The latest in Saban Film’s repertoire, Dark Asset has released a new trailer featuring actor Robert Patrick, of Peacemaker and Terminator 2 acclaim. The movie is set to release in both theatre and video on demand on September 22nd.
In this adrenaline-fueled action film, an ordinary soldier becomes the subject of a top-secret experimental program. Under the guise of enhancing his combat abilities, the program transforms him into a lethal living weapon. As the John Doe delves deeper into the project, he uncovers the horrifying truth behind the program’s objectives and the dark intentions of his creator. Fueled by a thirst for justice and driven by a desire for vengeance, the soldier breaks free from his captors and embarks on a relentless mission to dismantle the program while navigating a dangerous web of betrayal, conspiracy, and high-stakes action
Saban Films was founded by Haim Saban. The same owner who was responsible for all those Saban-related intellectual properties in the 90s such as Power Rangers.
For the past week, Marvel has been hyping up this epic match-up soon to come next month with Predator versus Wolverine in the first-ever Predator appearance in the Marvel comics universe. And to be quite honest, it’s hard not to be excited about this.
Written by Benjamin Percy, with art by Greg Land, Andrea Di Vito, Ken Lashley, Kei Zama, and more, the series will reveal a long-lost rivalry between Wolverine and a Yautja Predator. One who’s been stalking him since his earliest days, which is kind of awesome, given how James Howlett (Wolverine) was born in the early 1800s and we’ve most recently seen Predators hunting in the 1700s in the most recent hit film in the franchise, Prey. So the lores of both are ripe for crossover, at least, culturally speaking where we can feature origins stories along the American/Canadian frontier.
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Early reactions on social media have been that given Wolverine’s healing factor and his neigh indestructible adamantium skeleton, that he’s got the obvious advantage. Add in the fact that the Predator’s cloaking technology is likely useless against a mutant who can smell you a mile away, and the battle seems almost lopsided. However, this is comics and battles are dictated not by power level but often by demands needed from the writer and I think most fans are just excited to see the inevitable claw-versus-claw to come.
Now, both characters have had long successful comic runs for decades now. They’ve also been used as warriors in epic crossover battles in their respective universe franchises. For Marvel, the most notable of which was probably Hulk versus Wolverine, which historically also featured the introduction of the Wolverine character into the universe in Incredible Hulk #181.
As for The Predator, there has been a slew of face-offs in its own comic and story history. The most famous of which was obviously its run on Predator vs Alien, a franchise not only adapted into a movie in 2004 after a successful comic series beginning in the late 80s but also, a fun potential spin-off of my favorite comic in the franchise: Predator versus Alien versus Terminator. In terms of crossover face-offs, Predator has also already gone up against Batman, Tarzan, Judge Dredd, Superman, and strangely, even Archie. Meaning this crossover, especially now that Marvel owns 20th Century Fox, was eventually bound to come.
“I’m not going to say I was born to write this crossover… but sometimes the universe reveals why you were created,” said writer Benjamin Percy in a recent statement by Marvel. “I am a child of the eighties. I cannot tell you how many times I watched Predator, just as I cannot tell you how many Wolverine comics I have read, because that would be like telling you how many breaths I’ve taken or cheeseburgers I’ve eaten. The mythologies of both are ingrained in me so deeply they might as well be strands of DNA or wisps of soul. The guns, claws, beef, and blood of both franchises have been stewing in my brain since 1987, when I read myself to sleep every night with a stack of Marvel comics and my friends and I used to play ‘Predator’ with Nerf guns in the woods and river near our neighborhood.”
“This epic hunt will span decades, as both of these giants learn and harden and grow deadlier with time,” Percy continued. “Neither will have time to bleed, but you better make time to read, because I’m putting everything I’ve got into this event, and I’m thrilled to join forces with some of the best artists in the business.”
To say that these are two of the most visceral characters in both Marvel and in the Alien/Predator franchises is an understatement. With both the Predator and Wolverine being famous for essentially, being the greatest hunters in their respective universes. So what happens when these universes collide into places such as the wintery Canadian Wilderness and the slumming deadly streets of Madripoor?
You’ll have to check out PREDATOR VS WOLVERINE to find out, available on September 20th!
Every time I go to watch a DC movie, I feel like I’m playing a game of Russian Roulette with myself. Even though I’m more of a Marvel fanboy, I still enjoy plenty of DC characters. Which is why it’s a little painful not knowing if a movie adaptation will do the original justice or fall totally flat (looking at you, Black Adam). Luckily, Blue Beetle falls into what I call the Shazam line of DC movies. Meaning that if you squint, it almost feels more like a Marvel movie, with a focus on family, humor and heart over everything else. And honestly, that made this a pretty enjoyable, if a bit formulaic, movie.
Another thing I really enjoyed about Blue Beetle was the focus on Hispanic culture. While main character Jaime Reyes (played by film newcomer Xolo Maridueña) is clearly from la Raza, the movie does a good job of showing that it’s not monolithic. We see the wide-eyed optimism of Jaime; the cynical barbs of sister Milagro “Millie” Reyes; the toadying of “Dr. Sanchez” (sorry, Harvey); the kindness of Jenny Kord; the fierce brutality of Carapax; and the loving support of Jaime’s father, Alberto. Not to be outdone, George Lopez himself nearly steals the show with his massive goat beard and shrieks of terror, serving as the movie’s “Mexican Doc Brown”. There’s a character for everyone in the movie, and doubly so if, like myself, you have a little hot sauce in your veins.
The movie is initially about how Victoria Kord’s expansion in Palmera City is destroying (aka re-gentrifying) the Edge Keys that the Reyes family lives in. First they lost their auto shop, now they’re going to lose their house. The news hits Jaime like a ton of bricks, since he just graduated and was hoping to use his degree to bring newfound prosperity to his beloved, if occasionally extra, family. He takes a job cleaning gum off chairs and tables at the Kord residence, where he overhears an angry argument between Jenny Kord and her aunt Victoria. The chance encounter provides an in with the beautiful young Kord, and though Jaime loses his job, he shares his phone number with Jenny. Not foreseeing how that simple decision will change his life forever.
Long story short, Jenny doesn’t like the direction her aunt is taking her father’s company. Ted Kord wasn’t interested in making weapons, but when he disappeared, Victoria took complete control of his empire. She’s also found the Scarab, and with it hopes to jumpstart her OMAC (One Man Army Corps) series of exosuits. Jenny steals it instead from an unlucky Dr. Sanchez, and when she has to flee the building, she pawns it off on an unsuspecting Jaime. Only for the Scarab to later bond with him, enveloping him in a nanite exosuit and creating a few holes in the roof of his house, not to mention cutting a bus in half while the suit is accommodating itself to the new human host.
I liked how Jaime and his suit’s AI are at odds for the majority of the film. It brings to bear whether massively powerful technology is trustworthy without a human conscience to guide it, and made this comic nerd worry even more about things like ChatGPT and related, foolhardy ventures. Luckily for Jaime, the Scarab’s AI isn’t evil per se, and it learns from Jaime the longer they’re bonded. So much so that by the end of the movie, it’s talking to Jaime in Spanish.
While the alien Scarab is incredibly powerful, the movie does a good job of showing the other version of the titular hero. See, I’m actually not all that familiar with this version of Blue Beetle, and know a lot more about Ted Kord. As they call him in the movie, he’s like Batman with ADHD. Which is both painfully true and also hilarious. Ted Kord is a goofy billionaire that uses his technology to make silly gadgets and fight crime, sometimes with his buddy Booster Gold. In the movie, Jenny shows Jaime and George Lopez’s Uncle Rudy to what I think of as the Beetle Cave, along with all the absurd technology within. Let’s just say it’s used to great effect later in the movie, and I loved how retro it was. Not only does Ted have a Beetlemobile and hardlight gauntlets, but also some pretty impressive chewing gum.
There’s a dramatic death about midway through the movie, and it does a good job of upping the stakes for the final arc. That said, the scene that nearly made me tear up was when we learned about the tragic backstory of the villain, Carapax. He’s the prototype OMAC, and the road to becoming a killing machine was not only tumultuous, but full of buried horrors. He’s the brutal instrument of Victoria, who frankly is the real villain, but he’s the one that serves as Jaime’s real test.
While I appreciated how Carapax was a nuanced and brutal villain, there’s one thing that this old comic nerd was irritated by. OMAC was drawn by the one and only Jack Kirby, and like most Kirby designs, it was a bit silly and over the top, but no less awesome. To put it simply, the OMAC in Blue Beetle looks like some generic anime robot instead. Frankly, it reminded me of the injustice done to the Nova Corps in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. I would have killed for the director justifying a massive OMAC mohawk like in the original comics. Or hell, even the more recent version would have sufficed.
Another thing I appreciated about Blue Beetle, other than the pumping tunes and great humor, was the overall 90s vibe present in the entire movie. It wasn’t trying to be edgy or moody like many DC movies, and instead just was about fun and action. And the occasional romantic moments between Jaime and Jenny. The movie also did a good job of letting each of the Reyes family get some good moments, most especially sister Milagro. She’s by turns cynical, bereft and fierce, and I really appreciated the actress’ range.
Overall, I had a really enjoyable time with Blue Beetle. It’s by no means perfect, but it’s definitely one of the better offerings from DC. While there’s some weak points and one pretty glaring plot hole, I’d recommend it to fans of the comics, or just anybody looking for a last Summer movie hurrah. Here’s hope DC can keep the good times rolling in the inevitable sequel.
As we check in, Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) is still in stasis as half-human, half-vampire. In his pursuit of knowledge, Laszlo (Matt Berry) has decided to combine Guillermo’s DNA with that of various animals. After three days and three nights in sequestration, whoever said progress equaled promise should be fucking drawn and quartered. Guillermo’s gobsmacked. A fauna family that bears his cute countenance is now foisted on him per Laszlo pissing in Mother Nature’s eyes. Whereas some scientists display their failures as reminders, others only see the Delete key. Laszlo wants Gizmo to push the button.
At Richmond Heights Community College in State Island, Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) presides over a classroom full of fellow Antipaxons. She’s been teaching night classes on America, from dialect and the national anthem to her idiosyncratic (vastly superior) version of Thanksgiving. This doesn’t come from an entirely altruistic place. She suspects the flashpoint of her hex is the arson of her school perpetrated by none other than herself. Though nobody perished, the death of education for all was her most egregious transgression.
Night school’s looking a bit more interesting with Nandor (Kayvan Novak) and Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) as participants. At first, a move Nadja introduced to fluff out the class number, both dunces have taken a liking to the gig. Nandor’s waiting for the chapter on pillaging and erstwhile night class auditor Colin attends for the big-Drain potential. No matter, Nadja fears her efforts may be for naught. (Un)fortunately, Helen (Kerri Kenney-Silver), appearing almost Hecate-like by way of the G Train approaches Nadja. Though Laszlo called Guillermo a “lost cause” earlier in the episode, I believe his beloved fits the bill more in this moment of desperation. Helen has grifter written all over her, but Nadja’s got a pen out already jotting down ingredients. The night’s only getting warmed up as the boys go substitute teach and she “Goes Dunkin’.”
Guillermo’s plans for an exterminator are defenestrated when he finds out the science experiments have the ability to talk. Dog Guillermo (Raenna Guitard/ William Calvert) addresses him. With Pig Guillermo (Lizz Porter/ Warren Sroka) After Lamb Guillermo (Korina Rothery/ Bridget Hoffman) calls him daddy, shit’s becoming too real. The only experiment not accounted for is Binky, who lives in the koi pond. Guillermo must act quickly on saving lives under Laszlo’s nose. This is as easily said as it is done, as Mr. Cravensworth’s onanistic appetite precludes him from seeing through Guillermo… or maybe cranking it too much has made him blind to what’s clearly in front of him. Guillermo’s a good egg. Damn, now I want to go on a Dunkin’ run.
While Nandor gets the class started on the history of Al-Qolnidor, Colin extinguishes his fervor with his “cool teacher” exterior. It’s a good energy drain because anybody who tries too hard is fucking exhausting and with class time out in the frigid quad, he’s losing them. Since seizing is in Nandor’s DNA, so he takes the opportunity to get the class to follow him to learn more about history indoors.
We arrive at the Staten Island Heritage Museum, after hypnotizing a security guard, the group gets a history of Staten Island, but most importantly, a history of the teacher himself, Nandor. He sees his Al-Qolindarian and sirens needn’t go off because Nandor’s name is all there in black and white: his personalized skivvies.
Unsatisfied with the donuts from a different Dunkin’ than she specified (each place can taste different). I have to hand it to her, the woman is clever with her very specific desire. At the South and Forest DD, Nadja sees the No Serve Flyer of Helen Johnson, and even when confronted with the evidence, Helen still manages to win Nadja over. Being an outcast is something Nadja’s far too familiar with, so as a true act of charity, she allows Helen Johnson to feel magical for a night at her spot with the cashier feeding her. Even if it doesn’t lift the hex in the long run, Nadja seemed to have genuinely felt good about helping out a fellow nighthawk.
As Colin Robinson reads Nandor’s story from the placard, it’s evident the Relentless has been done dirty. No, not that celebrated as an early progenitor of erotic fiction because the text comes from his diary. Yep. He’s a virgin and now that the class knows, they get a lesson in sexual incompetence — his violent outburst.
Back at the Vampire Residence, Colin Robinson proves he is the coolest teacher by not only stealing Nandor’s amulet his mother gave him but also by “remixing” his story, complete with Dream Team-approved battle armor. Colin most likely knew from his past of embarrassment much like Nadja with her story of being banished from her homeland, history fucking sucks. Just because it blew for you though doesn’t mean you lack the power of making the day (or night) of someone else. Now that’s fucking making history.
Takeaway
The seventh episode of What We Do In The Shadows (FX) titled “Hybrid Creatures” pleasantly surprised me. That is not a slight on the amazing team behind this series. I enjoyed the CGI with Guillermo’s frogs in the last episode, but seeing a preview for further animal testing in this episode made me roll my eyes for the sole fact I thought that much more CGI was going to be deployed. In this day and age of computers doing much of the heavy lifting (like Nadja), the Helens of the world prosper. This is not to be kvetching because what CGI was used was actually done so judiciously throughout the episode with the inclusion of live actors alike. The practical effects are stunning.
The Dr. Moreau trope doesn’t outstay its welcome. I have seen it done before, but it’s played more for the self-acknowledging wink of it all and it made me laugh, so that’s all I need. The stinger of Guillermo keeping Binky is great. Having the creepiest outcome as a pet is a good move as it keeps the audience uncomfortable. This is a comedy, but make no mistake, it loves to set out a reminder that it loves to bathe in the grotesque as well. The casting of Kerri Kenny-Silver (Reno 911!) was a continuation of the brilliance of casting this season. She’s fucking evergreen. Comedic brilliance I’d fallen for from the pilot airing of The State (MTV). Her interplay with Natasia was a thing of beauty and all that talk of fried dough made my stomach growl. What could be cruller? (I’ll go fetch my own rope and horses.)
Colin’s redemption of Nandor was truly one of the most tender moments in the whole fucking series and an elegant reminder that though the series plays in the absurd the way Michaelangelo played in marble, at the (radically beating) heart of it all has always been the theme of very real, true “salt (hissss) of the earth” bonds. The only thing that melted my heart more is what immediately follows as a direct result of Guillermo deceiving Laszlo, dropping his familial folly at their “forever home” aka a retirement home his tia is employed at. You can call ‘em, residents, you can call ‘em “emotional support animals.” Personally, I chose to call them a goddamn home run. Call it mad, but my new prediction is that these hybrid creatures along with everything this season is leading to a possible moment of truth of Guillermo being the bridge in a humans vs. vampires “Final Stand” that Colin was all fucking hard for. Isn’t a first stand a final stand in a situation like this anyway?
Dunkin’ Donuts. A true fucking night staple for us tri-staters. The night culture is something that is in our DNA as much as the caffeine that spawns it. Whether it’s shit coffee and donuts or manna from heaven is beside the damn point. It’s always there for us and this episode made me realize something inherent about every single episode of this series I sometimes take for granted… it’s ethereal nature, being perpetually night. I sometimes get so lost in the spooky, sensuous palette of a Staten Island night, I forget I’m watching something flipped on its axis. Every week, every episode, every escapade is a travel into the exotic, erotic, and absurd. That type of magic is real.
In 1971, Bruce Lee developed a concept for a TV series about a martial artist in the American Old West but had difficulty pitching it. According to his widow, Linda Lee Caldwell, Warner Bros. whitewashed the concept into the David Carradine show Kung Fu (the studio, of course, denies this). More than 40 years later, Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, developed the concept into Warrior and co-produced it with Justin Lin for Cinemax. Its first 10-episode season aired in 2019 with a second season released back in 2020. Chances are, you never heard of it. With so much content out there, I don’t blame you.
Cinemax stopped producing original content, effectively canceling the show. That might have been it for Warrior… another underrated show cut short too soon. But then it started streaming on Max (back when it was HBO Max), and enough fans discovered it that The Powers That Be decided it was worth investing in more. So, three years after its cancelation, a third season aired on the streamer… and given how not resolved a lot of storylines are, it seems they’re hoping for a fourth.
So what is Warrior about?
In short: gang wars. Except in 1880s San Francisco. And the gangs are not only the Chinatown tongs battling over territory and criminal enterprises, but Irish laborers bitter over the Chinese being hired as cheap labor, and a white police force that perfectly illustrates the absurdity of expecting outsiders to maintain order in a community that doesn’t trust them.
Ah Sahm, the Bruce Lee-inspired character, is played by martial arts prodigy Andrew Koji, best known outside of Warrior for his role as Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe movie Snake Eyes (it should be known that Snake Eyes beat Shang-Chi to theaters in 2021 and therefore should be considered the first superhero movie starring Asians… don’t argue with me over whether Snake Eyes should be considered a superhero; he totally is one).
He’s nominally the main character, as he’s the one we follow off a boat from China and into the chaos of San Francisco, where he’s quickly scooped up by the Hop Wei tong after demonstrating his impressive skills. But the show interweaves so many plot lines and characters — the son of the tong’s leader, a rival tong, a tough-as-nails madam, a “neutral” Chinatown businessman, an Irish labor advocate, politicians, cops good and bad — that it’s really an ensemble show.
