So much to see, so little time.

Way to much TV....

I was at first intending to cover the super-hero/comics related TV shows coming out this fall/winter but to be honest there are simply too many. I do unfortunately not master in super-hero TV adaptations. But that will not stop me from bringing the subject up every now and then. It is of course a very pleasant problem to have but at the same time my inner content junkie feels like it would be good to get it out there. I did bring up Gotham and I will give a similar once over on Constantine and Flash.

Beyond them we do have the return of Agents of SHIELD and Arrow. Arrow is setting up for ehat I think to be the best season ever but that is mostly due to the inclusion of Ra's al Ghul. Primarily a Batman villain he is a master assassin and would be conqueror that aims to rid the world form sin, one head at a time. He is also immortal thanks to something called the Lazarus pit, a mysterious well that grants the person who steps in to it rejuvenation and healing. To the modern audience he is mostly known for having been played by Liam Neeson in the Nolan-verse Batman movies. His combination of sharp wits and extreme combat proves will make for a very interesting adversary to Oliver.

While Arrow in my mind will start with a solid gold platter, AoS have a tough fight ahead of them. The series was slow as come heck at the start and it was not until the tail end of the season that things really kicked off. Now this was of course natural seeing as it tied to closely in to Captain America 2 but that does not excuse the pacing and at times ham-fisted plot. So with the very good season finish and a very interesting setup for this one AoS will still have to work hard to regain the interest of the TV audience. Especially with DC´s strong lineup and a truckload of good non-superhero shows starting or continuing.

Elsewise things are slow right now. I am trying to get on phase with the DC and Marvel comics universes but it is going slow and with marvel in essence having reduced their heroes to a long string of events catching up is even worse. With DC I simply decided to pick up week one of NEW52 and work forward so it is a tad bit better. But I am simply not gripped by them as I used to be. Perhaps it is my degrading mind slowly consumed by age or they are just not as good as I remember… But then again when I was young I really liked Knight Rider… .. . So I am not sure how much value that opinion holds. Also my master thesis is eating up a lot of time that used to be spent on stuff like this. But while my geek-cred is weakening I am not really worried yet and while my free time shrinks I still intend to keep this blog up and I am looking in to being able to do VLogs and similar media content. This mostly as a safety valve to give myself a way to be creative that does not interfere with my studies.  My first entry in to that will most likely be next LootCrate unboxing… Yeah... unlike the other 5000 people doing it but it is a good place to work out the wrinkles and give me a chance to try some other funny stuff.

So that was pretty much my thoughts about that, sorry but nothing more interesting today. I will miss out on this week´s Dr Who episode review but I will do some restructuring with those, chif difference will be that they will not be delayed by a week but rather be a review of the current episode. So.. More spoiler warnings I guess. So look for a bunch of Dr Who realted stuff early next week.

Also i´d like to put a small puff for my friend and fellow blog producer Anton over at http://antontycker.blogspot.se/ who is dipping his toes in to writing in English and I really think you should stop by and give him some encouragement and he will give you some gaming insights and general nerd stuff

The city of Gotham, the city of love…

So I just watched the pilot to the new DC TV series, one of three to come out this fall. The other two of course is the Arrow spin-off the Flash and the somewhat more obscure Constantine, based on the Hellblazer comic. I will get to those once I have seen their pilots properly. Today we talk about the future home of the BatMan.

Because that is the twist, unlike most takes on the Batman mythos this show will not have Batman in it, it will have a good amount of Bruce Wayne and the tragic death of his parents will be a important catalyst as the series kick off. But unlike Smallville that focused on Superman’s early years this series will focus on the city of Gotham and the people who live and die in the shadow of corruption and crime. You see, in a sort of twist this show we know do not have a happy ending. Before the arrival of Batman Gotham city was tearing itself apart. So this show has the potential to start fairly dark and then go take a gentle swan-dive in to the pit of despair. Or at least I hope that is how they will do it. Mostly because it would be a breath of fresh air. Now two red flags have to be brought up and that is number one… This show is produce by FOX… FOX is known to shuffle off and kill shows that does not do very well. Number two… There is a good chance that they focus-grouped the living shit out of this show. Taking away any teeth it might have had.

