No new posts recently due to taking a little mini-vacation. Picture to follow soon.
In the meantime... I've been thinking lately. My dad would have said "Better watch it, that's dangerous" but nonetheless I've been thinking. About TV. About the future of TV.
You see, I dumped cable over five years ago. The first year without it, I'll admit, I missed it. After that though... haven't really missed it at all. I dropped it because at the time I was moving and I had come to realize that I paid (then) over $50 a month and I watched a sum total of about four shows spread between three channels. It just wasn't worth it!
There was some talk, a while back, of cable services offering "A La Carte" deals -- in which people could pick out which channels they wanted and only pay for those. Nothing has come of that discussion to this day.
The thing was, I didn't want CHANNELS, I wanted cable at a SHOW level! Years ago I was talking to a friend and I said that my dream was to be able to program MY version of a primetime line-up. To sit down and program my TV to play the latest episode of some new series and then play an old episode of The Equalizer or The Man from U.N.C.L.E., etc.
And then along came the internet....
Contrary to a certain song from the musical Avenue Q the internet is for a lot of stuff and one of those things has now become TV. Thanks to free, legal sites like Hulu and AOLin2TV I can just about live my dream of MY primetime line-up. I can watch an old episode of I Spy on Hulu and then bop over to USA Network's website and watch Burn Notice. I can watch new episodes of NCIS on CBS's network site the very next morning after they air! Sure, I might have to wait overnight or in some cases a week but to be able to watch what I want to watch on MY schedule, when I have time to watch it is priceless.
I'm not paying a ton of money out of my pocket every month just to watch a sum total of FIVE TV shows I enjoy. Maybe, if the day ever comes that production companies start producing a lot of TV shows that are worth watching then I might get dish but all my vacation has done is remind me that I made the right choice. During the two nights I spent in hotels I had 50-some-odd TV stations to choose from... and there wasn't a darn thing good on ANY of them. Spent most of the time reading a book.
Even more so -- there is now a new wave of people out there who are creating and producing their own TV shows on the web and what they are doing is a heck of a lot funnier and more entertaining than many so-called "sitcoms" today.
The future is here folks... and it's the internet.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Getting Serious Again.... "And You Call Yourself a Christian"?
I've been a bit disheartened lately. You see, I call myself a Christian. I try as best I can to live as a person with a good heart would. I'm not perfect at it. BOY am I not perfect at it but I try.
And then I see stuff and I hear stuff. The healthcare debate brought a lot of this to a head but it's not the first time I've seen and heard stuff like this.
Throw out the issues over money and costs and taxes and such. I know there are a lot of issues to that. What hits me is the core -- the philosophy at the heart of this. In all the wrangling about Healthcare -- money aside -- one refrain I keep hearing over and over again out of many who protest this is the indignation people seem to have other the idea that THEY will be paying for SOMEONE ELSE'S healthcare. This idea that those who cannot afford their own healthcare are somehow not deserving of it because either they're not working hard enough or they don't know how to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, or they've been addicted to drugs or alcohol.
This isn't JUST about what's on the news. I work on a college campus and while hitting the vending machines I heard two students talking. One, apparently a Med student or something said "People go to the emergency room now who can't afford it and they do it because they know no hospital CAN turn them away for treatment and yet SOMEONE has to pay for their treatment. We've got a guy who came in through our ER just recently, and he's been addicted to heroin who knows how long and the public is paying for his care." And his tone of voice indicated that he, himself, was disgusted by this and figured most other people would be too. I've heard sentiments like this preached from pulpits with my own ears. I've heard stories from people I have no reason to doubt that they have heard similar things preached from other pulpits. I've seen it in comments to print articles online. I've heard it in the news. I've seen stuff like THIS:
"Nothing for free over here; you have to work for whatever you get."
"No, I'll pay for this guy; I'LL decide what he gets!"
There is just this undercurrent that people have to DESERVE the help we give them. People have to EARN the right to charity. Or that only certain people in certain circumstances are WORTH charity.
And on top of all of that, people judge that "worth" based on how these people are NOW. Denying the fact that a person can change, that who a person is now may not be the same person they are in five years or ten. Some people never change, some do, but we can't know their futures. We can't see the path they are going to take and to deny them help because of the way they are NOW can also mean to deny them a future. Even if they squander that future they still had the chance at it. And maybe they won't squander it -- who's to know?
And sadly, I hear people saying all this stuff who call themselves Christian and it just.... I'm not kidding. This is really making me sad.
Christians of all people should know -- you don't EARN God's love, you don't DESERVE anything we get from God. It is a gift out of love.
To me it's one simple question. You ask, "Are they a human being?" If the answer is 'yes' then that's all they need to DESERVE to be treated like one and to DESERVE ANY help we can give them.
And I wonder WHY so many people who act in Christ's name seem to forget this fact.
And then I see stuff and I hear stuff. The healthcare debate brought a lot of this to a head but it's not the first time I've seen and heard stuff like this.
Throw out the issues over money and costs and taxes and such. I know there are a lot of issues to that. What hits me is the core -- the philosophy at the heart of this. In all the wrangling about Healthcare -- money aside -- one refrain I keep hearing over and over again out of many who protest this is the indignation people seem to have other the idea that THEY will be paying for SOMEONE ELSE'S healthcare. This idea that those who cannot afford their own healthcare are somehow not deserving of it because either they're not working hard enough or they don't know how to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, or they've been addicted to drugs or alcohol.
