the other hand are made up of various cultures all coming together, and therefore have a more haphazard and varied look (all the Rebel fleet scenes in Empire and Jedi look like ships that all came from different worlds.) Now that the Rebels have very likely become the New Republic (or something similar) they have to look more uniform, but should still look more organic and not too much like the former Empire’s ships. There should be X-Wings, Y-Wings and the like, because everyone loves those designs, but everything should look a little more uniform and polished, as this isn’t a rag tag band anymore, they are the establishment.

 

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Chances of Seeing These Ships (Or Variations of Them) 9/10

 

 

Last, but certainly not least, John Williams

 

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At first, I would have thought that John Williams would have chosen to retire from Star Wars along with George Lucas, but according to recent reports, he is seemingly down for a return. Star Wars and Williams go together like peanut butter and jelly, so if he wants to come back, Disney will move heaven and Earth to make that happen. In any case, the next few months and years will prove whether or not my guesses have any degree of accuracy, or whether or not JJ Abrams instead surprises us all with a movie trilogy about the adventures of Admiral Ackbar and his crew of Ewok fighter pilots.

Disney and Star Wars: Is The House of Mouse About To Give Us Jedi Overkill?

by Eric Diaz

It’s crazy to think it has only been a little over three months since Disney bought Lucasfilm and announced a whole new Star Wars trilogy coming in just two and a half years. Since that particular nerd nuclear bomb was dropped, the news has continued to come at a rapid fire rate; first came the news that Toys Story 3‘s Michael Arndt would be writing the screenplay (with help from none other than Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark writer Lawrence Kasdan) to the big bombshell dropped a few weeks back that JJ Abrams was taking the helm of Episode VII. All of these things were generally greeted as good-to-great news by both hardcore and casual fan alike.

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In many ways, this is the best time ever to be a Star Wars fan; the galaxy far, far away has been released from the viselike grip of George Lucas, and now a generation of filmmakers who grew up with the classic films are free to play in his sandbox and add to the mythology. Older fans like me are going to get to see the sequel trilogy we had long ago given up on ever seeing come to life, and under the hand of a gifted director and screen writer to boot. But now we are getting news that not only are we getting Episodes VII-IX, we are also getting a whole slew of spin-off films as well. In just one week, we’ve heard reports of a Yoda-centric film, a Seven Samurai -inspired movie from Zack Snyder (which may be one and the same with the Yoda flick), and now a young Han Solo movie and a Boba Fett solo movie, too. All of these are said to be alternating between Episodes VII-IX. That would mean like six or more Star Wars universe films in a decade. At least. And personally, I think that is WAY too much. Disney spent four billion to get their hands on this franchise, and if they keep to this crazy factory mentality they seem to have set up, they will quite literally kill all interest in Star Wars by running it into the proverbial  ground. Here is what I think Disney needs to do (and to not do) if they plan on keeping Star Wars alive and a perennial franchise in the same way 007 and others have proven to be. Start taking notes, Bob Iger.

 

Learn From Star Trek’s Mistakes

 

Back in the early 90’s, Star Wars was all but dead. There were no movies coming out, and we didn’t know if new movies would ever come out. There were no toys on the shelves, and comics and books based on that galaxy far, far away were just beginning to trickle out again. The general feeling was that Star Wars had died with the 80’s. The reigning sci-fi franchise was Star Trek, thank to the massive success of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Next Gen was a huge hit, so naturally Paramount wanted a spin-off series. Before TNG ended its run, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine debuted, making two Trek series running at once. It was also successful, so when the TNG cast was spun off into feature films, Paramount decided they still wanted two different Trek shows on the air, and less than two years after DS9 debuted, Star Trek: Voyager came onto the airwaves. In the meantime, the TNG crew still had movies coming out every two years, not to mention repeats of the show airing almost everywhere in second run syndication nightly, and re-runs of the original series too. By the time Voyager ended its run in 2001, even this die-hard Trekker was officially sick of the franchise. Paramount had taken their cash cow and, in a little over a decade, wrung out every bit of life left in her. The following series Enterprise eventually died with a whimper, and it took JJ Abrams to perform miracle surgery and save the franchise.

 

By the late 90's and early 2000's, there was so much Star Trek product that the overload all but killed the franchise entirely.
By the late 90’s and early 2000’s, there was so much Star Trek product that the overload all but killed the franchise entirely.

Disney needs to look at what happened with Trek during the late 90’s and early 2000’s as a cautionary tale. Star Wars is the most beloved film franchise of all time, hands down. The sixteen year gap didn’t make fans less eager to line up for days to see The Phantom Menace, and the disappointment of the prequels for many has not quelled fan anticipation for the sequel trilogy from the looks of it. Disney does not need to pump out a Star Wars movie every year and have a show on television on top of that to make good on their four billion dollar purchase. If they play their cards right, Star Wars can remain a valuable property to them for the next several decades…or it could all be over before we know it.

 

No Overlapping Star Wars Films. 

 

The idea of stand-alone “side stories” focusing on well-known characters in the Star Wars universe is actually a smart idea, and Disney simply needs to play the long game with this one. The proper Star Wars episodes should maintain their once every three years release schedule, which worked just fine for both of the previous trilogies (possibly every two years is not so bad either, it worked for Harry Potter.) But Disney should wait till after the new trilogy is finished before releasing any stand alone movies, though. Any time a Star Wars movie is released, it needs to be an event, plain and simple. Focus on your new trilogy first and foremost. Make sure that is as good as it can possibly be, and win back the casual moviegoer who abandoned the franchise post Jar-Jar. Now after that trilogy is done, then do stand-alone pics focusing on Boba Fett, the Knights of the Old Republic, or even Salacious Crumb if you want. I imagine Disney will also want an Episodes X-XII at some point; maybe make those a good decade or so after this new trilogy is done, and in between you can keep the Star Wars flame burning by sprinkling one or two of these stand-alone films. I am cool with most of the ideas floating around for spin-off films that have been leaked so far, but I do take great exception to one of them…

 

No “Adventures of Baby Han Solo” Movie, Please

 

While I think the idea of a “Tales of the Star Wars Galaxy” spin-off series is great, some things need to be nipped right in the bud. I really, really don’t think we need to find out the secret origin of Han Solo, or see him as a teen or twenty-something learning the ropes of intergalactic drug dealing and smuggling for a giant slug-like gangster. Obviously, Han is a mega-popular character, and a film set between Episodes III and IV would allow Disney to make a film in the classic timeline–they could have the Falcon and Chewie and Imperial Star Destroyers, and maybe even Lord Vader himself show up. The marketing opportunity must be impossible to resist. But they should resist it. Han Solo is one of the most iconic characters in movie history. Even George Lucas realized that a young Han was a bad idea, and scratched a cameo appearance from Episode III. The Clone Wars animated series has an edict that Han is never to show up, as it would ruin his grand entrance into the saga in the Mos Eisley Cantina in A New Hope. I wholeheartedly agree with that rule. I’m all for a Boba Fett/Bounty Hunters film set during the classic trilogy if done right, but please for the love of the Force, leave Han Solo alone.

A Boba Fett bounty hunting epic? Bring it on. A Young Han Solo Chronicles? Hell to the no.
A Boba Fett bounty hunting epic? Bring it on. A Young Han Solo Chronicles? Hell to the no.

 

No Live-Action Series

 

There had been talk for years prior to the Disney buyout of a live action Star Wars series, one set in the galactic underworld and possibly featuring Boba Fett and other bounty hunters. When there were to be no more films coming out, I was ok with this idea. But with Disney in charge now, rumors began to swirl of that television idea being revived for ABC. To this I say a big fat NO. If there are indeed going to be these “Tales of the Star Wars Galaxy” films as well as a proper trilogy on a continuing basis, then the last thing we want is a live-action series on top of all that. It is just one thing too many, and kills the specialness of the Star Wars universe. Star Wars should still maintain a television presence the way they have for the past five years–in animation. The Clone Wars animated series has become one of the best cartoon shows ever, and in my humble opinion is the best Star Wars anything since Empire. While I imagine that the show will go off the air within the next couple of years, executive producer Dave Filoni and his animation team should immediately be put in charge on a new animated series. The story and timeline of The Old Republic game seems perfect for a new ongoing animated series. And unlike The Clone Wars, where almost all of the main characters destinies are pretty much etched in stone, an Old Republic series would’t be limited by the existing movies as to what happens with the characters, as it would be presumably set hundreds or even thousands of years before. But whatever happens with future toons, having live action films and a television series is just plain overkill.

The Old Republic would be an ideal follow up animated series to Clone Wars.
The Old Republic would be an ideal follow up animated series to Clone Wars.

 

Just Slow Your Roll, Mickey

 

There aren’t that many media franchises that can really stand the test of time; James Bond just celebrated fifty years in the mass popular culture, and in just three years Star Trek will do the same.  When Star Wars reaches that milestone, will it be played out beyond all repair, or just be getting started? Star Wars is now your golden goose Disney…just don’t kill it before it has started to produce any actual golden eggs for you.

 

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American Horror Story: Asylum- Season 2 Post Mortem

by Eric Diaz

I come to praise American Horror Story: Asylum, not to bury it.  Well, maybe bury it a just a little. American Horror Story on FX is an odd show for me to write about objectively; I think it is currently the single most entertaining show on television, with possibly the best ensemble cast currently working on the small screen. The production values are top notch, and there is simply no more of an addicting show on television than this one. At the end of each week’s episode of American Horror Story, you just can’t wait for the next week’s installment. And yet…despite truly brilliant performances from everyone involved, there is the feeling that much of this series is plotted out on napkins and never given more than a first draft by the show’s creators. Last night’s episode concluded the season (actually, the series, as each season of American Horror Story is a self contained story) concluding some storylines in a satisfying fashion, while others… not as much.

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American Horror Story: Asylum started this season with an alien abduction, a serial killer on the loose, a mad doctor, zombie like creatures, a feisty reporter, and a nun with a penchant for corporal punishment. And that’s all introduced the very first episode of the season; by the next few episodes we are introduced to Satanic possession, Nazi war criminals, murderous Santa Clauses and the Angel of Death herself. Oh, and Anne Frank. Because, ya know…at this point, why not? Toss in the proverbial kitchen sink while you’re at it. It started to become pretty clear early on that all these disparate plot elements were in no way tied together in any kind of cohesive fashion, aside from the fact that they all took place at Briarcliff Asylum at the same period in time. Ok, so in this way it’s like a standard soap opera, where there are tons of story lines going on at once only barely connected. While I can live with that, I still think all those plot elements deserve a satisfactory resolution, and only a few of them receive that on this show. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

 

But now that the season is all over and done with, I’m here to talk about the good, the bad, and the “somewhere in between” of American Horror Story: Asylum. Warning, there are big time SPOILERS in this article, so if you’re not caught up on the show yet, or plan to watch it on Netflix sometime down the road, then please wait to read this article. You have been warned. Still here? Ok then, let us start first with….

 

The Good

 

The Cast On This Show Is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

As I said, the cast on this series is simply amazing. But none more so than Jessica Lange. Lange gives a performance for the ages here as the strict Sister Jude, caretaker of Briarcliff Asylum, a character we begin the series with despising, then feeling sympathy toward, then outright rooting for and finally, relieved when she finds a small measure of peace. And all of this character growth happens over the course of  just thirteen episodes. Even though Lange won the Emmy last year for her performance on the first season of American Horror Story, she really deserved it for this one. Some of the credit here has to go to the series’ writers (who are better at character development than plot development) but the lion’s share goes to Lange, as fearless an actress as we have currently still working. She hasn’t been given too many high profile movie roles of late, but the movie’s loss is television’s gain. Jessica Lange simply rocks here, and American Horror Story is an incredible showcase for her talents.

It's Jessica Lange's world, and we just live in it.
It’s Jessica Lange’s world, and we just live in it.

But it’s not just Lange, Sarah Paulson as would be journalist Lana Winters is incredible here as well. Her part is equally multi-layered, as we see her go from closeted lesbian of the early 1960’s to the classic “survivor girl” of horror film lore, to sell-out media whore, and finally, the hard hitting journalist she always wanted to be. It’s an amazing, perfectly executed character journey, the kind of well rounded female character that movies and television don’t provide nearly enough of. Having only barely been a part of the season one ensemble, I didn’t know what to expect from Paulson, but she more than acquitted herself here.

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And I would easily say the third most important player has to be relative newcomer Lily Rabe, who plays the innocent Sister Mary Eunice, but spends most of her time on the series possessed by Satan and giving a deliciously evil performance. Her storyline ultimately ends very anticlimactically, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that her performance is so much fun to watch. It has gotta be hard to be a young actress and hold your own in a performance with an acting legend like Jessica Lange, but Rabe does so here, and just about steals every scene she’s in.

Lily Rabe might not be a household word yet, but she deserves to be.
Lily Rabe might not be a household word yet, but she deserves to be.

Truth is, there really is no weak link among the actors here, everyone is great. Zachary Quinto, James Cromwell, Evan Peters, Chloe Sevigny, every single member of the cast is giving it their 100%, and everyone seems to be having a blast being their characters. Even the guest stars, like Ian McShane who plays a murderous Santa Claus, are giving it all they’ve got. The ensemble on this show sometimes is far better than the material they are given, but this is to their credit.

 

The Bad

 

All The Blatant Rip-Offs

 

As much as I love this show, the one thing that drives me nuts when talking to other fans is hearing so many of them say “oh, that American Horror Story is such an original show.” That’s the moment I know that the fan is not really a horror movie fan, because AHS gleefully rips off just about every horror film from the past four decades. This series is like a collage of stolen elements from classic horror films that the producers of the show just seem to like, and then pretty much just steal outright. A serial killer who uses the skin of his victims to make a gruesome mask? Sounds like Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw right? Well, here he’s called Bloodyface instead. (it’s such an obvious rip, that the rights holders to Texas Chainsaw could probably sue the producers and win if they so desired.) The alien abduction scene is straight out of 90’s abduction flick Fire in the Sky. Killer Santa Claus? Ever see Silent Night, Deadly Night? And the show is a continuous list of elements straight up stolen from classic horror movies.

 

And it’s not just visual elements, they like to use music from famous horror films too; the premiere episode extensively used the prom scene music from Brian de Palma’s Carrie, and Phillip Glass’ haunting score from Candyman is used as well. While one can argue that taking all these tropes from horror cinema and putting them into a serialized narrative is itself an original concept, I kind of wanted to see at least one element that wasn’t derived from something else. Having said all that, guessing which classic horror flick the show would rip off this week was kind of part of the fun, one example of how on this show, many of the negatives became positives, if only by accident.

Nope, it's not Leatherface, it's BLOODYface. Get it right.
Nope, it’s not Leatherface, it’s BLOODYface. Get it right.

Plotlines With No Real Resolutions

 

Certain plotlines that run throughout the whole season are never fully resolved, or just unceremoniously dropped. In the second episode of the season, Satan itself possesses the innocent Sister Mary Eunice, played by the brilliant Lily Rabe, who eventually deposes Sister Jude and takes over Briarcliff Asylum for her own nefarious purposes. We just never find out what those purposes are. She seems to have big plans set in motion, but her character is killed off before we can ever find out just what the Hell Satan would want with an insane asylum anyways. Then there is Dr. Arden, our ex-Nazi mad scientist who is doing experiments on the inmates to create a syphillitic zombie like race enabled to survive a nuclear war (yeah, it makes even less sense as I type it.) But that plot line is ultimately just kind of dropped too. And just why are all these disparate elements like aliens and the Devil and Nazis all drawn to this one Asylum in Massachusetts anyway? The writers seem to have zero interest in answering those questions. It’s like they like just got bored and were hoping the audience would forget.

The whole alien plotline is just one of several that just kind of fizzled out on American Horror Story this season.
The whole alien plotline is just one of several that just kind of fizzled out on American Horror Story this season.

The Good/Bad (I Can’t Really Decide)

 

All The Cheap Shock Value

Man, do producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk love their trashiness for trashiness’ sake. On this season, we had Zachary Quinto begging for breast feeding from a captive Sarah Paulson, (and later raping the frozen corpse of her ex lover Clea DuVall) Oscar nominee James Cromwell refer to a hooker’s vagina as her “mossy bank,” a Satan possessed nun raping a priest, an attempted coat hanger induced abortion, not to mention Dylan McDermott drinking the breast milk from a sex worker. While all of this cheap shock value kept the proceedings from ever being taken too seriously by the audience (and actually pretty damn funny in a campy John Waters kind of way) it also made this the kind of “water cooler” show you just had to talk about with your friends the next day. So while I say the shock value is a good/bad sort of thing…I’m actually leaning towards good here. If only for giving me the term “mossy bank” to us to use forever.

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In the end it may seem like I have more complaints about American Horror Story than praise, but the truth is that at the end of the day the cast of actors are so damn enjoyable to watch, and the show such addictive, good trash (in the very best sense of the word) that I can’t help but love it. All my complaints ultimately are just minor quibbles that don’t really get in the way of my enjoyment of the show in any substantial way, because the show is just that much damn fun to watch. All I know is that It’ll be a long wait until season three of this series, and I can’t wait to find out just who will come back and what the setting will be. But season two has certainly raised the bar pretty damn high in terms of craziness. And good luck topping “The Name Game” Ryan Murphy. I think that little musical number might remain the series’ highlight.

The Carrie Diaries-Pilot Review

by Eric Diaz

There was a time when HBO’s Sex and the City was the shit. And I don’t just mean with women, I mean with everyone. In the late 90’s I didn’t have HBO, so I missed out on the early sexual escapades of Carrie Bradshaw and her friends, but I remember the show was on everyone’s lips, women and men alike. The idea of a show where women’s sexual appetites were viewed as largely similar to men’s was a major cultural turning point, and audiences flocked to it in droves. It wasn’t long before I joined in and became a huge fan too.

 

At some point, towards the end of the show’s run, it became the most important show for women in America from a cultural standpoint, and therefore men had to turn on it or run the risk of being seen as pussies. I distinctly remember straight guys I knew tell me “I would never watch that shit” and remember when, just a few years before, they would tell me how much they loved the show and would never miss an episode. I personally can’t understand why straight men would have such negative attitudes towards a show that encourages women to have lots of casual sex. Sounds like something they’d be 100% behind, but then what do I know. In any case, in its day the show was always appointment viewing for women and gay men all over the country, the very definition of zeitgeisty.

 

Of course, by the time the  Sex and the City movies came out, especially the second one, the series had become a parody of itself. The second movie was everything the shows detractors had always said it was, shallow and filled with meaningless product placements and women acting like bitches. It was an inglorious way for the franchise to end, but like all good pop culture icons, it seems Carrie Bradshaw has more than one incarnation, as witnessed by her rebirth last night on the CW’s The Carrie Diaries.

The World's new Carrie Bradshaw, Anna Sophia Robb
The World’s new Carrie Bradshaw, Anna Sophia Robb

The “Early Years/Extended Origin” story has been a fixture of male-centric pop culture for the past decade. You could say that it started with Smallville, and since then we’ve had the “how it all began” stories told in film for iconic heroes like Batman, James Bond and Captain Kirk. So why shouldn’t women have their turn? And certainly for many American women, Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw has become a modern icon for them. Even though the series has been off the air for nine years now, and the last movie was less than stellar, I still hear young women talk about the show. It wasn’t too long ago that I was at a movie, and while eavesdropping on the gaggle of  loud young women behind me before the movie started, I heard the the ubiquitous “No I’M  the Carrie, and you’re the Miranda!” And the girls were way too young to have been watching when the show originally aired, which means the power of the show continues in repeats and via DVD. Having said all that, it makes sense that the powers-that-be would want to continue the franchise in some form and keep those Bradshaw Bucks coming.