And it’s completely addictive, full of compelling characters and ruthless plot twists. It’s also ultra-violent pulp fiction, with a lot of these twists setting up impeccably choreographed fight scenes. I gotta say, watching Warrior and Secret Invasion back-to-back made me really appreciate the skill involved in the former… you won’t see any CGI mush here. Each blow has a purpose, and it’s a thrill to watch.
Speaking of purpose — the writers never slack on setting up these battles. It’s never a matter of “oh, thing happen and then fighty fight.” With all the high-tension rivalries set up between half a dozen factions, with each character possessing their own ambitions and reasons for wanting to take down someone else, the fights always feel meaningful, with the plot contingent on their outcomes.
Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the representation yet! How many American historical TV shows can you think of with a majority Asian cast? Where the elegant, powerful style of fighting popularized by Bruce Lee is primarily wielded by characters who share his heritage, rather than co-opted by some white dude? Historical fiction in American TV rarely depicts Asians at all (never mind that Asian Americans have been around for ages… Filipino sailors, called “Manilamen,” settled in the Louisiana bayou as early as 1763). So it’s awesome to finally have a show that centers them.
That said, don’t expect a history lesson from what is — and I cannot emphasize this enough — pulp fiction. Warrior was created to entertain, not explain. Some characters are inspired by historical counterparts, but considerable creative license is taken. The costumes are meant to evoke period clothes while still flattering the improbably attractive cast by contemporary standards (not unlike the costumes on The Tudors, or any number of other “historical” shows about European royals). Characters speak contemporary English, just without telltale modern slang.
Speaking of English, it’s worth mentioning that the show came up with a clever device to address the language barrier between Chinese-speaking characters and English-speaking ones: When the Chinese characters talk to each other, English represents Chinese, so they they speak without accents, and with all the alacrity of a native tongue, indicating that this is how they sound to each other. When they communicate with non-Chinese characters, they do so in accented, sometimes broken English, indicating that this is how they sound when speaking an less familiar second language (or they speak in Chinese with subtitles).
For all three of its seasons, Warrior has remained consistently compelling in both its twisty-turny plot lines, full of ambitious criminals and scheming elites, and its distinctive visual style. Give it a try… you might just like what you see.
All three seasons of ‘Warrior’ are now streaming on Max.
Gen Con 2023 was packed with many notable companies showing off their latest and greatest games in the tabletop and trading card game space.
Justin Gary, Stoneblade Entertainment’s CEO, was kind enough to sit down with Rob Valentin at Gen Con 2023 to discuss Stoneblade Entertainment’s SolForge Fusion, Ascension, and Ascension Tactics.
SolForge Fusion – Stone Blade Entertainment’s ground-breaking new card game – designed by Richard Garfield (Magic the Gathering) and Justin Gary (Ascension Deckbuilding Game) – is a first-of-its-kind hybrid deck-building game for the digital age, where no two SolForge: Fusion decks are the same, thanks to the unique algorithmically generated card printing process. Designed as both a physical game that can be played in person, or a digital game to be played remotely through the digital program Tabletop Simulator and a dedicated digital client released this year.
Ascension Tactics – Ascension Tactics is a revolutionary new game, pioneering a brand-new genre by combining the best of tactical miniatures games with the fast-paced strategy of deck-building games. Ascension Tactics brings the most iconic characters from the award-winning deck-building game to life as highly-detailed paintable 3D miniatures.
For a more in-depth discussion on Gen Con and Stoneblade Entertainment’s games, listen to our Gen Con 2023 podcast below!
It’s finally happening. The wedding between Tony Stark and Emma Frost. Taking place in X-MEN #26 and INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #10, writer Gerry Duggan will deliver this highly-anticipated story alongside X-Men artists Jim Towe and Javier Pina and Invincible Iron Man series artist Juan Frigeri. Completely coinciding with the Fall of X storyline.
“Emma and Tony — I think now people are starting to get a sense of how they work,” Duggan told AiPT Comics in a recent X-Men Monday talk. “I hope you all check it out. They are getting married. I promise no shenanigans. Beyond that, I don’t know what you’re going to get.”
To be fair, I don’t think many believe that the marriage will last all that long. It’s more of a distraction in what’s becoming a darker and much grimmer storyline during the Fall of X era as of late.
Both the proposal and Emma’s even more surprising response happens in X-Men #26. Then it happens, as Mrs. and Mr. Emma Frost happens in INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #10! And yes, things aren’t as they seem. And the entire proposal is littered in hidden meanings and subterfuge. You can pre-order Iron Man #10 right now.
Artist Sean Galloway has presented several variant covers inspired by Saturday Morning Cartoon shows. With a lively flourish and child-like innocence, these covers have proven to be a fun hit with fans. This November will see an adapted cover by Galloway for one of Marvel comics’ biggest storylines in Secret Wars.
Entitled MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS: BATTLEWORLD #1 and #2, these covers honor Mike Zeck’s classic Secret Wars #1 cover. Allegedly about Spider-Man and the Human Torch, the limited series look at The Beyonder’s ulterior motives and will feature hidden secrets and more cameos from your favorite heroes. It is also written by former Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief and the editor of the original Secret Wars, Tom DeFalco, and drawn by acclaimed artist Pat Olliffe.
“Pat Olliffe and I were handed a daunting creative challenge,” DeFalco shared in a press release from Marvel. “We were asked to do a sequel/new tale of a classic Marvel story that first saw print 40 years ago and created ripples that are still felt throughout the universe today. Since we share a kinship with a certain web-swinger (and his family), we were also compelled to do a story that ripped to his core and defined his unique place in the Marvel Universe, while examining the budding relationship with his new black costume. With the aid of editors Mark Basso and Drew Baumgartner, Pat and I constructed a tale that we believe has repercussions for today’s readers and creative ripples that we hope will still be felt 40 years from now.”
The Saturday morning variants are available this November and December.
MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS: BATTLEWORLD #1 (OF 4)
Written by TOM DEFALCO
Art by PAT OLLIFFE
Cover by GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI
Saturday Morning Variant Cover by SEAN GALLOWAY
On Sale 11/22
MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS: BATTLEWORLD #2 (OF 4)
Queen of Swords Volume 1 marks the second comic I’ve reviewed from Vault Comics. I like how pulpy and action-packed their fare tends to be, though I’m starting to notice a pattern. Their comics are much shorter than I would like and tend to end on cliffhangers. This is unfortunate since Queen of Swords Volume 1 ends just as things were starting to get really good.
One thing I didn’t realize about Queen of Swords is that it’s part of the larger Barbaric series, which I haven’t read. So there were definitely times I was a little perplexed by what was happening, such as why Ka the assassin disdains Serra the witch quite so much. Or why it appears that barbarian lass Deadheart isn’t entirely alive anymore. Nor am I entirely sure how or why she grabbed a cranky, talking sword named Ga’Bar, though I’m glad she did. That surly bastard provides a lot of the unexpected humor present in the tale.
It’s clear from the get-go that the group doesn’t really trust each other. Regardless, they’re teaming up to grab a magic-dampening orb to deal with someone named Doxon. Though there is action that moves the main story forward, and some fun battles, the bulk of Queen of Swords is told through flashbacks. And I think it’s fair to say that Serra is the main character, at least in this story arc.
Through some of these flashbacks, we learn not just Serra’s past, but the nature of magic in this world. Most people aren’t born with magic and instead have to access it through dark rituals and dirty deeds (and the occasional demonic orgy). Serra was enjoying her newfound magical might until things got too dark, even for her. So she fled her coven, and along with it, her sister. But unfortunately for Serra, physical distance wasn’t enough to keep her sister out of her thoughts (literally).
In another flashback, we learn that Serra has joined this quest to make amends to someone named Soren. She’s a beautiful, mysterious brunette that appears to have been born with magic. She can see through glamours and annihilate people with a word. The problem is, she’s not in control of this massive power. Worse, it seems apparent that Serra’s sister wants Soren for her own nefarious ends.
There are a couple of great fight scenes in Queen of Swords, one involving some feisty undead pirates and another creature called Xeken. The easiest way to describe them is they look like medieval ancestors to the Xenomorphs of Alien fame. These battles are frenetic and full of good characterization and lots of chopped-off bits and bobs. Deadheart is a force of nature, with her bitchy sword condescending to her the entire time she uses him to rend limbs from her foes. Ka is also dangerous with her smaller blades, but Serra is the surprise and can transform into a dangerous entity when the mood strikes her.
It seems like the quest is going well until Serra realizes the orb they seek is in a glamoured town, and that some orcs have found it before them. Then the not-so-jolly green giants leap into a roving magical dimension called the Pestilent Lands, which Doxon uses to travel great distances with ease. And did I mention Doxon is Serra’s naughty sister?
While I did enjoy my time with Queen of Swords Volume 1, I really lament that things ended so abruptly. I really wanted to see what made the Pestilent Lands so dangerous and get a better grasp of what happened to Soren that Serra feels the need to make amends. Despite all that, it’s a solid fantasy adventure that is sure to appeal to fans of Conan and Dungeons & Dragons.
I’m going to start off by saying I hate Dune, which is what this episode is mostly a parody of, but with that being said I did not hate this episode. “Parasites Regained” is a surprise sequel to an episode entitled “Parasites Lost.” In that adventure, Fry gets worms which make him super-intelligent and basically improve him in every possible way but he chooses stupidity in the end. He ultimately worries that Leela’s affection for him is more about what the worms have made him and not about him. It fits into a theme Futurama has explored before about how intelligence can be a curse whereas mediocrity or even just above average smarts may lead to a happier life.
“Parasites Regained” looks at the flip side of this. Leela’s boyfriend, Fry, is essentially an idiot. When she asks him to see an alien film with her (their version of a foreign film complete with subtitles), he blows her off saying how he doesn’t like to watch a movie that would force him to look up from his phone. While the joke is spot on, I will agree that I’m not a fan of going to the movies to read – it takes me out of the experience. Still, Leela’s offer is picked up by her best friend, Nibbler (Frank Welker who also voices the pygmy hyena moles that show up later). Nibbler – for those new to the show – is a highly intelligent, voracious little creature that poops starship fuel. He can also talk, which Leela keeps forgetting somehow even though he plays games with her regularly, many of which seem to involve actual speech. I guess even the brilliant have their blindsides, right?
After the movie Leela discovers that Nibbler is sick – he has worms and though the vet (voiced by David Herman who also plays The Lord Mayor of Colon among others) gave him medicine the worms have infested his litter-box so every time he uses it, he is re-infected. The worms are causing Nibbler to become gradually stupider until eventually he will be a complete idiot. The sand in the litter box is sacred to Nibbler meaning it can’t just be thrown out, problem solved. Luckily, the Professor is happy to shrink everyone down to a size that will allow them to go into the litter box and fight the worms directly. It’s here that the episode dives into the Dune parody hard. The worms become sandworms, and locals who help out the gang are Dung beetles – sorry, correction: Doon-g beetles (the g is almost silent), there’s even Spice in the form of Glitter, complete with hallucinogenic properties. And of course, spitting. Because, you know the whole moisture thing (it’s a dessert world where water is precious to the point that spilling it as a “greeting” is a sign of respect). I do want to acknowledge some fun facts here: Kyle MacLachlan and Ego Nwodim voice two of the main beetles, and for you Dune/David Lynch fans – MacLachlan played Paul Atreides in the original Dune, nice get, eh?
Ultimately, we learn that the sandworms, which had for most of the episode appeared to be huge creatures with giant mouths, are in fact the worms who had invaded Fry’s body! They form into the giant worm for…reasons? Interesting note: once this reveal is made, they never make the giant worms again for the rest of the episode, but that’s fine, there’s enough Dune parody here to survive the loss of sandworms. And, while the gang recognizes the worms, the worms don’t share the same reaction. Instead, we get a good old-fashioned battle – probably my favorite part of this episode as it showcases a lot of fun kill shots proving that war-prowess is its own kind of intelligence.
In the scuffle a huge cloud of Glitter finds its way to Nibbler who then shrinks himself down to stop the fighting. He’s had a vision – everything is interconnected in the great web of life and he is happy to sacrifice his intelligence in service to it. And, though Leela and the gang initially respect his wishes, Leela can’t stop wondering what he could have seen to make him lose himself. She returns to the Doon-g land in hopes of finding answers in the Glitter and kind of gets them. See, Nibbler was right that everything is interconnected, but he missed a key detail: the worms are infested with mites who are weakening them. Fry makes the semi-cogent argument that isn’t that part of the whole web of blah, blah, blah? But, Leela counters with an equally astute observation, there has to be a limit. If there are layers upon layers upon layers it’s too many layers! The mites have got to go!
Cue a gleeful sequence where everyone is stamping out the mites (a hilariously simple solution to a realistically microscopic problem), thus allowing the worms to improve Nibbler’s mind instead of destroying it. All’s well that ends well as Nibbler curls up in Leela’s arms for the conclusion of this adventure.
As a sequel to one of the more beloved Futurama episodes, “Parasites Regained” has a lot to live up to, but I like that the show isn’t bogged down by this. Instead, it treats the reappearance of the worms as almost a throw away, until later when Leela wonders why the worms aren’t making Nibbler smarter. And, though it appears that Nibbler chooses a different path from Fry ultimately, his intelligence is restored.
For me, this episode was really fun. It took great shots at the idea of “signs of intelligence” like, enjoying foreign films, various kinds of cheese, and…uh…not being from Boston. Along with “signs of stupidity” such as liking American cheese, not being able to predict the end of an M. Night Shyamalan movie, and of course…preferring Tic-Tac-Toe to 3-D Wordle. And it provided some solid Dune parody – which is saying something for someone who could care less about Dune. But my favorite thing was probably how many hilarious throw-away jokes they got in. The Professor coming in to say “Sad news!” only to be pleased to see everyone is already crying, the desert directions were fantastic, and the two times Bender busted out the ole’ soft-shoe were highly enjoyable. Not to mention the sly dig at organized religion and straight-white-males being messiahs.
Overall, I liked this episode. Did it touch my heart as much as “Parasites Lost”? No, but again, those are some big shoes to fill. To me it stayed true to the original message of that episode, which is don’t be someone you’re not just to please someone else (in Fry’s case it was hyper-intelligent to win Leela’s heart, for Nibbler it was becoming brainless to keep “balance” in the universe). I think it’ll hold up well in time.
Marvel has just revealed their end-of-year story arcs for Avengers #7 and #8. Debuting in November and December respectively, the storyline will see the Avengers gain a new base of operations to help with the great challenges to come, as Vision and The Avengers soon realize something drastic has changed in this world, let alone, with Vision. Atop of this, the Twilight Court, previously featured in Timeless #1, makes a mysterious return in issue #8.
“It’s less about ‘stretching themselves too thin’ than it is about showing that the Avengers are the ones who have to step up when something like the Ashen Combine hits the world, even when it’s on disadvantageous footing,” MacKay said in an interview with CBR. “The Avengers don’t always have the luxury of assembling, and when you protect the entire planet, you’re going to have to make tactical decisions as to how to apply your strength. Because the Avengers’ strength isn’t solely limited to them standing together. The other side of the coin is that they’re a collection of powerful, experienced heroes whose reach is planetary and can deploy simultaneously against concurrent threats. Is it a challenge? Of course, it is. But the Avengers exist to be challenged and to triumph over those challenges.”
The Tribulation of Events has been the series-length arc for this current run on The Avengers, where a bunch of universe-breaking trials Earth’s mightiest must resolve before Kang the Conqueror’s quest finishes for his elusive “Missing Moment.” At the current moment in the comic run, The Avengers find themselves entwined in the first of The Tribulation Events, battling the nefarious Ashen Combine whose God-like abilities are proving difficult to handle. Which are listed below.
LORD ENNUI, an embodiment of atrophy who drains a city’s life and spirit.
IDOL ALABASTER, a living godhead that you’ll worship whether you like it or not.
CITYSMITH, an insane artist that twists cities like clay.
THE DEAD, a mysterious commander of ghosts.
MERIDIAN DIADEM, an endless dungeon that consumes, converts and spits out prisoner after prisoner.
What happens to The Avengers as they try and escape this world, while Myrddin and the Twilight court stir hell for one of The Avengers makes for a compelling end-of-year storyline.
Check out the stunning cover art by Stuart Immonen for issues #7 and #8 below.
The third episode of Hulu’s revival of Futurama is entitled “How the West was 1010001” (that’s the number 81 in binary), and it’s an OK episode overall. There are some really good jokes, some solid throwaway gags, and a plot that manages to feel vaguely important.
We find out that Prof. Farnsworth (Billy West covering the Thallium buyer, Doc Fiesta, the Road Runner, and Zoidberg among others) has invested money into Bitcoin. Because it is bitcoin he’s naturally lost all of it leading to the terrible news that Planet Express is broke! Also, he’s borrowed money from the Robot Mafia (Maurice LaMarche takes care of the Don Bot and Clamps, while John DiMaggio covers Joey Mousepad), however, the news provides him with an idea. Turns out bitcoin is back up! So the gang heads out West to make their fortunes off the backs of idiots willing to fall for the pyramid scheme that is botcoin (Leela’s words, not mine, though very accurate).
There’s an Oregon Trail allusion as the ship winds up with a bonnet and is pulled by oxen toward the town. Here we get some set up for the main beats of our adventure: Fry is into a series of books featuring The Borax Kid (LaMarche voices him too as well as Morbo, the Auctioneer, and Bidder #1) and his sidekick Mumbos (David Herman, giving voice to Maxwell’s Demon, Prospector, Bidder #2, the Pianist, and Roberto!), the Professor is on the hunt for Thallium which is used in the production of microchips which are then used in servers to mine for bitcoin, and Hermes (Phil LaMarr – pulling double duty as both father and son) thinks the trip will be a good chance to bond with his son Dwight. There’s also a mention of the fact that everything looks old-timey Wild West because all of the town’s electrical resources go into mining bitcoin, and the last tidbit we’re told is because the gang is broke they’ll all have to get jobs in town.
The job acquisition turns into a lovely running gag that largely involves a fan favorite: Roberto! You may recall Roberto as the psycho-stab-happy robot from the series’s original run (though I believe he’s always managed a spot in revivals before so this isn’t a surprise). See, Roberto perfectly embodies the danger of the Wild Wild West – anything could happen, it’s lawless! Though, he does prefer knives to guns leading to a great joke about gun violence in the episode’s shoot-out finale. We’ll get there, but first: Roberto goes around stabbing a lot of people which gives at least three of our plucky Westerners jobs – Fry becomes the new sidekick to the Borax Kid, Leela becomes a barmaid, and Zoidberg becomes…well, a doctor. Everyone else helps the Professor hunt for Thallium.