This isn't JUST about what's on the news. I work on a college campus and while hitting the vending machines I heard two students talking. One, apparently a Med student or something said "People go to the emergency room now who can't afford it and they do it because they know no hospital CAN turn them away for treatment and yet SOMEONE has to pay for their treatment. We've got a guy who came in through our ER just recently, and he's been addicted to heroin who knows how long and the public is paying for his care." And his tone of voice indicated that he, himself, was disgusted by this and figured most other people would be too. I've heard sentiments like this preached from pulpits with my own ears. I've heard stories from people I have no reason to doubt that they have heard similar things preached from other pulpits. I've seen it in comments to print articles online. I've heard it in the news. I've seen stuff like THIS:
"Nothing for free over here; you have to work for whatever you get."
"No, I'll pay for this guy; I'LL decide what he gets!"
There is just this undercurrent that people have to DESERVE the help we give them. People have to EARN the right to charity. Or that only certain people in certain circumstances are WORTH charity.
And on top of all of that, people judge that "worth" based on how these people are NOW. Denying the fact that a person can change, that who a person is now may not be the same person they are in five years or ten. Some people never change, some do, but we can't know their futures. We can't see the path they are going to take and to deny them help because of the way they are NOW can also mean to deny them a future. Even if they squander that future they still had the chance at it. And maybe they won't squander it -- who's to know?
And sadly, I hear people saying all this stuff who call themselves Christian and it just.... I'm not kidding. This is really making me sad.
Christians of all people should know -- you don't EARN God's love, you don't DESERVE anything we get from God. It is a gift out of love.
To me it's one simple question. You ask, "Are they a human being?" If the answer is 'yes' then that's all they need to DESERVE to be treated like one and to DESERVE ANY help we can give them.
And I wonder WHY so many people who act in Christ's name seem to forget this fact.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Who Names These Things.... Again!
Back (somewhat reluctantly) to The Flash
Episode 13: Tina, is that You?
Plot: Barry's having trouble sleeping but this isn't a problem for Tina so she offers to use a device at STAR Labs to transfer some of her sleep inducing abilities to Barry. When the machine explodes Tina is injured but seems to make a full recovery... or does she? There's something different about the good Doctor -- she's just not herself. Trouble is, the person she's become is a threat to the Flash!
My Take:
Oh boy. Remember all the times I've said comic book science just has to be swallowed? Well, there are exceptions... stuff that is too stupid to take. This is one of those situations.
The writers try to pull a bait and switch at the opening as viewers are stunned to see Tina arrive at Barry's apartment and declare that she loves him... and that he reciprocates. Unrequited sexual tension payoff so early in the series?! Psych! Tina turns out to simultanously be a purse snatcher with a gun. Yes it all turns out to be a bad dream for Barry (and for those of us watching, yeesh). Although one wonders why his "nightmares" start out with Tina telling him she loves him. Also, as far as nightmares go -- someone with a gun (which the Flash can easily outrun) isn't usually as scary as getting chased by a monster (or getting chased by a monster with a chainsaw through a grocery store and having him start to cut you in half at the checkout line... oh... uh... yeah, forget I mentioned that) or not being able to run or escape, etc.
But I digress. The writers on this episode decided to go with a "Jekyll and Hyde" variation. It's pretty common as far as plots go -- the good guy or the sidekick gets turned evil through hypnosis, brain washing, mind control, chemicals, etc. Here they decide to go with an accident which causes Tina to suddenly become a bitch on wheels.
Poor Amanda Pays. She tries her best, she really does, but in the end, she never convincingly comes across as vicious or threatening. Although I confess, I love it when she breaks out with the British insults.
Our big bad villains this episode (aside from Tina, which we will get to in a minute) are a three girl criminal outfit called the Black Rose Gang. Because, you know, they're girls so they have to have a 'girly' gang name. Geeze. Insert eye roll here. But it does get worse... The leader's name is Harley... but before you get your hopes up she is nowhere NEAR as cool as Harley Quinn from Batman: The Animated Series. Sadly, even if she WERE as cool as Harley Quinn it wouldn't do much good because she stupidly decides to try to run down the Flash with her car... despite the fact that she had JUST seen the man outrun bullets... and she crashes the car and ends up a little bit dead. In truth, looking at the crash and knowing how few safety devices would have been in a '57 Caddy (with fins) it's stretching suspension of disbelief what ANY of the gang survives. But survive two of them do and one even manages to get the drop on the Flash and knocks him out by clonking him over the head. Superhero points deducted.
So the remaining two members of the Black Rose Gang go underground (literally) and spend most of the rest of the episode whining about getting revenge on the Flash and modeling the WORST of 90's fashions with a little bit of the 1950's thrown in. It isn't pretty. Oh, and the writers are stupid. At one point the surviving gang members are told that Harley was buried in a pauper's field and one girl tells the other that this is where they bury "outlaws". Uh... no. It isn't. A "Pauper's Field" (sometimes called a "Potter's Field" from the bible where Judas's 30 pieces of silver, which he got for betraying Jesus, were used to buy a field owned by a potter to use to bury those who died in the sity but were strangers to it) is where cities bury the indigent, the poor, and the nameless. It is sometimes used for burying those who die in prisons but usually only if the prisoner has no family and/or no one to claim the body.