 

The pilot episode takes place three months after the death of Carrie’s mother from cancer. The year is 1984 and Carrie is sixteen, and lives in Connecticut with her now widowed father and fourteen year old sister. This, of course, makes the first continuity gaff with Sex and the City; on that show it was said in one episode that Carrie’s father ran out on her mom when she was a five and she never really knew him. She also never, ever mentions having a sister. The producers of Sex and the City had this rule that the girls on the show were each other’s real family, and therefore their bio-families were almost never to be seen or mentioned. Still, it was one tiny mention in one episode, so it’s no real big deal that they threw it out for the sake of this series. Carrie is played by Anna Sophia Robb, known previously as a child actress in various movies like Charlie & The Chocolate Factory and Race to Witch Mountain. Although she really looks nothing like a young Sarah Jessica Parker, she still somehow manages to make me believe she’ll grow up and become her someday, so that’s to her credit as an actress. She exudes much of the same empathy that SJP did, and as an audience member I found myself instantly liking her. If her casting had not worked, this entire series would have failed from the word go.

 

Much as she will later in life, Carrie has a tight group of BFF’s in high school. First off there is Jill Thompson, or “Mouse”, Carrie’s recently de-virginized best friend, played by Ellen Wong. Then there is Walt (Brendan Dooling) her fashionable best guy friend. Of course, Walt is gay and in the closet, and is dating Carrie’s other best girlfriend Maggie, played by Katie Findlay, best knows as the titular victim of AMC’s The Killing, Rosie Larsen. Walt is clearly an early version of Carrie’s future “best gay” Stanford. I do love this aspect of the series; it is 1984 after all, and the chances that a young guy would come out in high school were slim to none. It would have been a major struggle for him, and from the pilot so far, the show seems to reflect that and is keen on making it a plot point. Maggie is secretly screwing around with an older guy who it turns out is a cop. I have to admit that I like the idea that the future writer of a column called Sex and the City is a virgin at 17. of course there is a love interest, handsome and rich Sebastian Kydd (Austin Butler) who is channeling his best Pretty in Pink Andrew McCarthy. He’s clearly being set up as Carrie’s main love interest, and the source of her future attraction for aloof rich guys. And like any high school show worth its salt, there is the bitchy popular girl, this time named Donna LaDonna. In the novel, Donna and Carrie eventually become buds, and Donna introduces Carrie to her cousin Samantha Jones when she moves to the city. None of the secondary characters are onscreen long enough to make much of an impression yet, but the truth is, none of Carrie’s friends made much of an impression in the Sex and the City pilot episode either. So I can give them time.

We are also introduced to Carrie’s younger sister Dorrit in the pilot. Dorrit is 14, and although she certainly doesn’t dress the part, she seems to be a little proto-goth (her bedroom walls are adorned with posters for The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Joy Division. I like this kid already) Dorrit is taking their mother’s death much harder and lashing out in obvious ways. All of this stuff is your standard CW teen show stuff, riffing on the template laid out by My So Called Life nearly twenty years ago that every teen coming of age series has done ever since. Due to all the drama at home, Carrie’s dad gets her a weekend internship at a law office in Manhattan, and that’s where the fun part of the show actually starts. While in Manhattan, Carrie meets a Larissa, (Freema Agyeman) a hip British black girl who works at Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. She loves Carrie’s custom made purse, and wants to use it in a photo shoot. She kind of adopts Carrie, without ever realizing she’s under age, and scoops her up into a world of fancy restaurants, hipster artists, cute boys and expensive fashion. This is a pretty clever conceit the show uses to keep her high school life back at home a part of the show and still show the origins of her love affair with the Big Apple and her early metamorphosis into the Sex and the City version of Carrie. In the New York portion of the show, some of the clothes and hair borders on costumey “Come As The 80’s” theme party, but truthfully, as someone who was there, I can tell ya a lot of the looks of the era really were this garish and gloriously tacky.

Its really not that far fetched, in the 80's real people wore stuff like this.
Its really not that far fetched, in the 80’s real people wore stuff like this.

I have to admit, I started watching this show expecting to hate it and mock the shit out of it in this review. Part of the pure joy of Sex and the City was seeing a group of friends much like my own sit around and talk candidly about sex, and compare stories about giving bad blow jobs, meeting guys who wanna pee on you in the shower and all the other dirty stuff that this show will never, ever cover. Add to that, there is nothing remotely original about this show, like I said it is a variation on every teen show we’ve seen before, only we know the ultimate outcome of this series. It will be interesting to see how the producers can create long term drama out of this scenario, consider we all know that by her mid thirties, Carrie will still be single. No matter who she “ends up” with on this series, we as the viewers know it won’t be permanent.  And still, I buckled under the weight of so much awesomely bad 80’s fashion and awesomely great 80’s pop music (still the best era of pop music ever. You can argue with me all you want, but you’d just be wrong.) and the obvious charms of the show’s lead Anna Sophia Robb. In a few more episodes, I may get very sick of all this, and they can throw all the Nagel art and Yaz songs at me and It won’t work anymore, but for right now, I’m on board.

Twin Peaks: Why Now Is The Time For A Series Revival

by Eric Diaz

This past week, rumors spread like wildfire on the internet that filmmaker David Lynch was planning a revival of his seminal  1990’s television series Twin Peaks for NBC. Strangely, the source for all these rumors ended up being from an anonymous post on 4chan (not the most reliable source, I grant you.) But couple this with recent remarks made by series co-creator Mark Frost about being open to a return to Twin Peaks, and suddenly it seemed like this might really be possible. For a few hours at least, I was elated. My favorite television series of all time, one which ended on a rather spectacular cliffhanger I might add, might finally have some kind of resolution? I was jumping for joy. Well, that elation didn’t last too long. Within hours, after being bombarded with questions by rabid fans, Mark Frost took to his twitter account and had this to say:

Dear Internet: You are very good at spreading rumors. Truth is more valuable and much harder to come by. Sincerely yours,@mfrost11

While not a complete denial, further inquiry revealed that there had been no talks at all with NBC. Basically, someone made the whole thing up. (and whoever you are, this hardcore Peaks fan would like to punch you in the face for getting my hopes up like that. Jerk.) One of the first alarm bells that this story might be bogus was that Lynch was said to be talking with NBC executives about bringing back the show. Now, NBC is maybe the least likely place for Twin Peaks to make a comeback, despite the fact that the series is now showing on Hulu, which is partially owned by NBC. The show originally aired on ABC, and they had all kinds of problems with network interference back then. It is hard to imagine Lynch and Frost going to a broadcast network first in this day and age.

Twin Peaks was ultimately not the forerunner of any big changes in network television as many predicted it would be; in the twenty-odd years since it went off the air, the kind of dense, multi-layered storytelling has become a staple of cable television instead. Everything from The Sopranos to Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, Dexter and even genre shows like True Blood and Battlestar Galactica can be called the spiritual children of Twin Peaks. And lets not even talk about The Killing. Meanwhile, as cable television has become more and more interesting and daring, network television has gotten dumber; lots more reality shows and sitcoms, and less serialized and compelling dramas and more “one and done” procedurals about lawyers and doctors. (there are always outliers, like Lost, but they are very few and far between) So if Twin Peaks were to come back to television in some form, it would almost certainly be on a cable network, or possibly as a straight-to- Netflix series like the soon-to-be resurrected Arrested Development, and not on broadcast. And the next couple of years would be the perfect time to make this finally happen, and here is why:

“I’ll See You Again In 25 Years”

The show’s most famous moment is perhaps the dream sequence from episode three, where an older FBI Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) is shown in a room with red drapes, with a backwards-talking dwarf and the spirit of dead homecoming queen Laura Palmer, whose murder he has come to town to investigate. Even if you’ve never seen the show, you probably have come across this sequence, if only being referenced somewhere else like The Simpsons. The episode states that the events of the dream occurred “25 years later.” In the final episode of the series (uh, SPOILERS I guess) Dale Cooper is trapped in the other worldly realm known as the Black Lodge (which looks like the very same red room from the dream) for what he is told will be twenty-five years. While the series ended in 1991, making the twenty-five years later fall on 2016, the actual events of the series take place over the course of just over a month, from February to March 1989…which actually makes 2014 the right time for the whole “twenty-five years later” business to actually take place.

And so, here we are, only a year away from the date that the series set forth. In a recent interview with Sci-Fi Now magazine (via Moviehole) series co-creator Mark Frost seems to at least be optimistic to the possibility of more Peaks, saying  “Who knows what will happen in the future.” Apparently, bringing the show back is “something we talk about from time to time. If we ever do decide to move forward, I know we have a rich trove to draw from.” Series writer/producer Robert Engels has made similar comments in recent years as well; “I get a call once every six months or so from someone asking, ‘What do you think about doing Twin Peaks again?’ but it’s not my call. If David and Mark are in, then yes.” So while the whole NBC rebooting Twin Peaks story might have been bogus, it seems that maybe…maybe…something is finally going on. This isn’t the first time a rumor like this has popped up in the past few years, and as they say, where there is smoke there is usually fire.

The one big monkey wrench in any plan to bring back Twin Peaks has always been series co-creator David Lynch. Despite speaking fondly of the show in almost every interview, he seems to resist the idea of returning just as much. Much of this is said to be because of the way the public and critics reacted to his theatrical prequel film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me when it came out in 1992. Many fans hated it, critics were mostly harsh, and according to many, Lynch took all of this very personally. He scrapped any and all plans for further films set in that world, despite the fact that series ended with multiple cliffhangers that were meant to propel the series to a third season’s worth of stories. But the truth is, none of Lynch’s films since have made much more money than Fire Walk With Me did. His biggest success was 2001’s Mulholland Drive, which made only $7 million at the box office, only two million more than Fire Walk With Me, and that’s with a host of Oscar nominations to its name. His last film Inland Empire was hard to watch for even the most hardcore Lynch fan, and made less than a million in theaters. So it can’t be that he’s still butthurt over the reaction to the Fire Walk With Me, especially considering that the cult following for the film has only grown with time.

Artwork done by artist Matt Haley for a proposed Twin Peaks graphic novel that David Lynch had nixed.

Nevertheless, David Lynch has put a stop to any and all attempts at any Twin Peaks continuations over the past twenty years. In the early 2000’s, a company called Phoenix Media was seeking to finance a new set of Twin Peaks films called Twin Peaks: With a Thousand Angels, only to have no cooperation from Lynch and Frost, therefore nipping that one in the bud. And when the complete series came out on DVD in 2007, a comic book artist named Matt Haley proposed a graphic novel conclusion to the series, based on story notes for a proposed third season from original series writer Robert Engels. He even got Engels to agree to write the graphic novel himself, which would have been included with the DVD set. Series composer Angelo Badalamenti was even going to make a soundtrack to the graphic novel, and Mark Frost gave his blessing as well. All his ducks were in a row, until David Lynch put a stop to the whole thing. All of this just means David Lynch is either really mean and hates his fans and simply refuses to throw them any kind of a bone….or, he has plans of his own for Twin Peaks. And I’m starting to think it may really be the latter.

 The Stars Are All Aligned For This To Happen Now

On the series, it was explained that the doors to the mystical Black and White Lodges could only be opened when certain planets and stars were aligned. Well, right now it seems all the right stars are aligned for a Twin Peaks revival to happen. And here are just some of the reasons why I think this should happen sooner rather than later.

The Major Players Are All Still Around

Some twenty-three years since the show premiered, most of the major creative players of the series are not only alive and kicking, but still viable and working. David Lynch hasn’t directed a film since 2006’s Inland Empire, but he continues to work making music and painting, with the occasional commercial here and there. Mark Frost has just started a series of young adult novels called The Paladin Prophecies, and more recently wrote the two Fantastic Four movies (but try not to hold that against him.) Angelo Badalamenti, whose iconic score is such a vital ingredient to the show’s sucess is also still scoring movies at the age of seventy-five. And Kyle MacLachlan is still acting, most recently in the show Portlandia. The other stars of the series are almost all also still around too, with a few notable exceptions, and have expressed interest in coming back. It seems everyone is just waiting for that phone call from Mr.Lynch.

Given the enduring global popularity of Twin Peaks, especially in Japan and Europe, a revival stands to make more money for David Lynch than another perfume commercial. So stop being a grumpy old man David, and give the fans what they want. If you do, I’ll even pay money to see Inland Empire 2, and promise not to kill myself during the movie.

The Real Town Itself Hasn’t Changed Much

In the series, the town of Twin Peaks was seemingly frozen in time. While the show was set in 1989, the way the town appeared (and the way some characters dressed) was straight out of 1950’s Norman Rockwell America, as if time had left the town of Twin Peaks far behind. Ironically, some twenty-four years since the pilot for the series was shot, the town of Snoqualmie Falls in Washington state (where all the exteriors were shot) looks almost exactly the same, as if time really has been frozen all these years, at least for all the major locations used for the series. It’s almost like the town is begging for Lynch and Frost to come back and shoot some more, and left all the major sets still standing just in case. Many before and after pics of the series’ main locations can be found over in the great website InTwinPeaks.com, so one can see for themselves.

(ABOVE) The Double R Diner, in reality Twede’s Cafe, as it appeared in the pilot episode of Twin Peaks (BELOW) The same diner today. Not much has changed.

 Twin Peaks’ Reputation Has Only Grown  With Time

In the years since Twin Peaks went off the air, its reputation as one of the most influential shows has only grown. The series’ availability on DVD and on Netflix has made it so the show could be discovered by a whole new generation of fans, many of whom would be eager to see more. At the show’s 20th Anniversary art exhibit a couple of years back, I was shocked at how many younger fans the show had, many who could not have been around when the show first aired. In fact, one fan named Joe Powers, who re-discovered the show on Netflix Instant Watch, has started a campaign to Bring Back Twin Peaks, and has received a fair amount of publicity doing so, especially in recent days.

If David Lynch and Mark Frost wait too much longer, the essential ingredients for a return to the world of Twin Peaks won’t be around anymore. Now is the time to reward loyal fans and pay off long standing plot threads, and remind everyone out there just who is responsible for the modern cable television landscape. The reaction online to news that there would be more Peaks caused a minor uproar…. now imagine if all that excitement were for something that was actually happening. So Misters Lynch and Frost…it us now up to you to make it happen.

Interview With The Vampire: Claudia’s Story-The Geekscape Review

by Eric Diaz

Unlike Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games or Fifty Shades of Gray, Anne Rice’s seminal vampire novels were not the instant pop culture sensation the way we are used to seeing with book series now. These days, a book series hits big almost right away, selling multiple millions in almost no time at all, and movie adaptations announced and in production almost simultaneously as the books are coming out. In fact, when Interview with the Vampire came out in 1976, it flat out flopped in hardcover, selling only 25,000 copies. The subsequent paperback release did marginally better, but the book’s reputation grew steadily over time, and eventually a cult following developed, especially among the goth subculture, the LGBT community and female readers. By the time The Vampire Lestat, the sequel to Interview, came out in 1985, the cult novel had become a bonafide sensation in the interim. It was because of that growing reputation of the first book that the second novel was an instant best-seller, and began what would become The Vampire Chronicles. As of 2012, Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series has sold 80 million copies worldwide. In terms of book series, the Vampire Chronicles are the best selling adult-skewing fictional book series behind only James Bond, Perry Mason and the Star Wars novels.


But despite the huge success of the novels, The Vampire Chronicles adaptations in other media has been spotty at best over the past thirty-five years, including in comic books. In 1990, Innovation Comics produced a twelve-part adaptation of The Vampire Lestat which was a huge hit, leading to comic book adaptations of Interview as well as the third novel in the series, The Queen of the Damned. But Innovation comics went bankrupt in the comics bust of the mid 1990’s, leaving the final issue of Queen unpublished. In 1994, eighteen years after hitting bookstores, Interview was made into a blockbuster film starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst. The movie made $104 million at the box office in the States (about $200 million adjusted to today’s dollars) Back in the 90’s though, studios weren’t thinking ahead when adapting sprawling book series; actors were signed for one movie at a time, not like the multi-picture deals you see now with actors being locked in for three, sometimes four movies in advance. So when the time came to make a sequel, all studio Warner Brothers eventually produced was a terrible cheap-o version of The Queen of the Damned, and one that bore little resemblance to the book and tanked at the box office. Aside from a short lived Elton John Broadway musical, that was the last adaptation we’ve seen of the Chronicles in any format, all while the vampire phenomenon Anne Rice began resulted in the vampire boom of Twilight, True Blood, Vampire Diaries, Being Human and more.

The original comic book versions of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, published in the early 90’s by Innovation Comics. The cover artwork was usually far better than anything in the interiors.

But now Yen Press, the manga style graphic novel company who had much success with their recent adaptation of Twilight, has come in and secured the license for Anne Rice’s series and is giving it new life outside of the original books once again, and the first offering is Interview with the Vampire: Claudia’s Story. The adaptation is done entirely by Ashley Marie Witter, an artist whose only comic book work so far is a series called The Eternal Sad, as well as various web comics. Yen Press took a chance on the mostly unknown Witter, but it payed off, as she produced a beautiful book that is as professional looking as anything from a seasoned comics pro.

Yen Press has a true gem on their hands with Interview with the Vampire: Claudia’s Story in my opinion. The artwork for newcomer Ashley Witter is highly detailed, while also being lush and sumptuous. While the look of the artwork is certainly in a manga style, it isn’t overly manga-esque, and shouldn’t be off-putting to anyone who isn’t into Asian comics. The artwork is done almost entirely in sepia tones, with only the blood and moments involving fire done in a red color. This trick, or one very much like it, has been done many times in comics, most notably Sin City, but that doesn’t make it less striking or effective here. The more feminine look to the men in this series is a staple of manga art frankly, but works here in a way that manga-esque adaptations of overly muscled and masculine western characters like Batman never really does. The male characters in Rice’s novels are almost always said to look feline and androgynous, so in a way this is a match made in heaven. Unlike other adaptations of this universe before, the characters here look exactly as they are described in the books. The original Innovation comics series made the character of the vampire Armand for instance, described in the novels as a 17 year-old cherubic auburn haired boy, into an older looking and frankly ugly looking man. (the movie version of Armand was a thirty-something, jet black haired Antonio Banderas, maybe the biggest deviation in terms of looks for any character in the film.) The character of Louis in this graphic novel also looks more like the character as described by Rice.

The best thing about this graphic novel though, is that it’s not just a straight up adaptation of the original book. The original novel, for those among you who haven’t read it or seen the movie, is told from the point of view of a vampire named Louis, a plantation owner who is transformed by a French aristocratic immortal named Lestat during the time of antebellum New Orleans. At about the mid-way point of the book, Lestat transforms a six year old orphan named Claudia into a vampire, completing his vampiric family. This adaptation is told from her point of view instead of Louis’, mostly from the moment she is “born” and then proceeds from there, jettisoning the first quarter or so of the original novel. The character of Claudia only really appears in that first novel, but made such an impact that she is mentioned in almost all the subsequent books. But Rice herself never did a follow up book told from her point of view as she did with so many other characters introduced in that first story, making this a unique extension of the Vampire Chronicles mythology for long time fans.

