If the response to they first episode is any indicator, CBS TV’s SCORPION might be the first big hit of the new TV season. We talk to the show’s stars, Katharine McPhee, Elyes Gabel and the real life genius who actually experienced these adventures. Plus from runway to courtroom, JUDGE FAITH is handing out some tough justice. Meet Faith Jenkins, star of her own new courtroom reality show.
I have a name for my disappointment and it’sAmerica’s Got Powers #1, the first issue – hey, with the screwy numbering system American Comics use nowadays, one can’t be sure # 1 is actually the first issue – of the new mini-series from Image. Disappointing because it was such a cynical and negative portrayal of America. So let’s proceed that I might give voice to my disappointment.
In the not too distant future, to borrow a line from theMystery Science Theater 3000theme – because “borrow” sounds so much nicer than steal – something happened. Which, makes America’s Got Powers better than most mainstream comic books, where super heroes can take four pages just to get their mail – and you only think I’m making that up – so as to stretch out some skimpy story out for the six issues suitable for framing or collecting into a trade paperback.
What happened? A big blue crystal fell from outer space and landed in the middle ofGolden Gate Park in San Francisco. Then, in a real break from mainstream comic books, something else happened. Yes two things happened in the same issue. Every pregnant woman within a five mile radius of the crystal went into labor. (Good thing that crystal didn’t land in Arizona where the new abortion law says pregnancy starts on the first day of a woman’s menstrual cycle. Under that definition, girls who’d never had sex would still be pregnant and might have given spontaneous, virgin births. The theological implications are staggering.)
Now you might think that’s enough for the first issue of a comic book. “But wait!” I say in my best Ron Popeil imitation, “There’s more!” Every one of those babies was born with a super power. And that’s where the fun began.
After all those super babies were born, the country endured the Power Riots, whatever those were, which “destabilized the entire country.” In order to calm the public, the US government rounded up the children who got super powers from a crystal, or “Stoners” as they were called, then put them in camps and a training school. The government conducted research on the interred Stoners and trained them how to use their powers, all, ostensibly, in an effort to “re-integrate them” into society. The government funded this facility with the TV series America’s Got Powers.
What’s America’s Got Powers? It was the country’s newest mega-hit reality TV show. The show’s premise was simple. Imagine a reality show which took the best parts of American Idol and American Gladiators, tossed them out, and presented a mash-up of the rest. In other words, in America’s Got Powers, Stoners fought both mechanical adversaries and each other in televised combat all in an effort to be the last one standing. America’s Got Powers was kind of like The Hunger Games but with less food. The winners got to join the world’s only super-hero team,“Power Generation,” while the losers who survived went “back to the camps.”
As the story opened, America’s Got Powers was about to start its seventeenth season. Each of the shows’s first sixteen seasons had become increasingly brutal. With its seventeenth season, the producers decided to reduce all the safety protocols in the combat arena to the minimum settings and to handicap the Stoners with secret treatments or devices that slowed them down. The result was the Stoners couldn’t fight their robotic opponents effectively and were pounded on until they looked like Wile E. Coyote on a particularly bad day.
Now, you might have noticed that I used the word “ostensibly” when I said the purpose of the government’s program was to re-integrate the Stoners into normal society. We’re dealing with an agency of the United States government in a comic book. In today’s comic books, any government agency that doesn’t have a secret agenda is underachieving. America’s Got Powers’ evil secret agenda was confirmed by the producers of the show; an Army general, a United States Senator, and a corporate CEO. We’re not quite sure what the secret agenda was, but we’re pretty sure it was up to no good. After all, what fun is a secret government agenda that’s up to good?
(One point about this trio of producers: Creators, when you set up a government agency with an evil secret agenda, you risk both having your political motivations questioned and having subtlety points deducted from your score by drawing the politician to be a dead ringer for Sarah Palin.)
“But, Bob,” you ask in one of those marvelous imaginary conversations between reader and columnist which I pretend can happen as a way of making a transition, “why fret about the subtlety of political caricatures when this story postulated that the US government was rounding up differently-abled minors, putting them into camps and training them to become involuntary soldiers or some such? We have the Emancipation Proclamation and the 14th Amendment. And child endangerment laws. And child labor laws. Those sorts of things can’t happen, can they?”