And then, woven throughout all of this we have yet another installment of 'Julio: Worst. Co-Worker. Ever.' The running joke of Julio and his girlfriend always trying to set Barry up on blind dates with disasterous results wore thin after the first couple of episodes. Here we see Barry apparently finally striking gold in a woman named Lisa. And then thw writers pretty much draw a big picture that Barry expects to get lucky. On his first date. A BLIND first date. Yeeeaahh... what kind of message were they trying to send here?
Of course, Barry's dreams of not spending the night alone get disrupted by now crazy Tina. Seriously, everything up to now had been rather awkwardly staged but now it starts getting awkward AND stupid. The plot takes a sharp left onto 'What the Hell' street as Tina decides to get all 90's slinky -- teased hair (which is obviously a hair piece), overdone make-up (seriously, at no point in time should blush EVER have been applied as a diagonal slash across the cheekbones, I don't care WHAT the fasion was), a mini-skirt, fishnet stockings, and ankle boots with little kitten heels. Ugh. Just... no.
In addition to what little fashion sense she had running away scared, Tina also decides to join the Black Rose Gang (why? Dunno. How did she find them? Don't really know that either) and promises to give them the Flash on a silver platter. What follows is a series of terribly put together, semi-action sequences with enough plot holes to qualify for swiss cheese. I could go into detail but I'd rather spare myself as much as my readers here.
Eventually, Barry manages to bring Tina back to her senses in a tearful (literally, and by god it's stupid) scene and all is right with the world. Bleh. Ick.
This episode is a waste of disc space unless you want to watch it with a glass (or two) of wine (or other alcoholic beverage) and spend the next hour ripping it to itty, bitty shreds. It's fairly amusing then. If, however, you are under the age of 21 ignore the suggestion about the alcohol. Never let it be said I encouraged the delinquency of minors. In addition to the stupid plot and terrible acting the running jokes about Julio fixing Barry up on blind dates should have stopped a long time ago due to not being funny. And speaking of not being funny... the characters of Keystone (heh. I made an in-joke. Brownie points to whomever gets it) Kops Murphy and Bellows were NEVER funny but with this episode they move from being unfunny to actually being so incompetant one wonders how they've managed to stay on the force.
Flash Facts:
There is a mention of "Keystone Drive". Keystone City was the name of the home of the Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick. Originally, Keystone City and Jay Garrick resided on an other-dimensional copy of Earth known as Earth 2. After 1985 DC merged their multiple dimensions into one Earth and Keystone City became the sister city to Central City. Comic book writer Marv Wolfman has always described it as being like Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas.
The Black Rose Gang is hidning out in an old nucelar fallout shelter and, like seeminly EVERYWHERE in Central City, this place has a mural on the back wall. Clearly seen on the mural in one scene is the likeness of President John F. Kennedy. This is probably a reference to the Cuban Missile Crisis during Kennedy's time in office -- many people believed at the time that the Crisis was the closest America came to a nuclear with with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
When Barry finally captures Tina he tells her that it's time to "Tame the shrew" -- this is a reference to William Shakespeare's famous play The Taming of the Shrew
Episode 13: Tina, is that You?
Plot: Barry's having trouble sleeping but this isn't a problem for Tina so she offers to use a device at STAR Labs to transfer some of her sleep inducing abilities to Barry. When the machine explodes Tina is injured but seems to make a full recovery... or does she? There's something different about the good Doctor -- she's just not herself. Trouble is, the person she's become is a threat to the Flash!
My Take:
Oh boy. Remember all the times I've said comic book science just has to be swallowed? Well, there are exceptions... stuff that is too stupid to take. This is one of those situations.
The writers try to pull a bait and switch at the opening as viewers are stunned to see Tina arrive at Barry's apartment and declare that she loves him... and that he reciprocates. Unrequited sexual tension payoff so early in the series?! Psych! Tina turns out to simultanously be a purse snatcher with a gun. Yes it all turns out to be a bad dream for Barry (and for those of us watching, yeesh). Although one wonders why his "nightmares" start out with Tina telling him she loves him. Also, as far as nightmares go -- someone with a gun (which the Flash can easily outrun) isn't usually as scary as getting chased by a monster (or getting chased by a monster with a chainsaw through a grocery store and having him start to cut you in half at the checkout line... oh... uh... yeah, forget I mentioned that) or not being able to run or escape, etc.
But I digress. The writers on this episode decided to go with a "Jekyll and Hyde" variation. It's pretty common as far as plots go -- the good guy or the sidekick gets turned evil through hypnosis, brain washing, mind control, chemicals, etc. Here they decide to go with an accident which causes Tina to suddenly become a bitch on wheels.
Poor Amanda Pays. She tries her best, she really does, but in the end, she never convincingly comes across as vicious or threatening. Although I confess, I love it when she breaks out with the British insults.