Despite all the good, there are a few things that are odd about this adaptation however; first off, the title itself is kind of a misnomer, as the character actually being interviewed in the original novel isn’t being interviewed here at all. In fact, there is no modern day interview framing device, as the character of Claudia is obviously now telling the story. But telling the story to whom? And from where? (SPOILER for the novel and movie here folks, but Claudia dies at the end.) Of course I understand the business reasons for putting Interview with the Vampire in the title, as that is the most famous book in the series, but still….The Vampire Chronicles: Claudia’s Story would have worked just as nicely as a title in my opinion. But really, the title is a minor quibble. The notion that the main character is telling her story from beyond the grave is what’s a little more strange to me, but hey…if it worked for American Beauty, then I can buy it in a book about a vampire. So as I said, these are minor complaints.

Yen Press has made a gorgeous product here, and I certainly hope we see similar adaptations for the other books in the Vampire Chronicles series coming from them sometime soon. Anne Rice’s vampire novels is at the top of the list of my favorite fictional universes, and yet the one with the least amount of adaptations in any media. Hopefully this is the start of something more. And then maybe I’ll get my Vampire Chronicles cable television series I’ve been fantasizing about for years to actually happen before too long.

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Two Blu-Ray Review

by Eric Diaz

Last week CBS Home Video continued its meticulous and expensive restoration of Star Trek: The Next Generation, begun earlier this year, with the release of the complete second season on Blu-ray. The popular consensus over the years has been that Star Trek: The Next Generation (or, for brevity’s sake, just TNG from now on) was a more or less crappy show in its first two seasons, and only really got good and became the TNG we all know and love from season three forward. That’s kinda true….and also kinda not. Yes, season one of the show was mostly a hot mess, with only a handful of episodes really any good. Truth is, Trek creator Gene Roddenberry had a large hand in that first season of the show, and (blasphemous as it may sound) the more Roddenberry had to do with the franchise, the worse it usually was. His idea of a future where humanity was perfect, and therefore no conflict existed between “elevated” future humans, was a ridiculous notion that he came to in old age and was not present in the original series. But the first season of the show is filled with these bland “perfect” 24th century drama free people. But despite all the creative issues in that first year, the show was a massive ratings success for Paramount from the get go; the trick was to be both popular and good in the following season, which meant lots of changes would have to be made for year two.

Unfortunately, season two was hampered by a lot of problems going into it; the WGA writer’s strike of 1988 happened right as the series ended its first season and lasted six months, delaying the start of production. Denise Crosby, who played security chief Tasha Yar, had left the series at the end of season one. And not long after season one wrapped Gates McFadden, who played Dr. Beverly Crusher, was unceremoniously fired from the show. The special features on this Blu-ray set cover this situation pretty candidly for the most part, but don’t go into great detail. But it has been reported over the years that McFadden was let go due to rebuffing the alleged unwanted sexual advances of one of the producers of the show, Maurice Hurley. If that is indeed true, it makes me throw up in my mouth a little that Roddenberry and co-executive producer Rick Berman would have allowed such a thing to take place. Sexism was, I guess, alive and well in the 24th Century after all. None of this is covered in special features on the set, but a quick Google search will provide all the salacious gossip you need.

Season Two Cast and Crew Changes

Of course, the two biggest changes to the series were the cast additions; Whoopi Goldberg joined the cast on a recurring basis as Guinan, the alien bartender on the ship’s new crew lounge called Ten-Forward, and Diana Muldaur as the new Chief Medical Officer,Dr. Katherine Pulaski. The addition of Whoopi, who at the time was an actual big time movie star was a huge boon to the series. To this day, I remember watching episodes when they originally aired, and non Trek people wandering in the room, jaws agape that such a legitimate movie star would want to be on a syndicated  sci-fi show (cut to two decades later, where Whoopi hosts a daytime talk show and is a recurring guest star on Glee. My, how times have changed) Goldberg’s character, who was a cross between Yoda and a bartender on Cheers, could have been gimmicky, but more often than not she worked extremely well with the cast and was a huge asset to the series.

Season two cast addition Whoopi Goldberg makes weird finger puppets at Q while Jean-Luc tries to figure out what the hell is going on.

The addition of television staple Diana Muldaur was less permanent, but still changed the show in a fundamental way in the long run. After the firing of Gates McFadden, Roddenberry begged Muldaur to come out of retirement and join the series, as she had been a guest star on the classic show and therefore had goodwill from the fanbase for this reason. She complied, but she refused to ever sign a standard multi-year contract, and was never even in the opening credits. Instead, she was always listed as “special guest star’, which makes me think she was never planning to be permanent. Pulaski was older than Crusher by at least decade, was a lot more opinionated and far less likely to make doe eyes at Picard. Personally, I loved her, but fans (specifically, young male fans) wanted the sexier MILF of Starfleet back, and eventually got their wish once McFadden’s nemesis, producer Maurice Hurley, left the show. To this very day, fanboy opinions of Pulaski fall under “she wasn’t hot enough, and therefore needed to go.” Strangely though, a lot of Pulaski’s personality traits, like her backbone when dealing with the Captain, were transferred over to Crusher when she returned. So while Kate Pulaski is only ever mentioned again once after she departed the show, in a strange way her character lingered on in a revamped and better written Beverly Crusher.

Diana Muldaur only served one tour of duty on the Enterprise, but it was a memorable one.

Aside from the new faces on board the ship, underutilized characters from the first season found new roles that better suited them. Levar Burton’s character of Geordi Laforge was not much more than a blind version of Sulu from the classic show in year one, so in year two he was promoted to Chief Engineer and suddenly had a lot more to do. Also finding a much bigger role now was Worf, who was now Chief of Security (which, as Patrick Stewart ponders on the special features, makes you wonder just what WAS he doing in season one??) Commander Riker grew a beard and got a lot less stiff, and the transporter chief got a name, O’Brien. He’d eventually grow so much as a character that he’d be spun-off to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine some years later. All the pieces of the show were finally starting to fall into place.

TNG On Blu-Grading The Contents

The Episodes

Season two probably gets its rep as not being very good probably due to the fact that some of the very worst episodes of the entire series are among its number. I’m speaking now of shows like The Outrageous Okona, where Data is instructed by 80’s comedian Joe Piscopo how to be funny (he fails. So does the episode.)  There was also Manhunt, an excruciating show where Deanna Troi’s mother comes on board looking for a husband, and bad sitcom shenanigans ensue (really, that’s the whole plot.) And worst offender of all is the season finale Shades of Gray, which was the first and only “clip show” in Star Trek history. A clip show of course is that tired old television trope of characters pulling a “remember when?” moment, and flashbacks occur which are just clips from older shows. It’s is the kind of tedious television making that was the stuff of bad sitcoms like The Facts of Life or Webster, and beneath a show like Star Trek. And there are one or two other groaners this season too.

Having said all that, there are some true gems of episodes in this season, far more than in season one, starting with the Sherlock Holmes themed Elementary, Dear Data. Other highlight episodes are A Matter of Honor, where Riker joins a Klingon crew in an exchange program, Peak Performance, where the Enterprise plays in war games with an eighty-year-old derelict ship, and Pen Pals, a Prime Directive-themed episode centered around Data’s friendship with an alien child. The Emissary is another terrific episode that introduces Worf’s half Klingon/half human lover K’ehylar to the series. Even so-so episodes like Samaritan Snare are worth watching for scenes like the usually erudite Jean-Luc Picard having sandwiches while on a long shuttle trip with Wesley, all while talking about his wayward youth as a brawling hooligan.

But the two highlight episodes from that season have got to be The Measure of a Man and Q Who? Measure is not only the best episode of the season, it is one of the best episodes of the series, period. The episode is essentially a courtroom drama, where Data is put on trial to determine if he is indeed a sentient being or merely Starfleet property, with Picard defending him and Riker being forced to prosecute. Many consider the first truly great episode of TNG, including actor Patrick Stewart. And as a bonus for this Blu-ray set, since the series had to undergo a top to bottom reconstruction for HD, an extra twelve minutes were discovered and re-inserted into the episode making for the first extended version of a Star Trek episode ever.  And Q Who? is beloved for not only returning fan favorite nemesis Q to the series, but introducing one of Trek’s most famous villains in the form of the Borg. If I had to grade on a curve, I’d have to give the season two episodes overall only a slightly above average rating, if only because some of the bad ones are just so bad. Grade: B

The High-Def Restoration

Just like season one, TNG season two was shot on 35mm film but edited on video tape, so the same complete re-scanning of the film elements in high def had to be done for this season.  Trek veterans Mike and Denise Okuda were back on board to oversee the entire restoration, and make sure it matched the original effect shots as much as humanly possible. For the restoration of season two however, CBS Digital turned over the film elements to another company rather than doing it in-house like season one. I believe the idea here is to alternate between seasons, so these season sets can come out faster. For the most part, the effect is the same..the live action footage looks great, miles better than what it was before on DVD or broadcast, but certain effects elements, usually planets and starship shots, are not quite up to the same standard CBS digital displayed with their season one restoration. It’s a minor issue, as 90% of an episode is on-set footage. But I’ll be glad to see CBS Digital return for season three, which is in my opinion, the show’s best season. For a huge TNG fan like me though, I have to say these episodes have never, ever looked better regardless. But objectively, I have no choice but to give it a lower grade than I’d give the season one set in terms of restoration effort having seen the superior effects in year one. Grade: B+

The crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D, as they appeared in the second season.

Special Features

Once again, director Roger Lay Jr. and editor Robert Meyer Burnett do a bang up job on the special features, just as they did with season one. The crown jewel on this set in terms of extras is the 25th Anniversary cast reunion called Reunification, which was filmed in Calgary earlier this year at a  Star Trek convention. This was the first time the entire first season cast was together again at a convention in many years, and CBS wasted no time in sending Burnett and Lay to record the group together for an intimate panel discussion on the show and its legacy. The cast of TNG clearly love each other and are a true family, and it really shows. Moderator Rob Burnett asks good questions here, and wisely lets most of the cast steer the course of the conversation during the reunion. Grade: A+

The other major new documentary feature, Making it So: Continuing The Next Generation, is divided in two parts. Part 1:  Strange New Worlds, goes into detail about the problems with season one as it was winding down. Everyone from series producer Rick Berman to most of the main cast members reflect on the highs and lows of that first year, including the death of Tasha Yar, and the near departure of Michael Dorn, who was tired of going into several hours in the make up chair mostly to stand around and do nothing. Ironically, the departure of Crosby allowed Worf to take over her role as chief of security, and the following season Worf’s part grew and he eventually became a fan favorite. Other topics covered are the failure of creating formidable new villains in the form of the Ferengi, who ended up coming across as a joke, which would lead to the creation of the far more successful adversaries the Borg in year two.

In Part 2: New Life and New Civilizations, they go into great detail about the troubles going into getting the second season off the ground. Patrick Stewart is very candid about the fact that Gates McFadden was fired, and how upset this made him, as well as the rest of the cast. Wil Wheaton, who played Dr. Crusher’s son Wesley, was almost certain he would be next to go. Everyone was made to feel expendable.  Also talked about was how due to the writer’s strike still going on as production began on the second season, old scripts for the aborted 1970’s series Star Trek: Phase II had to be used, but with the old characters changed out for their TNG counterparts. The second season premiere episode- The Child –was an old script from 1977, recycled eleven years later. Only some costume tests and some random test footage was ever filmed for Phase II before the series was scrapped and replaced with Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but what footage there is can be found in this documentary. For this fan though, the biggest delight was the inclusion of Diana Muldaur in the cast interviews, as she has been (more often than not) the red-headed step child of TNG, almost never referred to in any series retrospectives, almost as if she wasn’t part of the series’ legacy. This documentary corrects that oversight. Also included in this nearly 90-minute two part documentary is a treasure trove of archival footage, and even a small appearance from Family Guy creator (and hardcore Trek geek) Seth McFarlane. All in all, this documentary really covers all the bases for any true Trek geek. Grade: A.

Also included in this set are all the old features in standard definition from the old DVD sets, as well as a pretty damn funny gag reel (in HD too) and other bits and pieces, like  Levar Burton’s PBS series Reading Rainbow’s trip to the set of TNG in a vintage episode. There’s also a brief feature on the new high tech upgrade to the old effects called Energized: Season 2 Tech Update, as well as other odds and ends, all providing hours of entertainment for any hardcore Trekker.

Overall Grade: A.  Season two might not be the show’s highest point (in my opinion, that would be the next season) but If you love Star Trek: The Next Generation at all, then this set belongs on your shelf.  In this fan’s opinion, season three can’t get here soon enough.

Do We Already Know Who The Villain In The Justice League Movie Is?

by Eric Diaz

So it seems we now know who the main villain is probably going to be in the upcoming Justice League movie, and it is quite possibly exactly who you might expect it to be; Darkseid, the God of Evil, and the DC Universe’s #1 bad guy. The rumor comes from Latino Review’s El Mayimbe, and if you’ve heard the name before, it’s probably because he has run many rumors in the last several years (especially concerning super hero movies) that have turned out to be very accurate. He’s as trusted a source as it gets when it comes to this stuff.

Darkseid being the villain makes sense. As I said, he’s the DC Universe’s biggest threat, and the kind of bad guy that would require Superman to actually need a lot of help to defeat. The opening storyline of the New 52 Justice League book seemed like a rough draft for a JL movie, and I doubt that was a coincidence. (although the similarity to that story and the Avengers movie might mean some story tweeking will be in order, just so the general audience doesn’t have even more reasons to see JL as a rip-off of Avengers.) Since Thanos is going to be the villain in Avengers 2, part of me is slightly surprised that Warners is going with Darkseid, since Thanos was inspired by Darkseid in the first place, and Avengers 2 is no doubt coming out first, having already claimed the May 1st 2015 weekend. But hey…I remember when two “giant asteroid coming to the destroy the Earth” movies came out the same summer, and Armageddon and Deep Impact both  ended up doing ok. So maybe two craggy faced alien despots won’t make America’s heads explode.

The Justice League movie has no director or casting yet, but it scheduled to be in theaters summer 2015, along with Avengers 2 and Star Wars: Episode VII, giving sad and lonely nerds everywhere a reason to delay any suicide attempts till at least 2016.

CW Begins The Search For Young Wonder Woman in “Amazon”

by Eric Diaz

It looks like work has begun in earnest searching for the lead in the CW’s new Smallville-esque take on Wonder Woman called Amazon, spear-headed by comic book writer Allan Heinberg. There is only a pilot script for this right now (if that) but the CW is getting all their ducks in a row looking for the right woman to fill the tiara. According to Deadline.com, here is the official description for what they’re looking for:

“Iris comes from a remote, secluded country and until now has spent most of her life as a soldier and a leader on the battlefield. Because of relentless brutality of her life at home, Iris looks at our world with absolute awe and astonishment. She’s delighted ­and just as often horrified ­ by the aspects of everyday life that we take for granted: skyscrapers, traffic, ice cream. It’s all new and fascinating and sometimes slightly troubling ­to her. Iris is completely unschooled in our world, our culture, our customs. And she’s completely inexperienced at interpersonal relationships. She has no social filter, does not suffer fools, and tends to do and say exactly what’s on her mind at all times. She’s bluntly, refreshingly honest. She can tell when you’re lying to her. And she doesn’t have time or patience for politics or tact because she’s too busy trying to experience everything our world has to offer. There are too many sights to see ­and things to learn ­and people to care for. Hers is a true, noble, and generous heart. And she will fight and die for the people she loves. Iris is a fierce warrior with the innocent heart of a romantic ­and she will fight to the death to make the world safe for innocents and true romantics everywhere.”

Aside from the “relentless brutality of her life at home” part, the rest sounds like classic Diana. And yes, she WILL be called Diana….the name Iris is just a code name used for casting sides when doing auditions. This has already been confirmed by DC CCO Geoff Johns on Twitter. So relax everyone. As a huge Wonder Woman fan, I sincerely hope this meets with the same success that the CW has had with Arrow.

Hopefully this Wonder Woman TV project will fare better than the ill-fated version from last year starring Adrianne Palicki in a Party City costume.

X-Men Speculation: Who Will Probably Come Back For Days of Future Past… And Who Likely Won’t

by Eric Diaz

Yesterday, X-Men director Bryan Singer took to Twitter to not only announce that certain members of X-Men: First Class would be returning for the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past, but also the announcement that both Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellan from the original X-Men films would be returning to their roles as Charles Xavier and Magneto. This all but confirmed what fans have been speculating about ever since Days of Future Past was announced, that the forthcoming movie would be taking place in two timelines–the one featuring characters from First Class, and another “future” (or present) timeline featuring the actors from the original films. As Singer remarked on his twitter feed, “more to come.” This means it is very likely that more actors from the original films will be suiting up soon for mutant action once more. But who? Here are my guesses as to who will be coming back (and who won’t) and why.

Oh, and before anyone chimes in with “but Cyclops and Jean and Prof. X  died in X-Men 3, and Magneto lost his powers, yadda yadda yadda” it seems very, very likely that the time traveling storyline of Days of Future Past will end up erasing the events of X-Men: The Last Stand. The fact that both the older Charles Xavier and Magneto are in this one kind of already seems to be pointing towards that, considering their fates at the end of that third film. It seems Bryan Singer is eager to erase the one chapter of the original X-Men trilogy he had no part in. So I don’t think any character deaths or de-powerings in that movie should factor as to whether a certain actor or character returns. With that out of the way, let’s get started on the guessing game, shall we?

Wolverine/Hugh Jackman

I’d say this is one is a no-brainer. Wolverine is the poster boy for not only the comic book franchise, but the movie franchise as well. He’s not my favorite X-Man by any means, but facts are facts…. for the masses, Wolverine = X-Men. Unlike so many actors who distance themselves from the part that made them famous, Jackman seems to love being Wolverine, and doesn’t seem to ever tire of playing him. He is currently filming his second solo outing The Wolverine, and could easily stay in Logan-mode (and in Logan shape) for a few extra months and segue into filming Days of Future Past. Of all the characters from the original films, I expect to see his face in the line-up more than anyone else, barring any unforseen circumstances.

Odds for Returning: 9/10

EDIT: Make that 10/10…no sooner than an hour or so from posting this piece, the Hollywood Reporter makes it official: Hugh Jackman is coming back as Wolverine. That sure didn’t take long.

Cyclops/James Marsden

Of all the A-List X-Men characters, no one got the shorter end of the stick in the film series than poor Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops. This is not a negative reflection on actor James Marsden, who did the best he could in what little he was given to do. When he was unceremoniously killed off in X-Men: The Last Stand, fans were furious, as they were hoping the third X-Men movie would finally be his moment to shine. And from everything I’ve been told, that WAS his original plan, back when Singer was still working on X3, as James Marsden and Bryan Singer are good friends. In fact, Marsden even had a part in Singer’s Superman Returns, which is why he was said to be killed off in such a stupid offhand way in The Last Stand; Marsden made the mistake of being in a competing super hero movie with the fired director of X-Men, and Fox made sure he paid the price. I could see Singer making Days of Future Past partially as “the redemption of Cyclops” and restoring the character to a prominent position in the X-Men universe again.

