The Earth Station One podcast straps real life crime fighter and New Pulp Author Paul Bishop into The Geek Seat and talk about the Fight Card series of pulp novels.
The ESO crew also travels back to Neutral Territory as we complete our look at the groundbreaking television series, Babylon 5 with special guests Josh Wilson and New Pulp Author Van Allen Plexico. It was the dawn of the third age of mankind and the beginning of a new era of television. Join the ESO crew for an in-depth discussion of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2012. The place: Earth Station One. Also, get the lowdown on the upcoming Nashville Comic and Horror Convention from convention promoter, Marc Ballard.
And now that I’ve established my bona fides, let’s get to today’s topic: naughty words.
They aren’t new, these verbal no-nos. Virtually every culture has had them, though their content, even allowing for translation glitches, is not always the same. (My doo-doo is your Number Two?) I don’t know how far back on civilization’s continuum the use and misuse of these words goes. Did the early farmers, about thirty centuries ago, have them? How about the hunter-gatherers? The guys who made the cave pictures?
Maybe some of you have answers; I don’t, but I do know that ever since we homosapiens started hanging around in cities and having politics and organized games and such, we’ve been able to let go of frustration by uttering, or shouting, some syllables that redden mom’s ears.
Even within my brief lifetime (okay, not so brief) these expletives have evolved a bit. When I was a nipper, the word “hell,” and even more-so “damn,” were not to be uttered in polite company. (When father spoke them from the Sunday morning pulpit, he was just doing his job – letting us know, maybe, what would happen to people inclined to use said expletives.) And you never – and I mean never – heard them coming from screens and speakers. (And the little sophist in the corner carps, “What about the last line of Gone with the Wind? And I reply that the exception proves the rule and then ask, ‘Pray tell, sophist in the corner, are you a politician?’”)
Today, hell and damn are common broadcast currencies, bouncing off our living room walls even well before ten p.m. which once marked the temporal divide between family and adult. (Did this presume that adults are not part of families?) In some cable television venues, mostly those we have to pay extra for, nothing utterable seems to be off-limits, and even on basic cable and its cousin, broadcast TV, lips are getting a lot looser.
We’ve come a long way since Norman Mailer coined the word “fuggin” to approximate soldier dialogue in his World War Two novel, The Naked and the Dead. (I was once part of a group of sailors who were cautioned, when home on leave, not to ask granny to “pass the fuckin’ salt.”)
Does this bring us to comics? I guess it might as well. Naughty words haven’t been used much in mainstream comics, though in the so-called undergrounds apparently anything went. We have inched away from the time when editors and publishers were perpetually running scared, afraid to offend anyone (and good luck with that!) and thereby trigger another witch hunt of the kind that decimated the comics business in the fifties. How far have we inched? I don’t know.
But it seems likely that we’ll inch further unless gents like Rick Santorum and Paul Ryan actually get the power they obviously covet. Then? Again, I don’t know.
But maybe the more interesting question is, should we inch further?
NBC’s new series REVOLUTION started off the week giving the network huge ratings in the Monday night slot, and we’ve got more with the creators & cast on why interest in this show will be building fast. Plus more on ABC’s LAST RESORT and a new WALKING DEAD web series debuts in just days. A new season of pop culture programming debuts next week on THE POINT RADIO. New hosts, cool shows & returning favorites. Check out our site for details or follow us now on Twitter, and don’t forget to subscribe to our new YouTube Channel!
Shawn Ryan (THE SHIELD) is back on TV, and with what might be the most unique premise of the season. LAST RESORT is not your standard drama, and Shawn explains why plus Clint Eastwood & Amy Adams talk about making the first fun baseball movie in years, TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE and more on why DREDD 3-D will be exceeding most fan’s expectations.
The sunshine is warm, but the air carries a tiny bite of chill. The trees are still green, except for a pioneering dogwood in the front yard, which is in the process of color changing. And our teacher friends are back at work. So is fall about to glorify the geography? Indeed.