Of course not. Those things can’t happen. That’s why colleges and high schools all over this country televise football games. Games in which young men get injured, seriously injured, catastrophically injured, and even fatally injured. And that’s just college and high school. Imagine if a government with a secret agenda got involved. Because that sort of thing can’t happen.
Of course not. Those things can’t happen. That’s why this country never had a Selective Service Commission or a draft and it never conscripted minors who couldn’t even vote yet into the armed forces to fight wars in North America, Europe, Africa, western Asia, southeast Asia., central Asia, and anywhere else where those conscripted minors ended up in the path of enemy bullets and fragmentation grenades. Because that sort of thing can’t happen.
Of course not. Those things can’t happen. That’s why the PATRIOT Act doesn’t exist and has never been used to abolish the Writ of habeas corpus or to justify rounding up people and confining them in Guantanamo Bayindefinitely without trial. Because that sort of thing… Oh you get the idea.
And before you argue that Gitmo is used to house – or warehouse – foreign nationals and such confinement can’t happen to United States citizens, I remind you of the Japanese Internment Camps of World War II. You know, the program where thousands of people who happened to have Japanese ancestry but who were born in this country and were unquestionably United States citizens, were removed from their homes, deprived of their property, and placed in indefinite confinement in internment camps without ever having been charged with a crime. Without, in fact, ever even having committed a crime.
And I guess that’s why I was so disappointed with America’s Got Powers and its cynical and negative portrayal of America. Given what we know about what truly happens in this country, I don’t think America’s Got Powers was anywhere near cynical or negative enough.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: From time to time I have been running columns I wrote years ago which, for one reason or another, have not been widely published. This is another one of them. This is, in fact, the last such column I have in my files. So I guess I’d better get busy writing the next new column, because I don’t have any more old ones with which to buy myself some time.
Supergirl is one of my favorite characters, so I was delighted to read that there is a Supergirl television show in development.
Supergirl is one of my favorite characters, so I was terrified to read that there is a Supergirl television show in development.
There are several reasons for my conflicted feelings. When I was a girl, Kara Zor-El was my ideal. Not only was she blonde and cute (two adjectives not customarily applied to me), but she had powers, she was unsure of herself, and she was always trying to prove herself, not only to her cousin Superman, but to prospective parents who shopped at her orphanage. I wanted to have a robot double in a tree. I wanted to have a flying horse and a super-powered cat. Sometimes I wanted different parents.
I don’t think there is anything innately “feminine” about wanting super-powers, robots or flying pets. I still want them (and ain’t I a woman?). The difference between the me who liked these things in the first place and the me who likes them now is that I’ve gone through puberty.
And feminism.
This isn’t going to be one of those stereotypical PC rants (which I’ve never actually read, but then, I don’t seek them out) about how women are misrepresented in comics. They are, but I’m not arguing that in terms of politics, but in terms of realistic character development.
In the case of Supergirl, too often, she is written and drawn by men who don’t know anything about what it feels like to be a young adult woman – either teenaged or in her early twenties, as she will be portrayed in the show. If they do any research at all, it reads as if the watched Clueless and Mean Girls and decided that was enough.
Too many Supergirl stories (and movies, like this one) have her worrying whether boys will like her because she’s so powerful, or what is she going to do with all her power, or how does she fit into a world she never made with all this power. It’s all about being a Female With Power, not about being Kara Zor-El… or, in my fond memories, Linda Lee Danvers.
Her origin story has varied over the years. I believe in the New 52, she used to be a baby-sitter to her cousin Kal (now Superman) but, when Krypton exploded, she was sent into space in suspended animation. She crashes into Earth, not knowing the language and suddenly having super powers.
And since then, mostly, she’s been smashing things. No one understands her and she’s angry about it. So angry that, for a while, she was a Red Lantern.
Isn’t she the least bit curious about Earth? And her cousin? Doesn’t she want to know why she ended up here? I mean, if the baby I used to care for suddenly turned up and he was at least ten years older than me, I would want to know what his life was like.
And wham, she has super powers! Kal-El grew into his, but Kara gets hers all at once. Is that confusing? Is it wonderful? Is it awkward? Is it all of these things and more?
If anything gives me any hope at all for the possible television show, it’s that Greg Berlanti, the producer, has an okay track record in the way he deals with female characters on his shows. I really enjoyed Sigourney Weaver and Ellen Burstyn in Political Animals and Emily Bett Rickards plays a well-rounded, believable Felicity Smoak on Arrow. I’m not sure his shows pass the Bechdel test, but I believe it’s possible that they could, that these female characters have conversations about their jobs and their hobbies and their voting patterns when they are off-camera.