Odds for Returning: 7/10

Jean Grey/Famke Janssen

Another main character from the franchise who totally got the shaft story-wise in X-Men: The Last Stand was Jean Grey. The less said about how that movie handled the classic X-Men story The Dark Phoenix Saga the better, but it seems Famke is at least open to returning, as she made some comments about coming back to the series as recently as a month ago. When being asked if she had been offered a role already in Days of Future Past, she replied “One never knows. Jean Grey, the Phoenix … she finds a way to reincarnate herself constantly, so one never knows… but I’m in no position to say anything,” And then coyly added “Stay tuned.” Sounds like maybe spelled Y-E-S to me.

Odds for Returning: 8/10

Rogue/Anna Paquin

Actress Anna Paquin has been pretty vocal about how much she hated the plotline where Rogue takes the mutant cure in X-Men The Last Stand, seeing it as a betrayal of everything the mutant metaphor is supposed to represent (Anna, all of fandom agrees with you) If this movie corrects some of those mistakes, she might jump at the chance to come back. On the downside, Paquin just gave birth to twins and still has at least one more season of True Blood to start shooting very soon, which might conflict with being able to make an appearance in  Days of Future Past. But who knows, she might be able to squeeze in a cameo if she wants to bad enough. Maybe Anna could bring some of the sassy southern attitude she gives her True Blood character Sookie Stackhouse to Rogue, a character that in the comics has plenty of that to spare.

Odds for Returning: 6/10

Storm/Halle Berry

It has been well documented how much Halle Berry and Bryan Singer did NOT get along on the set of X2.  I believe the phrase “you can kiss my black ass” was uttered on set by her at least once in reference to Singer. (For reals, look it up.) She never even wanted to be in the X-Men series in the first place, as during press before the movie came out she mentioned how there were so little roles for black actresses she was “forced to do a comic book movie.” Of course,then the X-Men franchise became the biggest thing she was ever involved with and she shut her mouth pretty quick. But point blank: Halle doesn’t really like playing Storm, the fans don’t like her playing Storm, and Bryan Singer doesn’t like her playing Storm (his original choice was Angela Bassett) So I’d be genuinely shocked if we saw her in this movie. And no one will care if she’s replaced, which has to sting a little for Miss Berry. My honest to goodness feeling is we’ll see a younger Storm in the First Class timeline, but that adult Storm will be dead in the future timeline. But Fox may want her back in, seeing as she’s still a name actress, so I guess anything is possible. But I’m not holding my breath.

Odds for Returning: 2/10

Nightcrawler/Alan Cumming

Add another to the list of “probably nots” – Much like Halle Berry, Alan Cumming has been pretty vocal about how horrible a time he had shooting X2, and how he and Singer did not get along on set. A couple of years back, when asked about Singer, he had this to say: “I can’t deny I think he’s really talented, and I’m really proud of the film (X2) – I think it’s a great film – but I didn’t enjoy working with him on it.” Considering how Nightcrawler was just in the one X-Men film, he’s not crucial to the overall story. It is possible that the character of Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler might make an appearance, but I highly doubt it will be Cumming wearing the blue make-up if he does.

Odds for Returning: 1/10

Mystique/Rebecca Romijn

We already know that Jennifer Lawrence is coming back as Mystique, a character she could easily play in both the past and future timelines. (She is a shape-shifter after all.) Add to that, Rebecca Romijn has been pretty candid about not really wanting to be naked and painted blue anymore. She has a good relationship with Singer and the producers, so I could see her making a cameo as her normal looking self much like the one she had in First Class, but that would be about it.

Odds for Returning: 7/10 (but only as a non made-up cameo)

Beast/Kelsey Grammer

We also already know that the character of Hank McCoy in the First Class timeline will make an appearance in the form of Nicolas Hoult, but what about his future adult self? I personally think that it is not very likely, if only for all the personal problems and bad headlines that Kelsey Grammer has had recently. Fox might want to avoid that particular celebrity train-wreck. Also, as with Ellen Page and Ben Foster, he only appeared in The Last Stand, so has no previous working relationship with Singer. So I see adult Beast as being pretty unlikely to show up.

Odds for Returning: 2/10

Kitty Pryde/Ellen Page

When Ellen Page shot X-Men the Last Stand, she had only one notable role to her name, the thriller Hard Candy. Not too long after The Last Stand came out, she hit it big with Juno, then came roles in Inception etc. She probably doesn’t want to come back to a relatively smallish role in the X-verse at this point in her career, and having only been in the third X-Men movie, she doesn’t have a pre-established working relationship with director Bryan Singer either, similar to Kelsey Grammer. So much like Nightcrawler, we might see the character of Kitty in some form, but I’m not counting on it being Page. Which would be a shame, as she was one of the few highlights from the third X-Men movie.

Odds for Returning: 3/10

Ice-Man/Shawn Ashmore 

Shawn Ashmore went from cameo role as Bobby Drake/Ice-Man in the original X-Men to a pretty sizable role in X2, and I believe he is also personal friends with Bryan Singer. For this reason alone I could see him coming back in some capacity, even if it is just a cameo.

Odds for Returning: 6/10

Angel/Ben Foster

Angel was another major X-Men character who was totally squandered by X-Men The Last Stand. Played by Ben Foster, he’s another one that continues to have a career as a working actor and doesn’t need to come back to the franchise just to pay bills. And, also like Ellen Page and Kelsey Grammer, he was only in the third film so therefore doesn’t have any prior working relationship, good or bad, with Bryan Singer. Expect him to be among the missing or dead in the dystopian Sentinel-run world of the future X-Men.

Odds for Returning: 2/10


Gambit/Taylor Kitsch

Taylor Kitsch had a part in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and as awful as that flick was, I thought he was more or less ok in it as Cajun mutant Gambit. Unfortunately, since then Taylor Kitsch has had two very high profile flops to his name, John Carter and Battleship. I think the producers of Days of Future Past will wish to avoid this bad luck charm.

Odds for Returning: 1/10

Juggernaut/Vinnie Jones

Yeah….nope. Don’t think so. That’s all I gotta say about that one.

Odds for Returning: 0/10

The next few weeks and months should be very telling on just how right or wrong I was with these guesses. Anyone else want to chime in with who you think is a sure thing to come back, and who doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in Hell? Leave a comment below.

Star Wars And Disney: Questions And Suggestions From One Super Fan

by Eric Diaz

So, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 24 hours, you probably heard the news that shook the geek world to its very core yesterday. If not, here’s the recap: Disney has bought Lucasfilm for $4 billion dollars, and in even bigger news, has announced  Star Wars Episode VII for release in 2015, the start of a whole new trilogy. More to the point, the start of what will be several new trilogies. A few days ago, Star Wars was something that (outside of cartoons and comics) was over and done with, a series of films sitting comfortably on my shelf, and in my heart. (Well, most of them were in my heart) But whatever they were, they were definitely finished. Now, Star Wars will conceivably go one for the rest of my natural life. Gotta say…I didn’t see that comin’, at least not so soon. I was fully expecting ol’ George to be dead before this ever happened, to be honest. Certainly every time the rumor of more Star Wars movies surfaced in the last couple years, Lucas has emphatically denied that there would ever be any new Star Wars movies ever again. If Lucas hadn’t been a filmmaker, he could have been a politician.

George Lucas’ life has oddly paralleled that of his character Anakin Skywalker; both started out as brilliant rebels against a corrupt system, gaining fame and notoriety in the process. Then both became the heads of their own Empires, becoming the very thing they hated the most. Lucas has even publicly acknowledged this irony in interviews he has given in the past few years. But much like Anakin Skywalker, it seems Lucas has learned the point of his own story. He knows what is best for Star Wars now is just to let it go.

If there was any point to the story of the prequels trilogy (and underneath the midi-chlorians and the gungans and the wooden acting, I think there was) it was that possessiveness and the refusal to let go are the path to the dark side; it seems George Lucas has, towards the end of his life, learned that lesson, and finally let Star Wars go. Hopefully, he has let it go to younger filmmakers who arguably love his saga even more than he does. But speaking of younger filmmakers, just who will the Mouse get to do this?

Who Will Disney Get To Write And Direct?

That’s the real question isn’t it? Geekscape’s very own Shawn Madden had some quality suggestions. Whoever they get, they will have to be a name director, someone fans can trust…this isn’t Tron Legacy, where they can get some guy who made his name making commercials and just hope for the best. After all, this isn’t just any movie franchise, this is THE movie franchise. To put it bluntly, Disney can’t afford to fuck this one up. Same goes for the screenwriter. I know they are said to be working off Lucas’ original outline for Episodes VII to IX, but they need to make sure we get a real high quality screenwriter on this one so we don’t get any Lucasy bad dialogue. Oh, and speaking of Lucas’ original outline for the sequel trilogy they are said to be using as a jumping off point, this just proves that Lucas is as big a flip flopper as Mitt Romney; years ago he mentioned a proposed outline for Episodes VII to IX, then in interviews after the release of Revenge of the Sith he said there were never any story ideas for a sequel trilogy. Now, he’s back to having story treatments for all three movies again. Seriously George, run for some kind of public office, you’d be a natural.

Space Them Out

Although the announcement says that starting in 2015 there will be a new Star Wars installment “every two to three years” I really hope Disney pays attention to how the original (as well as prequel) movies were released, and keep to the every three years schedule. Now that you’ve got the golden goose Disney, don’t abuse it by releasing too many, too fast. If you put too much product out, you risk over-saturation of the brand, and you get what happen to the Star Trek franchise in the late 90’s. There was a sixteen year gap between Jedi and Phantom Menace, and we saw that long waits between sagas did nothing to quench the thirst for new Star Wars. Keep to the every three years schedule, and for the love of Chewie, keep a distance of at least five to six years or so between trilogies. Play this one smart, not greedy.

What Will The Story Even Be About?

At the end of Return of the Jedi, the Sith are vanquished and the Galactic Empire defeated. The entire six episode saga is about the rise, fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker, as he fulfills his ultimate destiny and destroys the Sith by killing the Emperor (and himself) in the process. But who could rival Darth Vader and the Emperor as the central villains? Even in episodes I, II and III, Palpatine was the real baddie behind it all. If the Sith somehow return, doesn’t that negate the whole point of the previous films? I mean, the wars have to continue in some form (I mean, Wars is kind of in the title) But who the good guys will be fighting against is the real mystery. Unlike with episodes I-III, there are no real hints from Lucas about what the future installments could be about for fans to chew on for the next few years. All he has ever mentioned over the years are some very vague comments about “Luke passing down the lightsaber” and that is about it.

Which Classic Characters Will Return?

I can say with some certainty that Mark Hamill will probably return as Luke Skywalker, now as a wise old Jedi in the Obi-Wan Kenobi mold. Also certain to return are the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, and probably Chewbacca as well. As for who won’t be back, I think it is fair to say that Han Solo is out of the picture now. Do we really wanna see old fart Harrison Ford back in that black vest again at 75 years of age? I know I sure as hell don’t. I mean, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was bad enough. I have a hard time thinking of a role for an old Han in any Star Wars stories set even just a few decades past Jedi. And I’d bet Carrie Fisher is just as off the table for a return as Princess Leia, although she could have a role as Supreme Chancellor of the New Republic or something. But frankly, I’d rather remember Han and Leia as they were. I really think that Luke is the only human character from the classic films who should make a return.

Fan made art depicting what an Obi-Wan like “Old Luke” could look like.

Will Episodes VII-IX Negate The Expanded Universe? Or Be Inspired By It?

Over the past twenty odd years, the events after Return of the Jedi have been chronicled to death in dozens and dozens of novels, comic books and video games. Although written by many different authors over the past two decades, Lucasfilm has (for the most part) kept this “Expanded Universe” continuity tight between all the various media, resulting in a post Episode VI timeline that covers the marriage of Han and Leia, the birth of their children and their subsequent training as Jedi Knights, and even in some cases their deaths. If I’m not mistaken, the last Star Wars novel with the original characters went up to something like forty years past the events of Return of the Jedi.

But a new movie series set after Jedi could take all these stories fans have invested in over the years and chuck them out the window. But there are a lot of fans of this stuff out there, and to start this new trilogy by saying that all those stories millions of fans have invested in “just didn’t happen” might not be the best way for Disney to start this new relationship with the hard core Star Wars audience. Not only that, but by doing so, it sends the message that the books and comics don’t really matter. If the fans think they don’t count, they’ll be less inclined to buy new books and comics in the future. And I can promise that selling less product is not what Disney wants.

This is just a small fraction of what is known as the “Expanded Universe” of Star Wars novels and comics. Will Episodes VII through IX just ignore all of these?

So what to do? My suggestion is the “have your cake and eat it too” scenario. Have the new trilogy take place not just decades, but maybe even centuries after Return of the Jedi. Luke Skywalker could still be there, as a wise old Jedi Master. We know Yoda was so powerful with the Force he lived hundreds of years, why couldn’t the same be said for Luke? This way, we can skip over all that Expanded Universe stuff that deals with the immediate decades after Return of the Jedi, but not really negate any of it either. They could probably even find some ways to incorporate certain EU stuff into the movies as Easter eggs.

Speaking Of The Expanded Universe, What About The Comics?

Yesterday will probably go down as “Black Tuesday” at the offices of Dark Horse Comics. Dark Horse has been the home of Star Wars comics for over twenty years now, but probably not for a whole lot longer. In fact, Star Wars comics have been what has kept the company afloat in tough times. But as soon as their current contract with Lucasfilm ends, you can be sure Star Wars will go to Disney-owned rival Marvel Comics. There is a certain poetic symmetry to that, as Marvel was Star Wars‘ original comic book home back during the 1970’s. Similarly, you can expect Clone Wars (or whatever future Star Wars animated shows) to leave Time-Warner owned Cartoon Network and go to Disney XD. For both comics and toons, it is only a matter of time for everything to converge at the House of Mouse.

Star Wars will soon likely return to it’s original home in comics at Marvel.

What About Future Box Sets? Can They Even Happen Now?

Even though physical media is on the wane, there is still one set of Blu-rays that people will always want on their shelves, and that’s the Star Wars Saga. With Episodes XII-IX and all future installments coming from Disney now, a complete saga set might prove difficult. Twentieth Century Fox still has the release rights to all six existing Star Wars films until the year 2020. Now, that’s not such a big deal, as by 2021 this new trilogy will be done and then Disney could release a big complete saga box set free and clear.

But there is one tiny little obstacle. Because Fox owns the rights to A New Hope in perpetuity, meaning for there to be any complete series set, a deal will have to be struck with Disney to allow for its inclusion. But this could be all be a good thing, and here is why: In all likelihood, Fox will take a very fat check from Disney and release A New Hope to them, as long as they can release the original theatrical version as a stand alone release, making fanboys all over the world happy. This way, everybody gets what they want. Well, except for fans who want to hear Lapti Nek in Jabba’s Palace again, and not see Hayden Christiansen at the end of Return of the Jedi. You guys might still be screwed.

And here I thought last year’s box set would be the last time I had to buy a “Complete Saga” collection. I really should have known better.

Oh Yeah…And What About Indy??

The best news about the acquisition of Lucasfilm might be for Indiana Jones. I’ve thought for years now that Indiana Jones should be like James Bond, with younger actors taking on the whip and fedora for a series of films, and then turning them over to another new actor after a period of time. Indy should always be in his twenties or thirties, fighting off Nazis  during the 1930’s and 40’s, and looking for fortune and glory. Even though the announcement today said that Disney isn’t looking at Indiana Jones as a property right now, don’t expect that attitude to last. Expect a newly rebooted Dr. Jones within the next five years or so. I should add that I think this should be for all NEW adventures for Indiana Jones….anyone who event attempts to remake Raiders of the Lost Ark should be flogged out in public.

So for now, these are this geek’s biggest questions and concerns about the future of Star Wars and a certain intrepid archaeologist. Of course, fandom is just starting to speculate on what this all could mean. All I know is that I’d love to go back in time and tell the 9 year old version of me that in one summer coming up soon, I’d have an Avengers movie, a Justice League movie and a sequel to Return of the Jedi coming out within weeks of each other. Man, I sure hope those Mayans were wrong about 2012, or I’m gonna be pissed off.

 

Madonna: The MDNA Tour- Los Angeles / Staples Center 10/10/2012 Concert Review

by Eric Diaz

Thirty years ago this week, Madonna’s first single Everybody hit the radio. It got some decent airplay, but nothing huge. The video cost $1,000 dollars to make, and looked it. Based on that extremely cheesy (yet extremely catchy) little ditty, who could have guessed Madonna would become one of the biggest pop music acts of all time? Who could have guessed that she’d be playing to a packed Staples Center crowd of 18,000 people, and that her current tour is on track to be one of the biggest grossing tours of all time? Certainly Madonna herself could have never predicted it, even though it is exactly what she wanted.

There has always been something about Madonna that makes people love her or outright hate her, but maybe now more than ever her haters have the loudest voice. Her refusal to retire and just go away drives her detractors crazy (I don’t see similar rallying cries calling for the retirement of the equally 50-something Bono, or the 70-something Rolling Stones, I should add. I’d have to guess it is because Madonna is a woman, but we’re beyond that kind of sexism in this culture… right?)  Maybe it’s because of the great pop icons of the 1980’s, she’s the one who was viewed as the lesser talent, and yet she’s the one who not only survived, but thrived. Michael Jackson’s career self-destructed a good fifteen years before he himself did. His sister Janet, who once rivaled her brother for popularity, seems to have up and vanished. And poor Whitney Houston, the wholesome “girl next door” alternative to Madonna’s scandalous ways, ended up being way more scandalous in real life than Madonna could ever hope to be, and drowned in a foot of water. Prince has still got it, but he tours so infrequently, it’s like he pops his head out once every six or seven years and reminds everyone how badass he is, then drops off the face of the Earth again. And Mariah? Well, you can catch her on Home Shopping Network on the odd Sunday afternoon. Madonna is still the one who stayed famous for actually doing what she became famous for in the first place, performing great pop music and putting on a hell of a show. And she’s still doing it, as evidenced by her brilliant show at the Staples Center last night.

Madonna’s MDNA Tour (not the most inventive name, I sort of hate when Madonna names her tours by just using the album name, but that’s just me) went on at 10:30 P.M, a good two and half hours late, in typical diva fashion. We did get a pretty awesome DJ set from French EDM artist Martin Solveig for a good hour prior, and as I happen to be a big fan of his, that didn’t suck. The show is split into four acts, which is how Madonna has been doing concerts now since The Drowned World Tour in 2001. (choreographer and creative director Jamie King has had a hand in all of her tours since then, and they all bear his style) The first act, Transgression, opened with a giant thurible swinging over the stage, a chorus of monks chanting, and Madonna doing an act of contrition in a floating confession booth. Behind her, a giant Gothic cathedral was constructed on the massive video screens, and about half way through the chanting, Madonna smashed it open with her fist. The booth shatters, and she starts threatening her poor dancing monks with a rather large gun. All the Catholic imagery is very reminiscent of her Like A Prayer/Blonde Ambition era, but at this point Madonna has been around long enough that she can reference herself if she wants to. The first song is the Britney Spears-esque Girl Gone Wild, followed by Revolver, one of the newer songs from her most recent Greatest Hits package Celebration . Things get swiftly darker and more Tarantino-esque as M goes into Gang Bang, one of the more fun and ridiculous tracks off MDNA. The idea behind the song is a revenge saga where Madonna kills her ex (who is totally former hubbie Guy Ritchie, who is all but named) Considering their two sons Rocco and David are on tour with Madonna, I gotta wonder if she sat down and explained about “this is the song where Mommy just pretends to kill Daddy”  The whole song takes place in a moving seedy motel room, where various masked rapists and killers come in through the window and M takes them out one by one (“now drive bitch/and while you’re at it die bitch!” she lovingly croons) The whole song and performance of it is very tongue in cheek.