Fry’s stint as the new sidekick to the Borax Kid goes swimmingly (heavy on the sarcasm here) until he discovers his hero just passes off the stories of another Wild West icon as his own. Zoidberg feels underutilized in his new position until Bender needs help saving his ass (an actual donkey he purchased named Rusty – thanks Dee Bradley Baker!). And Hermes’ efforts to bond with his son are undermined by Dwight’s infatuation with the town villain: Roberto! Meanwhile the Professor, Amy, and to an extent Bender, are doing their damnest to get some much-needed Thallium. All these plots eventually culminate in a three-way shootout between Bender and the mercurial saloon lady (Tress MacNeille, who also voices Linda) – she’s been using robot heads to mine for Bitcoin. Still, she does donate the money to orphans, the Player Pianist and the Cackling Man (aka the Thallium buyer who converts the raw ore into microchips for Bitcoin mining servers), and the Borax Kid and Fry (Fry is not a fan of the Borax Kid’s semi-legal plagiarism). The gunfight – which provides a nifty 3-D scene – also provides Hermes with that bonding chance as Dwight limbos to reach his dad and then leads him out of harm’s way – Dwight’s love for Roberto runs out when the psycho robot gets him run over by a wagon. However, it does flex that spine perfectly for limboing! It is funny to note how many of Hermes’ plotlines either end with or revolve in some way around limbo.
It’s a very weird episode that seems to quickly drop the “bitcoin = bad” premise in favor of a Wild West adventure (ok, so it doesn’t entirely drop the premise but it doesn’t beat you in the head with it either which is nice). In fairness, the original run only had one Wild West episode and that took place on Mars, this would be more Wild West proper. Still, there are some great jokes here. One of my favorites is an old man who counts the number of people coming into town in order to keep an accurate population tally – so dedicated is he to this task that even as he is dying of a heart attack he manages to lower the number by one! Another great throwaway joke involves Fry’s cluelessness when it comes to, well, a lot. He is oblivious to the Borax Kid’s advances on Leela, oblivious to the euphemisms surrounding a whorehouse, yet weirdly happy to be called a “galoot” instead of an idiot. I will say I was less into the “ass-play” for lack of a better phrase, the side plot dedicated to Bender’s ass both figuratively (the donkey) and literally (it makes for a fine panning pan) even comes with a pointless song for those who worry our series might be too “highbrow”. No worries folks, they’ve got their crude humor down too. It reminded me of the pilot’s obsession with resurrected shows. We get it, ass has two meanings. The burrowing burrow on the other hand was a solid sight gag. And then there’s the shoehorning of the Robot Mafia. Like, I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely sure why they are included other than as fan service. Ah well, I’m also not gonna say it wasn’t nice to see them and wonder if they’ll be back…
In general, it’s not a terrible episode, but I wouldn’t say it’s great either. Middle of the road seems a decent rank. We do get a lot more of the gang here; everyone gets a good chunk of screen time as opposed to the first two episodes which chose to be more myopic. I do love a futuristic world not relying on the old post-apocalypse as reasoning for why the Wild West is still so stuck in the past. They could have even gone the West World route, but instead, they chose a more believable avenue – money talks and everything that doesn’t feed into that greed can rot. It is a bit of the old show brought into the new since Futurama was always aware of how ambivalence, greed, and other social ills could do the world a lot of harm. There’s even the repeated lesson of not everything that glitters is gold – take Fry and Dwight’s idolization and how it blinds them to the reality of their heroes. On the other hand, maybe I’m ass-panning a little too deeply into what is a fairly routine sci-fi-Western episode.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter makes an atmospheric meal out of a few pages of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and while critics may have found the film lacking, I found that it gave me pretty much exactly what I wanted from this movie. Those few pages comprise the “Captain’s Log” describing the harrowing events that befall the crew of the Demeter as they unwittingly transport Dracula from Transylvania to London. The ship arrives with not a living soul onboard, and all we can glean from the log is that Dracula must have picked them off one by one.
There’s a lesser version of this film that simply takes this premise and goes for the cheap thrills of a Blumhouse-style supernatural slasher. But director André Øvredal, who’s displayed a knack for delivering eerie and unnerving tension surrounding supernatural creatures in films such as Trollhunter, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, crafts a compelling period piece about hapless sailors encountering the existence of evil for the first time. Escape Room screenwriter Bragi Schut Jr. originally wrote the film as “Alien on a boat” over twenty years ago, and it passed through many hands before the final draft by Bullet Train screenwriter Zak Olkewicz, but it still maintains that “Alien on a boat” vibe, down to the fact that the crew is motivated by money to continue to their destination without delay in order to receive their sizable bonuses.
It’s a small crew, and the minor crew members don’t make a huge impression, but the main cast certainly do. Captain Elliot (Liam Cunningham essentially playing an AU Davos Seaworth) has declared this to be his final voyage before retirement, and he tells his first mate, Wojcheck (David Dastmalchian, the closest thing the film has to a slimy human antagonist), that the ship will be his afterward, not knowing the title of the movie.
But even though the film is based on the Captain’s Log, which we do hear bits of throughout the film to chart our progress, the Captain is not our protagonist. That would be Clemens, a Black doctor in 1897 with something to prove, and Corey Hawkins makes for a very likable hero thanks to the intelligence and compassion he exudes that set him apart from the rest of the crew. And surprise guest Anna, played by The Nightingale‘s Aisling Franciosi, provides the necessary spooky background on Dracula while also being a sympathetic character in her own right.
But you know what this movie needs? A cute kid, you need a cute kid to be the heart of the film, right. So here’s Toby, played by C’mon, C’mon‘s Woody Norman, and Toby’s an adorable little moppet who cheerfully declares that he’s seen a dead person before, unaware of how many more dead people he’s gonna see on this journey.
I love seeing familiar stories from different perspectives, so I appreciated how much this film puts us in the shoes of this crew who has no idea they are a tiny piece of one of the most iconic horror stories of all time and resists the urge to winky-wink at the audience the whole time. Instead, it treats the story with utter seriousness—some might say humorlessness, though there are occasional flashes of light—and plunges us into this horrifying situation. While I wasn’t a fan of cinematographer Tom Stern’s obsession with close-ups on actors’ faces for what seemed like ninety percent of scenes—presumably to induce a sense of claustrophobia on this ship—I admired his ability to shoot an extremely gray movie with many night scenes, rain scenes, and rainy night scenes in which a gray monster attacks with visual clarity.
Øvredal follows the monster movie playbook of showing the monster as little as possible, which makes the few times we see Dracula in all his Nosferatu glory have that much more impact. Javier Botet continues to thrive in these roles, and he gives the creature a bit of majesty but more of a vicious bestiality as a being consumed by hunger. I would have preferred that he never speak at all, but at least when he does, it’s almost unintelligible, the hissing of a creature imitating human speech. I love this portrayal of Dracula as an unknowable monster, and I love the humans’ slow but sure realization that they are dealing with something beyond their understanding. It’s all very classic stuff, and I get why some people may feel like it doesn’t have a lot to offer, but honestly I found it such a refreshing throwback.
And Øvredal keys in on the emotions of the character relationships to make the deaths hurt more, especially ones where crew members are turned. (It was impossible for me not to watch this as an adaptation of Return of the Obra Dinn where every cause of death was “BITTEN by DRACULA.”)
As the film approaches the climax, the stakes, so to speak, may seem manufactured given that this is not Once Upon a Time…in Transylvania so Dracula has to survive to be in the rest of the book. But even if we know everyone’s going to die, there’s a satisfaction in knowing they’re going to go out fighting, and the film affords them all their Moments. In the grand scheme of this story, they are indeed inconsequential, and that is tragic, but that’s how it goes.
I’m not entirely sure what other people were hoping this movie would be, but I liked that it largely stuck to its guns and didn’t try to twist and subvert everything we thought we knew about Dracula and the events aboard the Demeter. It faithfully recreated the feeling that Stoker evokes in the text of men mysteriously dying and then discovering that there’s something abominable on the boat that you have no idea how to fight, and you’re just fucked. To me, that’s a solid horror movie!
Let me begin by saying that this season of Strange New Worlds has boasted some of the strongest Star Trek episodes ever, across all the series from the original to the New Treks. We’ve had high-octane action, deliberative contemplation, heart-breaking tragedy, absolute hilarity, and heart-warming character moments. Overall, Season 2 has been consistently strong whether it’s delivering think-y sci-fi or just having fun with the crew, and is, in my opinion, even better than the already pretty-dang-good Season 1.
Which is why it’s a real bummer that it ended on a weak note.
The very first episode of this season teased a Gorn incursion, and I was worried for a sec that they’d make a conflict with the Alien rip-offs the central story arc of the season. Thank goodness they did not, because, as depicted in Strange New Worlds, the Gorn are the least interesting villains of all time. Scary monster-y aliens that are basically mindless killing machines? Been there, done that, don’t even find it scary anymore, especially on a TV show where you know the leads are armed with impenetrable Plot Armor.
But the Gorn are back to close out the season. The episode opens just outside Federation space, in an idyllic 21st-century-looking midwestern town with shots so generic, I literally thought they were stock footage until the costumed crew of the Cayuga showed up. What a nice little town… a shame if some aliens ruined it…
Captain Batel is leading a mission to help the colonists with, like, vaccines and things. And Nurse Chapel is hitching a ride to her fellowship and lending a hand in the meanwhile. Oh, look, our two main male leads’ girlfriends are both on a mission to a pretty, vulnerable little planet that’s not actually part of the Federation! What could possibly go wrong —
Cue the Gorn, arriving on an ominous black cloud moments after Chapel beams back on board the Cayuga. Shocked faces and alarms abound [Fun fact: my building’s actual alarm went off right as I was watching this scene, and I didn’t realize it was a real-world fire alarm at first because I thought it was part of the show…].
Now, who else would respond but the ship with Batel and Chapel’s respective boyfriends on board? The Enterprise arrives to a devastating scene: the Cayuga has been shattered into a gazillion broken yet recognizable pieces (including, notably, half the saucer section), and the Gorn have invaded the planet. Communications, transporters, scanners, and more are down thanks to a Gorn interference field, which means the crew can’t scan for survivors or beam out in search of them. The Gorn have also sent the Federation a demarcation line: Stay on your side, and we’ll stay on ours. Cross it, and there will be war. Naturally, Pike and the Enterprise are ordered to stay on their side of the line. Naturally, they plan to ignore that to save their people (but they have to pretend to obey at least).
Pike leads an away team to the surface to search for survivors. And yay, Ortegas finally gets to go! Seeing her face light up and watching her delight while piloting the shuttle was one of the highlights of the whole episode. To avoid starting a war, Ortegas must disguise the shuttle as a piece of space junk from the destroyed Cayuga, then have it appear to just fall into the atmosphere… pulling up at the very last second. She has a blast. Pike… not so much. Probably the best moment of the whole episode.
Spock remains on board, desperately searching for a way to scan the remains of the Cayuga for Chapel. Not survivors. Just Chapel. I gotta say, despite some excellent chemistry between Ethan Peck and Jess Bush, I just can’t bring myself to care about Spock and Chapel as a romantic pairing. This is the problem with prequels: You know how things will end. Spock will marry T’Pring, and Chapel will become engaged to Dr. Korby, and the two will have some awkward romantic-y interactions due to alien substances. So there isn’t much tension in a will-they won’t-they… they won’t.
Anyway, Pike and company make it to the shattered remains of the town. They trace what appear to be human signs to a building, only to discover they were being emitted by a device, and then get trapped in a force field. Turns out, someone had set a trap for the Gorn, and that someone was… drumroll please… SCOTTY!!! In another highlight of the episode, we’re introduced to a young Montgomery Scott, delightfully played by Martin Quinn (an actual Scot!).
Batel is leading a small group of survivors. There are too many to fit onto the shuttle, though, and again, the transporters aren’t working. Scotty, meanwhile, arrived in a shuttle himself after the research vessel he was working on was attacked, and he had a device to disguise it as a Gorn ship. So of course, Pike, Batel, and Scotty must sneak through the Gorn-infested to reach Scotty’s downed shuttle and retrieve said device.
Back on the Enterprise, Uhura and Pelia come up with a plan to knock out the signal disruptor that the Gorn planted on the planet’s surface. Since they can’t shoot it without crossing the line and starting a war, they’ll nudge the biggest piece of Cayuga debris, the saucer section, in such a way that it will look like it’s just a piece of junk in a decaying orbit, that will conveniently crash right into that pesky disruptor. To do so, they need someone to go outside in a space suit and plant a rocket. Spock insists that his superior Vulcan abilities make him the only man for the job (this has nothing to do with the fact that the Cayuga‘s sick bay was completely blasted away and he totally thinks Chapel is dead and is being illogically self-destructive…).
Meanwhile, it turns out Chapel did somehow survive the Cayuga getting ripped to shreds… that somehow the piece of saucer she was in still has life support and gravity. Okay, fine. After recovering from getting knocked out, she stumbles about until she reaches a window that just happens to be facing the Enterprise. Pretty coincidental, but FINE. She tries to use her flashlight to emit a light signal but it goes bust. Then who should happen to come floating by, but Spock in a space suit, completely oblivious to her banging on the window even though he passes right in front of the one tiny window she happens to be behind. Uh, huh. Sure, writers, sure.
So she grabs a space suit herself and starts… going somewhere. I don’t know. Somehow, she ends up in the exact same spot as Spock, just as a random Gorn in a space suit is starting some trouble. Why was that Gorn there? What was it trying to do? How, in this giant saucer section, did two tiny little humans end up in the same place without communicating? Who cares, the writers just wanted a Spock-Chapel action scene. Spock plants his device, the saucer heads for the planet, and we get a lovey-dovey shot of the two reunited and floating in space.
Oh, and screw anyone else who might have survived but been knocked out. Chapel didn’t even bother checking any of the fallen crew for life signs, and Spock didn’t bother asking “Anyone else alive?” before sending the whole saucer crashing to the surface. So if anyone else was alive but unconscious, or even conscious but unseen, Spock just sent them to their fiery dooms while Chapel was too heart-eyed to care. Great job, writers. You could’ve fixed that with one line of dialogue from the computer saying that there were no other life signs on board. Though the idea that Chapel was the ONLY survivor, by complete coincidence, is rather hard to accept. See what I mean about Plot Armor?
Pike, Scotty, and Batel make it to the shuttle and get Scotty’s jury-rigged device. A Gorn starts to attack… then backs off after getting up close and personal with Batel. Why? Because Batel has been implanted with Gorn eggs. She’s accepted her fate, but Pike, of course, hasn’t.
After the saucer crashes into the Gorn device, communications and transporters are back. Beam me up, Scotty. Or rather, Scotty gets beamed up, along with Pike and Batel, and Spock and Chapel after their Plot-Armor-fueled possibly-murder-by-negligence-filled space date. Chapel rushes to put Batel into stasis, freezing her to buy them time to find a way to save her from becoming a Gorn incubator. We get another delightful moment as Pelia sees Scotty and says she was his best student… and got the worst grades. Yup, sounds like Scotty.
The other survivors on the planet are beamed up… by the Gorn, which means M’Benga, La’an, Ortegas, and Sam Kirk are now lizard lunch (and the civilians, but who cares about them… clearly the writers don’t think any character that isn’t part of the main cast doesn’t count. I salute you, other crew members of the Cayuga!)
Starfleet orders Pike to leave the area. Things are looking really bad. Pike seems caught in a moment of indecision. Una asks for Pike’s orders. The music gets dramatic, and Pike’s expression gets even more dramatic… you know what’s coming…
Just kidding, we didn’t get that part. But we did get the “To Be Continued.” I doubt Strange New Worlds is meant to echo the fictional final Galaxy Quest cliffhanger, but it’s all I could think about…
I gotta say, that cliffhanger left me cold. The episode as a whole wasn’t particularly compelling, the villains were downright boring, and the stakes somehow felt low even though lives are at stake. I guess it’s because of that Plot Armor that all but guarantees that all our regulars will be back. And the way the Gorn are depicted doesn’t set them up to be an interesting adversary in any way (we get a slight hint that maybe they’re a little bit cooperative, which you’d assume would have to be true for them to develop interstellar travel but is treated as a shocker…).
All in all, a disappointing way to end an otherwise strong season. Beam me back to Episode 1, Scotty.
2.5/5 stars… I was gonna give it just 2 but gave it an extra half-star for Ortegas, Scotty, and Pelia.
I hate the health care system with the same healthy amount as anybody in this fine country. From long waits to questions asked, it’s even worse when you’re a Vampire’s Familiar and you’re short on time. In the sixth episode of What We Do In The Shadows (FX) titled “Urgent Care”, we’ll see that in some clinics, the Rainbow Bridge is the only option.
Recap
Hark! Laszlo (Matt Berry) has made a discovery. Along with the improving telekinesis of Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), frogs injected with his blood have gained the ability to fly. When forced to leap off a balcony, however, Gizmo’s only able to suspend himself in the air for but a few moments before crashing, mangling his angle.
Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) is only as concerned as Nandor (Kayvan Novak) until Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) comes in with a shiner. It turns out that a mark of inflicted violence makes him instantly more interesting. This spells bad news for his health, as he’s unable to feed. Sadly, Colin’s actual life has been really interesting. From Colin discovering a blown-up farmer and his ox to the way he got his black eye, never has The World’s Most Interesting Man In The World had his spot more contested.
Nandor and Colin abscond with Laszlo to his lab for an immediate energy transfer. Nandor quickly backs out of the deal, forcing Colin to feed the traditional way. Laszlo is not happy, but it’s a simpler idea. While sauntering out on Forest Avenue, Nandor tries to get Colin to feed but ultimately gets Colin’s foot ran over, making him a TikTok moment. The cameras are once again out, making both Nandor and Colin internet famous for just existing as their bumbling selves.
Much as they want the attention shifted away from them, John Slattery himself backs up to apologize, only making the night grander for the duo. He offers to drive them to the hospital and though Colin rejects, Nandor accepts, as the private ride is prime for an energy drain. On the road, Colin attempts to drain John at Nandor’s behest, but John’s straight besotted by Colin’s accent. All he wants to do is talk to ‘interesting’ Colin about accents, causing both vampires to abandon ship. At least he didn’t give ’em the hard sell on Sterling’s Gold.