It would be worth everyone’s time and effort to involve more fully realized women characters, not just to be Supergirl, but in general. And I mean this in the most crass, materialistic way. Buffy the Vampire Slayer made a lot of money with a lead character who didn’t worry about whether or not boys would like her. She didn’t fret that being powerful would turn them off. At most, she worried it would kill them.
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – “Fast-paced and packed with eye-popping action” (Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News), Paramount Pictures’ and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures’ wildly entertaining epic adventure HERCULES debuts on Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack and DVD November 4, 2014 from Paramount Home Media Distribution. The film arrives two weeks early on Digital HD October 21. Global superstar Dwayne Johnson delivers an unforgettable performance as the mighty Hercules in this thrilling story of strength, courage and heroism. When a terrifying new enemy threatens the innocent, Hercules and his fearless team of warriors must lead their army in a battle against overwhelming odds. HERCULES boasts a sensational cast of acclaimed actors including Ian McShane (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), Joseph Fiennes (TV’s “American Horror Story”), Rufus Sewell (The Illusionist), and John Hurt (Immortals).
The HERCULES Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray Combo Packs with Digital HD include both the theatrical version of the film, as well as an extended cut (in 2D only) with exciting new action not seen in theaters. The sets also boast over an hour of in-depth, behind-the-scenes special features including 15 deleted and extended scenes, interviews with the cast and crew, a look at the weapons employed by Hercules and his team, commentary featuring director Brett Ratner and more.
HERCULES Blu-ray Combo Pack
The theatrical version of HERCULES on Blu-ray is presented in 1080p high definition with English Dolby Atmos (7.1 Dolby TrueHD compatible), French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles. The DVD in the combo pack is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, French and Spanish subtitles. The combo pack includes access to a Digital HD copy of the film as well as the following:
Blu-ray
Theatrical version inhigh definition
Commentary by director Brett Ratner and producer Beau Flynn
Extended cut in high definition
Brett Ratner and Dwayne Johnson: An Introduction
Hercules and his Mercenaries—Delve into the story behind the team assembled by Hercules for his perilous missions and the skills required of them.
Weapons!—Exploration of the weapons created for the spectacular action scenes, including training with the actors.
The Bessi Battle—Discover how one of the major action sequences of the film was created with the filmmakers, actors, stunt team, make-up effects and more.
The Effects of Hercules—A behind-the-scenes look at the film’s spectacular visual effects.
15 Deleted/Extended Scenes
DVD
Theatrical version in standard definition
HERCULES Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack
The Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack includes all of the above, as well as a Blu-ray 3D with the theatrical version of the film presented in 1080p high definition with English Dolby Atmos (7.1 Dolby TrueHD compatible), French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
The Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack and Blu-ray Combo Pack available for purchase include a Digital Version of the film that can be accessed through UltraViolet™, a way to collect, access and enjoy movies. With UltraViolet, consumers can add movies to their digital collection in the cloud, and then stream or download them—reliably and securely—to a variety of devices.
HERCULES Single-Disc DVD
The single-disc DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, French and Spanish subtitles. The disc includes the theatrical version of the feature film in standard definition.
Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures present a Flynn Picture Company production in association with Radical Studios a Brett Ratner film: “Hercules.” Executive produced by
Ross Fanger, Jesse Berger, Peter Berg and Sarah Aubrey. Produced by Beau Flynn, Barry Levine and Brett Ratner. Based on Radical Comics’ ‘Hercules’ by Steve Moore. Screenplay by Ryan J. Condal and Evan Spiliotopoulos. Directed by Brett Ratner.
HERCULES
Street Date: November 4, 2014 (Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD and VOD)
October 21, 2014 (Digital)
SRP: $49.99 U.S. (Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack)
$39.99 U.S. (Blu-ray Combo Pack)
$29.99 U.S. (DVD)
Runtime: 98 minutes (theatrical version)
101 minutes (extended version)
U.S. Rating: PG-13 for epic battle sequences, violence, suggestive comments, brief strong language and partial nudity
Canadian Rating: 14A for violence; not recommended for children
Now that it’s officially autumn, we’re ready to jump right into Halloween. Thankfully, Shout! Factory has just released Spooktacular Pony Tales, a collection of six My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episodes (along with extras like pumpkin stencils & a sing-a-long!) to help us ease into probably the best holiday ever! Of course, we’d watch Pinkie Pie in a chicken costume any time of year.