This portion of the show ends with her first classic song of the night, Papa Don’t Preach. For this one, her dancers dressed in military clothing and masks and tie her up, leading into her 2005 dance anthem  Hung Up, where Madonna utilizes slacklining while her dancers slide under ropes. This portion of the show is pretty spectacular and very Cirque de Soleil. She closes the first section performing another MDNA track, “I Don’t Give A…” on guitar while Nicki Minaj is seen in the video screens sitting on a throne declaring “There’s only one queen, and that’s Madonna….bitch.”

The next portion of the show is entitled  Prophecy, and things take a less murdery vibe. In a nod to her Superbowl performance, Madonna, decked out in Cheerleader gear, does a soaring version of Express Yourself, with a marching band drumline performing while suspended in mid-air. It is pretty spectacular, one of the most spectacular things M has pulled off in any of her tours to date. One of the more controversial aspects of her show is when she mashes up Express Yourself rather seamlessly with Lady Gaga’s Born this Way. Well, controversial to Gaga’s “Little Monsters” mostly, who bristle whenever someone reminds them that with their idol, a good portion of her schtick Madonna did first, and sometimes more than twenty years ago. M continues the cheerleader vein with her lead single from MDNA, Gimme All Your Luvin’. Now, I pretty much think GMAYL is one of her weakest singles ever, but the drumline version she does here is pretty damn great, and it almost becomes another song entirely. Another MDNA track is next, and while I think Turn Up The Radio is one of the better tracks off the album, the live version doesn’t do much for me. The video interlude right before this features snippets of Madonna classics like Lucky Star, Into the Groove, Ray of Light and Music. I sort of feel bad for the casual Madonna fans in the audience right now, because you know they would rather hear any of those songs over anything from MDNA, but Madonna only teases them with brief snippets.

What comes next, though, either pleased or frustrated some fans, as M performs one of her biggest hits that she has not performed in over twenty years, Open Your Heart. But she performs it in a heavily altered form with the Kalakan trio from the Basque country of Northern France. Personally, I love it when Madonna re-invents her classic songs in a whole new way; if I want to hear exact versions that came out back in the day, I have the originals for that in my iTunes. But I know there are a lot of fans who don’t feel this way.

After this, Madonna spoke to the audience and said it was “time to have our serious chat.” And Madonna started to speak about Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani girl who currently clings to life in hospital bed, after being shot by Taliban extremists for daring to advocate for the rights of girls to be educated. “This made me cry, the 14-year-old schoolgirl who wrote a blog about going to school. The Taliban stopped her bus and shot her. Do you realize how sick that is? Support education! Support women!” The crowd roared in approval. “One thing I’ve realized during my travels is how lucky we Americans are. We are for sure an imperfect country with an imperfect government. But I tell you — the shit I have seen in the Ukraine and in Russia… May I remind you that two members of Pussy Riot are still in jail. In St. Petersburg, 75 men were arrested for being gay.” But before things got too serious and bummed everyone out too much, she launched into one of her first and most iconic hits, Holiday. Seriously, you just can’t go wrong with Holiday. Instead of ending this act here, she goes into her sappy ballad Masterpiece from her movie W.E. Yeah, for me this is a good time for a bathroom break.

The third portion of the show, Masculine/Feminine was by far my favorite portion. The video interlude is an updated version of her 1990 #1 hit single Justify My Love, shot in glorious and grainy black and white, just like the original. Madonna is smart enough to know that with just the right amount of filters and with black and white footage she can just about pull off looking twenty years younger, at least on film. When she returned to the stage, it was for an elaborately costumed Art Deco version of Vogue, costumed by longtime collaborator Jean Paul Gaultier. Gaultier re-imagines M’s infamous cone bra, and costumes her dancers with 1920’s style dresses, including many of the male dancers. Next up is a much improved version of  Candy Shop, the opening track from M’s so so album Hard Candy, remixed  with snippets of Erotica integrated into the song. Next, Madonna segues into her 1995 hit Human Nature, all while removing articles of clothing as shifting mirrors move around the stage. This number is brilliantly and elaborately staged, but her vocals really started to suffer in this section. After much of her clothes has come off and ended up on the floor, we see that Madonna has written “Malala” on her back, and she dedicates Like a Virgin to her, which is re-imagined a slow and sad waltz.  This third portion of the show ends with an acoustic version of  Love Spent, easily my favorite track from MDNA. The final video interlude features a remixed version of Nobody Knows Me, from Madonna’s much hated 2003 album American Life. Even though I hate that album rather passionately, I respect the fact that Madonna doesn’t give a crap and uses a song from this album, her biggest flop of her career. And honestly, she recreated it rather spectacularly, as the video is stunningly put together, and includes a tribute to teens who took their lives after being bullied and ridiculed, including Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi. I would say overall, this was the most interesting, cohesive and successful part of the show.

The final act of the show Redemption starts with my two other favorite tracks from MDNA, I’m Addicted and I’m A Sinner. During I’m A Sinner, Madonna’s dancers, many of whom are clearly double jointed, hop from moving box to moving box. While it is pretty clear that at 54, Madonna can still get her groove on more than many half her age, her days of doing things like singing Vogue while arched backwards on a moving platform are behind her. So Madonna has compensated by getting what is possibly her best and most accomplished troupe of dancers on any tour to date for this one. The show’s penultimate number is one of M’s most iconic songs Like A Prayer, performed with a gospel choir backing her. This is much as was done on the original recording. This was almost identical to her rendition of LAP from the Superbowl, only instead of a snippet of it, we get the song in its entirety. Madonna closes the show with Celebration, the title track of her most recent Greatest Hits compilation. It’s kind of an odd choice, as it isn’t one of her iconic hits; I would have figured Music would have gone here, but maybe M figured after performing Music in her last four tours and the Superbowl, she’d give that one a well- deserved rest. Celebration is more than good enough though in the end, and ends a spectacular show rather spectacularly. And as a cute added bonus, the final number has Madonna’s 12-year- old son Rocco join the party, and he is clearly following in his mother’s footsteps and has the dancing gene. Everyone has always expected Madonna’s daughter Lourdes to follow in her footsteps, but I think it is Rocco who might be the heir apparent.

So the final verdict? I’ve seen five Madonna concerts in the past eleven years. I would still say this doesn’t rate as high as her 2006 Confessions Tour, which is the best of her modern concerts in my opinion. This is certainly superior to the Sticky and Sweet Tour, which was her last tour (and the highest grossing tour by a solo artist of all time, I might add) and probably on par with The Re-Invention Tour from back in ’04, which was the closest thing that M has ever come to a Greatest Hits tour. As I mentioned earlier, M can’t quite move like she used to anymore, but man can she find the people who can, and combined with the incredible theatrics she takes the concept of pop music concert to a whole other level.

It will be interesting to see what the future brings for Madonna. She has two tours and two albums that she must deliver by 2018 to make good on her massive Live Nation contract that she signed in 2007. But as she gets older, it gets more and more difficult to find new ways to top herself and re-invent herself. And let’s face it, after thirty years and 38 top ten hits to her name, it is likely that Madonna will never have another Billboard top ten hit again, especially as she makes youth oriented dance pop, and the airwaves are not exactly looking for a dance pop diva in her 50’s. Unlike equally legendary artists like her frenemies Elton John and Cher, Madonna flat out refuses to do a straight up  Vegas style Greatest Hits tour, even if that is what parts of her ever-aging fanbase wants. In the end, though, Madonna can and will do whatever she wants, and the faithful fans who have loved her since childhood like me (and Youtube “bar mitzvah boy” sensation Shaun Sperling, who was in the front row last night) will follow her wherever she takes us.

Geekscape Comics: ‘Avengers Vs. X-Men’: Series Wrap Up

by Eric Diaz

So the latest epic Marvel “event” Avengers Vs X-Men has come to a close, and to say opinions are mixed is putting it mildly. I’m gonna go on record here and say the series was mostly entertaining, but there were also a  ton of storytelling misfires along the way.
Unlike the past few years, the events of AvX actually felt like they mattered, and had actual repercussions on the Marvel Universe. This hasn’t been the case for some time…I mean, can anyone tell me what the point of last year’s “Fear Itself” was? Or “Siege?” How pointless did “Secret Invasion”  ultimately feel?

By the way, SPOILERS for the entire series of AvX in this article. If you haven’t read it, please do so now. Or you can just read the Wikipedia entry, I don’t care. I’m certainly not going to explain what happened here in detail, I’m going to assume if you’re reading this you know the basic plot and outcome of Avengers Vs. X-Men by now. All good? Ok, then let’s talk about the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of AvX….

The Good

AvX Was A Series That Lived Up To It’s Premise

So many of these crossover events don’t live up to their premise. Secret Invasion from 2008 is a perfect example, a series that promised that many of the characters we’d known and loved for decades had been replaced with duplicate Skrull agents. This could have been a truly wild revelation in the Marvel Universe. But it turns out, pretty much only C-lister Mockingbird was actually replaced by a Skrull. Yawn. But AvX really only promised Avengers fighting X-Men, and boy howdy, it sure gave us that (maybe too much of that) At least it was a series that delivered on the inside what the cover said it was on the outside. And far be it from me from denying the simple pleasures of super heroes beating up other super heroes.

The Return of the Mutant Race

Back in 2005, Marvel EIC Joe Quesada decided that there were way too many mutants in the Marvel Universe, therefore making them seem less like a feared and hated minority and more like a powerful majority. So in 2005’s House of M mini series, he had a now crazy Scarlet Witch use her reality altering hex power to erase the mutant gene in 99% of the world. (leaving only the X-Men and their villains as the world’s sole mutants. Convenient) Suddenly, there were only 198 mutants left in the Marvel Universe. Problem is, 198 mutants isn’t so much a race, as it is a really good turn out for a party. What Joe Quesada didn’t understand is that prejudice isn’t always about numbers; women are 51% of the population  after all, and they are discriminated against, in some countries even treated as barely human, merely because they’re not in positions of power. It’s not always just about numbers.

I’ll admit that this new “mutants as endangered species” scenario led to some interesting stories, although it seems the writers and editors at Marvel were too scared to make the comparisons to the Jewish Holocaust that to me were obvious. The mutant population is nearly exterminated, and the hardened survivors form there own tiny nation, armed to the teeth in an effort to make sure no one fucks with them ever again. Meanwhile, Wolverine takes his mutants to New York state, where he feels that integrating as part of regular American culture and not separating is the way to go. If this all doesn’t sound like an allegory for the Jewish post WWII experience, then you’re not paying attention. The X-Men have always fully embraced their allegories to the civil rights movements of the 60’s and the gay rights movements, but it seems they were too scared to fully commit to the Israel metaphor for fear of offending people. (people do understand that all metaphors are not exact) If you’re too scared to really go where you wanted to go for fear of backlash, then at least give us back the idea of a mutant race that’s thriving and growing day to day.

The Death of Prof. X

This has been a long, long time coming. How many near deaths has the man had? He was shot way back in the early 90’s only to recover, then again he was shot in the head at the end of 2007’s Messiah Complex, only to survive that too. He hasn’t been an interesting or vital character for a really long time, and with his original students now in teaching positions, he no longer really has a real role either. I know that as far back as the mid 80’s, X-Men writer Chris Claremont wanted to take ol’ Chuck out, but Marvel didn’t let him. Instead, he was sent off into space for six years with his alien girlfriend, and all the X-teams at the time talked about it as if he were dead, even though they knew he was just on a really long and far away vacation.

Marvel has always played with idea that Charles Xavier was this Martin Luther King type figure for the mutant community, and Magneto as kind of the Malcolm X. Well, to take that metaphor to it’s natural conclusion, then that means that Xavier has to die tragically, a martyr to his people. For decades, the various X-Men teams have been talking about “carrying on Xavier’s dream.” You only carry on someone’s dream if that person isn’t around to do it, and he was. But now that he’s finally gone, Xavier can be a more powerful a character in death than he could be in life.

The Redemption of the Scarlet Witch

Another event that was a very long time coming was the redemption of longtime Avenger Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. She is to the Avengers what Sue Storm is to the Fantastic Four, or Jean Grey was to the X-Men. And yet for the past eight years, ever since 2004’s Avengers Disassembled, she’d been treated like total crap. In that series, years of misfortune (finding out her father was Magneto, having her android husband’s mind wiped, and finding out her children weren’t real for starters) caused Wanda to have nervous breakdown and cause major death and destruction to the Avengers with her Chaos Magicks. She then wiped out the mutant gene to piss off her father in House of M.

On the one hand, it is commendable that Marvel has made the most powerful character on each of their signature teams a woman. But on the flip side, it seems Marvel always has their most powerful females unable to cope with such power, as if estrogen + cosmic power must always lead to global catastrophe. I don’t recall Silver Surfer or Thor constantly going off the rails whenever bad things happened to them. When the original Dark Phoenix saga happened, it was new and innovative, but by the time they did the same story with Scarlet Witch, it felt like a rehash, with the character damage nearly impossible to overcome. But at least with the conclusion of AvX, they’re seemingly on their way to restoring this character’s reputation.

The End of the Storm/Black Panther Marriage

And good riddance too. When Marvel decided to marry their two most popular African characters, mostly because they just both happened to be African, it was one of the dumbest story ideas ever. It killed Storm as a vital member of the X-Men (“hey everyone, just dropping in to say hi, even though I’m Queen of a whole nation now. Remember when my character mattered?”) and forced Black Panther stories to involve mutants. It was all so lame, and in my opinion, kinda racist. I have to admit, one of the best moments of the series was when Panther tells storm the high priest of the Panther clan has annulled their marriage, and Storm says “but you’re the high priest” or words to the effect, and he just glares back. Cold T’Challa. Cold.

The Bad

The  Inconsistent Art

There were three artists in total on AvX, and much like the writing, the art was all over the place. The first few issues were drawn by John Romita Jr. who I’m afraid wasn’t bringing his A-game to the drawing table. While Romita can draw bulking giant characters like the Hulks and Thor to perfection, as well as the square jawed types like Cap, his women are almost always ugly looking, and his layouts, at least with this series, are kind of boring. Then came Olivier Coipel’s stunning art at the halfway point of the series, and suddenly everything looked much better. Andy Kubert finished out the series, but while the art wasn’t ugly, it wasn’t really his best either. When people read this book in trades in the future, it is going to feel really schizophrenic due to the art ranging from ugly to great to just ok.

Sloppy Storytelling

Ultimately, the main characters of AvX were Cyclops, Wolverine, Captain America, Tony Stark, Hope and Scarlet Witch, with everyone else there just to punch each other, give some needed exposition, and throw out a one liner or two. But for much of the series, Scarlet Witch was sidelined, so her importance at the end of the series felt like it came out of left field at the end. Xavier’s death at the hands of Cyclops was a huge moment in the Marvel Universe, yet in terms of this series, Xavier barely played a part, rendering his death scene less impacting than it should have been. And then there’s Nova, someone who was positioned to be an important part of the series at the very beginning, but is all but forgotten until a cameo at the end. Maybe if this series had one writer instead of many, it would have felt a lot more consistent. Too many different writers and artists made the whole thing feel really messy, with moments of greatness and equal moments of awfulness. And with so many different writers (the book was written by Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman and Matt Fraction) how can it NOT feel as if written by committee?

This Series Should Have Been Six issues, Not Twelve 

As entertaining as parts of it were, there is no reason this story took six months and twelve issues to tell, aside from milking it for as long as possible to get more money from loyal fanboys. It could have been told in half the time and with a lot less filler in the middle.

The Ugly

The Character Assassination of Scott Summers

Poor Cyclops just can’t seem to catch a break. Despite being the original X-Man, he’s taken a back seat to Wolverine in terms of popularity for decades now. But in the early 2000’s, Grant Morrison took steps to make Cyclops an equally compelling character as Wolverine or anyone else in the pages of New X-Men, and that was taken even further by Joss Whedon in his run on Astonishing X-Men. But subsequent writers have slowly taken “being strong” to just “being a dick.”

And for every fan who is now saying that at the end of this series that Cyclops was right all along, well yes… he was. The Phoenix force was indeed coming for Hope, and Hope reignited the mutant race. But that doesn’t change the fact that the Phoenix could have just as easily destroyed the Earth instead, and when Captain America and the Avengers showed up to remind him of this fact, he had a giant temper tantrum about it instead of acting like a rational human being.

What Cyclops should have done when Cap showed up on his doorstep is say “ok, you want to take Hope into custody to potentially save the world? Maybe take her into space or someplace she won’t do any damage? Fine, but she’s a mutant, so wherever she goes, we go to protect her.” But no, Cyclops had to act like a belligerent asshole, and be all “get off my lawn!” and hit Captain America with an optic blast. So all the actual Avengers fighting X-Men stuff that the series was named after was Cyclops’ fault.

What isn’t Cyclops’ fault is anything he or the other Phoenix Five did while being under the control of the Phoenix. The only reason they got possessed at all was because of something Tony Stark did, and yet I’ve seen little guilt on his part for his actions here. When Jean Grey went all Dark Phoenix back in the day, she destroyed a whole world with billions of inhabitants. When she got better, she got a pass. Yet under the influence of the Phoenix, the worst thing Scott Summers did really was kill one man. And yet, he’s now imprisoned like a war criminal. If the Phoenix was responsible for these actions, then none of the Phoenix five should be held accountable any more than Jean Grey was, especially now that the Phoenix is gone. You can’t have it both ways Marvel. Either the Phoenix controls you or it doesn’t, and if it does, then there is a huge double standard going on between Scott Summers and Jean Grey right now.

Having said all that, it seems bizarre that Cyclops has shown little to no remorse over the death of his mentor and father figure, whether he was really fully responsible or not. (there was some remorse shown in the tie in issue of Uncanny X-Men, but it was too little, too late) His attitude at the end of AvX seems to be  “It was all worth it, because my people were restored.”  All of that would be consistent if he hadn’t killed Charles Xavier, who was practically his father. But he did kill him, so it makes him seem strangely callous and almost like another character entirely. There is no way that the Scott Summers who has existed at Marvel for nearly fifty years would be so unrepentant about Charles Xavier’s death at his hands as he was. At the end of AvX, Cyclops is as broken a character as Scarlet Witch was for years, and I hope it doesn’t take eight years to restore him to true heroic status. Because none of the good things that came out of AvX are worth years and years of “villain Cyclops” we are now about to get.

Final Verdict

Now that it is finally over, I’d say there was as much good and bad to AvX, with only the shoddy treatment of Cyclops tipping the scale to more bad than good. However, on the plus side, This series finally brings about an end to almost a decade’s worth of stories in the Marvel Universe, creating an almost clean slate for a refreshed new world for the creators at Marvel to play in. Instead of separate X-Men and Spider-Man and Avengers universes within the Marvel U, we are getting one unified Marvel Universe again, as it was back when Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko created it, and to me that’s good. If it took AvX to get us there, then it was all worth it. Well, unless you’re Cyclops that is. Then it just sucks to be you right now.