Our big bad villains this episode (aside from Tina, which we will get to in a minute) are a three girl criminal outfit called the Black Rose Gang. Because, you know, they're girls so they have to have a 'girly' gang name. Geeze. Insert eye roll here. But it does get worse... The leader's name is Harley... but before you get your hopes up she is nowhere NEAR as cool as Harley Quinn from Batman: The Animated Series. Sadly, even if she WERE as cool as Harley Quinn it wouldn't do much good because she stupidly decides to try to run down the Flash with her car... despite the fact that she had JUST seen the man outrun bullets... and she crashes the car and ends up a little bit dead. In truth, looking at the crash and knowing how few safety devices would have been in a '57 Caddy (with fins) it's stretching suspension of disbelief what ANY of the gang survives. But survive two of them do and one even manages to get the drop on the Flash and knocks him out by clonking him over the head. Superhero points deducted.
So the remaining two members of the Black Rose Gang go underground (literally) and spend most of the rest of the episode whining about getting revenge on the Flash and modeling the WORST of 90's fashions with a little bit of the 1950's thrown in. It isn't pretty. Oh, and the writers are stupid. At one point the surviving gang members are told that Harley was buried in a pauper's field and one girl tells the other that this is where they bury "outlaws". Uh... no. It isn't. A "Pauper's Field" (sometimes called a "Potter's Field" from the bible where Judas's 30 pieces of silver, which he got for betraying Jesus, were used to buy a field owned by a potter to use to bury those who died in the sity but were strangers to it) is where cities bury the indigent, the poor, and the nameless. It is sometimes used for burying those who die in prisons but usually only if the prisoner has no family and/or no one to claim the body.
And then, woven throughout all of this we have yet another installment of 'Julio: Worst. Co-Worker. Ever.' The running joke of Julio and his girlfriend always trying to set Barry up on blind dates with disasterous results wore thin after the first couple of episodes. Here we see Barry apparently finally striking gold in a woman named Lisa. And then thw writers pretty much draw a big picture that Barry expects to get lucky. On his first date. A BLIND first date. Yeeeaahh... what kind of message were they trying to send here?
Of course, Barry's dreams of not spending the night alone get disrupted by now crazy Tina. Seriously, everything up to now had been rather awkwardly staged but now it starts getting awkward AND stupid. The plot takes a sharp left onto 'What the Hell' street as Tina decides to get all 90's slinky -- teased hair (which is obviously a hair piece), overdone make-up (seriously, at no point in time should blush EVER have been applied as a diagonal slash across the cheekbones, I don't care WHAT the fasion was), a mini-skirt, fishnet stockings, and ankle boots with little kitten heels. Ugh. Just... no.
In addition to what little fashion sense she had running away scared, Tina also decides to join the Black Rose Gang (why? Dunno. How did she find them? Don't really know that either) and promises to give them the Flash on a silver platter. What follows is a series of terribly put together, semi-action sequences with enough plot holes to qualify for swiss cheese. I could go into detail but I'd rather spare myself as much as my readers here.
Eventually, Barry manages to bring Tina back to her senses in a tearful (literally, and by god it's stupid) scene and all is right with the world. Bleh. Ick.
This episode is a waste of disc space unless you want to watch it with a glass (or two) of wine (or other alcoholic beverage) and spend the next hour ripping it to itty, bitty shreds. It's fairly amusing then. If, however, you are under the age of 21 ignore the suggestion about the alcohol. Never let it be said I encouraged the delinquency of minors. In addition to the stupid plot and terrible acting the running jokes about Julio fixing Barry up on blind dates should have stopped a long time ago due to not being funny. And speaking of not being funny... the characters of Keystone (heh. I made an in-joke. Brownie points to whomever gets it) Kops Murphy and Bellows were NEVER funny but with this episode they move from being unfunny to actually being so incompetant one wonders how they've managed to stay on the force.
Flash Facts:
There is a mention of "Keystone Drive". Keystone City was the name of the home of the Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick. Originally, Keystone City and Jay Garrick resided on an other-dimensional copy of Earth known as Earth 2. After 1985 DC merged their multiple dimensions into one Earth and Keystone City became the sister city to Central City. Comic book writer Marv Wolfman has always described it as being like Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas.
The Black Rose Gang is hidning out in an old nucelar fallout shelter and, like seeminly EVERYWHERE in Central City, this place has a mural on the back wall. Clearly seen on the mural in one scene is the likeness of President John F. Kennedy. This is probably a reference to the Cuban Missile Crisis during Kennedy's time in office -- many people believed at the time that the Crisis was the closest America came to a nuclear with with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
When Barry finally captures Tina he tells her that it's time to "Tame the shrew" -- this is a reference to William Shakespeare's famous play The Taming of the Shrew
Sunday, March 21, 2010
"People often don't know what you're talking about."
The Doctor is coming....
YEAH!!! I loves me some new Doctor Who.
The trailers don't give much to go on but it looks like Matt Smith may be compensating for his obvious youth by giving his portrayal a little more gravitas than David Tennant did. And if that's true then it's an excellent way to go.