What are we waiting for? Bundle the crowd into the car and let’s go down to he Chevy dealer’s to inspect next year’s models and after that we can go to the Ford dealer and we’ll still have time to visit the Chrysler showroom before supper. Then maybe we can stop at the soda fountain for a malt and wonder if the St. Louis Browns will ever climb out of the American League cellar…
Oooops. Time warp. I’ve been revisiting my childhood. The debut of new cars is no big event, not anymore. Oh, savvy shoppers may be aware that September is a good month to hunt the elusive bargain, but there’s not much hoopla attached to auto shopping, no balloons, no clowns, no big red signs. (The Edsel Is Here!!!) New sleds are just something that happens.
Same with television. Sure, (like a lot of you?) I scan the TV listings and make a mental note of premiers of shows I might want to sample. If we again time warp, we’ll see an era when the three networks (not counting the occasional wannabe) presented their wares pretty much simultaneously in early autumn like the car guys, and it was pretty darn stimulating to meet the folks who would keep is entertained while the snow fell. But with the coming of King Cable, shows pop up throughout the year, and some of our favorites are limited series that run in the summer. (Has anything recent been better than Newsroom?)
In the land of comics, back when comics cost maybe fifteen cents, the big moments tended to be in early summer when the oversize publications known as “annuals” graced the newsstands because, the wisdom went, readers weren’t busy during the warm months and had more time, and maybe more disposable income, for the funny books. At summer’s end, well… we got the things out and expected a slight dip in circulation. Later, when hardcover graphic novels became a factor, we had to have them almost done by September because, again nodding to conventional wisdom, we had to have the in stores by Thanksgiving to catch customers who might want them for Christmas gifts. If they weren’t ready for the printer by October, trouble was looming. In any case, autumn equaled doldrums.
I’d better quit blathering because I’ve got to get this to Mike so I can free the evening for television watching and… wait! What’s this? An unfamiliar vehicle in my driveway? What has that wife of mine been up to?
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: When Mike Gold and I initiated the Recommended Reading feature in The Question, lo those many years ago, most of my good information came from books. That’s less true now. So instead of recommending a book, let me direct you to a movie which you can rent from Netflix: Carbon Nation. Everyone should see this.
FRIDAY: Martha Thomases and Living Better in Reality
Any time Steven Spielberg comes to television, it’s always with something different. He honored the anthology series of his youth with Amazing Stories and lent his storytelling expertise to get ER launched, making that into a smash hit for NBC. So, when Fox heard of a series about humans and dinosaurs and Spielberg, it seemed like a no brainer. If anyone could get dinosaurs to work convincingly on the small screen, it was the director of Jurassic Park. What the network couldn’t count on was the full extent of Spielberg’s involvement and in time the series was placed under showrunner Brannon Braga’s control. Braga cut his teeth on Star Trek: The Next Generation and has gone on to do other genre fare, but he can’t seem to repeatedly sacrifice characterization in favor of conspiracy and that’s where Terra Nova fell off the rails.
Delayed by schedule issues as the massive CGI prehistoric creatures proved more difficult to execute on a budget, the series debuted last fall and for 14 episodes, we were treated to a series with tremendous potential, most of it wasted.
In 2149, mankind has choked the world so badly that time travel to resettle humanity in the past was the best hope for survival. A colony was established and those fortunate enough to be picked were sent in waves, controlling the impact of man altering the past. We follow the Shannon family from this wretched dystopia to the clean air of the past and see if people can do better when given a better chance. Jim Shannon (Jason O’Mara) is in jail for violating population laws and conceiving a third child but is broken free and joins his wife, Dr. Elisabeth Shannon (Shelley Conn), 17 year old son Josh (Landon Liboiron), 16 year old daughter Maddy (Naomi Scott), and five year old Zoe (Alana Mansour), as they join the Tenth Pilgrimage 85 Million years back in time.
Terra Nova is a thriving colony under the command of Commander Nathaniel Taylor (Stephen Lang) and contains enough raw power to protect the populace from the mammoth critters that wander the jungles just beyond their walls. While the thrust of the stories should have been the struggle to adapt to the environment and its deadly inhabitants, Braga had other ideas. Apparently, The Others, I mean the Sixers split back during the sixth pilgrimage and are working with unknown forces back in the future to seize the pristine world’s resources. Then there’s the mystery of Taylor’s son, a genius who was either part of the conspiracy or its pawn. Add in a blackmarketeer, a teen turned traitor to save her ill mother, young romance, and a few other threads, you get a crazy quilt of plots that could actually be told in any other environment.
The show failed to be different from its genre competitors because it avoided the most unique element going for it: dinosaurs! Man versus nature! How do the people adapt to diseases, microbes, and minerals they never encountered before? How do they ensure each step they take beyond the colony does not in some way create a vastly different tomorrow? Nope, the show skips all of those possibilities for conspiracies and soap operas.
The appealing cast does its best with weak material but by the end of the series, it was clear that there would be little progress in solving these dilemmas and when the plug was mercifully pulled in March, it vanished without much of an imprint in the genre or prime time television.
The complete series is presented on four standard definition discs from 20th Century Home Entertainment. In addition to fourteen hours of drama, the set comes with complete with some vaguely interesting deleted scenes and an extended version of “Occupation/Resistance”, the two-part finale (there’s also an audio commentary from Stephen Lang, Brannon Braga and Rene Echevarria). There are a handful of somewhat interesting “Director’s Diaries – Making the Pilot” with comments from Alex Graves, whose work I have generally admired. Finally, there is a brief look at “Cretaceous Life: The Dinosaurs of Terra Nova”, which should enlighten younger viewers who can’t get enough dinosaurs, and “Mysteries Explored”, delving into the less interest aspects of this failed series. Rounding things out is a gag reel.
A series with potential like this is all the more disappointing when it does not embrace its strengths in favor of a creator’s personal interests. Had Spielberg been more hands on, things might have turned out differently, but as it stands, the show is a mildly engaging misfire.
Coming this weekend, DREDD 3-D gives the beloved comic series a new shot at big screen success, and star Karl Urban tells us why this is the JUDGE DREDD you have been waiting for. Plus don’t call NBC’s new series, REVOLUTION, an “end of the world” story. Eric Kripke, Billy Burke and more of the cast are here to explain why it is so much more – and Marvel adds two more titles to Marvel NOW including an “Avengers Battle Royale”?
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were two of a generation of filmmakers that studied their craft in the late 1960s, having been raised on a steady diet of science fiction and comic book action courtesy of the 1930s movies and serials making the rounds of television. Their sense of storytelling and pacing clearly harkens back to the breathless sense of adventure found in the 15-chapter matinee events and the chills that Universal’s monsters offered. They cut their teeth in film and television, respectively, paying their dues and exploring at a time when almost anything was possible in Hollywood. When their friendship blossomed and the notion of collaborating on a film came up, it seemed obvious they would explore those common sources of inspiration.
Thirty years ago, we were treated to the first result and collectively, we were blown away. Everything felt pitch perfect about Raiders of the Lost Ark, from John Williams’ rousing score to Harrison Ford’s casting and appearance. It demonstrated new facets of their craft and proved a commercial blockbuster—the right film at the right time during a magical summer when almost everything else was pretty spectacular.
The success led to more sequels of varying quality but the fedora, the whip, and the theme music have been burned into our collective consciousness, making us want more. After the disappointing fourth installment, the films were packaged as the Complete Adventures and this week, Paramount Home Video brings Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures out entirely in Blu-ray along with a fifth bonus disc of extra material. It’s a handsome package, complete with terrific Jason Palmer paintings to decorate each sleeve.
Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull are all here in their gorgeous high definition glory. The first film, making its Blu-ray debut, was meticulously restored and looks amazing. This alone makes the set worth having because it’s like watching it again for the first time and you revel in the subtleties. Each disc comes with the theatrical trailers, saving the remaining extras from the previous editions plus new material for the fifth disc.
Let’s get right to the new material so you can judge whether or not this is worth buying one more time. Your get a brand new “On Set with Raiders of the Lost Ark” “From Jungle to Desert” (29:35) offers up new footage, beginning with location scouting and including chronological footage of the making of various scenes, intercut with remastered clips from the film. All of this is supplemented with interviews from Spielberg, Ford, and company. You get some bloopers and deleted moments including yes, the almost gun versus scimitar scene. The second part, “From Adventure to Legend” (28:17) goes on to explore storyboarding, set construction and scene preparation for the “Well of Souls” sequence. We then get treated to the details behind the “flying wing” fight sequence, the truck chase, and so on. The Legend part allows them to weave in outtakes and deleted scenes from the next three films. Like the films and creators, these two offer you some new information and additional moments to watch.
Also new is the 1981 “Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark” making its home video debut. The other features from the various DVDs are here although none converted to high definition.
Indiana Jones is far from your everyman considering his wide range of skills and knowledge. He’s a globetrotter during an era when that was romanticized in fiction and film and encountered famous personages with great regularity. And yet, all he wants to do is preserve the past and teach at the University, charmingly oblivious to the dreamy stares his co-eds shoot his way. Indy is charming in a regular guy way, with that sly smile that shows he’s in charge of the situation. He’s also flawed, giving Ford something to work with. His complicated relationship with his father, explored nicely in the third film, frames his character and might explain how he managed to sabotage his romance with Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), the one great love he spent decades missing before finally marrying her. By then, he’s discovered his illegitimate son “Mutt” (Shia LaBeouf) and feels the responsibility to make up the lost years and have a vastly different relationship than he had with his father.
The legends and lore that propel each story work well with the different time periods each film is set in, allowing a rich, textured world for Indy and his pals to explore. Spielberg and Lucas have wisely avoided filling each movie with too many special effects, keeping their appearance generally for each climax.
Of course, there’s comic relief, which worked well in the first film with Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) and less so with others such as Short Round (Jonathan Ke Quan). The opponents also varied in quality from his mirror self in Belloq (Paul Freeman) to the unconvincing Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody). It’s a shame the films are so uneven given how great the main character is but Spielberg’s tastes take a back seat to Lucas’ concepts and by now it‘s clear he is great with some high concept notions and less great with the details and pacing, making you wish he’d collaborate more with the likes of Lawrence Kasdan, who helped make that first one so memorable.
The third film wrapped up many threads and actually made for a fitting end, a satisfying conclusion to the film trilogy so the gap between that and the less successful Crystal Skull burnishes the former’s appeal all the more. It’s a shame since the older but not necessarily wiser Indy dealing with government conspiracies and UFOs during the 1950s felt like a perfect launching point.
While uneven, the skill of the cast and crew make even the weaker installments worth repeated viewing. This is a handsome package, stuffed with wonders and well worth adding to your video library.
We wind up our look at the 5th season of the hit FX series, SONS OF ANARCHY by going right to the top. We sit down with series star Charlie Hunnam and creator Kurt Sutter, both offering their takes on this new run of episodes and where it might all end up. Plus, if you’re hoping for an extended cut of DARK KNIGHT RISES, we have bad news for you.
It wasn’t a skit or even a joke, but it was live television as Jerry “The King” Lawler collapsed during last night’s WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW on USA. We’ve got the latest update on that plus more with the cast of SONS OF ANARCHY on the things we can expect to see over the next few weeks, and also more on SyFy‘s HAVEN and the third season plans.
The Earth Station One podcast straps real life crime fighter and New Pulp Author Paul Bishop into The Geek Seat and talk about the Fight Card series of pulp novels.