At the Urgent Care for Familiars under the aegis of a 24-Hour Veterinary, Nadja goes all Platform 9 ¾ with Guillermo, as we enter one of the rarified areas open specifically to familiars. None of it looks above board, so John Wick would feel at home. Before Guillermo can bolt, two of the head-caged staff put him under. After some time, Nadja is called up. Guillermo’s healing abnormally nicely, so the veterinarian (Wayne Federman) wants Nadja’s consent for him to be put down. Though she’d rather take him home, his bloodwork, however, shows a bit of an aberration, and for that, he’ll be kept for further examination. If you know, you know. Thankfully, they don’t know about the Van Helsing coursing through Gizmo, and Nadja wants to keep it that way.
From Johnny S. to johnny gown, Nadja finds Guillermo in a drugged-up haze. She tries to hightail it out with him but is intercepted by the vet, informing her of Guillermo’s transgression. As she’s trying to make sense of it, he’s once again drugged and hauled off to be put down. Nadja flexes the powerful pipes, heading deeper into the lair before stumbling upon The Guide (Kristen Schaal), who works as a volunteer. Sadly, I don’t think it’s a choice for the Guide, as servitude is the poor Maiden of the Night’s lot in perpetuity.
Nandor takes the waning and worse-for-wear Colin into a convenience store to drain, stumbling upon a robbery in progress. The perp recognizes Colin from TikTok, affording the cashier enough time to take out the criminal with a bat giving Colin just enough time to unceremoniously (and hilariously) pass out mid-hug, inquiring about the bathroom cleanliness.
Nadja isn’t having any easier a night, knocking back the staff in order to get retrieve Guillermo, who reveals all. The Doc comes in, insistent on putting Guillermo down. According to Nadja, that’s Nandor’s privilege, so she squares off with the Doc as Guillermo helps through telekinesis and super strength in the 11th hour, giving Elizabethan vibes. To be fair, if there was an epoch of a Great Vampire War on the horizon, my guy would easily be the go-to utility player on this battlefield. Are we prepping for something?
At the Vampire Residence, Laszlo’s needed. Colin’s down for the count and time’s wasting, so it’s now or never for the siphoning. While Laszlo informs Colin of what the machine was originally intended for (alcoholic impotence), he neglects Nandor, now zapped to hell. Colin knows if he can drain energy, he can sure as hell give it and proceeds to regale Nandor with some of his more interesting tales from his real name to a famous ex-boyfriend. “Shine on, you crazy diamond.”
Nadja’s reading her beloved the riot act, but it’s too late. She steps up and lies for the treacherous Guillermo. She says everything’s status quo. Laszlo lies. All the conspiratorial two can do now is fly under the radar with someone that can easily make the Residence an honest blip in the Vampire community. (As if they’ve not worked hard enough at making spectacles of themselves all around town.)
Lucky for them, Nandor’s big-dick myopia allows him to buy her bullshit wholesale, even with the evidence literally flying in the face of revelation. Colin has an iota of an idea about it all but his signature abstention wins out in the end. These vampires were held up to scrutiny before the presence of the Vampiric Council in the past… will the next to find out be The Guide? Given her track record for meaning well yet scuttling so much, I foresee a shift in momentum in the next episode, ramping up the stakes (hissss) even more. I’m even more curious to see what the cameras will catch.
A case is being built. Who knows to what extent and how it will land? Hopefully, not like Guillermo.
Takeaway
It’s becoming apparent to me that this entire season has two main characters: Guillermo and Staten Island. You read me right. Staten Island. From its Mall to now its underground urgent care, Staten Island is being fine-tooth combed in a very fresh and exciting way. It’s using smaller, simpler settings not in the house to make the little Isle of Staten way bigger than it is. The whole season thus far has a transient feel to it, leaving nary a dull moment. Speaking of exploring environs, Urgent Care reminded me of the first season episode of Manhattan Night Club, with the Familiar holding area, and just as dingy. Well, excuse my dust. Much like Guillermo’s injury in that episode, things are only going to get worse before they get better.
The casting of comedy dynamo Wayne Federman (Curb Your Enthusiasm) as the good Doc was a brilliant move. The show knows and respects its comedic roots and we all know John Slattery is always down to clown. Any addition of the Wilhelm Scream will easily win my approval and the stinger of the amphibian croaking Guillermo’s name drops more questions than answers in our laps. I’m likin’ it. The Guide’s BDSM-inspired nurse collar and accouterment is a front-runner look of the season. Happy Mondays taking us out was a clever, syrupy audio intravenous that will take us into our next journey.
This episode seemed more on the passive side with the juggling of only A and B plots, and I’m not mad at it. The last episode was fucking bonkers, so a little pump on the brakes keeps the momentum of the season in check. We’re getting intimations of Guillermo’s powers festering, and the way it’s been handled thus far keeps us as in wonderment as those around him. Would have I liked to have seen more experiments with feeding on other vampires? Yes. Is that too ghoulish? Perhaps. May that idea have gotten too chaotic for the writer’s room or the budget? Perhaps. We’re still learning about Guillermo in dribs and drabs, like a blood transfusion. We’re continually surprised in each episode with every discovery as Guillermo flies in the face of Nandor finding out, and that gives me life.
The law of entropy basically states that without outside intervention, the disorder will either increase or stay the same. Murphy’s Law states “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.” The fifth episode of What We Do In the Shadows (FX) titled “Local News” will seek to answer the question “Do two great tastes always taste great together?” In this case, that’s an emphatic “Yes!”
Recap
It’s the Channel 8 News Live at 7 with Lisa Lipton (Danielle Nottingham) and Ted Spinelli (Logan Crawford). There’s a water main break on the block of the Vampire Residence and Joanna Roscoe (Jamie Linn Waston) is on the scene.
Nandor ‘deLaurentis’ (Kayvan Novak) is more than ready and willing to regale Joanna and the hundreds of thousands watching with the spirited recounting of his first water main break. He does reference the flood of 1892 and course-corrects by a century, but Nandor was fucked the moment he saw lights and cameras. To be fair, we’ll soon learn that no vampire in the house is impervious to the draw of those sweet, savory, bloody fifteen minutes of fame. What did Nicole Kidman say in that one movie? “You’re nobody unless you’re on tv.”
At the house, he implores Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) to turn on the news and confesses that he’s told the reporter that they’ve lived there for centuries. Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) is horrified. Laszlo (Matt Berry) wants to kill Joanna. Colin is livid and awaits a last stand. Was there ever a first?
Regardless, The Guide (Kristen Schaal) is on whosever side she’s literally nearest to. Speaking of lasts, the only true voice of sanity, Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) has ironically flown the coop to visit his mother Silvia (Myrna Cabello). He desires a final meal before his reveal. Cousin Miguel (Frankie Quinones) bags on him as usual, but is still shocked to find Cous’ is giftless at hisownmother’sbirthday. Fucking really Guillermo? I love you, and I’m sure this must be difficult, but the only thing that could trump a reveal this poorly timed would be your whole crew doing basically anything. And right on cue…
Aghast, Guillermo can only watch in abject horror as his Master stares into the abyss of the camera lens, a feed pumping to tri-state area tv sets, but his attempted hypnotism is cut short by an oncoming storm. It’s foreshadowing in its most alluring nude. Tia Valeria is hounding Guillermo to join the rest at the dinner table as the reporters throw to Heather Dupont for the weather.
Guillermo calls the house but they’re too busy prepping. Colin does his best Kevin McCallister by way of John Kramer. Nadja and her Doll prefer blonde. Laszlo is the Sweeney Todd of kidnapping, and The Guide is just along for the ride. Nadja’s prepared emergency kits for such an occasion while Laszlo’s still whacking away at his multi-part plan, never getting any further than the kidnapping part. I mean, a satchel of homeland soil, slightly curdled blood, and an alias with bonus backstory seem to me like the clear winner… but look at who we’re dealing with. Her hubby truly believes in his multi-tiered plan and won’t relent, unlike Nandor who arrives, tail under Tuchus. Speaking of the impending storm…
Guillermo’s eyes are pinioned to the television set. He’s called out by Miguel for his lack of spine concerning his ‘promotion’ or rather lack thereof until “Memo” reveals that he’s taken a stand and quit to grab the golden ring of ‘promotion’. The only problem is that he’s not yet arrived at his destination. None of that matters though, as he now catches The Guide now on the screen, proposing a truce to the people of Staten Island before blood could be shed. Guillermo rings up a displeased Sean (Anthony Atamanuik) to get the group to stay in the house until he arrives. No dice and just like in The Vampire Residence, The Guide is ostensibly glossed over when Lisa transitions to a puff piece. Ouch. Having failed, she opts to flee with Nadja, and with the villagers stampeding towards the most dangerous night shift this side of the Hudson, beggars can’t be choosers.
Guillermo must depart, but not before having that talk with Mama. He’s gotten hold of Laszlo, so this conversation must be tabled yet again. He just wants the crew to stay put until he’s there. He overhears Laszlo’s plan but Colin’s cutting the phone cord… it’s all on the line. Though the desire to tell his mother the naked truth permeates, Guillermo only disguises it in an opaque farewell. The only thing more naked than his state of emotion is himself on his born day.
He isn’t wearing a crucifix, so she outfits him with his grandmother’s. It’s killing him, but as we know from Viago with his silver locket, love can hurt. On the bright side, we do see in the mirror that Mr. de la Cruz can literally turn opaque. Upon his exit, we learn that it’s his tertiary attempt to have the heart-to-heart. Heartbroken, in the elevator, we also learn (along with him) that he has superhuman strength.
Nandor delivers a rousing pre-battle speech before Guillermo arrives. The house isn’t happy with him. He was in absentia in their time of need. Nandor seems to think the house cracked on just fine without him, delivered in no uncertain terms. Guillermo digs in his heels and has his Tiananmen Square moment, letting the bats fly… without their already far too stretched-out safety net of Guillermo. He’s grown a spine, which is now his most formidable asset to date. He retreats to the living room and turns on the tube, watching in real-time as the entertainment unfolds. Attempted kidnapping on the street and arson on Seanie’s lawn? Fuck yeah, bring it on. Even with the feed cut due to some of Colin’s fiery shenanigans on Seanie’s lawn, flight this time was the thing that ironically didn’t save them. The camera can crack on as well, guys.
After hypnotizing Lisa and Ted, Nandor and Nadja take over anchor duties after mass hypnotizing the audience. To bounce they fear would be suspicious, so the two wax happily on the local weekend puppy parade before throwing it to Colin for weather reportage with Heather Dupont no more than a green screen crime scene. Finally, Laszlo’s at-bat, driving us home with an update on the Big Blue vs America’s Team before volleying it back to his beloved for an effortless Outcue.
(It’s as if they were born screen ready.)
Takeaway
From moonlight to sunlight, the house has treated the threat of exposure in all its forms like an afterthought. It honestly makes perfect sense. What more sublime way to raise the stakes even further than by putting the most powerful creatures on the Isle of Staten in a shambolic state through mere lack of supervision? They are extemporaneous fucking nincompoops who cancel each other out when not grounded and we’re all the better for it, so thank you Sarah Naftalis.
La familia de la Cruz is back! Like all characters (including Evie), I never turn down a familiar face in this world. I won’t harp any further on the previous episode, but I do think that screen time for Guillermo’s family was utilized judiciously, so I’ve no notes. However, I noticed none of the family noticed anything different, including his Tia Valeria (Socorro Santiago). Could this be lightning striking twice in the same place? Do they already know he’s a vampire? Am I reading too much into this?
There was a beautiful barbarism in both Colin and his audacious traps and only Mark’s innate charisma drip could turn great lines written for a distinct situation to a wholly other facet of a character that’s not been explored. Nadja’s other go bags I am really curious about. Is it a seedling planted? The stinger is that this is the coolest one in recent memory. The gauntlet Guillermo has to go through due to Colin is just a feat in set design, choreography, acting, and special effects in twenty resplendent seconds.
Harvey’s acting is just the best, hands down. My prediction is that with every significant emotional moment in this series, a new power will emerge. He may be a whole new breed of vampire or something because his heightened emotions always bring forth a surprise for us, the audience. He’s shown monastic patience and strength to shoulder the entire house if the time presented itself and I pray that it’s waiting in the finale. Kudos for making the weakest starting character possibly the strongest on the block, be they living, dead, (or still figuring it out.)
The long-awaited musical episode of Strange New Worlds, Subspace Rhapsody, is finally here. This marks the first time a Star Trek show has done something like this.
Of course, this is not the first time we’ve seen a Star Trek musical. If you’re a veteran of cons, I’m sure you’re familiar with the tradition of “filking.” This is singers doing parody songs of SF franchises, and of course many were centered on Trek. One of the first ones I ever heard was the classic “Star Trekkin'”
Plus there have been any number of parody shows, including a recent off-broadway musical version titled Khan!
But now, Trek has officially created their own musical episode. The songs were written by Kay Hanley and Tom Polce of the band Letters to Cleo. Polce also wrote for My Crazy Ex Girlfriend, so he knows a thing or two about writing a funny, catchy, and plot relevant song.
If you know me, you know I’m a huge fan of musicals, and musical parody. I’ve been looking forward to this since the rumors of a musical episode first started burbling out. How will this compare to other musical episodes on non-musical shows such as the prison drama Oz, the medical comedy Scrubs, and (most relevant here) the supernatural teen drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
Short answer? It rocks. Longer answer, aside from a few musical misfires, it gives you just about everything you’d want from a musical Trek.
Structurally, this episode most resembles Once More With Feeling, the musical episode of Buffy. In that show, a demon makes everyone sing out their innermost secrets. Here, it’s a subspace anomaly, but the effect is the same. Secrets are revealed and emotions exposed, all through the power of song. (Also a lot of the songs seem to parallels of ones in Buffy. It’s fun to match them up.)
Spock and Uhura are investigating an intriguing subspace fold. Because of the way it’s folded on itself, certain signals can transmit through it at triple speed. This could be a boon for faster subspace communication, but nothing is working. That is, until chaos imp Pelia suggests trying some music. Uhura plays “Anything Goes” and, wouldn’t you know it, that triggers a quantum improbability field that – improbably – causes everyone to start singing.
Complicating matters is a visit from the future first officer of the Farragut, James T. Kirk, who is going to shadow the command staff for a week as training and create romantic tension with La’an. Christine Chapel is waiting to hear if she’ll get accepted for a medical fellowship which would take her off the Enterprise for three months and which could create even more stress in her young relationship with Spock. Plus, Pike is trying to plan a romantic vacation with Captain Mrs. McMurray, and is realizing they have very different definitions of romantic.
Now, because the plot this week is really just an excuse to get the crew of the NCC-1701 singing and dancing, I’m going to do the recap a little differently today. Rather than run down the plot, I’m going to grade the songs and see how well they function as a musical. There are nine tracks, plus a revamped opening where an a cappella group harmonizes the theme, so let’s get to it.
1) Status Report Right after the anomaly goes blooey, a strange wave ripples through the Enterprise, causing the crew to start speaking in rhyming couplets and then bursting into song, starting with Mr. Spock. Oh, and everyone is hearing music and they can’t tell where it’s coming from. This is a nice little intro song to our episode, with all of the crew getting involved. There’s a nice driving beat, with the bewilderment of the crew breaking through as they give updates on the Enterprise. It’s great start, not too complicated but it certainly sets the stage. (Rating 4/5)
2) Connect To Your Truth As Kirk and Una refit the Enterprise to attempt a repair of the subspace rift and close up the field, they start to sing a Gilbert and Sullivan inspired song. While it is cute to see the two of them waltz through the corridors, the song is kind of a dud. It starts off with Una once again asking “why am I singing?” and the lyrics are all about leadership styles and, frankly, kind of dull. This is the weakest song in the episode, and the only good part of this (Rating: 2/5) is that La’an overhears them, which leads to…
3) How Would That Feel La’an sings a beautiful power ballad, reflecting on the life she might have had with Jim Kirk if she had stayed in the alternate timeline with him (and also if he hadn’t been killed by a Romulan agent), and what could happen if she dared to act on those feelings in this one. The song is a knockout, both lyrically and visually. There are scenes of a pregnant La’an waking up next to Kirk, with La’an laughing and smiling! It’s another great showcase for Christina Chong, who has a gorgeous voice. (Not coincidentally, she has an EP coming out today. And you can bet I’ll be checking that out.) For me this is the best song of the show. (Rating 5/5)
This also leads La’an to realize that the songs are getting the crew to reveal their innermost feelings and secrets, which could create a security risk. Pike is skeptical about that, until Captain Batel calls in.
4) Private Conversation Batel is calling in to discuss her vacation plans with Pike. She’d like to have a private conversation about it, but instead she starts sing-fighting with him. And, of course, Pike’s true feelings about her vacation plans spill out in front of the crew. Pike is getting ready to do some hard-core emoting, until La’an ends the transmission.
Anson Mount is in fine form, and I’m a little jealous that he has such nice hair and can sing. And his final poses reminded me of the song work of another captain of the Enterprise.
The melody is a jauntier version of Status Report, and I would’ve liked to see more of Batel and Pike’s fight, but it does help establish that the singing improbability field is spreading throughout the fleet. (Rating 3/5)
5. Keeping Secrets Another plan is hatched to contain the subspace fold. Photon torpedos could close it, but first they’ll test it on a few subspace particles. Kirk volunteers himself and La’an to go and target some for testing, but La’an tries to beg off. Una can tell something is up and knows she has feelings for Kirk. The song is all about how secrets can eat you up inside, and how Una has had to keep secrets for years and it made her too distant. It’s a nice song, with some fun floating when Una turns off the gravity in the room, and it inspires La’an to go tell Kirk how he feels. Unfortunately, Kirk has an on again-off again girlfriend named Carol, and while he also has feelings for La’an, things are definitely on right now because Carol is pregnant. (Hey Kirk, maybe don’t tell someone named Khan that Carol Marcus is about to have a son. You’ll be telling her all about Project Genesis next.) (Rating 3.5/5)
Unfortunately, the particles prove too volatile to destroy. A few of them almost blow up engineering, so blowing up the fold would create havoc throughout the galaxy. Including the Klingon Empire. Angry Klingons call the Enterprise and inform the Enterprise that they are going to destroy the source of their “dishonor” (i.e.: forced singing) themselves. They’re going to destroy the fold.