Good news! The angel Fettucini has just delivered a Message From On High: from this moment on, all politicians must be free of greed and egotism and be motivated solely by the desire for good governance and love of heir fellow man.
The, uh, bad news is that the above is true only on Earth 4072, which, of course, exists only in an alternate universe. These things are relative. To the inhabitants of Earth 4072, the news is not bad.
They can be useful, these alternate universes, especially, if you write fantasy or science fiction.
Consider Julius Schwartz, an editor at DC Comics. In 1959, he was given the task of reviving a character who had been dormant for most of the decade, the Flash. Instead of merely redoing the Flash comics readers (okay, older comics readers) were familiar with, Mr. Schwartz and his creative team gave the Flash a comprehensive makeover: new costume, new secret identity that included a new name, new origin story – the whole bag. But Mr. Schwartz had a potential problem: some of his audience – those pesky older readers – might wonder what happened to the original Flash. Mr. Schwartz provided an answer by borrowing a trope from science fiction: alternate worlds. In the Schwartz version, there were two Earths coexisting in different dimensions. The original, Jay Garrick, was on one Earth and the newer model, Barry Allen, was on the other Earth. It was the publishing equivalent of having your cake and eating it, too.
Take a bow, Mr. Schwartz.
The gimmick must have boosted sales because Mr. Schwartz soon applied it to other DC superheroes with similar success. Then other editors and their teams took the alternate Earth idea and ran with it and eventually, there were dozens of versions of Earth, each with its own pantheon of costumed heroes. This may have created story opportunities, but it also probably created confusion and narrative unwieldiness. For whatever reason, in 1985, the guys in the big offices decreed that all Earth be cosmically mashed into one, in a storyline titled Crisis on Infinite Earths that included all of DC’s superhero comics. Later, DC’s editors repeated the stunt three more times.
So…can we reach a verdict? Alternate Earths: pro or con?
Well…if you can get a good story from this, or any other, concept, yeah, sure. A good story is always its own justification. But you do risk alienating new or merely casual readers who might be confused, and you burden your inner continuity with the need to explain the multiple Earths stuff. Maybe this particular story could be told without multiple Earths elements and if that’s true, maybe it ought to be. Or do you risk compromising the uniqueness of your hero by presenting diverse versions of the character, and do you care?
You might want to mull these matters, especially if you make your living from comic books. Or you might not, but if that’s the case, why don’t you want to mull them?
I always wondered how World War II would have turned out if only Joseph Goebbels had a sense of humor. After all, what’s the old adage – you get more with a smile and a bomb than just a bomb alone? Really, the whole concept of Harley Quinn is based upon this philosophy.
You know Harley Quinn. The Joker’s… ah, paramour? Quadramour? Well, hold that thought for a couple paragraphs.
This is the start of the new fall television series, not only in North America, but evidently in Iraq as well. A new program, TheSuperstitious State, is being promoted up in the land between two rivers. It’s tagged “satire,” but it’s not going to close on Saturday night. Here’s the premise.
There’s this big celebration somewhere in some desert. It’s a wedding, although the focus is on the consummation of this blessed event. Don’t worry, it’s G-Rated, common for a Muslim nation that makes its media available to citizens of all ages. The idea is…
Warner Archive, the really cool digital library for Warner Bros and its vast array of titles, has a series of new DVD releases coming this fall for the discerning comic book fan and the lover of old school television fare.
Pre-orders are now open for Warner Archive Collection’s Blu-ray™ release of Beware The Batman: Dark Justice. Featuring the final 13 episodes of the groundbreaking, all-new CGI series’ first season, the single-disc Blu-ray™ will be released on September 30. Beware The Batman: Dark Justice pits Batman, Alfred and swordstress Katana against the underworld likes of Anarky, Professor Pyg, Mister Toad and Magpie. Over the final 13 episodes, the rogues gallery expands with appearances by Killer Croc, Man-Bat, Deathstroke and more. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, this action-packed detective thriller deftly redefines what we have come to know as a ‘Batman show.”