This is one of the things I love best about Doctor Who, it's the thing that has allowed it to survive for over 45 years, and it's the thing that would probably never have been allowed on American TV... That the lead actor can leave and be replaced. Heck, that the entire cast can leave and be replaced by a new one and you actually look forward to the changes! Each new Doctor is different than the one before and each new actor brings something a little different to the table. And now it's about time for a new buffet to begin. All new dishes to sample and only a tantalizing glimpse of what's going to be on the menu.....
Drat. Now I'm hungry.
YEAH!!! I loves me some new Doctor Who.
The trailers don't give much to go on but it looks like Matt Smith may be compensating for his obvious youth by giving his portrayal a little more gravitas than David Tennant did. And if that's true then it's an excellent way to go.
This is one of the things I love best about Doctor Who, it's the thing that has allowed it to survive for over 45 years, and it's the thing that would probably never have been allowed on American TV... That the lead actor can leave and be replaced. Heck, that the entire cast can leave and be replaced by a new one and you actually look forward to the changes! Each new Doctor is different than the one before and each new actor brings something a little different to the table. And now it's about time for a new buffet to begin. All new dishes to sample and only a tantalizing glimpse of what's going to be on the menu.....
Drat. Now I'm hungry.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Back in a Flash
And yes, I am back to trying to complete my review of the Flash TV series.
Episode 12: The Trickster
Plot: It's the return of P.I. Megan Lockhart as she runs afoul of an insane killer named James Jesse. Jesse's defeat by the Flash twists his mind and he believes Megan is his true love who is being mind controlled by the Flash. In order to "free" Megan he is willing to turn Central City, Barry Allen and the Flash upsidedown. Can the Flash's super speed trump the unpredictability of a madman?
My Take: We have our second supervillain here and, finally, one who originated from the comic book! Well, more or less... It should be noted that the Trickster who appears here bears little resemblence to his comic book counterpart. In the comic books James Jesse was a member of a family of circus high wire performers but he disliked the family business and felt more affinity toward crime a la his reverse namesake Jesse James. An engineering genius and basically sane if callous and criminal, Jesse began inventing incredible gadgets and embarking on a life of crime which brought him up against the Flash. In this episode, James Jesse is a madman who has eluded police through six states committing crimes as far ranging as fraud, theft and murder, taking on different identities and different careers for each of his crimes. It should also be said that even the comic book Trickster's costume bore little resemblence to the costume designed for the Trickster here... but, hey, at least we've got a supervillain in a costume so I'm not going to complain too much.
Added entertainment value to the story is the fact that the Trickster is played by none other than Mark Hamill. Yep, Luke Skywalker. Hamill, as it turns out, is something of a comic book geek -- at one point in time at least owning an extensive and expensive collection. So he enters into the role with a reckless abandon that is just a kick to watch. It is also interesting to see since Hamill goes through a number of different characters and voices as his Trickster scams and schemes.
Again, though, we see the writers taking influence from Tim Burton's Batman as this insane version of the Trickster seems to have more in common with the Joker than with the comic book counterpart. Interestingly enough, only a year or so after this Hamill would win the role as the Joker in the critically acclaimed and Emmy winning Batman: The Animated Series
And his portrayal would be seen as THE definitive Joker for more than a generation of fans. Sharp eyed (and eared) Flash fans will see and hear little snippets which Hamill would end up incorporating into his Joker so the episode is like getting a little sneak peek into a proto-Joker.
Sadly, the story spends so much time setting things up that it ends up never quite properly building the Trickster into the proper threat he should be. Part of the problem as well, is that the writer on this story -- namely Howard Chaykin -- turns the Trickster into more of a foil for Megan Lockhart than one for the Flash and many of the Trickster's "tricks" seem more 'sound and fury' with lots of sparklers and roman candles than they do legitimate threats to the life and limbs of the citizens of Central City.
The story also moves forward on the initial attraction between Barry and Megan but then viewers get a 'bait and switch' as the whole thing ends up not only going nowhere but getting a ridiculous excuse for it shoehorned into the last minute of the story. I suppose we should be thankful -- most 'temporary girlfriends' who appear on TV end up six feet under, victims of 'Teresa Bond Syndrome' (google the character and I'm sure you'll get the reference). There is also a painfully awkward subplot with Tina feeling her friendship with Barry will be threatened by Megan.
It also should be said that the actress playing Megan cannot produce a convincing scream. At all. It's surprisingly annoying. I mean, if you're going to try to convince the audience that you're screaming out of sheer terror you need to do a better job than your average high school melodrama production.
On the flip side, the story also manages to play, at least a little bit, with the question "chicken or the egg" question. In this case the question is: "Does the Flash create/attract the villains or have they always been there in one way or another?" Over the decades, a number of comic book writers have explored this idea in various ways and there was a really good episode of Batman: The Animated Series in which a number of Batman's enemies put him on trial claiming that HE created THEM. But I digress...
Despite the flaws, this is overall a really fun episode. It's great to finally see a fully fledged comic book supervillain in the story and Mark Hamill does a great job throwing himself into the part. Definitely worth the watch -- particularly since Hamill would reprise the role later on in the series....
One technical note here: there was a glitch in the broadcast order and since the episodes were arranged on the DVD in broadcast order the glitch has been perpetuated. The episode "Tina, is That You?" was supposed to air BEFORE this one and in fact some of the events of that story are referenced here, and yet the episode ended up airing AFTER this one. They really should have fixed this on the DVD release or at least made a note of it.