6. I’m Ready In need of more songs to analyze, so they can determine if there’s a pattern in the subspace activity, Uhura takes Spock to the ship’s bar. There, Chapel is celebrating getting chosen for the fellowship with her friends. However, she has not yet told Spock, and has not invited him. The song is Chapel’s chance to kick loose and say how she’s ready for a new challenge. She feels freed by getting the fellowship. Unfortunately, it becomes clear in the song that she’s ready to leave Spock if she has to. (RIP Spapel) This is a jazzy little number, with some Amy Winehouse inflections. It’s a welcome change of tempo from the ballads we’ve gotten thus far. It also marks the first time in the episode we get a real group number with choreography and everything. So not only is it a fun, sexy number, it also indicates that the musical field is getting stronger. (Rating 5/5)
7. I’m the X Spock is frustrated that the data they have collected has shown no patterns, and is also frustrated with his relationship with Chapel. There is some really clever wordplay here with the title, with Spock referencing solving for X in an equation, the X-factor of the subspace fold, and being Chapel’s ex. The melody starts as an downbeat echo of I’m Ready, which makes sense as this is Spock’s side of the story. Ethan Peck has given a lot of weight to Spock’s human half in his performance, and it really comes out here in his sad breakup song. Aww, poor guy. Do what we humans do and put on some Cure records. (Rating 4/5)
8. Keep Us Connected Uhura picks up where Spock left off, both in trying to find a pattern and in singing a sad song. Uhura sings about the irony of being at the center of communications on the Enterprise, yet still feeling alone and isolated, and how she’s felt pretty much alone since her family died in a shuttlecraft. Celia Rose Goodman was nominated for a Tony for their performance in Jagged Little Pill (and their mom won one for The Color Purple), so you know Uhura is going to knock this out of the park, and she does. The song has one of my favorite tropes, where a sad song becomes triumphant. Uhura realizes that she isn’t alone, because she is the connection with her crewmates and the memories of her family. (Rating 4.5/5)
9. We Are One Uhura has spotted a pattern! When people sing together, the improbability field spikes. If the field reaches an arbitrary point, it will overload and shut down. (Sure, why not?) Pike tells Uhura to get the entire crew singing. He tells her that she’s the one to do it, since she can see all the connections between them. So inspire she does, telling the crew how miraculous it is that they’re all on this ship together at this particular time. The song builds and builds, with all the decks joining in. Even the approaching Klingons get into the act, threatening Pike and the crew with death via a choreographed boy band number. (Someone on Twitter dubbed this new group the Bat’leth Boys, and yeah, that’s their name now.)
The song hits the breaking point when Spock jumps with the crew on the bridge like Jojo in Horton Hears a Who and adds his voice. In an nice touch, the choreography at the end of the song resembles a bow at curtain call, and once the field is destroyed the classic Alexander Courage theme starts in. (Rating 4.5/5)
Overall, this was a lot of fun. My main issue with the music, clever as it is, is that there are a few too many ballads and downers. Even though there are a lot of bangers, they sound a little too much the same. It needed a fun, wacky number from someone like Pelia to really push it over the top and make this the best episode ever. Or if you need to do a Gilbert and Sullivan number, make it patter song where Spock and Uhura do some rapid fire technobabble.
Still, it’s really good. Is it as good as Once More With Feeling, the clear inspiration for this? (There’s even a reference here to bunnies, Cordelia’s nemesis in Buffy that she sings about.) Not quite, but that is the best musical episode ever. This is still excellent.
Classic Call Back Carol Marcus! I wonder how much we’ll see of Kirk’s baby mama in the seasons to come.
In the third episode of Monomythic, we speak with horror author Clay McLeod Chapman about his horror-telling halcyon days, along with his latest works in publication, and his childhood and early playwriting origins. We also discuss Clay’s recent stories with the Marvel Unlimited saga Edge of Venomverse Unlimited which he has co-authored with fellow writer J. Holtham, whom you may remember on our Workprint podcast a while back.
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Clay shares with us how he’s able to craft such spooky and scary stories, along with how he details, quite extensively, the importance of finding your own supportive group of creative people. Whether it’s writing groups, playwriting cohorts, or just people to bounce ideas off, Clay is someone who has understood pretty early on in his career that while the process is lonely, the progress? Doesn’t necessarily have to be.
Because in the end no one ever creates alone. And Clay, might I say rather beautifully, touches on how his network of writers, friends, and creatives, really helped him along his journey. Including just staying sane while making things.
I can’t stress enough just how important of a lesson this is. Special thanks to Clay and the team at Marvel for the opportunity and for just making awesome comics.
For my second guest on Monomythic, we spoke with comics creator Natalie Norris about her debut graphic memoir. About a month and change ago I gave the book a 4.5-star review and I still hold true to it. I think stories like these matter more so now than ever before in an age where there’s just so much noise and not a lot of substance.
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It’s hard to talk about because, well, it’s about trauma. How to survive it. How it happened to girls like Natalie. For anyone who’s ever survived sexual assault and really, for anyone who’s ever had to deal with or talk about stories of rape. This one will probably connect with you in a way most works don’t. Natalie Norris reaches for an understanding better than the plot or conviction of how horrible these people were. It’s less about the perpetrator and the moral lesson learned, and instead, a personal tale that empathizes with the victim. No condemnation and shame stressed, just healing and processing.
She talks about these traumatic events of what happened to her through a letter to a friend, all drawn, as you can see below. It’s a heartwarming tale that touches on a bit of reckless adolescence, which people I grew up with, could absolutely relate to.
I can’t stress enough, how much I like that Natalie stresses her own wild child behavior. She does so not to shame but to emphasize that people acted this way, especially a decade ago and it’s important to stress that even if so, horrible agency-reducing things did happen when we weren’t paying attention. Stories like these often did get lost because we normalized them as typical reckless youth behavior, which muddled the way. Anyway, listen to the episode and buy the memoir if stories like these intrigue you.
In the pilot episode of Monomythic, we speak with our good friend, comics creator Trevor Fernandes-Lenkiewicz about his origins in comics. We also discuss his latest project he successfully kickstarted in Minutes to Midnight, and most importantly, break down where we think we see the comics industry is going. Trevor shares some thoughts along with a powerful message about the importance of a story that you can listen to in the episode below and wherever podcasts are available.
We already chatted with Trevor months ago. This interview is an expanded version of talk and then some. For those who remember, Minutes to Midnight is a short story anthology featuring some brooding tales and thought-provoking mysteries. The project features four shorts written by Fernandes-Lenkiewicz entitled ‘Time Fleeting, War Immortal’, ‘Bear Market Businessman’, ‘Marvelous Misadventures of Melancholy Man’, and ‘Reflections and Other Little Devils’. With each project featuring a different artistic team.
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What is The Monomythic Podcast?
Monomythic was a simple screenwriting course I started posting here on The Workprint back in 2018. I intended to talk about and dissect stories because I had already taken classes in screenwriting and submitted to a few competitions. Plus was writing an in-production web series. Atop all this new journalism work I was trying out while cutting my teeth right here.
I already had sort of the skills and knowledge to share. And to be clear, I never really wanted to stop doing the episodes, but because of life tragedies and sort of review expectations—and the fact that recaps just generated a lot more web traffic—I did end up pivoting focus back on covering content rather than making my own. Which, looking back at it now, was likely a mistake.
Why this is… was because I think storytelling—now more than ever before—matters.
So I wanted to build something else to support my fellow story creators, indie makers, and unrepresented voices. At least, now, when we’re at sort of an existential rubicon no turning back point. I say this, knowing that not only are the resources thinning for us but so is the perceived value we bring to the table. A writers strike. The threat of an AI replacing us. Layoffs galore and almost no one is getting paid their fair share. Writing has become something devalued as nothing but an expensive hobby. One that generates billions for other people and yet, is frowned upon for anyone chasing the money, not knowing what it means to truly… well, live. In my opinion.
Which is why I think where we’re heading is a major mistake in terms of culture. So I wanted to rebuild my brand. Share it here for readers of The Workprint. And get some much needed voices and origin stories heard. To keep whatever spark of hope we have as storytellers… alive.
So yeah. Monomythic. A podcast where creatives share their journey.
One of the fun things about bringing a show back from the dead, repeatedly, is the number of Easter eggs the creators can hide if they so choose, but another fun thing to do is follow up on old plotlines that were never closed out. Futurama’s second episode “Children of a Lesser Bog” technically does both.
As with so many episodes of The Simpsons, this one begins in a completely different place from where it ends. The audience is lead to believe that Fry (Billy West, also voicing Zoidberg, Professor Farnsworth, and Zapp Brannigan this episode) is the star as he’s the first character we see, but turns out it’s a misdirect. See, Fry is sucking on candy residue embedded in his jacket, which Zoidberg then ruins in his usual gluttonous fashion, thus resulting in Bender (John DiMaggio, who caught some flak for fighting for fair pay prior to joining the rest of the cast on the renewal train) trying his hand at candy creation. The result is as you would expect, not fit for human consumption (a nice callback to Bender’s brief stint as a chef). It is, however, useful in setting up the episode for its true focus: Amy and Kif (Lauren Tom and Maurice LaMarche respectively, with both actors pulling double duty as parent and child).
Using her Eye-phone (a callback to something I mentioned in my first review!), Amy discovers a long ago reminder she set in her calendar to return to the ancestral bog and pick up her kids. Now, the show could have gone two ways with this. One, only cater to the loyal fans and ignore any in-depth backstory explaining Amy and Kif’s forgotten brood. Or, two, reach an olive branch out to new fans with a Futurama worthy exposition of the events of that decades past episode. I appreciate that they go for the second option because while they do incorporate a slice of “cheesy clip-show” energy, later, they also add in another staple: the hilariously droll educational video gag.
But first it’s off to the bog to meet up with the Grand Midwife (Tress MacNeille, who additionally voices the educational video narrator, and Petunia here) and await Kif and Amy’s children’s return. Lucky for them, the winnowing brings their total down to three (this is a little funny considering in the original episode Leela fought hard to get all of the tadpoles safely into the bog yet here no one interferes to get them safely out of it). One is quite tall, meet Axl, one is medium sized, that’s Petunia, and one is small with a single eye, hello Mandy. While everyone agrees that “all children are beautiful”, Amy’s parents have the guts to run and deny even having grandchildren. It’s going to make life tough for the new parents but the bigger question remains: why is one of their kids a cyclops!?
Good news! The professor has a video explaining how Kif’s species reproduces and it is boring – they just have to barely touch each other and bam! Kids! And, while they did run the clip of Kif and Amy at the bog earlier, they do not run the clip of the moment Leela impregnated Kif by touching his ungloved hand, still, the point is made: Leela is the biological mother of Kif’s offspring (uh, also, for some reason…Scruffy – thanks David Herman). What does this mean for Amy? A lot of guilt and sadness, especially when her kids really seem drawn to their “real” mom, Leela. This gets worse when Kif is called off to a special Doop assignment by Zapp and must leave Amy with their kids. Leela tries to do her best and help Amy out by watching the kids, but this only adds to Amy’s feelings of inadequacy. Then, because life really loves to pile on, the Grand Midwife appears and issues a challenge to Amy’s motherhood. Ouch.
This turn of events creates a brief tension between Amy and Leela that is quickly resolved as the Midwife explains that because none of Amy’s DNA contributed to her children, her claim to the title of “Mom” is under suspicion. She, and her smismar, must return to the bog to resolve the challenge. Kif shows up at the last minute, having had to deal with his own “baby” in the form of man-child Zapp during their Doop assignment, and ultimately the challenge boils down to do you love these children? Amy tearfully confesses that she does, and thus she is made their official mother!
“Children of a Lesser Bog” playfully explores the idea of motherhood and what exactly it means. Kif and Amy love each other, and in Kif’s eyes it is his love for Amy which made him receptive to getting pregnant, thus, Amy is their children’s mother. Unfortunately, their children are repeatedly drawn to Leela and this hurts Amy greatly. It is worth noting that while Amy struggles to care for her three children, she only sees Leela with them at their best, not when Leela is in a similar state of stress. I think it’s a nice detail that we have a tendency to see our worst fears without logically considering the full picture of the situation. But to her credit, Amy doesn’t back down, instead she is fully prepared to fight Leela for her children’s love. Adoptive and step-parents might get the warm and fuzzies from this episode, as well they should.
Outside of the main plot there’s a side plot involving Kif and Zapp that seems to serve as mostly comedic relief. As with most sitcoms, when a person is a new parent or possibly thinking of parenthood, a situation arises where their paternal or maternal instincts are challenged. For Amy it’s coming to terms with not being her children’s biological mother, for Kif it’s learning he has what it takes to care for a child. It’s a cute, if not well-trotted set up that sees Kif’s “vacation” from his family interrupted by the neediness of a man-child. I do love how conflicted Kif is, considering he’s often treated as the “woman” in their relationship, Kif provides us with the classic conundrum of the working mother. He is both elated to have time to himself and missing his children desperately. The other gem this side story gives us is the return of the whale-hating whale biologist – who has now become a bear biologist (who is not a fan of bears either). I’m glad this guy is killed, he always annoyed me.
Overall this episode was an improvement from the first in many ways. The jokes felt much less forced, there were no clunky deliveries, and the touching quality that this show is so well known for made a welcome return.
As a boy that grew up in the 80’s, I had an embarrassment of riches when it came to toys. TMNT, Power Rangers, Transformers, original Star Wars, the list keeps going on and on. All manner of figurines to go to war with, save the day, or just expand my imagination. As such, I always felt a little badly for girls, who pretty much only had Barbie. I mean, what could a Barbie even do? Change suits? Be a doctor or a lawyer? It just didn’t seem fair. But if my childhood self knew what I know now after seeing the Barbie movie, he would realize that maybe little boys were the ones missing out after all.
First, a quick disclaimer. If you don’t want spoilers, stop reading soon. Because there’s no way I can talk about the Barbie movie without getting into the connective tissue of the premise. It’s so layered and nuanced that without talking about context, I can’t really explain my appreciation. Okay, ready? Let’s all head to Barbie Land!
After a brief introduction that comedically references 2001: A Space Odyssey, we learn about the alternate reality where all the Barbie dolls are real. And the Ken dolls. And Allan. While none of them are exactly what we would consider human (no genitals for one, and no need to eat or drink for another) they enjoy each day in peace and harmony. The Barbies are in charge, and represent a wide gamut of looks and personalities. They’re the judges, lawyers, construction workers and everything you could think of. They do hard work during the day, and party all night. What do the Kens do, you ask? Mostly stand there looking pretty, showing off their muscles, and yearning for acknowledgment from the Barbies. Most especially the Ken played by Ryan Gosling.
It’s clear early on that he loves Margot Robbie’s Barbie, considered the stereotypical version of the doll. Unfortunately for him, that love is unrequited. Which is only exacerbated by the bullying he receives from Simu Liu’s Ken, who seems to live to torture Gosling with harsh, but often honest, words. And constant threats of “beaching him off” (you’ve all seen the trailers by now, and yes it’s hilarious).
Regardless of Ken’s suffering, everything is coming up Barbie. Until Barbie is suddenly overwhelmed by existential dread and the inexplicable fear of death. It’s so shocking, it breaks up a snazzy musical number, with Barbie awkwardly shrugging it off. And then she wakes up the next day, only for her perfectly perky feet to go shockingly flat. Which makes it much harder to wear heels, and sends her into a full blown panic. The only solution? Go and consult the ominous Weird Barbie.
I’ll admit, Weird Barbie is a big part of the reason I saw the movie. Don’t get me wrong, I adore Margot Robbie and she’s very easy to look at, but I love me some Kate McKinnon. She plays the Barbie doll that got played with a little too hard. Now she’s constantly doing the splits and has rough-cut hair, all sorts of colored marks on her face, and a freaky plastic dog that walks around pooping eggs everywhere. In essence, she’s the Baba Yaga of the Barbieverse. Since she has some mileage on her, she realizes that Robbie has feelings bleeding into her from a human girl that’s playing with her in the real world. So she’ll need to head into that dangerous wilderness via a travel montage of pink-colored vehicles. Then she can find the girl, help her, and get everything back to normal.
It’s not a bad plan, but it immediately gets complicated by Gosling playing stowaway. Once they both arrive in the real world, things change dramatically. Suddenly, Barbie isn’t the only one getting attention. Sure, they both get ogled on Venice Beach, but Ken is realizing that on Earth, men are the ones in charge. Muscled doofus that he is, he’s overjoyed. Some quick research backs up his findings, and he learns about the Patriarchy. And let’s be honest, it needs to be capitalized. Because it’s not only a toxic system of gender-based preference, but it becomes an infectious agent later in the movie.
At first Barbie, as a result of zen mind meld, thinks she’s found the source of her troubles, and goes to talk with a young girl named Sasha in school. She naively thinks the girl will thank her for helping serve as a role model and making the world a better place. Instead, Sasha dresses Barbie down and ends by calling her a fascist. This on top of Barbie and Ken hilariously getting arrested twice earlier for lack of understanding how things like payment for clothing works. And then the Mattel mafia arrives to capture Barbie and box her up.
Part of the hilarity in the movie is the constant humor permeating every little scene. Things that just don’t make sense, like a company known for selling dolls to girls being entirely run by old men. Best of all, the guy in charge is played by Will Ferrell. He summons a lot of his trademark manic energy, and is equal parts egotistical and ridiculous. For a while, I seriously thought he was some escaped toy that took root in the real world. But in the movie, he’s mostly comic relief. You’d think he’s the villain, but it turns out the real villain in the movie is actually Gosling’s Ken.
With the help of America Ferrera’s Gloria, Sasha’s mother who was actually the person playing with Robbie’s doll, Barbie escapes from Mattel and heads back to the safety of Barbie Land. There’s just one problem. Ken got there first, and armed with knowledge of the Patriarchy, he’s turned everything upside down. Now, instead of Dream Houses the Kens all live in Mojo Dojo Casa Houses. Worse, all the Barbies that remained behind have been brainwashed, and now dote on everything the idiots say, while dutifully brining them brewskies from their mini fridges. It’s a dude bro paradise, and it’s threatening to destroy everything Barbie has ever known. It’s even bleeding into the real world, and sales of Ken-related merchandise are going through the roof.
Further complicating things, in a couple days the Barbie Land Supreme Court, now run entirely by Kens, is planning to overturn the constitution (yes, Barbie Land has a constitution). While it’s a delightfully silly premise, it’s also a bit of a dark reflection of our own political situation in the United States. Barbie has a breakdown at her lack of agency and power in this topsy turvy situation. Then Gloria delivers an amazing monologue about the complexities and contradictions of being a woman in a male-controlled society. It’s verbose, poignant, and at the end, most of the theater I was in was clapping. Best of all, this profound dive into reality helps wake up one of the Barbies that’s been brainwashed. Which leads to a plan to free the Barbies and distract the Kens so the constitution can be saved. The movie ends with Barbie literally meeting her maker, and getting a chance to be something more than just a doll.