So I am not going to go in to very much detail on the story of the first episode as I prefer to leave a bit to be explored but to put it simply they jammed pretty much everything they could get away with in to this pilot, this is not uncommon and generally make for choppy storytelling. As is the case here. We get introduced to a smattering of characters that are more or less familiar to people who consumes DC Comics (it always fell so wrong to write that… DC used to stand for Detective Comics making it Detective Comics Comics… But I digress) in general and Batman in particular. This series have no ties to any previous DC based TV series beyond being a DC license so they have free reign as to how they like to develop the story.  

But the main players in the first episode is Jim Gordon, a fresh arrival in Gotham out to make a name for himself in what is basically a lawless town. He is paired up with another fairly familiar character, Harvey Bullock. (not to be confused with Harvey Dent) who is a older and in essence broken detective. They make a good cop/bad cop pair as they investigate the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. We also have a 10-ish Bruce who in this episode work as an anchor point for Jim as he very early makes a promise to capture the man who killed Bruce´s parents. On the opposite side of the law we have the character of Fish Moonie who is an underling to the Falcone mob family. She run the part of town where the Wayne’s where murdered. She in turn have a prominent underling by the name of Oswald Cobbelpot, who is also better known as the Penguin (Here back to his more normal design rather than the mutant freak most people know from the second Tim Burton Batman movie.) and I am not exactly surprising anyone by saying that he has bigger designs in mind the being Fish´s whipping boy. As a “same side” antagonists plot we also have Rene Montoya and her partner whom I cannot remember the name of to save my life. They are part of the “major crimes unit” and in direct conflict with the “street cops” of Gordon and Bullock. These are the main players and while a few other DC Batman characters get introduced or alluded too. These are the once that has any significant screen time. As the story progress some twists get turned and a few things get turned upside down… And hung from meat hooks.

All in all I am intrigued by this series but I fear it will have a case of Agents of shield syndrome as it will be very slow to begin with and have some problem with what it like to be and what it should do. But once the groundwork is laid down I think this will be a really good series, unfortunately FOCX will then move it to the midnight time-slot and then cancel it due to poor viewer numbers.

Now I have seen some people feel deeply offended by the direction of this series and I am going to give my thoughts on a few of the most common I have found.

Beyond this point there will be spoilers… You have been warned.

A: This have way to little Batman

No… Shit… Sherlock… This have been billed as not having Batman, not being about Batman, It will be exploring everyone else that is usually relegated to the shadows so to speak. The people who make up the myth around Batman. If you do not find that interesting… Sorry. May I suggest BatMan the animated series? While being a cartoon it is very well done and have a solid storytelling.

B: Why is Alfred the way his is.

Yes it is worth mentioning that this Alfred is most likely based on the Earth 2 Alfred that we also saw in the latest batman CGI series. He is a former Bristish Special Forces soldier and act more as Bruce Guardian/Bodyguard then his demure butler. He will also most likely be the first trainer/instructor that Bruce have. This choice was most likely done to make Alfred a more active character as Bruce himself will have to be a passive character until he comes of age. I have no problem with this change, in fact I prefer it.

C: Was that Posion Ivy.

No… That was a small girl in an abusive home that like plants. Or to be more precise, as I am sure that she will indeed end up as Posion Ivy because of lazy writing, she shares nothing backstory wise with Pamela Isley and there is a chance that she is a red herring due to this.

D: Why so many names dropped in this episode… At this pace they will run out by mid-December.