Here’s a glance at other animated offerings now available at WAC and/or WAI:
BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON (Blu-ray)
Bigger, bolder, blu-er! The fearsome fan-addict forces behind Batman: The Brave and the Bold fired on all bat-cylinders for this fantastic sophomore season that skillfully blends super-heroics, sly satire, and a leviathan scope for an animated concoction embracing the fun of the past with the pow! of the present. Thanks to the series first season, Batman goes even farther beyond the expected grim and grit of the Dark Knight in both their narrative approach AND in the fun. Across the 26-Episode second season – presented in HD and widescreen as it was meant to be seen – you’ll find a vacationing Aquaman, a requiem for a Scarlet Speedster, the legendary Justice Society, the celebrated Justice League International, the Super Batman of Planet X (voiced by Kevin Conroy), Batman’s Strangest Cases featuring a team-up with one snack-loving, mystery solving mutt and an overarching story arc that climaxes in a stunning battle against Starro the Conqueror! Joining Diedrich Bader (Batman) are some very special guest voices, including Adam West, Julie Newmar, Paul Reubens, Mark Hamill, Tom Kenny, John DiMaggio, Tara Strong, Stephen Root and many more! And making this collection even more fab is the fact that the episodes are presented in the producer’s preferred order for the first time anywhere – including the “The Mask of Matches Malone!” in the correct aspect ratio! Batman: The Brave and the Bold, The Complete First Season is also available via WAC.
MARINE BOY: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON (1967-68)
Marine Boy, the amazing aquatic hero of the American anime action classic, surfaces for a final volume of sea-faring sci-fi adventures! This 3-Disc, 26-Episode Collections rounds out Marine Boy’s excursions for the Ocean Patrol Marine Headquarters with a series of fantastic confrontations against fearsome foes side by side with some fabulous friends. Thanks to the inventions of his father, Dr. Mariner, Marine Boy is super-scuba geared up and ready for the full fathom fighting form with his propeller shoes and bulletproof wet suit, not mention his boomerangs and Oxy-gum! So take a swim with Marine Boy, his dolphin Splasher, mermaid gal pal Neptina, hero-worshiping little Clicli and the stalwart crew of supersub P-1 as they go up against evil electronic brains, haunted island, ghost cruisers, mutant plankton swarms, militarized red dolphins, and attacking icebergs. It’s just another day under the sea for Marine Boy – brave and free!
SHIRT TALES
Meet the world’s cuddliest crime-stoppers: Pammy
Panda, Tyg Tiger, Rick Raccoon, Digger Mole, and Bogey Orangutan they¹re cute, they¹re furry and they have a secret. Whenever the purple mushroom by the giant tree they call home starts to flash, they swing into action as the crime-sleuthing squad called the Shirt Tales. Racing down to their secret lair hidden underneath the tree (and under the nose of Park Ranger Mr. Dinkle), they answer the Shirt Tale Alert from the Commissioner who clues them in on the current crime via holo-phone. Then it¹s off to their shape-changing supersonic craft where they use their wiles and their fantastic gadgets to solve the mystery and nab the bad guys. While these message-wearing T-shirted critters started out as adorable greeting card characters, it took the genius of Hanna-Barbara to take the cute and mix-it up with a blend of Batman and Scooby-Doo to create a fan-and family classic. This is the 46-episode, complete series collection.
LOOPY DA LOOP: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION (1959-65)
Between leaving MGM and building a TV empire, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera served up a series of theatrical shorts about a charming, tuque-wearing French Canadian wolf by the pun-tastic name of Loopy De Loop. Distributed to theaters by Columbia, these 48 shorts depict the misadventures of wolf with a mission to change the bad image that people have of wolves, and make them appreciated as warm and generous fellow creatures. Not an easy job, even for a loup as charming as Mssr. Loopy, and the poor fellow is usually rewarded with a terrified cry for “Help!” and a clout to the head. But hope springs eternal in the heart of this un-savage beast as he tries to undo his kind¹s big, bad image by rendering aid and assistance to the likes of Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Little Bo Beep, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, D¹Artagnan, Dr. Jeckyll and more to injurious and hilarious results. Rarely seen due to their unique genesis, Loopy De Loop is an unusual charmer (Much like Loopy himself) in the illustrious Hanna-Barbera oeuvre, combining the funny animal sit-com antics of classic H-B with the kind of satire associated with the work of Jay Ward. But now’s your chance to enjoy them all with this complete collection that will have you crying “Sacre-iliac!”
GILLIGAN¹S PLANET (1982)
It¹s a brand new story about The Castaways!