It’s all surprisingly poignant and full of heart, as well as being comedic gold. There’s an embarrassment of amazing actors as well, from Michael Cera as Ken’s friend, Allan, to Helen Mirren as the whip-smart narrator and Issa Rae as President Barbie. Perhaps my favorite sequence in the movie is when the Kens go to war against each other, which devolves into a snazzy musical number.
Barbie really could have been a barebones, boring movie. But Greta Gerwig somehow made it not only relevant, but a broad examination of what it means to be a woman. As well as how reality and fiction are entangled, and can impact each other. Hell, she even does an impeccable job of showing what toxic masculinity looks like with humor, as well as showing the healthy opposite, represented primarily by Michael Cera. I had no expectations for the movie, but I came away profoundly impressed. If you’re a fan of cinema, go watch it in the theater. And hopefully the real world can start to mirror Barbie Land a bit more.
We’re in the nerve center. Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) is running for comptroller on account of Sean (Anthony Atamanuik) possessing over nine DUIs. While Colin’s psyched, Nandor (Kayvan Novak) is struggling to find a workout buddy. Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) has been avoiding his master like the plague, so the Relentless attempts to make a friend in fellow gym rat Alexander (Robert Smigel) and he lays on the Yiddish lexicon thicker than Jewish guilt. The poor lunk is just excited to be able to finally get talk to a “fierce warrior”, only known through stories in his homeland of al Qolnidar.
The move to become a comptroller has nothing to do with politics and all to do with the debate stage for a mega drain. He needs to run under the aegis of a family unit and finds a perfect wife in Evie Russell (Vanessa Bayer) during her break-up group therapy. Evie’s an emotional drain vampire and Colin’s erstwhile inamorata before leaving his heart a desiccated husk. Their love language is movie titles. He seals the deal with a beautifully awkward smooch-o-roonie. He is non compos mentis around his only walking weakness, which may show us a more colorful side to the otherwise magnificently milquetoast Mr. Robinson.
In Little Antipaxos, Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) is experiencing something of a repatriation. She’s feeling almost human helping her new diner family in hopes she may be able to lift her dreaded hex yet. The only catch is her Antipaxon family is dying to meet Laszlo. Antipaxons are very weary of outsiders, so Nadja’s island oasis may be in jeopardy if he gives a buffooned first impression… and right on cue, Laszlo (Matt Berry) comes barging in from the Spencers he was vomited from. Right out of the gate, he talks down to them and confuses their dog for the matriarch. Nandor’s not fairing any better at the cinema with Alexander. Yes, Nandor, let’s break the theatre’s number one rule.
At the Staten Island Comptroller Debate, through the WBPB-TV Community Access LIVESTREAM, we see Barbara Lazarro (Marceline Hugot) attempting to extol the future of digitalization. Is there something about cameras this season? She wants to eliminate the bureaucracy. Colin wants to cut the bullshit and clean house on this captive audience, which he and Evie soon do. He’s more than content. He managed to turn Sean’s loss into his gain with the added bonus of it doubling as a date night. Before the night can run even wilder, both Colin and Evie are kidnapped and hauled off. They’re summoned by the Supreme Council of Energy Vampires for an emergency meeting. Among a fashionable orgy of filing cabinets, calling to order this meeting is none other than the illustrious Jo Firestone. Speaking to her from across the room, Gregg Turkington tries to help her through an old-school microphone. Hannibal Buress “chimes” in as Jo’s actual phone chime goes off, Aparna Nancharla attempts to speak but has some technical difficulties. This is a bloodless bloodbath. Colin wants to confess to Evie that he’s always loved her, but is cut off by Aparna Nancherla.
At the diner, Laszlo arrives once again, lute in hand to serenade all with what he thinks is a traditional Antipaxon song. It’s actually the battle hymn of a neighboring country, so the second attempt at ingratiating himself is a spectacular failure, ending in some non-potable potables being chucked.
At the emergency meeting, the Chairman (Martha Kelly) speaks. She’s a certified visionary at draining her own kind, reverting to the old classic of never calling on those with raised hands. But down to brass tacks, bureaucracy is at risk of being lost. it’s the lifeblood of energy vampires. The Chairman will simply not let this stand and through an interminable slide presentation for beating Ms. Lazarro, Mr. Robinson is broken. He tries to muster all the piss and vinegar he can to promise to his constituents via Zoom, going all Howard Dean. The only problem is he cannot keep up the ruse, he cannot be inauthentic, so he pulls a Toobin. Hey, admitting to cranking it to the shiny, happy visages of one’s supporters can only spell only last mega drain with an old flame for old times’ sake in the form of a Concession speech astride his Wife and non-existent sons.
At the gym, Nandor gets a little too thirsty for Alexander. I mean, waiting five hours… that’s prime Guillermo time! And to do what, show him the work that Makeshift Mohel Guillermo had performed? The vamp regenerative property comes in handy just when you don’t want it and ain’t that always a kick in the plums?
Laszlo, still in his sequined look that cuts like a Neil Diamond, returns to the scene of the crime, with a bushel of roses in hand before plopping them down and making himself unapologetically known as the peacocking Mr. Cravensworth. Though one of the women present is smitten, Lasz says in no uncertain terms the whole Antipaxon lot can go fuck off. What we get is a Deus Ex Mama, as the Matriarch takes his boorish, Dionysian as a sign of him being the reincarnation of their mythical King of Pigs. Do pearls truly come before swine? “Only if the pig is too tight,” is probably what the old boy would say and so long as the Antipaxons believe he’ll bring good fortune, he’d probably dine on that line for years.
On Channel 8 News at 7, Colin concedes but Evie elevates. She snipes his spot, but not before assassinating his character on public television and eviscerates any hopes for them romantically in the private environs of his confessional through a Nancy Meyers citation. Instead of fomenting the bubbling cauldron that is mumblecore romance, Evie Russell simply rips out Colin’s heart again, and by extension our own, and stomps all over it. She’s got the moves to slay in more than one way — perfect for comptroller.
Takeaway
The resurrection of Vanessa Bayer (I Love That For You) with Evie in “The Campaign” was welcomed as a callback, but when is one too many? What We Do In The Shadows (FX) has always prided itself on never truly retreading water and chewing cud. Granted, the biggest glaring callback outside of Laszlo’s mention of topiary was the tribunal that sat before Colin and Evie. We’ve seen this before, and this particular roundtable of comedy’s brightest today was a fucking delight to see on screen, I will concede to that. It was the highlight of the episode and as far as my comedy boner goes, the highlight of the season so far.
A big reveal this early on in the season, however, doesn’t feel earned when the Colin & Evie saga honestly just skated on by. It’s an energy vampire-centric episode, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the soporific nature of the whole endeavor was on purpose, as if we the audience are being drained. Grey. This whole episode felt grey. I suppose to the mumblecore ilk (who cum in sepia tone, medical fact), it was a fucking delight. But if that was the ultimate direction of this episode, clever as a move as it might have been on paper, in practice, it sadly overpowers, not underscores the B and C plots of Nandor and Nadja. Those were equally as important, and I’m contemplating whether giving the comedic powerhouse that is Robert Smigel a few fucking measly lines was the joke, and if it wasn’t, whether the sin should be punishable by having the writers’ room incorporate a Logan/Jake Paul cameo next season and making it work (the same way Atlanta took the risk of injecting the other Hanks) in their tertiary season.
If Colin’s plot was the least energetic, Nandor’s being slightly more with Nadja’s being energy at its peak, I would even understand. A steady escalation that culminates in a crushing blow sounds like a Safdie Brothers’ wet dream. The tragedy is that though FX prides itself on treating each episode as an individual movie, comedies aren’t dramas, ass-fucking obvious as that is to say. They cannot luxuriate in the melty block of an hour, even with cable’s lax running times for half-hour shows. Something that high concept could work if given the time to show its complex gradients. I get that Colin isn’t a showman, it’s not in his blood to be the positive center of attention while also trying to assimilate into modern society. It felt more like a Colin episode, which is great. I just wish there were more keeping his plot-line mired in risk to give us a reward that surpasses one (well-received) reveal, moving the benchmark rather than simply just going back to it for the viral moment.
The stinger of Guillermo talking to Nandor inside the theater is cute, only because we get to see them spending time together outside of the house. The callback to a reprimand wasn’t really needed as an avenue to remind us, the audience, the ones that have stuck with you from the very beginning that Nandor treats Guillermo like shit. In fact, I think it was a missed opportunity for Nandor to show a bit of growth. Even someone in another row telling Guillermo to shut the fuck up with Nandor hypnotizing the theater would have been a better call back to the second episode of this season. I didn’t need a reminder that Nandor can be an asshole to his familiar. This felt like a hold-over episode, and for that, I didn’t need to be reminded.
Talk to Me may tell a familiar tale, but the raw, fearsome talent of Australian YouTube stars-turned-movie-directors Danny and Michael Philippou, aka RackaRacka, makes it a harrowing 95-minute journey. The opening shot alone, a long take following a guy through a crowded party that goes from 0 to WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED in the blink of an eye, announces that this film is here to fuck you up and take no prisoners.
Based on a concept from Daley Pearson, best known as Thor’s roommate, Darryl, Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman’s script quickly establishes the young characters and gets to the inciting incident quickly. No slow burn here! (This film is only distributed by A24, as evident from the multiple production logos at the beginning and the clear sense that this is not A24 Horror as it’s stereotypically known. It would feel at home under any studio banner, but luckily it’s got the A24 branding to mark it as Good Horror. Not elevated horror! It’s a real horror movie, thank fuck, not a quiet meditation on grief.)
Mia, who’s coming up on two years since her mom died—okay there IS grief happening here, but no quiet meditating—attends a party with her best friend, Jade, and Jade’s little brother, Riley. They want to check out the hot new party game in town, which involves…grabbing the ceramic embalmed hand of a psychic medium—or so the story goes—and letting yourself be possessed. It’s gotta be fake, right? It is not fake, and it is creepy as hell.
The Philippous stage these party scenes with disquieting normality, as teenagers pull out their phones to record these possession events the same way they might record someone doing a keg stand. When you’re a teenager, danger is a thrill and consequences are for squares. It’s key that these kids believe that they are messing with forces beyond their control, and they just think it’s fun. Some rules have been passed down, like the words of power and the maximum length you should allow yourself to be possessed. Where did these rules come from? No one knows. It’s Bloody Mary for Gen Z.
The Philippous make the possessions even more chilling by varying the perspective, showing us the spirit when it’s Mia grabbing the hand but not letting us see what any other characters see when they’re on the chair. Being possessed, though, apparently feels great, despite what it may look like from the outside, so these kids have a ball. The film really nails that vibe of a party game stupid teens would totally play like ha ha ha let’s commune with the other side ha ha lol OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK.
It will come as no surprise that at some point, a possession goes horribly, horribly wrong, and it’s the most horrific and brutal scene I’ve seen all year. Actually, all of the most horrific and brutal scenes I’ve seen all year are in this movie. The Philippous bring all the intensity of their horror-comedy videos like *checks notes* “Ronald McDonald Playground Slaughter!”—fittingly, a Bloody Mary riff about a boy named Riley—and ramp it up even higher, with vicious camera movements, excellent makeup, and skillful level of artifice to pull off nerve-shredding violence without the use of CGI. This motherfucker cost only $4.5 million, and that’s all you need when you’ve got filmmakers with the ability to pull off scenes that have me involuntarily saying, “No no no no no no no!” at the screen as I could see what was about to happen and was helpless to stop it.
There’s no question Danny and Michael Philippou are ones to watch as their nimble, confident direction eschews an excess of visual pizzazz for a more deliberate delivery of cool camerawork. I kept waiting for this film to go for a cheap jump scare and it never ever did, relying on supernatural dread and mind games to heighten your anxiety until the next assault on your eyes and ears (the sound design on this thing is engineered to make your soul crunch).
I love that the Philippous respect the sanctity of the urban legend and retain a sense of mystery surrounding the hand and what it does. It will also come as no surprise that Mia wants to talk to her dead mom, but we have no idea whether these are ghosts, demons, or something else entirely. The film dances around any clear answers, knowing the power of the unknown. The film establishes a visual language for possession that allows for some sly reveals as the spirits become more and more prominent—and also showcases the incredibly gross makeup and prosthetics.
Sophie Wilde gets put through the ringer as Mia, and she imbues the character with a potent mix of grief, compassion, curiosity, and distress. Out of the supporting cast, Zoe Terakes is a real standout as Hayley, as they’ve got such charisma that I honestly wanted to see more of that asshole goading people into letting ghosts inside them. And Miranda Otto as Jade’s overprotective but all-knowing mom lends a bit of humor to the film.
While the story builds very well, it doesn’t quite stick the landing for me because of a lack of clarity on how this all worked, and its grief story, though it gives Wilde some great material, feels a tad underdeveloped. In general, the film could have used a stronger script, if not a more inventive narrative, because this came really close to overcoming its familiar story and selling a fabulously executed ending. Regardless, Talk to Me is sure to be one of the most talked-about horror films of the year.
Star Trek has always been a utopian ideal. Gene Roddenberry envisioned a future where the nations of the world put aside their petty differences to come together and explore the stars. (Deanna Troi pretty much explicitly states this several times in the course of Star Trek: The Next Generation. “We have no war! No poverty!”)
So what happens when those ideals are tested? Can people really put aside differences so easily? Can you ask people to “forgive and forget” another country that might have killed their family in war?
It’s a big ask. My grandmother was a wonderful and funny woman, but for years she grumbled about her Austrian neighbor, Inga. “Oh that’s what they all say. She’s German, and those people tried to kill my husband in the war.” This was 50 years after the end of World War II. She still drove Inga to their aqua-robics class every day, because she told herself that was the good deed that would get her into heaven. (At my granny’s funeral, everyone was curious to meet Inga, who we’d all heard so much about and were disappointed that she didn’t show up. My wife pointed out that of course she wasn’t there. My grandmother was her ride.)
It’s also the subject of this week’s gripping episode of Strange New Worlds, “Under the Cloak of War.” Can our enemies change? Can we forgive them? What happens when we can’t?
The Enterprise is picking up the ambassador who brokered a tricky peace agreement in the Prospero system. Three different worlds finally put aside decades of fighting and agreed to a tentative truce. They’re to take him to Starbase 12 for the official debrief. The wrinkle? The ambassador is a Klingon, and not just any Klingon. It’s Dak’Rah, often called the Butcher of J’Gal for his brutal combat tactics. He defected to the Federation and has been working to redeem his crimes by becoming an ambassador for peace.
There’s a definite split in the crew between those who fought in the Klingon War (like Ortegas, M’Benga, and Chapel) and those who didn’t. Those people are very supportive of the Federation’s attempts to show that they welcome everyone, and even old enemies can be rehabilitated and join in the mission of peace and diplomacy.
The war vets? Not so much. Ortegas is convinced he’s playing a long con in order to get sensitive Starfleet secrets. Chapel and M’Benga served on J’Gal in the war and know first hand what a chaotic hellhole it was, and that was largely due to Dak’Rah’s commands. Towards the end of the battle on J’Gal, the Klingons started to kill everyone who wasn’t a Klingon warrior — and that included civilians and children. The veterans as a whole are upset that the Federation is all too happy to sweep that history under the rug and roll out the red carpet for a war criminal.
Dak’Rah (Just call him Rah, he says. Formal Klingon names are a mouthful.), played with aplomb by Robert Wisdom, certainly talks a good game. He politely asks for a tour of the flagship, is dazzled by the view from the bridge (Birds of Prey aren’t really designed for sightseeing), and gamely accepts the cup of raktajino that Spock has tried to replicate. Unfortunately, the drink is too hot and Rah burns his hands. That means a quick trip to sick bay and M’Benga and Chapel’s first encounter with Rah.
M’Benga has a full on panic attack when he sees him. While Chapel tends to Rah’s burns, M’Benga retreats to his office and starts hyperventilating. This leads to an extended flashback of the Klingon War, which will be intercut throughout much of the episode.
In the flashback, we see a young Nurse Chapel arriving on J’Gal. She’s been assigned to the Forward Operating Base near the Athos Colony and has just beamed down amid the chaos of battle. She is informed by the Chief Medical Officer Buck Martinez that she is now the new head nurse, so let’s get to work. (Between that name and the whole Toronto episode, I have to believe there are a few Toronto Blue Jays fans on the writing staff.) Buck is played by Clint Howard, and he plays him like the classic character in every war film, the over-it-all CO, who just accepts what a shit show everything is while the hope drains out of everyone around him. He tells Chapel that he’s in charge, but Joseph knows how things are done around here. He points towards a tent, where Joseph M’Benga rises out of a makeshift hot tub.
The base is a shambles. They are under constant shelling by the Klingons. Wounded are continually beaming in for treatment. Bloody blankets are everywhere. They have no organ replicator, despite many requests, so M’Benga has to do the transporter buffer trick to keep severely injured people in stasis. (Hmm, bet that will come in handy should his daughter develop a incurable disease one day!) Chapel is learning first hand of the heartbreak of battlefield triage. “We can’t help this soldier, and his body is blocking the transport pad.” After an experience like that, it’s no wonder that M’Benga and Chapel are less than enthusiastic about their Klingon visitor.
Still, Starfleet is quite insistent that everyone put on a friendly face. They want all the veterans of the war to interact with Rah to show that everything’s cool now, bygones are bygones. Which, frankly, seems insane. The war was only a few years ago. People still have literal scars from the battles. Has no one in Starfleet ever heard of PTSD? Pike has his orders, but he isn’t about to force M’Benga to do anything he doesn’t want to. M’Benga puts on the Starfleet Face (TM) and agrees to come to the Captain’s Dinner. (After all, Pike made jambalaya. That’s a pretty good enticement!)