Flash Facts:
When we first see James Jesse he is dressed as a traditional stage magician -- with a top hat, white tie and tails, and white gloves. This outfit makes him look like another Flash rogue -- Abra Kabadra. In fact, just a little bit later in the story Jesse claims that he 'studied Harry Houdini' -- a claim that Kadabra would also make. Abra Kadabra, however, originally came from the 64th century where his obsession with stage magic was considered a joke due to the highly advanced technology. Traveling into the past he would use that technology to make it seem as though he could really do magic.
After defeating Jesse the first time the Flash refers to him as "Mandrake" -- this is a reference to "Mandrake the Magician", a newspaper comic strip character created by Lee Falk -- the guy who also created The Phantom. While Mandrake got his start in the newspapers in 1934 over the decades he would be move into the so-called 'Little Big Books' and would also appear in comic books and in animation. Mandrake technically had no superpowers -- he had learned a technique for almost instantanous hypnotism and so he would make people see and hear things that were not there. Mandrake was, and still is, owned by King Features Syndicate along with such other familiar heroes as The Phantom and Flash Gordon.
In point of fact.... Now I'm not saying this was a DELIBERATE 'six degrees of separation' but it IS an interesting coincidence... later in the episode Megan is trying to track down the Trickster thorugh some of the props he used. She asks someone where he could have gotten hold of a statue of Mercury. We can't hear what the person on the other line says but she responds "Not Freddy Mercury!" Freddy Mercury was the lead singer of the rock group Queen and one of the things Queen is well known for was providing the soundtrack for the 1980 movie Flash Gordon and Flash Gordon is, as I mentioned above, one of the King Features Syndicate characters along with Mandrake the Magician. Interesting, no? It's also pretty sad that I could make that connection.
At another point in the story Megan calls Barry and tells him she's found the Trickster's hideout and it's on Margo Ln. Margo Lane was the assistant to The Shadow in the original pulp stories and the subsequent radio series. As it so happened, Howard Chaykin, who wrote this epsiode of the Flash also wrote The Shadow for DC Comics in the 1980's when DC had the license to the character for a period of time.
The policeman's costume ball in being held at the Infantino Hotel -- this is a tip of the hat to Carmine Infantino. Like Gardner Fox, Infantino was a workhorse for both DC and Marvel among many other comic book companies. His work is still praised today and there are likely very few major comic book characters that he hasn't drawn in his life. He was the first artist on the Silver Age Flash series and is credited with creating the character's look.
Late in the game the episode takes a turn for the rather cartoony. At one point Megan states that she's "Tired of all this cartoon crap" and not long after the Flash defeats the Trickster to the sound of the Looney Tunes ending theme and finishes the whole thing up by actually saying "That's all folks". Of course, it must be said that the Looney Tunes characters are all owned by Warner Brothers and Warner Brothers also owns DC Comics and all it's characters and it was Warner Brothers studios which was producing this TV series. So nice to keep it all in the family wouldn't you say?
Episode 12: The Trickster
Plot: It's the return of P.I. Megan Lockhart as she runs afoul of an insane killer named James Jesse. Jesse's defeat by the Flash twists his mind and he believes Megan is his true love who is being mind controlled by the Flash. In order to "free" Megan he is willing to turn Central City, Barry Allen and the Flash upsidedown. Can the Flash's super speed trump the unpredictability of a madman?
My Take: We have our second supervillain here and, finally, one who originated from the comic book! Well, more or less... It should be noted that the Trickster who appears here bears little resemblence to his comic book counterpart. In the comic books James Jesse was a member of a family of circus high wire performers but he disliked the family business and felt more affinity toward crime a la his reverse namesake Jesse James. An engineering genius and basically sane if callous and criminal, Jesse began inventing incredible gadgets and embarking on a life of crime which brought him up against the Flash. In this episode, James Jesse is a madman who has eluded police through six states committing crimes as far ranging as fraud, theft and murder, taking on different identities and different careers for each of his crimes. It should also be said that even the comic book Trickster's costume bore little resemblence to the costume designed for the Trickster here... but, hey, at least we've got a supervillain in a costume so I'm not going to complain too much.
Added entertainment value to the story is the fact that the Trickster is played by none other than Mark Hamill. Yep, Luke Skywalker. Hamill, as it turns out, is something of a comic book geek -- at one point in time at least owning an extensive and expensive collection. So he enters into the role with a reckless abandon that is just a kick to watch. It is also interesting to see since Hamill goes through a number of different characters and voices as his Trickster scams and schemes.
Again, though, we see the writers taking influence from Tim Burton's Batman as this insane version of the Trickster seems to have more in common with the Joker than with the comic book counterpart. Interestingly enough, only a year or so after this Hamill would win the role as the Joker in the critically acclaimed and Emmy winning Batman: The Animated Series
And his portrayal would be seen as THE definitive Joker for more than a generation of fans. Sharp eyed (and eared) Flash fans will see and hear little snippets which Hamill would end up incorporating into his Joker so the episode is like getting a little sneak peek into a proto-Joker.