Geekscape Movie Reviews: Tim Burton’s ‘Frankenweenie’

by Eric Diaz

In a recent interview while doing the press junket rounds for his latest stop motion movie Frankenweenie, Tim Burton said something very telling, but very true “the movies I make that everyone says they love never make much money, and the movies I make that everyone says they hate are always the biggest hits.” While that’s a slight exaggeration, it’s not one by much. I have a feeling Frankenweenie is going to be one of those films that everyone who sees it will love, and yet a large number of moviegoers will ignore it. Certainly early estimates make Frankenweenie a box office disappointment already, despite mostly great reviews. Meanwhile, the two Burton movies that almost everyone I’ve met says they hate (Alice in Wonderland, Planet of the Apes) are two of his most financially successful movies. Alice is the twelfth most successful movie worldwide of all time, hard as it may be to believe. It seems Burton’s best movies are never appreciated fully when they’re released. And while Frankenweenie isn’t the very best Tim Burton movie (there are at least five that are superior) it certainly stands proudly next to them.

It hasn’t been easy admitting to being a Tim Burton fan for the past decade or more. But for the first fifteen or so years of his career, Burton churned out true classics on a regular basis. We take Burton for granted now, but there was a time when almost everything he directed was pretty amazing, and totally unlike anything else the Hollywood studios were producing. Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, the Batman films, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas*, Ed Wood, Mars Attacks and Sleepy Hollow are all movies ranging from good (the latter two) to great (everything else) Certainly Tim Burton isn’t the first director to show how behind the the facade of all-American suburbia, there’s a darker, more twisted and just plain weirder side; that’s been the forte of the likes of directors John Waters and David Lynch for years. But people like Lynch and Waters have always worked on the fringe, barely ever touching mainstream success. Tim Burton on the other hand has taken his own similar outsider sensibilities and signature visual style and spun them into box office gold over and over again. He brought quirkiness to the mainstream in a way almost no director ever has.

And then, came the apes. The 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes was one of the worst pairings of director and material I’d ever seen, and Burton never seemed to really get his groove back after that. He made some truly good movies since then (Big Fish and Sweeney Todd for example) but for the most part, everything else he’s done this past decade has been missing a certain something. It didn’t help that all his output this past decade has been remakes or movies based on some form of previous material. A lot of people have been wondering if we’d ever see a truly classic Tim Burton movie ever again, that perfect mix of the Gothic and macabre with the whimsical and the heartfelt. I’m happy to say Frankenweenie is that movie.

Frankenweenie isn’t the best Tim Burton film by a long shot, (that honor belongs to the two Edwards, Wood and Scissorhands) but it is easily the best movie he’s made in at least a decade, and maybe the purest Tim Burton movie he’s made since Edward Scissorhands over twenty years ago. And it is also maybe his most autobiographical film ever. Both Burton and young Victor Frankenstein grew up in 1950’s cookie cutter suburbia, both were kids who were were a little more obsessed with monster movies than seemingly everyone else, and both had dogs they loved and lost. On top of all that, both had that one special teacher who recognized their oddball genius before anyone else did. Maybe it’s because Frankenweenie is so personal to Burton that it’s so good. Unlike so many of his recent works, like this past summer’s Dark Shadows, this time it felt like he really cared. This time he showed up for more than just a fat paycheck.

This isn’t the first time Burton has told the story of a bull terrier who comes back from the grave. His first film was a live action short by the same name, produced by Disney back in 1984. Deemed too dark for the kiddies, it was shelved until the DVD release of The Nightmare Before Christmas in the 90’s. I always loved Burton’s original live action short of Frankenweenie, but I’ll admit when I first heard he was going to extend it to full length status I dismissed it outright. I just figured Burton had run out of original ideas and now had to extend an old short that was perfectly fine the way it was. I couldn’t be more happy to be wrong. because the feature length version of Frankenweenie is an instant classic.

Frankenweenie has the same basic structure as the original short film; Victor Frankenstein is reclusive elementary school student who doesn’t have any friends except his loyal dog Sparky. When Sparky is accidentally killed when hit by a car, Victor brings his back as only someone with the last name Frankenstein can. But the new film adds a ton of new memorable characters that weren’t in the original short, like science teacher Mr. Rzykruski, voiced by Martin Landau, as well as all the other children in Victor’s school who were totally absent from the original film. All of these elements make this movie feel not like a stretched out short story like I feared, but make the original look like a rough blue print for a superior movie instead. While the original short was an obvious homage to Universal’s classic version of Frankenstein, this new version is an homage to almost all the classic Universal horror films from the 30’s and 40’s, not to mention random other things like Godzilla and even Gremlins. Another welcome added element to the story is a very pro-Science angle, which I wasn’t expecting. With willful ignorance and anti science attitudes being embraced by Americans at alarming levels, I’m glad someone is speaking out against all this institutionalized stupidity.

Another reason to love Frankenweenie is that Burton chose to not just lean on actors  Johnny Deep and Helena Bonham Carter for the zillionth time, and instead chose to utilize actors he’s worked with before, but hasn’t worked with in a long time. Catherine O’Hara, who worked with Burton on Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas plays not only Victor’s mom, but also “Weird Girl” a classmate of Victor’s who thinks her cat Mr. Whiskers can predict the future in an unusual way (I won’t spoil it here because it’s just too awesome) Winona Ryder, who got her start starring in Burton films like Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands plays Elsa Van Helsing, the Frankenstein’s neighbor,sorta channeling her character from Beetlejuice, only in claymation form. Martin Short (who starred in Mars Attacks!) plays multiple parts as well, as Victor’s father and the awful mayor of the town Mr. Begermeister, and finally Victor’s Boris Karloff like rival for the science fair prize. And Burton even found a way to sneak in  yet another Christopher Lee cameo, this time in a rather inventive way. I should also mention that Danny Elfman’s score is the best score he’s done in years; he didn’t phone this one in like so much of his recent output.

I honestly don’t really have any bad things to say about Frankenweenie. If you have an affection for the Tim Burton films of yore, chances are you’ll love this movie. If you love old classic horror films, you’ll probably love it just as much. (I find it hilarious that the two best “horror” flicks of 2012 so far have been stop motion family movies, Frankenweenie and the recently released Paranorman) Part of me wishes Tim Burton would retire and let Frankenweenie be his swan song, and end his career on a high note, but that’s not likely to happen. But who knows? Maybe this signals a return to form for Burton, and we’ll get more original projects from him and less rehashes of other people’s material. Certainly his illustrated poetry book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy has enough oddball characters from his brain to make another potential classic. In the meantime, you should support Frankenweenie this Halloween season, and  help spread the word to everyone on this classic to be. At the very least, see this instead of Hotel Transylvania.

 

 

*Yes, I’m aware that The Nightmare Before Christmas is directed by Henry Selick and not Tim Burton. But Burton came up with the concept, the characters, and his name is even in the title;The official title is Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. So sue me, I’m counting it as a Burton film.

 

 

Potential Justice League And Batman Reboot Movie News

by Eric Diaz

Interesting DC Movie news has sprung up this weekend via Cosmic Book News (not to be confused with Comic Book Movie News. These sites need to get creative with their names) Now take both of these items with not a grain, but like a pound of salt, but in fairness this particular site did break the news that a rebooted Batman would appear first in a Justice League movie, then appear the following year in his own rebooted movie franchise. This piece of info was pretty much verified by the Hollywood trades not long after, so I’m gonna give them the benefit of the doubt here that their WB sources are legit.

According to the story, the membership of the team in the Justice League movie will feature all seven original founding members-Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Flash and the Martian Manhunter, and will include cameos from Cyborg and Green Arrow, and even some other second tier characters (So cross your fingers Red Tornado fans!) The versions of Green Arrow on the CW’s upcoming show Arrow will not be related to the JLA version, and if Wonder Woman’s show Amazon gets off the ground, her show won’t be related either.

Although rumors were floating around this week that a potential Justice League flick would  feature different actors for Superman and Batman than Man of Steel’s Henry Cavill and whoever the reboot Batman would be,  Cosmic Book News was told that “DC Entertainment have thought long and hard about having several different universes, but through the success of Marvel, have decided that it wouldn’t make sense to the audience and financially to have numerous actors playing the same roles year by year.” Good call. Sadly, it appears that whoever plays Hal Jordan won’t be Ryan Reynolds. All my issues with the GL movie aside, I don’t blame Reynolds for any of it.

Their other big scoop involves the plot of the rebooted Batman, said to be called simply The Batman, which is said to be based on the insanely popular video game Arkham Asylum. Of course, as millions of gamers know, the Joker was featured prominently in Arkham Asylum, as was Bane. Would the story only be loosely based the game, reducing those character’s roles, or does Warners have the balls to re-cast both the antagonists from both The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises so soon after Nolan’s trilogy? Both Arkham Asylum and Arkham City were hugely popular, so it can’t be a shock to see Warners looking to those games for inspiration.

Source: Cosmic Book News

 

Wonder Woman Origins Series Being Developed For The CW

by Eric Diaz

Here we go again.

You can’t keep a good feminist icon down; the CW is developing a script for a Wonder Woman centric series, said to be focusing on her origins. The project is currently titled Amazon, and according to the Vulture blog, “unlike past TV incarnations, it will focus on Wonder Woman as a young, budding superhero, rather than a fully formed defender of liberty. think Smallville, but instead of a no tights, no flights rule, this show might have a no bracelets, no crown  mandate.” I think the no costume/limited powers thing comes from Warner Brothers, who probably wants to save the fully powered and decked out Diana for a Justice League movie, or maybe even a fully fledged Wonder Woman movie down the line.

As a Wonder Woman fan, having Allan Heinberg at the helm of a Wonder Woman series makes me breathe a sigh of relief.

I have often said the CW is the proper home for a character like Wonder Woman. And unlike David E. Kelley, who made the dreadful Wonder Woman pilot for NBC that never got picked up, this is being written and developed by Allan Heinberg. Aside from being a prolific television writer for shows like Grey’s Anatomy and the O.C, he is also a successful comic book writer and creator of the Young Avengers. He even wrote a stint on Wonder Woman’s comic a few years back that was pretty decent, although mostly remembered for how shockingly late it was. Having an actual comic book fan at the helm of this series means we aren’t going to get something that changes everything about her mythology, or like the NBC pilot, just ignores it. I have a good feeling about this one this time.

How About An All Horror Movie Icon Version Of “The Expendables”?

by Eric Diaz

The Expendables franchise doesn’t do for me what it does for so many of you out there. Even though I am a child of the 80’s, I never cared a lick for all the overly muscled, testosterone overdose flicks that permeated movie theaters and video stores back then. I never even watched a single Stallone, Chuck Norris or Van Damme movie, at least not all the way through. And if Arnold wasn’t a cyborg from the future, fighting weird aliens in the jungle, or up on Mars, I pretty much didn’t care. Having huge muscles, firearms, and talking monosyllabically did nothing for me (for similar reasons, the Punisher is maybe the only iconic Marvel Comics character that I have zero interest in.) So when my fellow movie geeks squeel like school girls at the reunion of all these past their prime action stars when a new Expendables movie hits, I have to admit I get a little jealous. Because I want something like that to get all excited about, but with the movie icons that I loved from back in the day instead.

And the movie icons of my youth were of the even bloodier variety. I was a horror movie kid, and I took in Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Hellraiser and similar movies like they were crack. Robert Englund was my Stallone, and Michael Myers was my Van Damme. I equally idolized the heroines of horror like Jamie Lee Curtis and Heather Langenkamp who kicked ass and sent their respective tormentors back to Hell. Well, at least until the sequel that is.

So with the success of the Expendables franchise, I think it is time to take the same premise and apply it to the modern horror icons. Get the classic versions of Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers and the rest and put them into one big giant horror show. Go for broke, make it crazy and fun and a silly good time at the movies.

 

The Remakes Didn’t Cut It (No Pun Intended) This Would Celebrate The Classics

A few years back, something similar to what I’m suggesting was close to happening. When Freddy Vs. Jason came out in 2003, after some nine years of planning, it ended up making  $114 million on a $30 million budget. This was a massive success for this kind of R-rated movie, and plans were set in motion for a follow up. Rumors swirled that Freddy Vs Jason Vs Michael was coming, or even Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash. Then, New Line’s remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre hit a few months later and was even more successful. New Line decided to remake and reboot their respective franchises instead, hoping for similar success. All plans for a follow up to to Freddy Vs Jason with even more characters was snuffed in favor of going the remake route. Dimension Films followed suit with a reboot of Halloween not long after. Sadly, all the remakes captured the imagination of virtually no one.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was the first of the 70’s/80’s horror remakes to hit big in the past decade, and started the ball rolling on all the others. I actually think it is a pretty decent remake, as it honors the original while certainly having it’s own feel to it. The success of TCM lead to the horror remake wave of the 2000’s; if you saw a horror flick in theaters this past decade, it was probably some form of torture porn, found footage style scares, or it was a crappy remake of a beloved movie from the 70’s/80’s slasher movie heyday.

The thing is, almost none of these remakes really clicked. Oh sure, they made some  money, at least enough money to cover their budgets. But critics and older fans like me saw them for the soulless, cynical cash grabs they were. the remakes for Halloween, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street all opened pretty well in theaters, only to plummet hard the following week. Horror movies are almost always front loaded, but all these remakes were especially so. And more importantly, no one talked about them afterwards, except to talk about how much they sucked. Within a few months they were in the discount DVD bin at 7-11. Platinum Dunes (who produced the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm St reboots for New Line)  scrapped their plans for follow ups to Friday and Nightmare. Rob Zombie’s Halloween got a sequel, but it made half of what the first one did. Platinum Dunes has even said they are out of the horror remake business for now. In short, these iconic characters are just sitting on a shelf now, collecting dust.

While most of the teenagers and early twenty somethings that are the prime consumer targets for most media are mind numbingly unaware of almost any pop culture that pre dates, oh, say the year 2000 or so, horror movie fans are a of a different breed. No matter how young they are, the serious horror fan has an encyclopedic knowledge of horror films, and from what I’ve gathered, most of them hate the new remakes as much as old fogies like me do. The remakes just didn’t work for any demographic, which is why I say…bring the originals back for one last hurrah. Give us a wise cracking Freddy Krueger again, a Michael Myers who isn’t a wrestler, bring back the classic monsters of yore, put them together in a movie Expendables style (or, if you will, Avengers style) and just go fuckin’ nuts. It might end up being terrible, but it probably won’t be boring.

So What’s The Plot?

So what should the plot be for a horror version The Expendables? Honestly, who cares.

Ok, ok, I’m kind of kidding. Seriously though, no one, and I mean no one, is going to go see this movie for the plot. They are going to go see it to see their favorite boogeymen from their youth hack up a bunch of stupid teenagers in bloody and inventive ways, and hopefully Freddy and Chucky will have awesome one liners. No matter which way you swing it, there is going to be a camp element to this. Better to just embrace it,  instead of overly complicating the plot to somehow have it all make sense. As much fun as Freddy Vs. Jason was, there was way too much of that in that particular movie. On some level, whoever is making this has to just accept that it all doesn’t really make sense, and just roll with it.

If this was the plot for the movie, I’d still watch it.

But since there has to be a plot of some sort, how about this for one? Freddy returns to Springwood to torment the nightmares of the teenagers once again. This time he uses the souls of other famous boogeymen to do his bidding in the dreamscape. So teenager #1 can get killed by Freddy in a classic Elm Street scenario, while teenager #2 gets whacked in Haddonfield by Michael Myers, and so on. At some point, they are all pulled out of the dream world and start reaking havok together for real. Cue Ash to the rescue! See? Easy as pie. Like I said, it doesn’t have to be complicated, it just has to be fun. A movie like this can’t try to bite off more than it can chew, it’ll never get good reviews from the New York Times no matter how good it is. Much like The Expendables, it’ll be made for the fans and for no one else.

Who NEEDS To Star In the Horror Expendables, Or Else There’s Just No Point

Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger

Obviously, Robert Englund needs to be Freddy Krueger in this movie. Without him, this whole thing just isn’t worth it. I know the man retired from playing Freddy, but if anything can get him back in the make up chair, it would be something like this. Come back Robert, make us forget that stupid remake and be the final word on Freddy for all time.

Kane Hodder as Jason Voorhees 

Obviously, everyone’s favorite hockey masked killer has to come back too. And he should be played by Kane Hodder, who played Jason for four Friday the 13th movies and was passed over for Freddy Vs Jason by that movie’s director Ronny Yu. Time to rectify that error. Kane Hodder is a horror legend, appearing in literally dozens of horror movies. If Jason is gonna be in this movie, it has got to be Kane Hodder. And he needs his iconic ch ch ch ah ah ah souto follow him where ever he goes.

Leatherface

Leatherface has been played by a different actor in almost every movie he has been in, including Kane Hodder in parts of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Not sure who needs to be Leatherface here, but the character needs to be in this movie. Not to mention, the rights to the character are held by New Line Cinema, who also hold the rights to Freddy and Jason, so it is kind of a no brainer.

Michael Myers

The original iconic slasher. Bring back the silent, deliberate moving embodiment of evil from John Carpenter’s original classic Halloween, not the wrestler with the white trash upbringing (once again, fuck you very much for that Rob Zombie) Also, gotta bring back the classic Willaim Shatner mask. Michael Myers has been portrayed by several actors and stuntmen, but as long as they evoke “the Shape” and not Rob Zombie’s trailer park wet dream, I’m good.

Doug Bradley as Pinhead

Actor Doug Bradley has played Pinhead in three Hellraiser movies and countless straight to dvd sequels for almost twenty five years now. He almost was a surprise cameo at the end of Freddy vs. Jason, but that didn’t pan out for whatever reason. I can’t imagine Bradley wouldn’t be down for a movie featuring all his fellow horror icons.

Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif)

Rounding out the main cast, you need the last of the great 80’s slashers in the form of Chucky from Child’s Play. We know character actor Brad Dourif will willingly voice Chucky in pretty much any movie, as there are even plans for a sixth Child’s Play movie for next year, this time straight to DVD. With so many other silent killers like Michael, Jason, and Leatherface, we need another trash talking, smart ass in the group besides Freddy. I nominate Chucky.

Bruce Campbell as Ash (or just as himself)

So who fights all these monsters and sends them back to Hell? Who else but Bruce Campbell? He could revive the Evil Dead trilogy’s Ash, or just play an exaggerated version of himself. In any event, the hero of this flick needs to be the one and only Bruce. I know he would be down to do this, as a couple of years ago, he made a public pitch for a horror version of The Expendables himself, although it obviously never got off the ground.

Cameos 

A movie like this is tailor made for tons of cool cameos. These are just the ones off the top of my head.

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. -At 60, she doesn’t look a day over 30. As much of a horror icon as any of the boys. She needs her fifteen minutes here, or at least her fifteen seconds.


Jamie Lee Curtis-the original Scream Queen. All others must bow in submission. She has never shyed away from her horror movie roots, and would no doubt be down for something like this if the cameo was a fun one.


Christopher Lee-At the ripe old age of 90, Christopher Lee is easily the oldest horror icon on this list. But he’s still goin’. He makes cameos in like every Tim Burton movie, someone get him for this. Let’s be honest, the clock is ticking on this one.


Linda Blair-the little possessed girl from The Exorcist is all grown up now, and has no problem making fun of her turn as the pea soup vomiting, crucifix masturbating demon spawn. She’d make for another great cameo part.

Oh Yeah…There Is One Teeny Weeny Obstacle.

If there is anything to ever keep this from happening, it is the fact that the various characters are owned by several different parties. New Line Cinema/Warner Brothers owns Freddy, Jason and Leatherface, so that’s three down. (I would imagine it would be New Line who is the primary studio getting this made, but that’s just a guess) Michael Myers’ rights are currently at Dimension Films, which is owned by the Weinstein Company, as are the Hellraiser rights. Chucky as it Universal. The real trick will be to get the Weinsteins and Universal to loan out Micheal Myers, Pinhead, and Chucky, and convince them it would be in their best interest financially to do so.