Leaving their tiny island after years and months and days, they built a little spaceship, crude but it could fly. They left their home and lost their way, between the stars and sky, they went from an island to star, lost on Gilligan¹s Planet.² It¹s true The Castaways are now lost in space! They¹re all here, in this strange, new world, Gilligan (voice of Bob Denver), the Skipper (voice of Alan Hale, Jr.), the Millionaire (voice of Jim Backus), his Wife (voice of Natalie Schafer), the Movie Star (voice of Dawn Wells), the Professor (Russell Johnson) and Mary Ann (voice of Dawn Wells). Now joined by Gilligan¹s alien sidekick Bumper, they begin a whole new life on a whole new world while still trying to repair the now space-worthy SS Minnow and return home from their near-infinite three hour tour. It¹s something old, something new in this Saturday morning cartoon sit-com sci-fi romp!
MAGIC BOY (1960)
Magically-gifted boy Sasuke lives in peace, deep in the forest with his animal pals and his elder sister, Oyu. After their forest sanctuary is violated by a demon witch who devours one of Sasuke’s animal companions, he vows vengeance. Leaving the forest, the boy sets out to master his magical gifts by making a pilgrimage to the home of the wizard, Hakuunsai. While Sasuke learns the ways of magic, Yakusha, the demon witch, terrorizes the countryside, and Sasuke works to complete his training in time. Magic Boy aka Shunen Sarutobi Sasuke is a classic piece of anime history – the first full-length animated feature produced in Japan to reach the shores of the United States. With much of the original storyline left untouched and centering on pop culture staple hero Sarutobi Sasuke (think Bomba the Jungle Boy crossed with a ninja), Magic Boy is an enchanting precursor to decades of imported Japanese ani-magic. Presented in 16×9 Widescreen.
And on Warner Archive Instant …
AQUAMAN (1967)
Swim along with the King of the Seven Seas in his swingin’ sixties animated incarnation from Filmation. Aquaman, alongside teen sidekick Aqualad and his Queen, Mera, uses his astounding powers to defend the ancient undersea city of Atlantis and endangered sea life everywhere. And, to sweeten the super-action, his adventtires are presented as originally seen, with segments featuring The Justice League, The Teen Titans, The Flash, Green Lantern and more!
MARINE BOY Season 1 & 2 (1966-67)
Suit up for some undersea superheroics with Marine Boy, the original “American anime” classic! Produced in Japan but intended for first run in the US, Marine Boy lead the wave that included such color anime classic as Kimba the White Lion and Speed Racer (with whom it shares a number of voice actors). Operating out of the Ocean Patrol Marine Headquarters, superscientist Dr. Mariner has outfitted his stalwart son with all the aquatic accoutrements he will need in his quest to keep the seas safe for all mankind. From Oxy-Gum and bulletproof wet suit to flying subs and propeller shoes, Marine Boy has what it takes to face a variety of fearsome foes above and below the ocean¹s surface.
It’s easy to throw The Maze Runnerin with the rest of the Young Adult fiction boom, and it’s probably mostly true, it is a YA book, it does seem to have made in a response to the money being trucked in by Twilight and The Hunger Games but there’s a world of difference here and much of it centers on having a male character be the center. The Maze Runner has a stronger focus on action and gives much less attention to establishing characters. Perhaps this is serving someone in some demographic but it feels too soft to be a real action movie and too hard to contend with the other YA franchises.
There are only three characters in The Maze Runner that I would need to use more than just “The <blank> Guy” to describe. This isn’t unheard of in movies but it’s a serious problem when the female lead falls in to that category (she’s The Girl Guy) along with almost every ally of Thomas, the hero. There are people who stand by him the whole way and seem to be some of his most trusted friends that I’m not even sure got named in the film. It’s hard to get invested in the climactic battles when the kids being thrust in to harms way feel like 80% red shirts. It’s also a bad sign for a franchise when two of the three characters that feel the most complete die in the first film. They’ve left a lot of heavy lifting for the sequels.
One of the surprise hits of the summer as been MANHATTAN, WGN’s fictional take on the creation of the atomic bomb and the people who designed it. Tony award winning actor, John Benjamin Hickey talks about his role on the series and what it’s like playing around in the past. Plus it may seem crazy, but these guys go to abandoned hospitals and creepy sanitariums looking for the weird and unworldly. Meet the guys from GHOST ASYLUM, a new series on Destination America.