Sadly, the story spends so much time setting things up that it ends up never quite properly building the Trickster into the proper threat he should be. Part of the problem as well, is that the writer on this story -- namely Howard Chaykin -- turns the Trickster into more of a foil for Megan Lockhart than one for the Flash and many of the Trickster's "tricks" seem more 'sound and fury' with lots of sparklers and roman candles than they do legitimate threats to the life and limbs of the citizens of Central City.
The story also moves forward on the initial attraction between Barry and Megan but then viewers get a 'bait and switch' as the whole thing ends up not only going nowhere but getting a ridiculous excuse for it shoehorned into the last minute of the story. I suppose we should be thankful -- most 'temporary girlfriends' who appear on TV end up six feet under, victims of 'Teresa Bond Syndrome' (google the character and I'm sure you'll get the reference). There is also a painfully awkward subplot with Tina feeling her friendship with Barry will be threatened by Megan.
It also should be said that the actress playing Megan cannot produce a convincing scream. At all. It's surprisingly annoying. I mean, if you're going to try to convince the audience that you're screaming out of sheer terror you need to do a better job than your average high school melodrama production.
On the flip side, the story also manages to play, at least a little bit, with the question "chicken or the egg" question. In this case the question is: "Does the Flash create/attract the villains or have they always been there in one way or another?" Over the decades, a number of comic book writers have explored this idea in various ways and there was a really good episode of Batman: The Animated Series in which a number of Batman's enemies put him on trial claiming that HE created THEM. But I digress...
Despite the flaws, this is overall a really fun episode. It's great to finally see a fully fledged comic book supervillain in the story and Mark Hamill does a great job throwing himself into the part. Definitely worth the watch -- particularly since Hamill would reprise the role later on in the series....
One technical note here: there was a glitch in the broadcast order and since the episodes were arranged on the DVD in broadcast order the glitch has been perpetuated. The episode "Tina, is That You?" was supposed to air BEFORE this one and in fact some of the events of that story are referenced here, and yet the episode ended up airing AFTER this one. They really should have fixed this on the DVD release or at least made a note of it.
Flash Facts:
When we first see James Jesse he is dressed as a traditional stage magician -- with a top hat, white tie and tails, and white gloves. This outfit makes him look like another Flash rogue -- Abra Kabadra. In fact, just a little bit later in the story Jesse claims that he 'studied Harry Houdini' -- a claim that Kadabra would also make. Abra Kadabra, however, originally came from the 64th century where his obsession with stage magic was considered a joke due to the highly advanced technology. Traveling into the past he would use that technology to make it seem as though he could really do magic.
After defeating Jesse the first time the Flash refers to him as "Mandrake" -- this is a reference to "Mandrake the Magician", a newspaper comic strip character created by Lee Falk -- the guy who also created The Phantom. While Mandrake got his start in the newspapers in 1934 over the decades he would be move into the so-called 'Little Big Books' and would also appear in comic books and in animation. Mandrake technically had no superpowers -- he had learned a technique for almost instantanous hypnotism and so he would make people see and hear things that were not there. Mandrake was, and still is, owned by King Features Syndicate along with such other familiar heroes as The Phantom and Flash Gordon.
In point of fact.... Now I'm not saying this was a DELIBERATE 'six degrees of separation' but it IS an interesting coincidence... later in the episode Megan is trying to track down the Trickster thorugh some of the props he used. She asks someone where he could have gotten hold of a statue of Mercury. We can't hear what the person on the other line says but she responds "Not Freddy Mercury!" Freddy Mercury was the lead singer of the rock group Queen and one of the things Queen is well known for was providing the soundtrack for the 1980 movie Flash Gordon and Flash Gordon is, as I mentioned above, one of the King Features Syndicate characters along with Mandrake the Magician. Interesting, no? It's also pretty sad that I could make that connection.
At another point in the story Megan calls Barry and tells him she's found the Trickster's hideout and it's on Margo Ln. Margo Lane was the assistant to The Shadow in the original pulp stories and the subsequent radio series. As it so happened, Howard Chaykin, who wrote this epsiode of the Flash also wrote The Shadow for DC Comics in the 1980's when DC had the license to the character for a period of time.
The policeman's costume ball in being held at the Infantino Hotel -- this is a tip of the hat to Carmine Infantino. Like Gardner Fox, Infantino was a workhorse for both DC and Marvel among many other comic book companies. His work is still praised today and there are likely very few major comic book characters that he hasn't drawn in his life. He was the first artist on the Silver Age Flash series and is credited with creating the character's look.
Late in the game the episode takes a turn for the rather cartoony. At one point Megan states that she's "Tired of all this cartoon crap" and not long after the Flash defeats the Trickster to the sound of the Looney Tunes ending theme and finishes the whole thing up by actually saying "That's all folks". Of course, it must be said that the Looney Tunes characters are all owned by Warner Brothers and Warner Brothers also owns DC Comics and all it's characters and it was Warner Brothers studios which was producing this TV series. So nice to keep it all in the family wouldn't you say?
Friday, March 19, 2010
I don't care if you say you don't read comic books you should read THIS
Joe the Barbarian is an eight issue mini-series from Grant Morrison and it is, in a word, awesome.