Well because it is a pilot, high impact designed to grab your attention and keep you for at least a few episodes on the sheer “who will be next” factor. This is not uncommon and I think it is a good idea to pull in the casual viewer and those just vaguely familiar with the franchise. Again I have no real problem with this. But I can agree that if they continue at this pace going forward it will just be a convoluted mess of names flashing by.

E: I want to see Batman kicking arse now….

Yes… And I want a Bugatti Veyron… We all have to face disappointment sooner or later. The producers have said that Bruce taking up the mantle will be the final of the series. That is not to say we will not see Bruce going about his merry way man-punching people sooner. But not as the caped crusader. You know, spelunking in those knife infested caves…

So catch this if you want to get a glimpse in to what Gotham does when Batman is not around and get a sort of backstory to where all these lunatics came from.

LootCrate September unboxing

LootCrate September unboxing

Here we are again, it is that time of the month when I get to dig in to a new batch of nerdy goodness. This month theme of the Crate is galactic. LootCrate had spoiled that the items would be from Star Trek, Star Wars, Aliens and Firefly. They also said that most of them would be special editions in one way or another. So with all that in mind my first reaction was a bit meh actually.

Mostly because I was hoping for a different Star Trek item and I was never a big fan of the Reaction line. But as I dug down things got a lot better. But let us start if with the most obvious item in the box.

That fuzzy orange ball of love is a Tribble, It is from an episode of the original series that I honestly have never seen in its entirety. But to make a long story short these small things mind control people to pick them up and bring them with them, caring for them and if needed protect them. They also breed on a level that would make fungus envious. Now beyond its novelty value it is in essence just a furry ball. But not a bad item per se and in a way a welcomed step away from the usual starship or insignia that make up the most of the Star Trek merchandise these days.

Next up we have a big damm hero, in tiny plastic shape. Ladies and gentlemen Mal from Firefly. The style of this mini is simply adorable and for me this is one of the items that made the box. It might be that everyone get this figure but any way I feel glad that I got it. Being a casual fan of the Firefly series and one of the people who are actually ok with it only being one season, because my god is it good.

Now many many years ago a company by the name of Kenner made a lot of license toys, mostly action figures and playsets. The ReAction line aims to bring these toys back to the front for collectors that want a slice of their childhood back but do not care to mortgage their house to get an original. So it is the original Kenner moulds but recast. Also that is a horrid image but it simply did not photograph very well. Will try to create a light-box for the unboxing. I personally like my action figures big and bold with tons of articulation. But I can see how this line of toys have fans.

Poprocks are simply Poprocks. It is a candy that crackles in your mouth as it melts. This one is apple flavored and very tasty.

Here we have a star Wars fridge magnet… It sticks to metal. It is also made in the style of Asteriods. You can never have to many fridge magnets.

Now for the in my mind star of the show.  See if you can guess what it is…

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Yes they are a prop replica of the money used in the firefly series. It is a set of 100 and 500 bills and they are awesome. This is one of these items that symbolize why I get these boxes. Random stuff that I would never buy myself. I am not sure what I will use them for but they will look really nice in my bookcase.

Halo digital comics. Not a big Halo fan myself but they make for a good gift or give away. Would have preferred to have them in physical form but this is a lot easier on the shipping =)

Han Solo in carbonite poster. This is a classic motif that never gets old. It is a bit sad that they folded it as it will take some time to undo the folds but it would have taken up way to much space otherwise. A decent size door-hanger that I think would fit in any geek-cave.

Then there was the monthly magazine and pin, no shirt this month either unfortunately but I have a nagging suspicion that this was due to the cost of shipping the shirt and the bulk it takes up. But I hope we see a shirt next month’s crate.

So to sum this month up it was a bit his and miss. Loved the firefly items and the candy, Poprocks always wins in my book. But the rest was meh… The Tribble will most likely make a home on H´s desk and I will put the Alien figure in the gift pile. Poster was nice and a much better size then the BatMan once from the Villains crate. No shirt was a bit of a bummer too as they are always cool,

´till next time.