The dinner is going all right, but the vets — Ortegas, Chapel, and M’Benga — are really white-knuckling their way through it. Spock sees Chapel’s discomfort and subtly tries to change the subject of discussion by asking Rah to do a detailed analysis of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and comparing it to the Klingon mL’parmaq Qo (Poor Spock. You are absolutely not ready to have a human girlfriend.) When Rah discovers that M’Benga and Chapel served on J’Gal, he tries to empathize with them, saying the fighting was without merit. Which, for a peace negotiator, is not the best thing to say. Ortegas presses him about the rumors that he killed his own men at J’Gal, and Rah gives a dismissive answer about how everyone was pushed to their limits, and then offers a toast to the survivors of J’Gal. This infuriates Ortegas, who remembers the chants of “Remain Klingon!” coming over the comms, right before the Klingons killed a lot of her friends. She storms out, followed by Chapel. Pike sees how tightly M’Benga is gripping his chair, so he sends him out to check on Ortegas as well.
Back in the past on J’Gal, M’Benga is approached by an Andorian black ops agent named Trask. He wants to end the conflict by getting rid of the Klingon command, including Dak’Rah. He knows that M’Benga used to be a black ops killing machine. Not only that, he invented a serum called Protocol 12. (This is the green Hulk Juice M’Benga and Chapel used back in Season 2 Episode 1 to fight their way through a bunch of Klingons.) M’Benga refuses, saying that a serum that boosts adrenaline and numbs pain receptors is dangerous. And he doesn’t want to end lives anymore, only save them.
That resolve doesn’t last very long. The push by the Klingons on J’Gal continues, and they start to massacre everyone. The Federation is trying to mount one final push, but it’s only pushing bodies into a meat grinder. M’Benga has to purge the transport buffer in order to get more wounded in. Trask the Andorian has been killed. Young men, who look barely old enough to shave, that Chapel and M’Benga took extraordinary measures to save, have returned dead. This makes M’Benga pick up his bottle of Protocol 12, strap on a dagger he took from Trask’s body, and go off to finish the job Trask started.
This leads to the big reveal of the episode. From his lockbox back in the present, M’Benga takes out a dagger. It’s the same dagger he took off of Trask. The same one used to kill the Klingons on J’Gal. The Butcher of J’Gal, the one who killed the Klingon generals, wasn’t Rah. It was M’Benga, pumped full of Protocol 12, who killed three Klingons with a dagger. Rah revealed himself to be a coward and fled while his generals fought M’Benga.
Rah being a coward who ran away while his men got killed so he could save his own skin kind of disrupts the whole Defector and Man of Peace narrative. Still, Rah is trying to get M’Benga on his side. Rah is trying to atone for his actions. He did terrible things, he admits that. He just wants to help M’Benga deal with his pain. This is some great work by Robert Wisdom. You can sense that he isn’t telling the whole story, but he does seem like he wants to help. And he sounds sincere, but M’Benga is not having it. He just wants this walking reminder of the worst parts of his life to leave him alone.
Chapel comes in just then and sees the end of this confrontation, but she only sees it through a frosted panel of glass. (Which is a nice allusion to title. Chapel sees what happens, but she doesn’t see everything and it’s all shrouded.) There’s a scuffle, M’Benga shouting for Rah to leave him alone, and then Dak’Rah collapsing. Chapel runs behind the glass to see the dagger sticking out of the Klingon’s heart.
There’s an inquiry by La’an, but everyone seems…kind of blasé about M’Benga killing an ambassador that Starfleet valued very highly. I get that the Enterprise is special and all, but between blowing up a fuel refinery last week and murdering their highly prized defector and peace ambassador, you’d think that Starfleet would start demoting some people or assigning them to supervise a mining colony on the outer rim.
Pike comes to tell M’Benga that there will likely be a tribunal, but he’ll probably get through it okay. But why? Why couldn’t he come to him and talk? Why couldn’t he let due process and tribunals take their course? M’Benga responds with a devastating line. “You have the privilege of believing in what’s best in people.” M’Benga, however, has had his nose rubbed in the worst parts of humanity and war and himself. He had to do terrible things. As he says later in the episode while trying to repair a faulty biobed, some things can never really be fixed. Only patched up until they break down again.
One thing really strikes me as odd about the relationship between M’benga and Pike is that they’ve known each other forever. They claim that they’re good friends. Yet, Pike somehow doesn’t realize that M’Benga has severe PTSD? Pike keeps putting him in triggering situations and does not seem to realize how traumatic it might be. Considering how much Pike prides himself on knowing his crew, it seems very strange.
Overall though, this was a really solid episode, anchored by a wonderful, soulful performance from Babs Olusanmokun. M’Benga is really going through the wringer this week, and you can see it in Olusanmokun’s eyes. He projects the pain of his past beautifully. The writing here is very deft, never really taking a side, but plainly showing that you can’t overcome some trauma by forgiving someone. I was fully prepared for the episode to cop out and have M’Benga come to an understanding with Rah and was happily surprised that it did not. Was M’benga right? No doubt Dak’Rah was a war criminal by any definition, intentionally killing civilians. But were his contributions to peaceful negotiations enough to counterbalance that? No one seems that broken up about Rah dying, but once again M’Benga has had to do something he loathes and has lost another piece of himself.
It’s great to see Trek grapple with how it doesn’t always live up to its ideals and goals. We saw it before this season in “Ad Astra Per Aspera,” with the way they treated Una. Starfleet is all about peaceful exploration, except when they’re not, and let’s not talk about that. It’s a situation that cries out for a ship’s counsellor; too bad they won’t be standard on ships for another 100 years or so. I am very much appreciating how this series takes time to examine Starfleet’s ideology and how much effort is required to prop it up.
Episode Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Classic Call Back: Clint Howard, everybody! This is the fifth time the star of Gentle Ben has been on Star Trek! He’s now been on The Original Series, Deep Space 9, Enterprise, Discovery and now Strange New Worlds. Step up, Lower Decks!
[Editor’s Note: HEY!!! Back off Lower Decks, aka Best Trek!]
The spunky sci-fi show set 1,000 years in the future both refuses to die and can’t seem to maintain a comeback for more than 1 season. Ah well, I’m not going to look a gift streamer in the mouth – though Futurama is! We’ll get there, I promise.
First though, the biggest question when rebooting a beloved series is…how do you jump back in? Do you pick up from the series finale? Do you start somewhere entirely new and work your way backwards or make some off-handed comment about the finale (“Hey, remember that time we all died?” “Oh yeah…man, it’s nice the resurrection machines were fixed.” “Right?”)? How do you respect the past while simultaneously embracing the future? It’s a lot of pressure, especially if the finale was…let’s say…permanent for certain characters. Luckily, Futurama doesn’t suffer from that pesky setback.
We begin at the end…of the last series finale that is. When last we saw the crew of the Planet Express, Professor Farnsworth (Billy West, who also voices Fry and the head of Nixon in this episode) had invented a button capable of rewinding time (with a lot of caveats built in) which Fry had abused in an effort to lock Leela (Katey Sagal) down. Truly bizarre story short, Fry and Leela wind up the only living people in a world frozen in time. As usual, Professor Farnsworth eventually appears to save the day, but there’s a twist: If he fixes the situation, Fry and Leela, and everyone else in the world, will return to the point in time before things got borked but without any memory of all the time that came after. That’s not too bad for the frozen people, they really don’t lose anything, but for Fry and Leela it’s an entire lifetime gone. The pair agree and Farnsworth presses the button. It was a finale that towed the fine line of being wistful yet hopeful – it was genuinely designed to allow the show to come back should the opportunity arise, and it worked.
And, because it’s Futurama, they even go to the trouble of time-jumping the series so we’re once again 1,000 years in the future. So, how’s 3023 treating our intrepid crew? Can’t speak for the others but Fry is bothered that he’s done nothing with his life for the last 20 years – I feel ya, buddy! In an effort to find purpose he settles on the noble task of watching every single episode of every show ever made. The other crew members think this is a bad idea and encourage Leela to interfere but she stands her ground, resigned to support her man. It does not go well. Hilarity ensues as Fry’s mission is tested with the fan-favorite robot-soap: All My Circuits, which has also been revived several times.
This is both where the episode digs into classic Futurama form, and tries a bit too hard to say “Did you know we got rebooted multiple times??? Did you!?”. There’s a great joke about how binge watching in the year 3023 is very different from Fry’s age (which is silly because as far as I know binge watching wasn’t a thing in 1999 which is when Fry’s actually from), complete with the kind of body horror the show has always loved to incorporate – see the Eye-Phone episode for a good example. There’s also a fun joke about Dune’s Still-Suit that I love because I hate Dune. But, the repeated self-referential jokes about shows that have maybe lived too many lives, does begin to wear.
Still, I think the more prescient pop-culture humor hits the mark for the most part, including reformatting an old show into a “new” one (the Scary Door becomes the Scary Mirror), the aforementioned ultra-intense version of binging, the unending appetite for content regardless of quality, and of course the plight of writers and how “anyone” can be a TV writer. Please note, I’m in full support of the WGA and SAG and hope they get what they’re asking for because holy shit does this episode do a good job of showing just how soulless network execs can be – the Fulu (stand in for Hulu) execubots are willing to take a risk on a fav favorite show but then happily cancel it even though the ratings are there, despite knowing it will literally kill one of their viewers. Yes, it is technically a joke…but I can 100% see this being truth.
The episode eventually climaxes in a desperate plan to save Fry’s life that goes horribly awry. Luckily, in classic Futurama fashion the death of Phillip J. Fry is greatly exaggerated, in that it does not actually happen. Fry is safe, no thanks to his friends, and Leela vows to never support him again. And honestly, if the episode had ended here I would have been good with it, but instead it pulls a Marvel movie and tacks on two extra endings.
First is Fry’s offhanded comment about how the final episodes of the final season of All My Circuits wasn’t up to level of the series as whole (they’ve clearly been reading the fan reddits), and second an entirely separate scene introduced by Morbo (Maurice LaMarche, who also provides the narration for The Scary Door opening sequence) and Linda (Simpsons standard voice actress Tress MacNeille) that involves Nixon asking Fry about his recent binging experience. This leads to a clunky speech about the resurrection of shows, responsible binging, and of course a thinly veiled instruction for the viewer to stayed tuned for all 20 episodes (you know…responsibly, no more than 10 episodes at a time).
Overall, I think it wasn’t a terrible return to form. There’s something to be said for being beloved enough to get revived more than once…and even more than twice! But then the biggest question is, does it work? Is it still the same show I always hoped would get another, and another, and…another(?) chance? Granted, that original lightning in a bottle is extremely hard to recapture, so it’s best not to judge the third iteration of a show on its first run, but that being said, for my money I would say the show still works. No doubt the change is definitely there but as whole, the excellent observational humor wrapped in a silly sci-fi skin hasn’t lost its charm. We’re treated to a mix of old series canon combined with new world problems that, again, can be somewhat heavy handed in their delivery, but are, in my opinion, still funny. I’m down for 19 more episodes!
Despite my love of American comics, I never got nearly as invested in manga. Which is a bit strange since I love monsters, and as a young man, I especially adored the Power Rangers. This is why I decided to read Saturday AM and Bon Idle’sHenshin! Volume 1: Blazing Phoenix, because not only does it recapture the Ranger days of my youth, but it also, was clearly inspired by the likes of Ultraman as well mixing exciting action with an interesting, but not overbearing, story.
It all starts in the city of Hollowstone. One day, an electromagnetic pulse knocked power out all throughout the city. Peaceful protests turned to chaotic riots in what was later deemed the Long Night. Instead of chaos reigning, a wealthy benefactor appeared and helped restore the peace. His name is Alton Grieves, and he quickly helped bring infrastructure back, and even introduced his own social media empire called G-Party.
While many would probably love to give Alton a medal, one plucky young journalism student has other ideas. His name is Alex Nolan, and along with his bestie Rosalia Ortega, he’s determined to uncover what he imagines to be a sinister conspiracy helmed by the city’s benefactor. An idea that immediately gets shot down by Rosalia, though not cause she doesn’t love Alex. She just would rather focus on harder hitting stories, like a mysterious masked many purported to be appearing at incidents all throughout Hollowstone.
Alex has his doubts about masked men. He’s much more committed to helping the people through his voice and writing. And going out of his way to avoid the hot guy he had a couple dates with, Jae-Hyun. I appreciated how the story used whimsy and humor to color the characters, and it was easy to root for Alex early on. And that’s before his life was forever changed by a chance encounter with the masked hero.
One night a monstrous creature appears and starts wrecking the place, and Alex does his best to help people that might otherwise suffer collateral damage. The masked hero fighting the creature is impressed. So much so that when the Kaiju he’s fighting gets the better of him, he uses his Spirit Plug to transfer a portion of his powers to Alex. So Alex grabs the torch thus passed, and transforms into a Reikaiger. Though his powers are similar to those of the hero, his are manifested with phoenix fire and a massive flaming broadsword.
As someone that’s not very well versed in manga, I appreciate the little asides where things get explained to the novice. Such as how here, Henshin literally means to become a hero. Or how Reikaiger use spiritual power to transform, and how the various kaiju are given physical form and grow stronger the longer they remain in our dimension. It’s heady stuff, but explained in such a way I never felt overwhelmed.
The other big arc in Henshin! Volume 1 is the introduction of a rival, a phenomenon I know very well from the Pokémon series. Whereas Alex’s heroic persona is garbed in white, this rival, named Omen, is pitch black, and seemingly can manipulate shadows. They’re also much more accustomed to these strange powers than Alex is, and thus Alex gets whupped by the dark figure more than once. It also became pretty clear, to me at least, that Omen was actually Alex’s ex, Jae-Hyun. The question is, why is someone that still has feelings for Alex so committed to villainous acts? Including apparently summoning the very Kaiju that Alex has to fight on more than one occasion!
Besides that, we also quickly discover Alex’s suspicions about Alton Grieves are totally on target, and the wealthy benefactor is behind all sorts of mischief. Including trying to get his hands on his own Spirit Plug, and covering up every incident that involves kaiju.
I really appreciated all the action sequences in Henshin!, and especially how it read properly from left to right, unlike most manga that reads right to left. While I wish the comic was in beautiful full color, it does solid work with just a black and white palette. I also didn’t mind that every time a new character is introduced, their gender pronouns are clarified. Since many of the characters herein are on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, it didn’t feel out of place.
Overall, I had a really great time reading Henshin! Volume 1. There’s plenty of mysteries to unravel in subsequent issues, and I liked the characters. Here’s hoping Bon Idle has some great ideas ready to expand this promising new series!
In a special surprise during the San Diego Comic-Con, Paramount dropped their much anticipated Strange New Worlds-Lower Decks crossover episode on Saturday night. Which makes sense, because this whole episode is just a lot of extremely fun fan service.
Crossovers are not unknown in the Star Trek universe. Bones McCoy appeared in the pilot of The Next Generation (in some truly bad old age makeup to portray him as 137 years old) to see off the NCC-1701-D. Picard was in the Deep Space Nine pilot. The Voyager stopped at DS9 (and Quark’s bar) on their way to regions unknown. And of course, Lower Decks has a bevy of guest voices from lots of different Trek shows – Riker, Kira, Quark, Tom Parris, Zephram Cochrane, etc. etc.)
Of course, this marks the first time an animated Trek show crossed over with a live-action one. So how would they do it? Would this be a Roger Rabbit affair, with live actors interacting with animated ones? Would the two shows with very different styles mesh together?
Short answer: It is awesome. It is everything you could hope for in a mash-up of the two best Trek shows on TV. If you are a fan, consider yourself serviced.
Now it would be highly illogical of me if I did not have a crossover of our own. So, joining me today is our resident Lower Decks recapper and biggest Lower Decks fan in the sector, Mary Fan. Welcome Mary!
So Mary, on a scale of 1-10, how insanely awesome was this episode? If you go lower than a 12 I’m going to question your fandom.
Mary: 8 million!!!!!!! Seriously this was the best thing I’ve seen on TV in a long time. Not because it’s cutting-edge sci-fi or anything, but because it was pure fun and wasn’t afraid to let everyone enjoy themselves
Victor: I was wondering if they’d incorporate the animation, and I was so glad to see the pre-credits opening be a first act from a standard Lower Decks episode. Of course, that is until Boimler gets time-portaled into the Enterprise. And, oh my, Boimler is an even cringier try-hard in real life than in animation. How is that even possible?
Mary: Oh yeah that was so much fun! I love how Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome embodied the chaos of their cartoon characters. Like, they didn’t try to tone it down to be more “realistic” or anything. And I love that our Strange New Worlds regulars let their fun sides show too… especially Ethan Peck! Can we take a moment to appreciate Funny Spock?
Victor: That was terrifying. Like I pressed the button to watch the horror film Smile by mistake (also on Paramount+) I’ve written a lot about how Spock has been the stealth comedic secret on the show, and it works well here. It reminded me of Data trying to regulate his emotion chip on TNG.
Mary: Totally! When he was talking about experimenting with emotions, it reminded me of Data a lot.
Victor: So the plot here is really just an excuse to have Boimler and Mariner bounce off the Enterprise crew and fanboy out (Boimler heart Spock and Mariner is all about Uhura.) There’s a time portal on a remote planet that gets accidentally activated by Rutherford’s camera and Boimler gets dragged in and wakes up in the sick bay of the USS Enterprise. The past is an exciting and three-dimensional place!
Mary: Yup! Like any good Lower Decks episode, the stakes are soothingly low. Boimler wakes up on the Enterprise and, upon being told by Pike that they already know he’s a time traveler, starts fanboying like the adorkable nerd he is. The Enterprise crew comes up with some technobabble way to reactivate the portal so Boimler can return to his own time, except OOPS! Mariner leaps through instead and is like “You’re welcome for me coming to save you!” So now the Enterprise has two chaotic time travelers.
Victor: Yes, the exasperation in Pike’s voice when he says “FIVE to beam up…” That was absolutely the most Lower Decks way things could’ve gone. Mariner barging forward, trying to save her crew mate, but not paying any heed to anything else.
It is so much fun to watch Boimler and Mariner just fan out about their heroes, even while the heroes are just trying to do their work. After all, Uhura is 22! She doesn’t think of herself like that! And here’s this chaos bomb from the future staring at her as she tries to translate the portal tablet. I can only imagine if some random guy popped into my office and said “I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! IT’S VICTOR’S ACTUAL OFFICE!” and stared at me as I did my work emails.
Mary: Haha yeah Uhura and Numera Una seemed especially weirded out. By the way, we are totally calling her that from now on.
Oh, I guess plot-wise there were also some Orions.