A couple of things about Grant Morrison... one is that he's Scottish, so occasionally there is a little British slang that creeps into his dialogue. Don't panic, it's only a little bit and you won't even notice if you don't get it.
Second, Morrison is quite possibly bat-guano crazy. And it's a GOOD thing. Trust me.
But for now... Joe the Barbarian....
Joe is just a little kid and like a lot of kids he's stuck dealing with a lot of familiar stuff -- like bullies and a lack of fitting in. He's also dealing with the fact that his workaholic mother is planning on selling their house and moving... something Joe does not want to do. There's the fact that his soldier-father is dead and on top of everything else Joe is diabetic and really has to watch his blood sugar.
Then an otherwise ordinary day turns into something extraordinary for Joe. Forgetting to watch his blood sugar, Joe goes into shock and starts to hallucinate just about the time a big thunderstorm breaks. Joe, alone in the house, must make his way to the kitchen to find something with sugar in it to restore his system or else thing will go very badly for him. In his present state, though, what would be a short trip of only a minute or so now becomes an epic battle... figuratively and literally...
You see, Joe's hallucinations warp familiar aspects of the real world into this strange, fantastic place -- a kingdom under seige with himself appearing to be a prophesied savior called "The Dying Boy". Joined on his epic quest by Chakk the warrior rat, Smoot the giant Dwarf, and more to come, Joe fights to keep his head on straight because, this is still all a hallucination.... or is it?
One of the great things about Grant Morrison's writing is that a 'happy ending' is not always guaranteed. Usually, the killing of little kids in comic books is something of a taboo so, automatically readers might assume Joe's life is not really in any doubt. But Morrison tends to play by his own rules and that allows readers to buy into the narrative tension. Like I said, a 'happy ending' is not a guarantee here and, even should Joe end up 'living' there is no assurance it will be 'life' as we tend to think of it, or that he will not come away from this experience as the same person he was when he entered.
Most of all, between the art and the writing we are treated to a clever and inventive new world that springboards off the familiar and turns it into something completely alien. For example, the house's hallway becomes the Forest City of Yalway in Joe's imaginative world. Joe's pet rat Jack becomes the giant warrior rat Chakk, and more.
The story is compelling, the characters are fun and inventive -- deliberately playing on traditional quest motifs and characters -- and Morrison proves that he can craft this deeply involved story which, ultimately, takes place within the physical confines of one suburban house and at the same time within the limitless space of the human imagination... and shows that both can become alien places when things go just a little bit askew.
So go, trust me, seek out this comic -- the third issue just came out this past Wednesday, it's not too late to get caught up and enter the world of Joe... the barbarian.
A couple of things about Grant Morrison... one is that he's Scottish, so occasionally there is a little British slang that creeps into his dialogue. Don't panic, it's only a little bit and you won't even notice if you don't get it.
Second, Morrison is quite possibly bat-guano crazy. And it's a GOOD thing. Trust me.
But for now... Joe the Barbarian....
Joe is just a little kid and like a lot of kids he's stuck dealing with a lot of familiar stuff -- like bullies and a lack of fitting in. He's also dealing with the fact that his workaholic mother is planning on selling their house and moving... something Joe does not want to do. There's the fact that his soldier-father is dead and on top of everything else Joe is diabetic and really has to watch his blood sugar.
Then an otherwise ordinary day turns into something extraordinary for Joe. Forgetting to watch his blood sugar, Joe goes into shock and starts to hallucinate just about the time a big thunderstorm breaks. Joe, alone in the house, must make his way to the kitchen to find something with sugar in it to restore his system or else thing will go very badly for him. In his present state, though, what would be a short trip of only a minute or so now becomes an epic battle... figuratively and literally...
You see, Joe's hallucinations warp familiar aspects of the real world into this strange, fantastic place -- a kingdom under seige with himself appearing to be a prophesied savior called "The Dying Boy". Joined on his epic quest by Chakk the warrior rat, Smoot the giant Dwarf, and more to come, Joe fights to keep his head on straight because, this is still all a hallucination.... or is it?
One of the great things about Grant Morrison's writing is that a 'happy ending' is not always guaranteed. Usually, the killing of little kids in comic books is something of a taboo so, automatically readers might assume Joe's life is not really in any doubt. But Morrison tends to play by his own rules and that allows readers to buy into the narrative tension. Like I said, a 'happy ending' is not a guarantee here and, even should Joe end up 'living' there is no assurance it will be 'life' as we tend to think of it, or that he will not come away from this experience as the same person he was when he entered.
Most of all, between the art and the writing we are treated to a clever and inventive new world that springboards off the familiar and turns it into something completely alien. For example, the house's hallway becomes the Forest City of Yalway in Joe's imaginative world. Joe's pet rat Jack becomes the giant warrior rat Chakk, and more.
The story is compelling, the characters are fun and inventive -- deliberately playing on traditional quest motifs and characters -- and Morrison proves that he can craft this deeply involved story which, ultimately, takes place within the physical confines of one suburban house and at the same time within the limitless space of the human imagination... and shows that both can become alien places when things go just a little bit askew.
So go, trust me, seek out this comic -- the third issue just came out this past Wednesday, it's not too late to get caught up and enter the world of Joe... the barbarian.
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