The sequel to Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake pretty much flopped, and their plans for a Halloween 3D were scrapped not long after. Getting Michael Myers in a horror mash up produced by another studio is low risk, high reward for them, as it raises the profile of a character they own, and they don’t have to do any of the real work. Not to mention, they’ll be paid nicely for the use of the character no doubt. And right now Pinhead and Chucky are in straight to DVD Hell, a high profile theatrical release could only help those franchises as well for their actual rights holders. The trick is to get all the lawyers in a room to sit down and agree that by making this movie, everybody wins. Don’t let greed kill something as cool and fun as this could potentially be.

So there’s my pitch for an all horror version of The Expendables. This is money in the bank, not to mention a potentially very entertaining time at the theater for millions of fans who grew up watching these movies. So feel free to steal my ideas Hollywood, that’s what I’m here for. And you’re welcome.

Summer 2012 Was The Biggest Super Hero Movie Summer Yet. But Can It Be Topped?

by Eric Diaz

So Labor Day is upon us, which means that for all intents and purposes, summer is over. Believe me, writing that is weird, because as I write this it is something like 80+ degrees outside. But weather aside, as far as Hollywood is concerned, the major summer movie blockbuster season was over with the release of The Expendables a couple weeks back. And I think it can now be made official: summer 2012 was THE summer of the super hero.

In the final box office tally of summer 2012, the three biggest movies were all comic book super hero movies. Avengers is the third biggest movie domestically of all time, destroying even the most ambitious of expectations. Worldwide, it made a billion and a half dollars. The Dark Knight Rises ended Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy with dignity intact, and is currently on track to be the number seven film released domestically of all time, also with a billion dollars made worldwide. And oh yeah…at #3 this year is the red headed step child of the summer, The Amazing Spider-Man, which despite its detractors, went on to make  $260 million domestic, and nearly $800 million worldwide. True, actual ticket sales are at their lowest in twenty years, but the success of these three mega hits in a summer filled with misses shows that even in the toughest movie going market, one can almost always count on the nerd dollar. A lot of people have been wondering when the comic book movie boom would end. Detractors have been saying “any minute” for what seems like years now. But looking at the box office tallies of this summer, it is pretty clear the American public is anything but sick of super heroes.

Going into Summer 2012, a lot of people were saying this would be the peak of the comic book movie juggernaut that has been with us since Summer 2000, when Bryan Singer’s X-Men started the modern super hero movie ball rolling in earnest. But was this past summer the peak of this phenomenon, or is this  just the begining of the second phase, leading not only to Avengers 2 in 2015, but also Warner Brother’s response to the Avengers in the form of Justice League?  Sure, a Justice League movie has been rumored for years now, and even once almost happened. But that was before Avengers made over a billion dollars at the box office; now Warner Brothers has to respond to Marvel’s success with their own super hero mega group flick. Warners has apparently approached directors from Ben Affeck to David Yates to the Wachowskis in a desperate effort to have this puppy ready by Summer 2015. It is a safe bet to assume that this time, when it comes to the League, they’re serious. On top of all that, based on how the last two summers have played out, not to mention how the next two summers are set to roll out, There will almost certainly be another super hero film that year, although the real question is who will dare to take on the JLA AND the Avengers in Summer 2015?

The ultimate super hero box office battle is set to take place in three years, when the Avengers take on the Justice League. Who would have thought THAT would ever happen?

Although there are plenty of comic book and super hero movies scheduled for next Summer as well as 2014, none are as likely to be as huge as an Avengers sequel or a Justice League movie. Right now, the sequel to the Avengers is maybe the most anticipated sequel since maybe The Empire Strikes Back. And even though there hasn’t been the same lead up, Justice League is at least as anticipated as the first Avengers was, as a JLA movie not only teams up Superman and Batman for the first time in live action, but also introduces live action versions of the Flash, Aquaman and Wonder Woman. While it is a safe bet that almost all of the super hero flicks coming over the next two Summer seasons will do well (only Guardians of the Galaxy is the real question mark) none are going to have the epic must-see feel of either of these potential 2015 movies. Add to that a potential third super hero flick into the mix that summer, and summer 2015 is set to dwarf summer 2012 in a big way. If there is a super hero movie peak, it is likely at least three years away still.

Avengers 2, The Justice League, and…..?

It is fair to say we can make a solid, educated guess on what the third super hero movie of summer 2015 won’t be, by process of elimination. Iron Man 3, The Wolverine, and Man of Steel are coming out next Summer, 2013, with Thor: The Dark World following that winter. So it is highly unlikely any sequel to those movies are coming out as soon as 2015, especially with both Thor and Iron Man presumably starring in Avengers 2. Same logic applies to Superman in  a JLA movie, that squashes his chances even more of having another solo film that summer. Summer 2014 has sequels to The Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and X-Men: Days of Future Past. So forget any X-Men movies in 2015 to go head to head with the Avengers or the JLA, and no Spidey or Cap sequels will follow that fast. Also, according to every reliable source, DC/Warners won’t have another super hero property out after Man of Steel until 2015, when Justice League is set to hit. In all likelihood, the third comic book property that summer will be a Marvel one, with one other notable possibility. But what? Who will be the third super hero movie to go toe to toe with the Avengers and the JLA? Here are my best guesses on who will likely complete the ultimate super hero movie summer three years from now.

Option #1: Daredevil

Fox is  just about to give up their rights to the Daredevil franchise to Marvel Studios/Disney. A grittier, more realistic take on a super hero might fill in the void left over from the end of the Christopher Nolan Batman movies, as the Batman in a Justice League flick will definitely be different. With Daredevil, It’s still a super hero movie, but it would be as dramatically different from Avengers and JLA as humanly possible, and not feel like direct competion. I’d say this difference gives Daredevil the best shot.

Option #2: The Fantastic Four

While Fox was willing to let the Daredevil rights go back to Marvel, it his highly unlikey that they will allow Marvel’s First Family to go anywhere anytime soon. We know they have a reboot of that franchise coming soon, with Chronicle’s Josh Trank at the helm, but will they dare to compete with both the Avengers and the Justice League? It is a 50/50 proposition really; an FF movie could benifit from super team mania that summer, or it could just get crushed between those two giants. I suppose it would ultimately depend on how good it is. It would amazing in a way if three of the four longest running super teams being published made it to movie theaters all in one summer. The twelve year old version of me’s head might explode.

Option #3: Dr. Strange

Marvel Studios has been teasing a Dr. Strange film for a while now, and it seemed the front runner for their 2014 movie until Guardians of the Galaxy took that slot. With Guardians, Marvel is going knee deep into outer space territory, and it seems after that the world of magic is the next logical step. Dr Strange could tie in somewhat to the overall Marvel Movie universe, while still being tangential to the greater Avengers story. Dr Strange, along with Ant-Man, are the last two Stan Lee created major Marvel properties from the 60’s who haven’t yet had a movie. I’d like to see the old man get his cameo.

 

Option #4: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Although the TMNT reboot was scheduled to be released in early 2014, the script review that leaked recently was so scathingly negative as to probably make producer Michael Bay reconsider the direction they are going in and push that movie back, maybe as far as summer 2015. Even though the Ninja Turtles are a super hero team of a sort, there is no chance anyone would ever confuse them with the Avengers or the JLA. They could carve their own little niche that summer.

 

There will be plenty of geek speculation for the next three years as to how summer 2015 will turn out, and there will be plenty of comic book films from now till then to keep us all excited (not to mention NON comic book films….I hear they still make those) But all eyes are on summer 2015, and after that….then maybe we can talk about whether super hero movies have peaked or not. In the meantime, let the speculation continue.

Is DC Comics Reviving Alan Moore’s “Twilight of the Superheroes” Pitch From 1987?

by Eric Diaz

Yesterday Bleeding Cool ran a very interesting theory, and one my gut tells me will come true. In this week’s Justice League #12, we got the beginning of the much talked about romance between Superman and Wonder Woman. But also this week we got Justice League International Annual #1, which featured the disbanding of the team and and an appearance by a future version of Booster Gold, who sees sureveilance footage of the Super-Wonder hook up and says something to the effect of “now it is too late!!” and vanishes. Not to mention, John Constantine is now a part of the DC Universe for the first time in decades in this New 52 universe. So what does this all add up to?

As Bleeding Cool pointed out, all this circumstantial evidence leads to an intriguing possibilty: DC is planning on digging  out Alan Moore’s proposed DC Universe crossover The Twilight of the Superheroes out of mothballs. What is Twilight of the Superheroes you might ask? Back in 1987, before Alan Moore cut all ties with DC over Watchmen, he pitched and sold a proposal to DC as their next epic crossover. He made a detailed plot synopsis, and included a rather long letter explaining just how DC should approach, market and even merchandise this puppy (so very capitalist of you Mr.Moore. tsk tsk) But soon after, his relationship with DC ended badly, and Twilight of the Superheroes went on the shelf. Elements of the story popped up in books like Kingdom Come and Armageddon 2001, but no straight up adaptation was ever made.

If Twilight of the Superheroes happens, expect a lot of snarky comments from Alan Moore.

That may soon change though, if Bleeding Cool is correct. Here is the full synopsis for the story according to Wikipediea:

The framing device of the story involves future versions of John Constantine and Rip Hunter traveling to the present day, ostensibly to prevent a serious disaster involving the superheroes of their time. The hook through which the series would connect with other titles is the attempts of the two time travelers to recruit others into their quest to alter the future through warning them of upcoming events. Individual books in the DC Universe could tie into the crossover or not, as their creators wished, by having Hunter or Constantine show up and warn the stars of the book of some event. The main narrative of the series involves Constantine relating the story of what has happened in the future to his present-day self over drinks in a bar.

The series was set in the future of the DC Universe, where the world is ruled by superheroic dynasties, including the House of Steel (presided over by Superman and his wife Wonder Woman, now called Superwoman) and the House of Thunder (consisting of the Shazam family) as well as houses built around the Teen Titans (House of Titans, naturally), the JLA (the House of Justice) The House of Mystery (DC’s mystical characters) and an alliance of super villains, known as the House of Secrets. The houses of Steel and Thunder are about to unite through the dynastic marriage of Superboy and Mary Marvel Jr., with their combined power potentially threatening the status quo, and several characters, including Constantine, attempt to stop it. One group of opponents is a shadowy cabal of non-powered heroes from DC and pulp fiction, like Tarzan and the Shadow, led by Batman. Another involves an alien alliance of the Green Lantern Corps, Martians, and Thanagarians. Constantine’s narrative of the future ends with a massive battle between the various factions, resulting in the death of most of the super-powered characters. A side story would show a decaying superhero ghetto where decrepit versions of old heroes live. In the final part of the present time framing device it would be revealed that Hunter and Constantine had traveled back in time not to prevent the future they came from but to ensure its coming true. The final battle depicted in the book resulted in humanity being freed from the control of superheroes, a status that Hunter and Constantine supported.

There are more details on Alan Moore’s proposal here. Now, we know that DC CCO Geoff Johns mined Alan Moore’s old Tales of the Green Lantern Corps stories for much of his Green Lantern run, including Blackest Night. So why not use Alan Moore’s old proposal? This isn’t a Watchmen situation; DC owns Alan Moore’s proposal outright and have since 1987, and all the characters are characters DC owns. If DC goes ahead and does this, they might get some grief from Moore in the form of snarky comments in the press, but that would be just about all he could do. While I felt (and still feel) that Before Watchmen was a slap in Moore’s face, this is a totally different animal. Twilight of the Superheroes also sounds a lot like a super powered version of Game of Thrones, which would be another selling point these days. One way or the others, I suppose we will all find out soon enough.

When Alan Moore proposed his epic story, the DC Characters all pretty much looked like this.

 

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me – 20 Years of David Lynch’s Nightmare Vision

by Eric Diaz

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the North American release of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, the prequel to his revolutionary television series Twin Peaks. Two years ago, on the 20th anniversary of the premiere of the television series, there were dozens of articles online about the significant cultural impact the series had, not only in popular culture at the time, but also in television in general over the subsequent next two decades. Needless to say, there probably won’t be that many articles besides this one talking about Fire Walk With Me. When the movie came out twenty years ago, it opened at number eight at the box office, and only playing in 691 screens. It never went up from there, making only $4 million in it’s theatrical run. And for the most part, critics hated the film when it was released. Only the LA Weekly seemed to get what Fire Walk With Me was really about, and I remember the writer of that review even said that the collective whole of the Twin Peaks television series combined with the movie represented the work of David Lynch’s life. Two decades later, I still agree with that sentiment.

I don’t think that Fire Walk With Me as a film is Lynch’s best work, or even his second or third best film. It relies too much on knowledge of the television series to work on its own as a film really (although I do know people who came into Peaks fandom through the film first, which always seems weird to me) David Lynch’s two finest movies are almost always cited as Blue Velvet or Mulholland Drive, and I firmly believe that either one of those fits the bill.  Fire Walk With Me doesn’t even stand on its own enough to really even be superior to Lynch’s 1990 road picture Wild at Heart. But while Wild at Heart is ultimately more solid as a film, but it also has less going on subtextually than Fire Walk With Me, and it doesn’t get under your skin the way Fire Walk With Me me does either. In that sense, Fire Walk is one of Lynch’s most memorable movies.

Thank you David Lynch, for making me terrified of noisy ceiling fans for the rest of my life

Before I go any further, I must put massive SPOILER warnings here; If you are one of those people who is still discovering Twin Peaks on Netflix streaming or via the DVD box set (and I know there are a lot of you out there based on the tons of new people joining Twin Peaks fandom every year, many who could not even have born when the series debuted) then please DO NOT READ THIS ARTICLE. As Fire Walk With Me is a prequel to the television series, there is no way to talk about it without giving away the show’s biggest secret. The television series is completely built around the question “Who killed Laura Palmer?”  However, the movie assumes that the audience already knows that answer, in all its gory detail. So if you have not seen Twin Peaks, please…go watch it, or at least the first seventeen episodes or so, then watch the movie, and then come back and read this piece. It’s all good, it’ll still be here, barring a zombie apocalypse or whatever.

The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Twin Peaks, and the Birth of Fire Walk With Me

When David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks  premiered on ABC in April of 1990, it was an instant phenomenon, greeted with an outpouring of love from critics who hailed it as the show that would save television. But it wasn’t just the critics who loved the show, audiences watched the premiere episode in record numbers, and the pilot was among the highest rated pilot episodes to any series of the 90’s. The series was built up mostly around the question “who killed Laura Palmer?”, a beautiful 17 year old town beauty, who washes on shore one morning, wrapped in plastic. During that first season, the question of who killed Laura was on everyone’s lips, and Twin Peaks was on the cover of every magazine under the sun in the Spring of 1990. When the first season ended with no answer to the question of who killed Laura, mainstream audiences were furious. Think people were mad about the end of season one of The Killing last year? That ain’t got nuthin’ on how mad America was when Peaks failed to resolve their central mystery at the end of their first year.

The combined success of Twin Peaks and Wild at Heart in 1990 got Lynch so much attention that he made it to the cover of Time Magazine that year. It was the closest to mainstream success he would ever have in his career. Soon after that, it was back to being an outcast.

When Twin Peaks aired its final episode in June of 1991, the series ended with multiple cliffhangers, hoping that would force the network to order a third season. They had used a similar tactic at the end of season one of the series a year prior, and it worked. It didn’t work this time. Almost as soon as the final episode aired, the news was announced that David Lynch would reward loyal Peakers with a big screen follow up. But instead of bothering to answer any of those series cliffhangers, David Lynch decided his big screen Twin Peaks movie would go back to the storyline that was at the heart of the show’s original success, and make the film a prequel to the series. The movie would focus on the last seven days of Laura Palmer’s life, ending where the series began, with her muder.

Birthing Pains

Pre production on Fire Walk did not go smoothly. Series co creator Mark Frost felt strongly that loyal viewers were owed a resolution to the series’ many cliffhangers, and didn’t agree with the prequel route. He gets a producer credit on Fire Walk, but in reality had nothing to do with the movie. Fire Walk With Me is pure David Lynch, from start to finish. Then there were the cast problems; Both series stars Lara Flynn Boyle and Sherilyn Fenn refused to return as well. Lara Flynn Boyle’s character of Donna Hayward, Laura Palmer’s best friend, was recast with Moira Kelly from The Cutting Edge. Sherilyn Fenn’s character of Audrey Horne was easier to write out of the film, as the television series established that Laura Palmer and Audrey were not close friends. However, Fenn’s character of Audrey was so iconic and was such a big part of the appeal of the show that her absence was keenly felt. I can’t tell you how many hard core Peaks fans I’ve met who have told me flat out they simply don’t like the movie “because Audrey isn’t in it.” I’ve yet to hear one person tell me they dislike the movie based on any other single cast omission.

The final straw for Lynch was when series star Kyle MacLachlan refused to return as FBI Agent Dale Cooper. This decision forced Lynch to recast the part of the lead FBI agent with musician turned actor Chris Isaak. Lynch had given Isaak his big break when he included the song Wicked Game on the soundtrack to his movie Wild At Heart. Wicked Game eventually became a huge hit, and as a thank you to Lynch, Isaak agreed to play the part. But all of these cast desertions were said to feel like a slap in the face to Lynch, who who helped get all those actors started in their careers. Eventually, due to his friendship with Lynch, MacLachlan agreed to return to play Dale Cooper, and did one week’s worth of shooting for the movie (instead of firing Chris Isaak though, Lynch simply had multiple FBI agents in this story) Lynch had discovered MachLachlan when casting Dune, and even though that movie bombed, he gave him the lead in Blue Velvet and eventually, Twin Peaks. Lynch pulled the “you owe your entire career to me” card, and Machlachlan caved. Rumor has it though, that their friendship never really recovered, and once can only point to the fact that MacLachlan never was asked again by Lynch to participate in any project again after Fire Walk With Me as proof.

Director David Lynch, along with Sheryl Lee (Laura Palmer) and Moira Kelly (Donna Haywayrd) on the set of Fire Walk With Me in the Fall of 1991.

For every cast member from the show that didn’t come back though, they were replaced by a well known name. Veteran character actor Harry Dean Stanton has a small part, as does Kiefer Sutherland as an obsessive compulsive FBI agent. And blink and you might miss him, but even David Bowie shows up as a dimension hopping FBI agent in one of the movie’s trippiest sequences. Despite all these obstacles, production finally got underway in the Fall of 1991 in Washington state, where the original pilot had been shot. Perhaps most importantly, also returning was composer Angelo Badalamenti, whose iconic score for the series had proved so popular.

The Horror Film No One Expected

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in the Spring of 1992, a mere two years after Lynch had won the Palme d’or there for Wild at Heart.  There have been anecdotes for years that the screening was greeted with boos from the audience, but that has been refuted by movie screewriter Robert Engels and well as others in attendance.  If anything, it seems the audience was baffled; the movie only really makes sense if you’ve seen the series, and yet many fans of the series hated the movie, too, for its lack of quirky humor that was a hallmark of the show, and the film’s unrelenting dark tone. Fire Walk With Me is David Lynch’s first straight up horror film, and it seems no one was expecting that.

The Italian release poster for Fire Walk With Me certainly emphasized the movie’s horror angle more than any other poster.

While the movie was never advertised as such, Fire Walk With Me is a flat out horror movie. It follows almost all the classic horror tropes; a beautiful young woman stalked and victimized by a horrible monster, only to be killed by the same monster in the climax of the movie. Peppered in between are tense moments of genuine terror, especially one particular moment when Laura Palmer silently tip toes through her house, only to open her door and slowly find the demon BOB in her room. And yes, BOB is in all caps. Don’t ask me why, that is just how it is spelled.

Due to the production running behind schedule,the climactic scene of Laura’s murder was pushed to Halloween night. By sheer coincidence, Halloween was the birthday of both Frank Silva (Killer BOB) and the Little Man from Another Place, Mike Anderson. Eerie.

The opening shot of Fire Walk With Me is that of a television set getting smashed in with a lead pipe. Not very subtle, but it hammered the point home that this was not television Twin Peaks anymore; the gloves were officially off. The movie would show the audience things that could only be hinted at in the show. While the Twin Peaks television series certainly had elements of supernatural horror bubbling beneath its surface, the series also had lots of comedic moments, as well as standard prime time soap opera elements to entice the casual viewer as well. For all it’s weirdness and surrealism, chances are your mom could still follow the series if she wanted to.  Fire Walk has almost none of that whimsy or standard television tropes at work, and the horror elelments only hinted at in the series are in full display in the theatrical film.

The real reason that Fire Walk is such a harrowing experience though, more than almost any other modern horror movie, is that at its core, it is the story or how a young girl copes with her ongoing sexual abuse at the hands of her own father, a sexual abuse she isn’t even aware is  even coming from her own father till it is way too late. In the film, Laura Palmer describes a feral man named BOB who has been “having her” since she was 12 years old. BOB, who looks like a rejected member of the Manson family crossed with some crazy meth head biker, creeps into her window at night and molests her for years, leading Laura to a series of self destructive relationships, drug abuse, and prostitution. When Laura Palmer finally discovers the true identity of BOB, there is no turning back, leading to her untimely and brutal demise. Unlike so many standard horror films though, Fire Walk follows Laura after her death, as she is greeted by angels in the afterlife. In a sense, death was Laura’s happy ending, as she is now free from the cycle of abuse for good. Not the way your average Nightmare on Elm Street sequel ended, that’s for sure.

In between the first two seasons of the series, David Lynch’s daughter Jennifer wrote The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, chronicling Laura’s life from age 12 till her death, and all the abuse at the hands of BOB that happened during that time.Much of this book informed the details of Fire Walk With Me.

The film and the series clearly come down on the side that BOB is an actual supernatural entity that possesses Leland Palmer and forces him to do unspeakable things to his only child. But the movie also hints strongly that Leland is at least partially knowledgable of what BOB does, and is complicit to a certain degree, making Leland just as much of a monster. Incest and child abuse are subjects that American entertainment almost totally stay away from, despite the fact that there are thousands of survivors of such abuse all over the country. It is a real life horror that goes on in places you would never expect it to, and Twin Peaks, both the series but especially in the film, shine a light on this horror and force you to look. And clearly, judging from audience and critical reactions twenty years ago, people were not happy about being forced to look.

The Movie We Didn’t See

Despite noticeable absences from Sherilyn Fenn, Richard Beymer, Lara Flynn Boyle and Piper Laurie, almost the entire rest of the cast from the series returned to shoot scenes for the movie. Something like a dozen other members of the main television cast shot scenes, in what would end up being their last moments as Twin Peaks characters ever. But due to time (at one point the movie was running nearly four hours) almost all of those scenes had to go. Ever since then, those scenes have been like the Holy Grail for Twin Peaks fans. Back in the Laserdisc days, petitions were made to include those scenes on a potential special edition disc, only to have that never materialize. Then, around 2001, New Line Cinema decided it would release Fire Walk With Me on DVD, with seventeen of the deleted scenes included. But while New Line wanted to include them as raw footage, Lynch wanted to master the visuals and audio for each scene and present them as separate Twin Peaks vignettes on the DVD. New Line balked at the price it would cost to master those scenes, so they went back in the vault, where they have remained for twenty years now.

With Blu ray the last bastion of physical media for movies, the hope is that maybe a Blu-ray release of Fire Walk With Me will finally include those long wanted scenes. New Line Cinema effectively no longer exists, and the hope is that Warner Brothers will license out the movie to CBS HomeVideo as part of a complete Twin Peaks Blu-ray set. It would be a great incentive to get fans to double dip on the Twin Peaks complete set if the scenes fans have waitied twenty years to see are included.

The Legacy of Fire Walk With Me

While Fire Walk With Me was more or less reviled when it was released, the attitude towards the movie has changed considerably over the past twenty years. For the most part, the movie is now seen as essential part of the the overall Twin Peaks viewing experience. Contemporary bands like Mike Patton’s Fantomas did a cover version of the theme song from the film, and You Say Party’s video for their song Laura Palmer’s Prom was inspired not only by the show, but clearly the movie as well. (Not to mention shot on many of the original locations) And just this year, Fangoria magazine ran a cover story on the movie’s 20th Anniversary, which they now regard as a horror classic. Fans online are still coming up with new theories regarding many of the movie’s key mysteries, some which even long time original fans like me never even pondered before.

Most recently, this year Corpo Gallery in Santa Monica held a Fire Walk With Me themed art show, with dozens of artists contributing pieces inspired by the movie. When I attended this show, it was a packed house, and several members of the cast of the series showed up, proving how time has altered the perception of this movie. Sure, Fire Walk might have been beaten at the box office that long ago opening weekend by the Nicolas Cage/Sarah Jessica Parker rom/com  Honeymoon in Vegas, but you don’t see many gallery shows dedicated to that one these days, do you? David Lynch’s vision of the horror behind the facade of small town America continues to live on now in ways that few movies will ever get to achieve. Once it gets into your brain, it stays there, the mark of a something that will truly stand the test of time.

All photographs of the Corpo Gallery show are by Alicia Friedman.

Superman & Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Super Power Couple. But Is This Good Or Bad?

by Eric Diaz

So in the world of comic books, the big news today is that in the upcoming Justice League issue #12, DC Comics has confirmed that Superman and Wonder Woman are going to make fanboy fantasies (and various X rated parodies) come true and become a romantic couple. And according to DC CCO and Justice League writer Geoff Johns, this not going to be a one issue deal. Superman and Wonder Woman are now the very definition of  the term “Power Couple” in the world of super hero comics. In a press release given to Entertainment Weekly,  Geoff Johns says “This is the new status quo.” adding that the relationship will have a seismic impact on all the heroes and villains in the DC universe. Obviously, from a publicity standpoint this all makes perfect sense. Not to mention if they really want to set apart the old DCU from the new one, this is the perfect way to symbolically say “this ain’t your daddy’s DC Universe”. Somewhere, Lois Lane is crying into her pillow right now.

Well, when your other option is Margot Kidder, is there really a choice?

So as Geekscape’s #1 Wonder Woman fan, I know I’m expected to have opinions on this matter (although I may have to fight Heidi Hilliker for that title. Actually, she would  totally win that fight, so I give up and I’ll just say I’m Geekscape’s #2 Wonder Woman fan. Because I don’t look good in Wonder Woman cosplay, and Heidi does) And while I do have opinions, the truth is if this was a year ago, I might have had stronger feelings on this matter. However, the current DC New 52 Wonder Woman only bears a superficial resemblance to the Diana I know and love really, and this change certainly seems a lot less awful than other recent indignities they’ve put Diana through in this new reboot.

Brian Azzarello’s and Cliff Chiang’s Wonder Woman title has been well received by the fans and critics alike, and is very well written and drawn to be sure. But their changes to Diana’s mythology, making her the daughter of Zeus, and then making her people a race of murderers, make her feel more like an Elseworlds version of the character. Azzarello does get Diana’s steely determination right, as well as her unwavering loyalty to those she is sworn to protect. But there is something really cold and removed about this new Diana, a character that was created to embody love and compassion above all things. I hated the change from gold to silver in her costume, but in a way it fits; gold equates with warm and loving, and silver is cool and distant. And this New 52 Diana isn’t about hugs and puppies so much as she is about sticking her sword in things all the damn time.

One good thing that might come out of this pairing, Wonder Woman might want her classic color scheme back, so she and her boyfriend can be all cute and “matchy matchy” like.

As much as this pairing makes sense for many fans, I suppose my biggest issue with this coupling (as primarily a Wonder Woman fan) is that it makes Diana “Superman’s Girlfriend, Wonder Woman” instead of just being simply “Wonder Woman”, period. It is one thing to have Superman occasionally guest star in issues of Wonder Woman, or vice versa, but now these books have to be intertwined in a serious way. Do Superman fans want that? Do they want Diana and her mythical world to be a constant part of Superman’s science fictioney universe? I know as a Wonder Woman fan I wouldn’t want Clark there every issue. And if they’re not there in one another’s titles, and their romance takes place only in the pages of Justice League, it will feel phony. They have to be a big part of each other’s own books now, there is just now way around it. I can’t help but wonder how the writers of each character’s own books feels about this being forced on them now. I suppose we will know soon enough.

The only way Superman and Wonder Woman can’t be a big part of each other’s individual books now is if their relationship was a bit more…casual. Somehow, I can’t see DC going there.

I guess the only real reason I’m not really too upset by this development is that DC is wise in not getting them married right off the bat. Maybe they’ll date for a few years, have really awesome sex for awhile, and then go back to their “lesser mortal” loves. Certainly the two of them dating for awhile leads to tons of story potential, and of course, media coverage. DC has toyed with the Superman/Wonder Woman pairing for decades, because they know on some level the fans want to see it happen. In issue #300 of the original Wonder Woman series back in the 80’s, DC presented an imaginary story of “Superman and Wonder Wife!” and I admit I read that particular issue over and over again with glee. Kingdom Come was another beloved story where these two got together, and a less beloved story is Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Strikes Again, where he also had Clark and Diana as a couple. While I think Miller writes the worst Wonder Woman in the history of always, he did make their sex scenes look pretty epic, I will give him that. No doubt, there is something alluring about having these two heavy hitters together in a romantic sense, it is undeniable.

But all of those  previously mentioned stories were either alternate futures or dream sequences. No one has ever attempted it in the mainstream DCU until now. Having Superman and Wonder Woman married would potentially tie the two of them together forever, but just dating is another thing entirely. They can always break up after it gets played out. But in any break up, be it fictional or real, someone always comes out the bad guy. Will DC allow Superman to be potentially portrayed as an asshole, or Wonder Woman as a bitch, when the time comes?  Can the reputations of these two icons of virtue survive if one of them is a portrayed as a heartbreaker in the end? These are the kind of questions DC editorial needs to be asking themselves right about now.

Confirmed: Perry White is a dick.

I am a fan of Geoff Johns, and for the most part I’ve enjoyed his portrayal of Diana in Justice League a wee bit more than Azzarello’s in her own title, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now. If anything, we are sure to get some sexy art from the likes of Jim Lee and Ivan Reis out of this, so that’ll be worth something at least. Let’s face it, a year in and there are a lot of things in this rebooted New 52 DC Universe that editorial simply haven’t really thought through; let’s hope one of the biggest super hero pairings of all time isn’t one of them.

Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Strikes Again was the worst, but the sex scenes between Superman and Wonder Woman were literally mountain shattering. And that was pretty hot.

 

“Jaws” Blu-ray Review

by Eric Diaz

This past week saw the long awaited Blu-ray debut of Steven Spielberg’s classic film Jaws. In reviewing this new Blu-ray, I’m not going to review the actual movie itself because really, if you’re reading a site called Geekscape and you’ve never seen Jaws, well….I’m not even sure what to say to that, except you should probably get on that and rent it already. Or better yet, just buy the new Blu-ray sight unseen. Unless you have really awful taste in film, you won’t regret it. Because Jaws isn’t just one one of the greatest genre films of all time, it is one of the greatest films of all time, period. And in many ways helped create the modern movie landscape we all live in today.

How Jaws Changed Everything

To say Jaws changed the movie marketplace is not doing the film justice. Star Wars gets a lot of credit for being the first Summer Blockbuster, but the truth is Jaws did it two years before Star Wars hit cinemas, in the Summer of 1975. Popular opinion says that the 1970’s was the age of the more serious, director driven adult movies, especially in comparison to today. When people say “the films of the 70’s” they think of films like Taxi Driver, Apocalypse, Now and The Deer Hunter. And to a large extent that is true, the 70’s was the last great age of serious films coming out of the Hollywood system. But it was also the birth of the modern Hollywood blockbuster era.

The blueprint for how modern Hollywood movies are contstructed, filmed and eventually marketed began in the 1970’s. While more serious adult fare was indeed becoming the norm in Hollywood, also true was the rise of once disreputable source material given the A list treatment by the movie studios. Two mega blockbusters that predated Jaws by just a couple of years were The Godfather and The Exorcist, one a gangster movie and the other a supernatural horror film. In the previous decades in Hollywood, neither of those subject matters was considered “serious” enough to be given the A List treatment that movies like The Ten Commandments or The Sound of Music got, and were always relegated to B pictures at the local drive in. Both movies proved that the American masses loved their pulp fiction, and they also love their pulp fiction done with a high degree of integrity. The one-two punch of both of those moves layed the groundwork for Jaws being the gigantic hit it became, not just here but all over the world.

While there were mega hit movies before, what Jaws was, though, was the first true Summer blockbuster, and the first movie to take true advantage of a wide release, instead of the slow rollout over the course of several months from city to city, as was always done before. Until Jaws, a typical Hollywood movie would debut in say, New York, then months later in Chicago, or LA, and a movie could play differently in one city in comparison to the next. If a movie performed badly in too many cities, it just might not ever even make it to release where you live. The idea of releasing a movie nationwide, with a major marketing blitz of television ads and merchandising behind it, was started by Jaws.

The Digital Transfer And Restoration

Instead of reviewing the actual movie here, because I think it is pretty safe to assume you’ve seen it or at the very least know it is a classic,  I’m just going to review the new   Blu- ray transfer of the film instead. In short, the transfer is stunning. There were moments it was hard to believe I was watching a movie from 1975 (although some of the more hideous clothes and hairstyles served to remind me, especially Mayor Vaughn’s horrid jackets) The team assigned to the restoration of Jaws should be given some kind of an award, because their work on this movie is breathtaking. As shown in one of the special features included on the disc, Jaws was painstakingly restored frame by frame, with every piece of dirt and every scratch removed from the original camera negative. But although dirt and scratches were removed, there wasn’t any annoying digital grain removal, the kind that gives older movies that weird plasticy look at times. The result is a movie that looks like it was shot yesterday, but isn’t overly glossy or too polished looking. The grit is still there, but not in your face.

I’m not an audiophile, so it is hard for me to really review the sound on this Blu ray (my speakers are merely my television speakers) I will say that the new Blu ray has the original mono track as well as a new DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, for those of you for whom that means something. For me thought, the real treasure on this Blu-ray, aside from the movie itself of course, is the wealth of special features, especially the two feature length documentaries included here.

Young Steven Spielberg and “Bruce” the mechanical shark that almost never worked. Bruce was named after Spielberg’s lawyer. Oh Steven, you crack up you.

The Making of Jaws (1995)

Steven Spielberg is infamous for not providing audio commentary on any of his films. I’m not sure why, because he has no problem talking about his movies in great detail in other special features in the form of rather lengthy interviews. A rather lengthy interview with Spielberg is included on this disc in The Making of Jaws, Laurent Bouzereau’s 2 hour long documentary from the 1995 Laserdisc box set. In this documentary, not only does Spielberg go into great detail about the making of the film, but there are also lots of other talking head interviews with the likes of original novelist Peter Benchley, Roy Schieder, Richard Dreyfuss, composer John Williams, and producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown, along with most of the main principal players behind the making of the movie.

The whole thing is shot in a very boring manner, 80’s PBS style, and the production value scream “on the cheap,” but this was a time when any movie was lucky to get a special feature in any capacity. (the 90’s were a dark time for film geeks. Laserdiscs cost a fortune, and barely had any special features. You brats today don’t know how lucky you are) But if you can get past the low grade production standards, this two hour doc is a wealth of information on the making of Jaws, and worth watching all two hours of. I’m so glad Universal included it here, despite how dated it all looks. Looks aren’t everything after all.

The Shark Is Still Working (2009)

In many ways though, the crown jewel of the special features is the documentary The Shark Is Still Working. The documentary was made by “Jaws” fans  James Gelet, Jake Gove, Erik Hollander, and James-Michael Roddy over a seven-year period, using  Laurent Bouzereau’s1995 documentary, The Making of Jaws as merely a starting off point. The movie gets its name from the often told anecdotes of Richard Dreyfuss, who in interviews often shared stories about the troubled production of Jaws and the quote “The shark is NOT working” which he said he heard over and over again from frustrated members of the crew. Once the mechanical shark was finally up and running, Dreyfuss would regularly hear the quote “The shark is still working” with equal regularity. Unlike The Making of Jaws, this documentary delves into every aspect of the Jaws phenomenon, from the brutal shoot in the Summer of 1974 off of Martha’s Vineyard with an overwhelmed twenty six year old Steven Spielberg, to the merchandising avalanche that followed, to things like Jawsfest today, where fans gather and share their adoration of all things related to the film.

This documentary leaves no Jaws stone unturned, interviewing people like the artist who created the original iconic movie poster, the various real life locals who played small parts in the movie, and even the man who provided the narration in the oh so very effective trailer to the film, Percy Rodriguez, whose trailer tagline was just as iconic for an entire generation as the movie itself (“It is as if God made the devil, and gave him…JAWS!” Brilliant!) This documentary was completed in 2007 or so, and shown at many festivals to rave reviews, but legal red tape has held up the films release until now. It seems perfect and fitting that the movie is finally released on the same Blu ray as Jaws itself.

Aside from The Shark Is Still Working, the Blu ray has tons of other special features, like On The Set, a BBC news report made from the actual Martha’s Vineyard shooting location back in 1974, deleted scenes and outtakes, storyboards, trailers. The only thing really missing from the movie is a commentary track, but Spielberg never does them for any movie, so it isn’t a big shock really.

If you’re a fan of this movie, this is a must own Blu-ray. I don’t care if you have the DVD already, time to Ebay that shit. This is how Steven Spielberg’s classic needs to be viewed from here on out. So do yourself a favor and buy Jaws on Blu-ray.

Kristen Stewart NOT Fired From Snow White Now? The Saga Continues

by Eric Diaz

Earlier today word broke that Kristen Stewart was let go from the sequel to Snow White And The Huntsman. Well, now it seems that The LA Times is reporting that may not be entirely true.

But the studio that released that film, Universal, insists that plans for a second movie centering on the Huntsman character played by Chris Hemsworth are proceeding and that Stewart’s Snow White could still be a character in that film, despite reports that suggested otherwise.

While they aren’t saying that she definitely will be back they are saying the studio did not let her go. Universal has yet to select a writer or a director for the Huntsman-centered project, though Sanders does remain on the list of possible director candidates.

This is what we call “saving face” as almost every news outlet that has reported this story has mentioned how shockingly sexist it is that Stewart would be let go by Universal, but her director would still potentially be kept in the loop, as neither got good reviews, and at least Stewart has/had the fanbase. Now by saying they’re not letting Stewart go, they can hire Sanders and then have her politely decline after offering her a low sum of money to come back. Just watch.