Victor: Right, “science” vessel… Gotta love Boimler, imposing his future norms on people. “In my time, it’s offensive to assume all Orions are pirates.” (Man, when did Star Trek get all WOKE and stuff? Can’t even call a pirate a pirate without the future PC police trying to cancel you…)
It was a fun little meta joke there, with Boimler trying to correct the captain about how you shouldn’t assume that Orions are all pirates, and then the Orions just flat-out steal the portal off the planet.
Mary: Totally! Except the Orions are willing to trade it back, in exchange for some grain the Enterprise was supposed to deliver. Anyway, all this is just an excuse for Mariner and Boimler to run amok on the Enterprise. And it really feels like one for the fans… they bring the same energy as if any of us got to go on the Enterprise, with that pure heart-of-gold energy that has made Lower Decks stand out from the beginning.
Victor: I honestly loved just how much they ignored La’an’s time travel commandments. “Don’t tell anyone about the future.” “Yeah, sure, oh did you know that Captain Pike’s birthday is a holiday in my time?”
Mary: Yup. I loved the awkward conversation between Boimler and Chapel about Spock’s experiments in human emotion. Though it is sad for Chapel since she kind of realizes that emotional Spock isn’t going to make it to the history books.
Victor: Yeah, that was heartbreaking. When Boimler realizes it’s not him making Spock act weird and then realizes that it’s Chapel and then realizes he’s put his foot in it. Awkward cringe all around.
Mary: So Boimler. We also got to see Mariner fangirl over Uhura.
Victor: That was great, especially when Mariner has this vision of Uhura being this party-hard badass. and Uhura is trying to read Bajoran language keys while being forced to relax. I loved Mariner knowing all the Starfleet regs about requiring meal breaks and such. Exactly the kind of thing she’d know inside and out.
And it was great that both Chapel and Ortegas instinctively knew that Boimler would be easy to mess with. “Oh, gotta watch out for that chrono-poisoning. Have you started turbo-vomiting yet?”
Mary: That was hilarious! And then Mariner tells Una that Boimler has a poster of her, and tells Pike that he dressed as him for Halloween. I love all the cringe at Boimler’s expense.
Victor: “He had to add a contour to the jawline and do the hair just right, it was a whole thing.”
And even though this was packed with all the humor we’ve come to expect from Lower Decks, there was still time for some very heartfelt moments. The look on Una’s face when Boimler tells her she is the literal poster girl for Starfleet in the future, complete with the old slogan Ad Astra per Aspera, After the whole court-martial, where Starfleet tried to erase her entire record, to know that she will be officially embraced must be so gratifying.
Mary: Oh I loved that moment so much. Really this episode felt like a Lower Decks episode but live-action. I love how Strange New Worlds’ format allows for this kind of flexibility. One day you have a serious episode, the next you’re turning into cartoons.
Victor: Absolutely. Because SNW isn’t locked into a ten-episode plotline arc, they can do fun one-offs like this, the fairy tale episode, and (coming soon) a musical episode.
Mary: Yup! Anyway, eventually our crew figures out that they have a piece of Archer’s Enterprise on the ship, which contains the technobabble stuff needed to send Mariner and Boimler back.
Victor: I loved that it was Mariner that remembered that tidbit from the museum tour. Boimler was too obsessed with the grapplers. (La’an shares his fascination.)
Pretty much everything in the episode was delightful. I like that SNW takes big swings and they hit most of them.
Mary: Totally! My one complaint was that it was too short lol.
Victor: Yeah, it only clocked in at 48 minutes! Most of these have been 55-60 minutes long this season. We could’ve had another 8 minutes of Pike being exasperated with Boimler and trying to stop his surprise party!
Mary: Right?? Anyway in the end, of course, our Lower Decks crew makes it home… where we learn that Mariner, who didn’t seem to care about the portal, had in fact fought for the assignment so her bestie Boimler could stand in the place where Spock once did. Awwwwww!
Victor: And our Enterprise crew celebrates Pike’s birthday with the Orion Hurricanes that Mariner taught them to make. Only this time they use the Orion liquor they got from the “science” vessel, and it has some unintended side effects. Namely, it turns them into cartoon versions of themselves, causing M’Benga to cry out “What the hell is in this drink?”
Episode Rating: 5 out of 5
Classic Call Back: Honestly, too many to count. The nonstop namedrops from Boimler and Mariner are going to require multiple viewings to catch all of them.
One of the great things about Strange New Worlds is that it truly is an ensemble show, perhaps more so than any past incarnation of Star Trek. The original series made headlines for being a diverse cast, but it was the rare episode that had Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov do a lot more than just say “Aye, Captain.” (Famously, Nichelle Nichols almost quit playing Uhura for this very reason, until a certain civil rights icon convinced her to stick with it.)
On SNW, if your favorite character doesn’t have a lot to do in one week, you can be assured that they’ll soon get a big hero moment or even an entire episode focused on them. Una got court-martialed, Spock got de-Vulcanized, La’an got to time travel and make out with James Kirk, Ortegas got to do some fancy flying through an asteroid field, M’Benga had to navigate the fairy tale version of the Enterprise, Chapel has had to confront her feelings for her crew mate, and now it’s Uhura’s turn.
The Enterprise and the Farragut have been sent to the Bannon Nebula to help get a deuterium refinery online. Deuterium is fuel for the Starfleet ships and the Nebula is on the edge of the Gorn’s space, making this a highly important facility. It’s two months behind schedule, so Temporary Fleet Captain Pike is sending Una Chen-Riley over to whip them into shape, along with Chief Engineer Pelia (Hooray! Let’s get an Emmy for Carol Kane next year, ok?).
Meanwhile, Uhura is hearing a strange drone. At first, she thought it was a transmission from space, but couldn’t find it on the scanners. Pike and the medical team are pretty sure it’s just exhaustion. She’s been working non-stop and not sleeping well, so M’Benga and the rest are pretty sure it’s sleep deprivation, combined with mild deuterium poisoning. But Uhrua is quite sure it’s more than that. She’s seeing vivid hallucinations – Hemmer, the former engineering chief who died last season as a decaying zombie. A field full of black smoke. A hallway in the Enterprise strewn with dead people. – and it is understandably freaking her out. She’s convinced she’s losing her mind.
As for the other ship in the fleet. Trekkers know that the Farragut is the ship James Tiberius Kirk was assigned to before becoming Captain of the Enterprise, which means we get our first in-timeline visit to the bridge by the once and future captain. (The other two episodes were alternate timelines, so, technically, this is his canonical first appearance.) Jim is about to become the youngest first officer in Starfleet history, which rankles his older brother. He’s annoyed that his dad – previous record holder of the youngest First Officer – clearly thinks Jim’s career is going better. It’s never outright stated, but you can read between the lines and guess that Kirk Senior thinks xenobiology is a big ol’ waste of time – like if your kid decided to major in improv comedy. Sam is annoyed that Kirk can’t see that and leaves him to his own devices – which include checking in on Uhura. Unfortunately, Uhura is hallucinating again and knife fighting herself, so she winds up breaking Kirk’s nose. Thankfully, he’s willing to overlook the whole assaulting a superior officer thing, if she lets him help her.
On the refinery, things keep going wrong, and Pelia has discovered that the reason is sabotage. Lieutenant Ramon was trying to blow up the station, and he was also suffering from the same hallucinations as Uhura, only much worse. He is paralyzed by the visions and the drone in his ear is overwhelming. He breaks out of sickbay and tries to jettison the fuel nacelle from the Enterprise, and only the quick thinking of Kirk getting them out in an emergency transport saves Uhura from the subsequent explosion.
This makes Uhura even more certain she’s going crazy, since her hallucinations are intensifying and Ramon’s medical records show he was about a day or two ahead of her. She keeps seeing her dead friend, Hemmer, and more and more vivid and realistic visions, which is making her distraught, and she demads to be confined to quarters lest she also try and blow up the Enterprise. But as she and Kirk go over Ramon’s logs, she has an idea. Since the language centers of Ramon’s brain was being attacked, just like hers, maybe this is someone – or something – trying to communicate with them, but the signal is too strong and it’s making it hard to comprehend.
Our resident xenobiologist Sam thinks that Uhura’s theory could be possible. Interdimensional creatures could be poking their heads through the deuterium nebula and trying to communicate. But then, it’s just a theory. There’s no proof of it. Still, Uhura thinks that because this started when she arrived at the Nebula, and because Ramon tried to blow the deuterium powered fuel nacelle, it must be related to the deuterium. Somehow, processing the raw deuterium into fuel must be hurting them. This is quite the leap in logic. (Was Ramon a communications officer, too? Is that why he was getting the signals? Uhura’s language centers are over-developed because she speaks about 18 languages. What about Ramon? And why only one person at a time? Surely there are other polyglots on board.)
In her visions, Uhura is seeing dead bodies and attacking herself, and she thinks that’s a sign from them that what Starfleet is doing in the deuterium field is hurting them. They call the bridge and tell Pike to not turn on the the refinery, but it’s too late. The refinery went online about five minutes ago.
Uhura races to the bridge and tells the Captain her theory – that refining the deuterium is causing some sentient creatures pain. Pike asks if she’s sure, like super duper sure. and she says yes. Pike then gives the order to evacuate the station and once everyone is clear, he sends it to hell. Uhura gets a vision of Hemmer again, this time serene and nodding and not at all zombified. Really? That’s all it takes for a captain to destroy a refinery? “You’re sure about your hunch? Ok then!”
Now, while it is good to have Uhura getting more to do – and all praise to the wonderful Celia Rose Gooding for her performance this week – I had some problems with the way the story played out. It felt like there were a ton of leaps in logic here. It’s great to see Pike unequivocally standing up for his crew, but after spending an entire episode asking “Is Uhura crazy?” it’s a little strange that Pike immediately decided to blow up the refinery without a shred of evidence. You would think that Sam would’ve created some test or scan on a subspace infrared spectrum that might have detected these sentient deuterium creatures. Then, he could’ve gotten the accolades he feels he deserves, Uhura would’ve been proven right, and Pike could blow up a multi-billion dollar facility with impunity. As it is, we’re kind of going on vibes here. And if this was intended to be an outpost meant to watch out for murderous Gorn, then I highly doubt they’re going to be respectful of the wishes on interdimensional microbes. (And what happened to the Gorn? It was ominously mentioned that the Gorn were on the move at the end of Episode 1 this season and they haven’t been mentioned since.)
Also, what was with the weird sibling rivalry going on between Sam and James? Was Kirk really so oblivious to Sam asking for a little validation? Reading between the lines, it was abundantly clear that their dad, George, favors Jim because he’s the stereotypical version of what a Starfleet officer should be, while Sam is into science. Would it have killed Jim to say something like “we wouldn’t have fixed this without you?” Apparently! I hope they are setting this up to go somewhere in the future, because it just feels badly out of character here.
Also, the whole plot thread where Uhura has to process her trauma about her dead brother and father (that’s what the black smoke in the field was – the shuttle crash that killed them) in order to more effectively communicate with the creatures…not a fan. That all seemed a little too pat and on the nose for me.
Still, that’s one of the hazards when you have to retcon past series, Some things don’t quite sit right.
Episode Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Classic Call Back: How cool was that final shot of Uhura, Jim Kirk, and Spock all sitting together? Makes my Trekkie heart go pitter-pat. And chess hustler Kirk made a reappearance, commenting on Spock blowing a checkmate in two moves because Uhura distracted him.
Next Week: We cross the Trek streams! It’s the long awaited cross-over with Lower Decks, where some sort of temporal rift sends Ensigns Boimler and Mariner from the Cerritos to the Enterprise. It would be terribly unfair of me to review this without the number one Lower Decks fan in the quadrant, so Mary Fan will join me next week.
We open up on Sean (Anthony Atamanuik) and Charmaine (Marissa Jaret Winokur) Rinaldi pitching the Vampire Residence on a gay pride parade. Seanie’s running for the magisterial position of comptroller and Staten Island’s gay community just so happens to be his largest blindspot. Officious Laszlo (Matt Berry) is more than happy to grand marshal the parade with the household, going as far as being insistent on building the float.
The Doll hasn’t yet forgiven Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) about her situation of being 3/4’s automaton. It seems the only thing to make it right as the spirit of pre-vampire Nadja is to inherit her corporeal sister’s body to experience the desires of the flesh. The Guide (Kristen Schaal) knows that body swapping can be handled easy peasy. Nadja’s not cool with it, but come on. Sometimes atoning for one’s sins requires a fuck ton more sinning. That’s just Balancing the Soul 101.
Nandor (Kayvan Novak) has taken notice of Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) being sequestered more with Laszlo on account of his alleged intelligence. He’s just jealous, thinking a man of letters is dogshit compared to one of fearlessness, strength, and drive. What he doesn’t know is that Laszlo is actually running a series of tests on his Familiar. Armed with baby bat wings and the ability to run as fast as he always has, to enjoy garlic, and to lift beakers of liquid with his mind, Guillermo is the most fascinating thing in the house for once to Lasz.
Because tonight is known colloquially as Freaky Friday in spiritual circles, through a scrying ball, The Guide facilitates the swapping of Nadja and her Dolly’s bodies. Nobody in the house cares that they swapped though. Laszlo has a more burning matter at hand and goes to the only repository of vampire mythology he can find: his housemates. From poor sexual performance to vampiric OCD, Nandor’s all too keen on injecting himself in on the fun in the name of science (really, just of Guillermo).
At speed dating, ‘Nadja’ is killing it… and by it, I mean the mood. Her pickup lines are solid like a rock, but nobody’s down to clown. Shit, and I thought her dowry would bring all the boys to the yard. Laszlo and Nandor aren’t really fairing any better back at the house. From falling victim to rice counting to debating about whether a trip to outer space is possible, they’re fighting for Guillermo in two different ways when they should be joining forces as the Lewis & Clark of vampirism. Instead, Nandor decides to go fucking play Spaceman.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Or are they? “Doll Nadja” wants to lay Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch), but I’m not all “gag me with a spoon” by it. Skeptical at first, he concedes to the night, but it’s all for naught. He loves the fucked up nature of it all, but he’ll only go with the actual Doll. What can I say? He’s a romantic at heart. He’s also clever about it. When the Doll refuses to call it a wash, Colin has the idea to go into Nadja’s body to convince the Doll to vacate. This causes a third Nadja, one at her most manic: I’ll call her “Col-Doll”. I love Colin, and though he is a baby even by adult vampire standards, he wasn’t born yesterday. Coaxing the Doll out would keep his fantasy alive and save Nadja. Not coaxing her out would throw some chaos in the mix and in Charlie Kaufman fashion, be romance via homunculus. Either way, it seems a win-win. Or maybe I’m just the asshole being unduly cruel to Colin’s moral compass or lack thereof.
Fascinated by his resistance to Ultra Violet, the only way Laszlo can peel back another layer of the human onion that is Guillermo del la Cruz is to sweat the magic out of him on a treadmill. Once distilled, Laszlo slathers himself in the stuff and lives in the moment by living among the blazing ball of hellfire. He’s out and about. He notices how radiant Seanie appears in the sunlight. He goes to the beach in his summer finery, knocks around the ole ball with some friends before launching that shit into the sea, draws a dick in the sand, and caps the sojourn out by seizing a fish and ultimately, the diem.
Viewing himself in the mirror (!), Guillermo checks on his fangs before Nandor checks in. Informing his Familiar that he’s Going Armstrong gets Guillermo giddy. He’s a smart kid. He knows what’s up. After quoting JFK, with Go-Pro and self-stick, Nandor launches. He hits a few snags, but before you knew it, the ole boy’s done it but before he can metaphorically suck his own dick on two different cameras, victory is short-lived. The dude’s about to be a grilled hotdog upon reentry.
At his comptroller pride party parade, Sean brings out a sunburnt to hell Laszlo. He schmoozes the crowd before throwing it to Nandor, but the guy’s busy being a meteor rocketing toward Staten Island. He brings out Nadja, with Colin making a proper appearance on the other side of her head. I’ll be honest, they can belt out the Weather Girls with the best of ’em. #SquadGoals #Col-Doll
Nandor landing on cue, looking all Marvel’s Legion in the buff kicks off the real party. It’s raining men, women, and children in Staten Island spreading the message of love and unity. Will the Blueshirts ever come back to Staten Island like pre-1926? Who’s to say? What’s important is this moment Seanie should savor and take in with friends and family as they proceed on their gay gambol through the streets of S.I. At first, I was a little sad to see Guillermo relegated to the back of a float with a very simple sign… but once that frown turns upside down, the moment was magical. You see true emotion and glee in his eyes, upon the realization that this is his first official, heartfelt party as a vampire. Fuck that shitty birthday at Colin’s place of employment, fuck all the shitty birthdays leading up to that one. Fuck it all. Among housemates, neighbors, friends, lovers, dreamers, this is Guillermo’s first true birthday as a vampire.
Takeaway
The Anthony Atamanuik cup runneth over! What goat did I fucking slaughter in my sleep to have this gift bestowed unto me? Sean is becoming more of a mainstay this season and I will absolutely not wrangle into question why. I will just absolutely enjoy the crap out of it.
The episode delivered on it what is turning out to be my prediction of Guillermo’s journey being the through-line of the season. They’ve managed to take “pride” in a few of its forms and parade them in front of us. Words themselves in definition are black and white. In practice, they’re more of a mesmeric marbled grey. Pride in people can go many ways, both good and bad. By the end of the episode, however, all I saw was a rainbow, a color palette representing the strong, fearless, and driven (like Nandor) and likewise clever, academic, and curious (like Laszlo). Plus, life’s not black and white, and though intentions may be grey, life isn’t. It’s vibrant, diverse, complex, and beautifully chaotic. Get used to it.
By the way, is Natasia Demetriou’s scintillatingly silly, rubberized comedy performance not only a treat but also a range we’d like to see explored and played with more?
I do love that the show finally made good on a joke that was begging to be out there. “Ants Marching” is goddamn Sade as far as Colin’s concerned and I now want an Official “What We Do In The Shadows Colin’s Boner Jams 2023” playlist. Write your congressmen, people. Or maybe start with your local comptroller and work your way up.
By the time the boisterous night crawl down the street was in full bloom, my heartstrings were a bit tugged. It gave me Danny vibes, and that shit is major praise. Through the morass of trying to reach a community with sexually flexible vampires as his constituents, Sean already won the hearts and minds of his neighborhood.
The mid-credits stinger of the foursome betwixt the carnal knowledge of Col-Doll, Nadja Doll, and hubby Laszlo is chef’s kiss. From Colin wanting a doll to the crew going at it, they went there, and why not? It was the perfect cherry on top to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride.