Walking Dead "Days Gone Bye" Review

Today is Halloween and what better thing to review than a show about zombies?

Thoughts: The Walking Dead is a critically acclaimed and immensely popular zombie survival series on AMC. Virtually everyone has heard about it and millions of people watch it, making it the highest rated series on cable TV. Can a series with that much hype actually live up to the expectations?
While "Days Gone Bye," the first episode of the series, is not the most impressive thing I have ever seen on television, it was certainly a solid start and setup episode that got me intrigued enough to watch three more episodes before the day was done. Since many of the readers have yet watch the series, I will provide ample warning before any spoilers, although there is not a lot to spoiler about the first episode.
The episode starts by introducing the star of the series, Sheriff  Rick Grimes, and his backstory and how he ended up of his situation. As usual with most stories taking place in a world different than our own, there is a character that is new to this situation and he is used as a narrative device so that the audience will know what is happening. Rick is a likable and noble character in a world without laws. The only other character to note is Morgan Jones, however he has yet to reappear in the series and may be just a one time appearance like the comic. The pacing the episode is a tad slow, on the other hand the pacing is necessary since the show has a lot to setup for future episodes.
*Spoiler*
Even though the ending with Jones trying to kill his zombified wife was good, that scene tried a little too hard to "tug at heartstrings" and ended up a little overly dramatic, however the rest of the episode was done very well.
My favorite part of the entire episode though was when Rick traveled to Atlanta and ran into the huge wave of zombies.
*End Spoiler*

Another surprising part about the episode is that it was less gory than I was led to believe, although the series is certainly not recommended for the squeamish. There is obviously a lot of violence and gore in general because this is a show about zombies of course, but I really do not care either way about violence and gore. However, I do stress that the show is not recommended for younger audiences.

Something interesting to note, is that the series is filmed in my home state of Georgia, and while I have never seen the crew actually film, they have filmed in many places that I recognize and I have been, which is cool. Also few movies or TV series actually take place in Georgia and the setting, thus far, is represented fairly accurately.


Genre: Zombie, Survival, Drama, Horror,
Premiere Date: October 31, 2010
Running Time: 67 minutes
TV rating: TV14-TVMA

Action: Even though there was not a ton of zombie killing in "Days Gone Bye," there was enough to keep me entertained and the filming of it was done well.

Acting: Andrew Lincoln as Rick gave a fine performance in a very likeable role. Lennie James as Morgan Jones was excellent as well. Other than those two actors, there were not many others to note.

Production Value/Special Effects: The Walking Dead has a very cinematic feel to the episode and the effects for the zombies were mostly believable. Every Walker (zombie) had a unique look and personality. The only weak aspect from a technical perspective are a few backgrounds that are obviously computer generated.

Soundtrack: While the song at the end was slightly annoying and the rest of the actual soundtrack was forgettable, the main theme is great and perfectly compliments the series.


Overall: 8.2/10- Even though the pilot episode is not the best thing I have ever seen, "Days Gone Bye" introduces the main character and sets up an intriguing zombie apocalypse world.

Closing comments: Having now seen all of season one and part of season two, I have to say that I am hooked and will most certainly continue watching the Walking Dead because it is great thus far.

Note: I have several things to say about the series as a whole, however those thoughts will be reserved to my review of season one.

Recommended for: Zombie fans, Drama fans, Horror fans,

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Agents of SHIELD: Girl in the Flower Dress Review

Thoughts: Yes, I know I say this every week, but Agents of SHIELD yet again improves upon the previous episodes with the "Girl in the Flower Dress" being the best episode the series has to offer. The episode was darker, intriguing, and had excellent action scenes, if only the pilot episode started with a tone like the one in this episode, less people would have been discouraged from watching the series.
*Spoilers*
As for "Girl in the Flower Dress," yeah, it was awesome again. Skye is proving to be one of the best original characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with an intriguing back-story and with newly discovered motivations being that information about her parents was redacted by SHIELD.
One of my favorite parts about the entire episode is how the series avoided the common cliché about the inside person never getting caught until the last episode making all of the others characters look like idiots. However, SHIELD took an entirely different approach when Skye was caught helping her, now former, boyfriend escape SHIELD since Coulson was smart enough to have Agent May follow Skye. Plus it added a fantastic humorous moment to the series when May was standing at the door when Skye was leaving.
Aside from Skye's betrayal and subsequently being caught, the part about the character newly introduced, and subsequently killed off, Chan Ho Yin, aka Scorch, was a great addition to the series. Having some of the episode take place in China was great, although I doubt any of it was actually filmed there, and considering Whedon's affinity for the Chinese language (watch Firefly), it is not surprising. Louis Ozawa Changchien as Scorch did an excellent job in his limited role. The darkness of the character itself was great. When he continued to use his power after he was no longer impervious to flames was a great effect and turned the show towards a darker tone. However, two things that really made the episode for me was the brutal incinerate of Centipede scientist Debbie and Coulson and May killing Scorch. The effects used to burn Debbie alive were rather impressive considering that it is on TV budget and I really liked how the show did not shy away from the violence. Also Coulson ordering Scorch to be put down was almost surprising, but in a good way, because that shows again that Coulson's intentions are always for the greater good unlike some other supposedly "dark" hero. Another great Coulson moment is when he is genuinely pissed off at Skye, and Gregg's serious performance was perfect in that scene. Plus, there was no humor in the scene, which made it much more effective.

"Girl in the Flower Dress" marked two other characters from the comics being introduced, albeit incredibly obscure ones at that. There is a comic book version of Scorch, although he is a mutant and only lasted a couple of issues as a very minor character (picture below). However, he did posses basically the same powers. Raina on the other hand is a bit of an enigma since her character is also mutant but the character looks more like a reptile and is from the Savage Land (picture below). The character bears little resemblance to her comic book counterpart, however that may be subject to change when we discover if Raina has actual powers from the altered Extremis.

Above are both version of Scorch and there are obviously large differences, including the character's real name. However, their powers are basically the same, the only difference being that the comic version is a mutant, which has been confirmed to not exist in this universe.

While I doubt naming the character Raina is a coincidence, but I find naming her after the character above is a bit odd, especially since she has very little significance, other than being featured in the Age of Ultron story in the comics, which the next Avengers film is named after.

Action: Again, the action has improved over previous episodes, featuring some great kills by Scorch.

Production Value/Special Effects: For the record, the fire effects looked a lot better than the Hunger Games, just saying. Considering how difficult making believable flame effects in CGI is, the series did an admirable job. Sure, the effects were not mind blowing but they get the job done.

Comedy: While more serious that earlier episodes, the episode had several humorous moments.

Overall: 9.5/10- "Girl in the Flower Dress" is the best episode Agents of SHIELD has had yet balancing a new character, Skye's betrayal and Coulson's solution to the problem perfectly. Hopefully the series will continue to improve!

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Agents of SHIELD Full Episode 5

How do they do it? Agents of SHIELD is continuing to become an even better show every week! It is almost insane but true. Also they seemed to have finally found their tone, which is considerably darker than the pilot episode. Why did they not start like? More people would have watched it. On other Marvel news, the new Captain American: The Winter Soldier trailer is set to release tomorrow, which I will try and post about.

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Agents of SHIELD: Eye Spy Review

Thoughts: Agents of SHIELD continues to improve with yet another top notch quality episode.

*Spoilers*
"Eye Spy" opens with a surprisingly dark and eerie tone that shows that the series can be dark when it needs to be. Plus, the severed hand was a surprising but nice touch (no I am that sick and twisted).
The episode further explores Coulson's background with the main antagonist being his former protégé Akela. Coulson appears to have mellowed out in his later years since Akela appeared to be surprised by how different he is than before, which I will discuss later. Skye remains one of my favorite aspects of the series with her humorous moments and I like that she did not become a trained killer overnight, which is a common cliché. She is clearly learning, albeit slowly, which is more realistic considering that she is a hacker, not a field agent. Agent Grant is another great part of the show and seeing him fill in for Akela was fun and particularly hilarious in one scene. However, I noticed several times where Grant looked at his hands, which would have blown his cover.
My only problem with the series as a whole is that we really need an entire episode to explore the characters of Fitz and Simmons because they are the characters that have lacked in the character development area. Hopefully that problem will be fixed in the near future.
When the team discussed the possibility of someone having telepathy and saying that it is impossible was basically saying that this universe is 100% separate from the X-Men universe and that mutants do not exist to any extent. However, I find stating that telepathy is “unreasonable” is odd considering all of the other crazy things that have happened, although I suppose science or being an alien from another realm is the way to obtain superpowers in this Marvel Universe. As for Akela's cybernetic eye, it was a cool idea. The team being able to develop glasses that mimic the power will come in handy later on, hopefully the writers will not forget that this episode has ever happened.
The biggest revelation of the episode was Akela's comment asking what has happened to Coulson. Obviously, she used her eye to see through Coulson, which would suggest that Coulson is either a Life-Model-Decoy (basically a robot) or that he has also been cybernetically altered, which brings up another question: what will happen when one the team uses the glasses and happens to look in Coulson's direction? Will they see that something is not normal? Also the introduction of cybernetic enhancements will probably play a large role in the upcoming Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
The ending scene was quite humorous with Fitz attempting to cheat at cards against Grant. A Grant/Skye relationship has been apparent from episode one and I think the two do have chemistry.


Action: The battle between May and Akela was great, even if it was brief. Also Grant infiltration of the complex had some great action moments.

*End Spoilers*

Production Value/Special Effects: While the episode did not have as many special effects as previous episodes, which is probably a good thing, the production value is continually getting better with each episode.

Comedy: As stated above, there are several memorable and humorous scenes in the episode.

Overall: 9.3/10- "Eye Spy" again improved upon the pervious episodes with better chemistry between the actors as well as a hint about what really happened to Coulson.

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Agents of SHIELD Full Episode 4

 

Yet another episode of quality entertainment from Agents of SHIELD. I really think this is the first time that the cast really clicked because the chemistry was so great in this episode. They really seem like a family similar to Firefly. As always, check back Monday for my full review of the episode. Please enjoy and vote on my Reader's Choice post.

 

 

 

 

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Top 35 TV Shows: Part 2: 35-31.

Here is the second part of my Top 35 TV Shows post series. If you watch any of the shows on this list, please comment and let me know. Maybe I will discover that there are some fans of a certain series and I might write full posts about the shows Also note that the list only includes scripted series that originated on TV. Please enjoy and tell me what you think of the list thus far. 

   

At Number 35: Elementary

CBS's recent American adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes has the fans outraged and general audiences captivated, ranking in the top 10 most watched shows of the year. Despite its flaws, Elementary bought something fresh to the crime genre, giving us mostly solid mysteries every week with surprisingly likeable characters. What surprised me most was Lucy Liu as Watson, despite my original skepticism, she turned out to be one of the best aspects of the series. The first season had its ups and downs, but season two is rather impressive and I hope it will continue its quality of storytelling.

Elementary (Sherlock Holmes) Season 1 Review.

 

 

At Number 34: The Andy Griffith Show

Its The Andy Griffith Show, what more needs to be said? Almost everyone has seen it at some point, it is classic television. Sure, the seasons after Don Knotts left never came close to matching the early ones, but the show was hilarious when he was on it. 

 

 

At Number 33: Falling Skies

Despite its writing inconsistency, Falling Skies is undoubtedly has the highest production value and special effects of any sci-fi show on television. Seriously, some of the effects are better than some movies, particularly season three's effects. At times the series can feel as though it is moving at a glacial pace, especially the first season, but it is worth it in the end. Aside from the impressive effects, the show is a well made alien invasion drama and one of the better examples of the alien invasion genre. 

  

 

At Number 32: Justice League Unlimited/Justice League

Both Justice League and the expansion of the series, Justice League Unlimited, take place in the same universe as Bruce Timm's Batman: the Animated Series. Justice League Unlimited is currently the only adaptation to actually bring the JL to life and the way WB is going with the film adaptation, it will be only one for a long time. Since I have not seen it in a while, it ranks a little low, but if I re-watch it would probably rank higher. Plus the opening theme is severely underrated, it is absolutely awesome! 

 

 

At Number 31: Avengers: Earth Mightiest Heroes

 

At first Avengers looked like any other animated comic book series, but it soon became surprisingly mature and focused on excellent character development. Earth's Mightiest Heroes adapted many of the classic comic book storylines with surprising accurately and with a few more seasons the series could have lead to the Civil War storyline the way the story was going. Unfortunately the heavily serialized nature of its great story and Disney's acquisition of Marvel was the show's downfall when it was cancelled after only two seasons.

 

Have you seen any of these shows? Do you like any of them? Please comment below.

 

 

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Agents of SHIELD: The Asset Review

Thoughts: Agents of SHIELD does it again with an even better episode than before. Despite the criticism, I have to say that Agents of SHIELD continues to impress as we gain further insight into the characters' backstories. Also The Asset is the first episode of the series to be based on actual comic book source material, which I will go into more detail about later in the review.
*Spoilers*
The episode opens with some mildly impressive special effects with the cars flipping and the transfer truck being lifted in the air. Scientist Dr. Franklin Hall is captured by unknown enemy force using Gravitonium. In the comics Doctor Hall was a scientist that worked with Gravitonium and in an accident he gained the power to control gravity itself and fought the Avengers and SHIELD. While his origin a sizeable departure from the comics, the story was adapted well enough and considering that Graviton is a B-List villain, Agents of SHIELD is the best place for the character. Seeing him reach out of the Gravitonium orb was cool, albeit not unexpected since I knew about the comics. Also, you may have seen the character in the animated Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes in one of the early episodes.
Clark Greg had even more fantastic scenes in this episode, although he did not mention "Tahiti. It's a magical place" this time. His decision to kill Doctor Hall when there were no other alternatives was a great, and surprising, twist that shows that Coulson will do what needs to be done when necessary.
More information into Agent Grant and Skye's backgrounds were given this episode, and as usual for Whedon characters, they have troubled and conflicted pasts. Grant was bullied by his older brother and Skye was an orphan. Chloe Bennet and Brett Dalton are starting to have great chemistry together. Also I am in the somewhat minority in that I really like Skye as a character. She is actually one of my favorite parts about the series.

Graviton/Dr. Hall and Ian Hart

Action: Again Agents of SHIELD delivers action better than anything else on network television with well filmed hand-to-hand fights and a few shootouts.

Acting: Everyone is great as usual, except Bennet and Dalton where better than before. Ian Hart as Dr. Hall was alright, not bad, but not the best; he played his role well enough.


Production Value/Special Effects: While the opening scene with the cars flipping and the truck being lifted where obviously CGI, the effects where impressive considering the TV budget. Also the room with the changing gravity was a cool effect.

*End Spoilers*

Comedy: Another hilarious episode with several memorable parts. Skye's humorous witticisms where great, especially the part about the gun and her attempting to say something profound but completely botching it. Fitz had a very funny moment as well.

Overall: 9.2/10- Agents of SHIELD continues its upward progression with another fantastic episode showing the series' slightly darker side.

Closing comments: Hopefully the next several episodes will continue to be even better.

The full episode is below if you have not seen it.

 

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Top 35 TV Shows: Part 1

Although television is not a main of focus of this blog, I do watch a lot TV, mostly a mix of fictional, reality and educational TV. This list focuses on my Top 30 favorite fictional/scripted TV series I have ever seen. Television has several advantages and disadvantages compared to movies. TV offers much more time to develop the characters and TV shows can have long story arcs. The disadvantages are the TV shows have a limited budget and they rarely have consistently excellent writing, therefore even the best shows often have weak episodes. Unlike movies, it is much more difficult to start a TV series that everyone loves and thinks you should watch like Breaking Bad or Mad Men, especially since I do not have Netflix or HBO. Therefore there are a lot of popular TV shows that I have yet to watch because I did not start watching them at the series' inception and I almost never start a series any point other than the beginning. In addition, most of the shows that interest me usually end up being cancelled after one or two seasons, which is kind of odd, so a few out of the 30 shows on list are currently airing, albeit some of them are miniseries. In general my favorite type of shows are science fiction, comic book based, classic sitcoms, animated, and based on history, aka, anything geeky. Also, even though some may consider certain animated shows "kid's stuff," they obviously have not seen said show because they are often better than live-action.

To qualify for the list the must have originally aired on television and the list does include miniseries, however due to a miniseries' short length, those shows will, in general, rank lower than longer running series. On a side note, even though web series are not included on this list, The Guild, RWBY, and Video Game High School would definitely make the list. If there are any fans of those series reading this, please let me know. Below are two honorable mentions before I get the list started.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honorable Mention: Star Trek

Because I have not seen much of the Star Trek series since I was a kid, it is difficult to judge where on the list they would rank, therefore I have included them here as an honorable mention. From what I remember, Next Generation was the best and I have seen the most of Voyager and Enterprise, and I am not a fan of the old Trek series. For more of my thoughts on the Star Trek franchise, Click here to read my overview.

 

 

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Sure, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has only just begun, but the show is already a lot of fun. Even though the series has received a mixed response by both fans and critics alike, I love it so far and Iy am sure that the series will make my full list by the end of the first season. By the way, that picture is my desktop background.

 

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Agents of SHIELD: 0-8-4 Review

Thoughts: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. does it again with another fun episode that fixes a few problems I had with the first episode as well as providing some great character development and team building. After the rather polarizing response to last week's pilot, with some viewers and critics, like myself, loving the episode and others being disappointed, Agents of SHIELD has created a large rift between the haters and the fans. As for episode two, despite the smaller scale than last week, it was a lot of fun and arguably better than the pilot. My biggest problem with last week's episode was the cheap looking lighting, which made everything have a low budget TV feel more so than it would have otherwise, however "0-8-4" corrected that for the most part with better darker lighting. Clark Gregg was hilarious and likeable as always as Coulson and the team finally started to work together and build as a team, which was good to see.
*Spoilers Ahead*
The episode opens with the "0-8-4" alert that was mentioned in the last episode, so the team travels to South American. While the Aztec (or was it Mayan) temple looked cheap, the rest of the sets where much better. Getting to hear about some of Coulson's backstory was great as well with him talking to his old flame hinting that Coulson was a "James Bond" of sorts in his younger years. My biggest problem with this episode is that Coulson made a stupid mistake by allowing the members of the army roam free on the SHIELD jet with their guns. Other than that, the episode had great. I liked the camera work in some scenes with the team bickering and the camera spinning around them in typical Whedon fashion. In some ways the episode actually reminded me of Firefly in the way the characters interacted, which was great to see. Melinda May had one of the best lines of the show after the rest of the team would not stop talking, "You talk too much" which was hilarious! Although "0-8-4" is not as loaded with references as the previous episode, there some great ones to Captain American, HYDRA, and the Tesseract, which are cool since the show is continuing to show its importance to the Marvel Universe. There was one minor reference to Serenity when Agent Grant used a Tesseract staff thing that he hit the ground with to knockout the bad guys, which looked a lot like the one Simon used in the opening of Serenity. While I am glad that things are not necessarily as they seem with Skype being revealed to be a double-agent, the fact she is already questioning her loyalty kind of defeats the purpose of it. However, the absolute best part of the entire has to be the freaking Nick Fury cameo! I cannot believe Samuel L. Jackson made an appearance on the show because he is such a high profile actor, but I am glad he did. Him shouting to Coulson that he is “downgrading your a** to a Winnebago” if he screws up the jet again was priceless!
*End Spoilers*

Action: "0-8-4" was more action-packed than the first episode, which was fun. Although I wish more of the actually being hit by bullets was shown, the chase and other hand-to-hand fights where choreographed very well.

 

Acting: Everyone seemed to work better this episode and the actors for Fitz and Simmons where more memorable as separate people than last week. Of course Clark Gregg was great as always.


Production Value/Special Effects: While the temple looked a little corny, the effects where more subdued than last week, which is probably a good thing.

Soundtrack: Again, the score was fantastic, I cannot wait to get my hands on the OST. If anyone knows how I find it, please let me know.

Comedy: Overall, the episode was not as humorous as the first, however there where plenty of laugh-out-loud moments throughout.

Overall: 8.8/10- "0-8-4" is a solid episode in the new series and a good follow-up to the first episode, and I would even go as far to say that "0-8-4" was even better than the first episode.

Closing comments: *Spoiler* I still cannot get out how awesome it was to see Sam L. in the episode, he cameo was reason enough alone to watch it! *End Spoiler*

 

 

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Gotham Commissioner Gordon TV Series

 A Gotham TV series following a young Commissioner Gordon before Batman has been green lit and will air on Fox around this time next year. Unlike most DC comics TV series other than Human Target, Gotham will not air on the CW, where Arrow and the upcoming Flash series air, therefore it is not set in the same universe. While it is not been confirmed, the likelihood of the series taking place in the same universe as the new movies is slim, because Warner Bros. really cannot get their stuff together. As for the show, I am cautiously optimistic because a Gotham about Commissioner Gordon is something I have always wanted to see. In the Nolanverse films, Gordon was one of my favorite characters, I actually liked him more than Batman, and he is a great character in the comics. According to sources, the series will feature famous villains from the comics and I hope that they go with the more comic book style to differentiate itself from the Nolanverse's version, but still have a somewhat grounded setting. One of my main concerns is that this is just a quick cash grab to compete with Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. Regardless, I am going to watch the show. Are you excited for the new show? What are your thoughts?

 

 

 

 

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Pilot Review

Thoughts: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a to live up to. It marks a landmark in television and movie collaboration being Marvel's first TV tie-in into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe that needs to retain the quality of the films that preceded it. It also marks Joss Whedon's return to television. Does the show live up to the extraordinary expectations? Oh yeah, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. delivers everything that was promised and then some. Whedon's humor is present throughout the pilot, as well as an absurd amount of nerdy jokes and references that can make even the most reserved fans giddy. Because a few readers may not have seen the episode yet, my review will have spoiler warning if anything beyond very basic plot points are revealed. However, if you have not seen it, scroll down to the bottom of the page where I have the full episode posted, unfortunately it only works for North American viewers, unless you have a IP changer to make it appear as though you live here. Also, try this link and see if it will work. I am not sure since this is from ABC.

The pilot episode sets up the new team of already likeable characters including fan-favorite, Agent Phil Coulson, who is even more likeable and humorous than before. Just the fact that Clark Gregg will be receiving significantly more screen-time than before is great, but the rest of the show delivers as well. Even though the series has only introduced the audience to a few of the supporting characters, we were given plenty of information to get the basics of who each of them are. Obviously, as the series progresses, more will be revealed about the characters. Although the production value is obviously lower than the movies, the tone was spot on with the movies. Except for the slightly TV look, the Agents of SHIELD captures what made the Avengers amazing, albeit on a small scale. Despite my absurdly high expectations, the episode satisfied me on every level as a fan. However, casual viewers should enjoy the series as well.

*Spoilers*
After the show opens showing how the world has changed since the Battle of New York in the Avengers, it introduces us to new "problem of the week" character, Mike Peterson, a guy that apparently has the powers of super-strength and durability. Peterson is an original character for the series and is not one from the comics, however he does share some similarities with the characters that where given powers by the villain known as The Power Broker.
The lone wolf character of the SHIELD team, Agent Grant Ward, is introduced in a fun action scene that shows off Whedon's tremendous ability to blend multiple tones into a seamless product. Ward actually reminds of the character Jayne Cobb from Firefly in that he is a tough guy that prefers forceful methods, which hilariously clashes with Coulson's more reserved ideals.
Cobie Smulders reprises her role as Maria Hill in a cameo role. Since Smulders' show, "How I Met Your Mother" is in its final season, maybe she will have a more recurring in the series. Also Firefly vet, Ron Glass, makes a brief and welcome appearance as a doctor.
A short dialogue sequence apparently reveals how Coulson survived being "killed" by the "Asgardian Mussolini." However, after Coulson leaves, Hill and Dr. Streiten say something about how Coulson must never discover how he actually survived, so his survival is still a mystery.
Coulson's car, Lola, is revealed to be a flying car at the end of the episode, which is actually just like the flying cars that SHIELD used in the 60s and 70s comics and it was awesome!
There are so many hilarious and memorable scenes and quotes through the episode, which is a trademark of Whedon it would seem. The episode was loaded with references to the other films like the reference to Romanoff's (Black Window) scores in espionage. What surprised me is how many tie-in there are to the movies. The main plot point of the episode included aspects of the Super Soldier Serum, Gamma-rays, Chitauri tech, and Extremis from Iron Man 3. Among the other nerdy things referenced are, Cosplay, Harry Potter, and Terminator, which where very humorous. However, my favorite just might be Skye's quote about great power: "With great power... comes a ton of weird crap that you are not prepared to deal with." When she first started saying the line I was almost shocked that they could the famous line from Spider-Man, but her funny twist made me laugh hysterically.
The only negatives I noticed was Peterson's line, "No, its an origin story," which could have been delivered better by the actor, although breaking the fourth was funny.
*End Spoiler*

While I will go into further detail in a future posts about each character, I say that they where all fun and had chemistry. In short, Skye was funny and likeable, Grant played Coulson's opposite well, Melinda May has a cool mystery about her character, and Fitz and Simmons are fun characters that act like twins with all their techno jargon.

For my Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. reviews, I am changing my usual review format slightly. Instead of giving actual values to the individual aspects of the series, I will just discuss that aspect.

Action: There was one fun fight scene early in the episode with Grant, and compared to most TV fight scenes, it was very well done. The other brief action scenes where well done, however I doubt this is the best action we are going to see.

Production Value/Special Effects: The special effects are the only drawback to the entire episode. The opening scene looked a little cheap, particularly the superpowered guy climbing the way. Later in the episode however, the effects where much improved, even though they no where close to movie quality, which is to be expected. Also the sets look about on par with that of the other SHIELD things we have seen in the past.

Soundtrack: Although an official soundtrack has yet to be released, I really enjoyed the themes used during the show. They reminded me a little of the Avengers' soundtrack and I want to be able to buy the full soundtrack.

Humor: Joss Whedon is the king of perfectly placed humor and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is no exception; the humor is its strongest asset. There are so many quotable lines in one episode, it is ridiculous!

Note: Since this is the pilot for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and there are no other episodes to compare it to, my rating is compared to other TV pilots, to which Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has no equal.

Overall: 10/10- Despite lower production value than the movies, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has the making of everything needed for an awesome Joss Whedon TV series. It was hilarious, filled with likeable characters, and had a healthy dose of geeky awesomeness, what more could you ask for in a pilot? Without a doubt, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is the best pilot episode of a series I have seen in a long time, maybe ever.

Closing comments: If you have seen the Avengers, have any slight interest in Joss Whedon's work or want watch something immensely entertaining, do yourself a favor and watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Recommended for: Avengers fans, Whedon fans, Everyone, Comic book fans, TV fans, Fan of entertainment,

 

If the video below does not work, try the link here, which will take you to ABC.com.

Here is the full episode if you have yet to see it (refresh the page if it is not working). 

 

 

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Death Note Review.

Thoughts: Death Note is a critically acclaimed psychological fantasy thriller anime. In general, Japanese anime is not my favorite. Other than the Iron Man anime I have yet to actually finish any anime series or film, until Death Note. Even though I did expect Death Note to be good, it took me by surprise because the series was amazing! One of the best televisions series I have ever seen.
The premise is that a brilliant high school senior Light Yagami finds a "Death Note" dropped by a Shinigami (basically a Japanese Grim Reaper). The Death Note has the power to kill anyone whose name is written in the note, however writer of the Death Note must know the person's real and face to actually kill someone. After Light discovers the power of the note he uses to "create his perfect world" by killing every criminal that is broadcast on TV and basically anyone who breaks the law. To catch "Kira," name given by the public to the mysterious killer of criminals, world's greatest detective "L" takes on the task of trying to catch Kira and then possibly the greatest battle of wits ensues. L vs. Light/Kira is one of the best rivals I have ever seen; it is the ultimate game of cat and mouse as each one tries to discover the others secrets. As to not spoil any plot points, which is imperative to enjoying the series, I will not say more about the storyline other than it is amazing and original. A big thanks goes to Stilwater at In the Shade of My Wide-Brimmed Hat for recommending Death Note in her Anime post. After starting the series last Sunday or Monday I watched it obsessively until Thursday when I finished the entire. The show had me hooked after only two episodes and I could not wait to see what happened in the next episode. Fortunately the entire series has been uploaded to YouTube and I will post it below so that you can watch it.


The Good: Shocking plot twists throughout, Extremely suspense, Unique characters, Near perfect first 24 episodes, Excellent voice cast, Well developed characters, Thought provoking, Morally ambiguous, Superb animation, Epic soundtrack, Mostly satisfying conclusion, Intelligent writing, Always keeps you guessing, One of the greatest rivalries ever,

The Bad: Last few episodes were lacking,



Plot: 9.9/10- Although Death Note is a relatively short series only consisting of 37 episodes, the first 25 are masterpieces of suspense and intrigue. Most episodes are engaging at a psychological level because the viewer is trying to figure things out as the series goes along with all its shocking plot twists and turns. The concept, albeit it slightly ridiculous to some, was incredibly original and well paced. Death Note relies heavily on suspense and man is it suspenseful! There where moments when my heart was literally pounding due to the level tension waiting for what would happen next. Throughout the series there are times where the audience hears the thoughts of both Light and L trying to out match other, and it worked brilliantly to convey the battle wits between the characters. Both Light's and L's characters are well developed and surprisingly likeable. It is almost difficult to determine which of the two is the real protagonist, although Light is the true star of the series. Also the story contains themes of "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" because with the Death Note's power Light develops a "god complex" thinking himself as above humanity and therefore fit to rule mankind as he sees fit. Unfortunately, Death Note does not keep this stoke of brilliance throughout the entire series, after episode 26 the show starts to take a drop in quality. However, it is still an excellent show and I found it enjoyable since I was already invested in the characters.

Action: N/A- Other than a ton of death, there is not much action.


Acting: 9.9/10- Superb English dub all around for the series and all the lines translated well and never felt miss placed, except for a few text errors later in the series. Brad Swaile gives an excellent performance as Light/Kira, he voices the role perfectly. Alessandro Juliani as L was even better as a eccentric detective, being the real standout of the show. While some anime fans prefer the original Japanese dub, I highly recommend watching the English dub because the voice acting is fantastic.

Art Style: 10/10- Normally anime's style is off putting to me, however Death Note's animation was amazing. It seems that in most anime when characters are talking, only the mouths of the characters actually move, which I find odd, however Death Note's style seemed more fluid than others. Despite this, in typical anime fashion, there were a few scenes that over-the-top dramatic to the point where it was almost laughable, however those scenes worked surprising well.

Soundtrack: 10/10- The music ranged from epic orchestral music to detective investigating type themes, all of which is perfect for the series. The epic music makes seemingly mundane things feel epic. The opening theme in earlier episodes is quite good, even though I have no idea what it is saying, however the later episode's "Death Metal" opening is annoying. All it is garbled screaming! Fortunately, it is never used in the show.

Comedy: 6.8/10- While far from comedy, Matsudo, Misa, and L can quite humorous at times.


Overall: 9.8/10- Death Note is one of the most original and suspenseful televisions show I have ever seen, and the first anime series that I actually enjoyed throughout. It is smart and always keeps you guessing with many plot twists and turns.

Closing Comments: From someone who does not normally enjoy anime, I have to say that I recommend Death Note to anyone old enough that wants to watch some awesome and smart television. Even if you are not an anime fan or you have never been seen anime before, Death Note is a perfect place to start.

Recommended for: Psychological Thriller fans, Fantasy fans, Crime genre fans, Suspense fans, Supernatural genre fans, Thriller fans, Anime fans, Animation fans, Fans of good television,

Next on my anime endeavor will be the popular Cowboy Bebop. If you also watch anime please recommend me some series to watch, preferably sci-fi or something along the lines of Death Note.

Below is the entire series uploaded to YouTube, except for episode 5, which you can watch part 1 here and part 2 here. Warning, the show is occasionally violent, although I never found any more violent than a PG-13 movie.



Click here to check out more of my movie reviews.

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Doctor Who Season 7 Review: Part 2.

Here is the continuation of my Doctor Who Season 7 Review, click here to read part 1.

The Bells of Saint John: The actual start to second half of the season re-introducing Clara again because of what happened in the previous episode. The Bells of Saint John was pure fun! Nonstop adventure with Matt Smith at his wacky best.
Rating: 9.7/10

The Rings of Akhaten: While not bad compared to most shows on television, The Rings of Akhaten might just be the worst Matt Smith episodes of his run as the Doctor. Why so much singing gibberish! However, the Doctor speech was excellent at the end and Clara had some more development.
Rating: 6.2/10

Cold War: Basically this episode was Alien mixed with The Hunt for Red October and it worked out brilliantly. Cold War had a perfect combination of suspense and humor, plus there were some good fun with the TARDIS' language translator.
Rating: 9.5/10

Hide: Considering that I have an interest in both real paranormal investigation and the hilarious Ghostbusters movie, I loved this blast of creepy fun. We learn more about some "wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey... stuff."
Rating: 9.7/10

Journey to the Center of the TARDIS: This is one of the few times where we get a chance to see the inside of the TARDIS, which could have been disappointing, yet it was very satisfying. *Spoiler* When first watching it, the ending making everything in the episode never actually happen was kind of disappointing, until Clara remembered during "The Name of the Doctor". So in the end, the episode was better in retrospect. *End Spoiler*
Rating: 9.4/10

The Crimson Horror: Neither the best nor worst of the season, The Crimson Horror was a solid entry focusing on Vastra and Jenny but so much Vastra this season? Doesn't the present of humanoid lizard lady kind of screw up time? Again, Strax was great, one of the best background characters of the series. Some of the episode was a little too corny for my taste compared to other episodes, but it had its moments.
Rating: 8.3/10

Nightmare in Silver: *Minor Spoiler* Except for the "Easy Button" ending, *End Spoiler* the episode was quite fun and entertaining. Unfortunately the presence of child actors almost always make thing worse, even if they were not nearly as bad as I originally expected. It was good Warwick Davis is another role though and Clara really had a chance to shine.
Rating: 9.3/10

The Name of the Doctor: To sum up the episode up in two word *Mind Blown*. Matt Smith had his A-game on for the episode and Jenna-Louise Coleman was so amazing. A perfect and satisfying conclusion to the mystery of the "Impossible Girl", "The Name of the Doctor" did just about everything right for a thrilling finale, even if it did leave me with more questions than answers.
Rating: 9.9/10

*Major Spoilers* The scene where Clara enters the Doctor's time-stream gives me chills every time, one of the best moments in Doctor Who history. *End Spoiler*

Clara Oswin Oswald: The Impossible Girl

 

 

 Despite my original skepticism, I absolutely adored Clara! How can she be so perfect! At first I was thinking "How could Amy and Rory ever be replaced, they were the best" but Clara basically made me forget they were ever gone. By the "Cold War" episode I was beginning to think she might already one of the best companions the Doctor has had and by the finale she taken the number one spot as my favorite companion. She is spunky and clever and had dynamite chemistry with the Doctor. I love her accent and wit. Everything about her character is just so well done, hopefully she will stay on for the duration of Matt Smith's run as the Doctor, as of now, I cannot get enough of her. On an irrational note, Clara may be the most attractive companion yet. 

"The soufflé isn't the soufflé, the soufflé is the recipe."

 

Soundtrack: 10/10- Hands down Doctor Who has the best soundtrack on television! The many variations of the "I am the Doctor Who" were incredible, one of my all-time favorite themes in any of its incarnations. "Clara's Theme" was positively beautiful, perfectly capturing the character's innocence and other traits.

Overall: 9.7/10- Not the best Doctor Who season, but it was back to more of the classic fun adventure that made Doctor Who so entertaining to watch.

Closing comments: Season 7 reminds yet again why Doctor Who is the best show on television.

Have you seen Season 7? Do you plan to watch it soon? What did you think of Clara? Please comment below.

 

If you want to contact us or have any questions please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

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Elementary (Sherlock Holmes) Season 1 Review.

Thoughts: Elementary is an American adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories that aired on CBS and features some large differences with the original source material, namely Watson being a woman. If you read my review for the pilot episode, which you can click here to read, I was extremely skeptical about said change and the series in general. To my surprise however, both Watson and the series were great. The majority of this review is spoiler-free and I will give due warning before any real spoilers are stated.
At first the series appeared to be just another procedural crime drama like other thousands of clichéd ones on network television today however, after several episodes it quickly separated its self of the pack with better characters and more likeable characters than most other shows and some good mysteries. While there were some mysteries that could not be solved from the audience's perspective, others were well written mysteries with just enough information given to solve it, although a few were kind of obvious. The first thing anyone watching the series should know is that Elementary is not a good adaptation in terms of being faithful to the source material. The problem is that the series does not resemble Sherlock Holmes compared to the source material (according to a knowledgeable friend) and only uses characters' names and a few aspects of said characters to make people want to watch it. While I have not read many of the stories (one to be exact and it was a very long time ago), I know someone who has read every Holmes story written by Doyle and I have read many posts by super-fan and fellow blogger Buddy2Blogger. Also I have always been a fan of many Sherlock adaptation and I have seen the recent films, BBC's Sherlock, many of the old Bail Rathbone films and a few other. However, I do plan to read "A Study in Scarlett" at some point later this year whenever I have the time.
Because this is a review of the series as a whole, any statements made are referring to combination of all episodes, for example Jonny Lee Miller's performance was excellent for the most part, yet there were a few episodes where he was not on his A-game. Now a look at the characters:

Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes: Miller's take on the character has a few of the same qualities as the many previous incarnations of the Great Detective and he brings something new to the table. His mannerisms are probably the best aspect of his performance. Miller is a lot of fun to watch as the, he delivers his dialogue with wit and often good comedic timing during some scenes. His chemistry with Lucy Liu as Watson is great and it is refreshing to see a non-romantic relationship between a man and woman, hopefully it will stay that way. A big topic of the show is how Sherlock is a recovering drug addict and Watson is his "sober companion" for several months. My biggest problem with his portrayal is not necessarily Miller's fault as it is the writers'; Holmes is a womanizer and with the except of the deceased Irene Adler, he is only interested in the physical aspect of relationships. Fortunately this is only covered to much extent in the a few episodes, particularly the pilot and "The Deductionist". Something else that will probably annoy fans is that Holmes becomes emotionally compromised, which interferes with his deduction abilities, contrary to the source material.

Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson: Yes, I know that I said making Watson a woman was a terrible idea but it actually turned out surprising well. She was one of the best parts of the series. Keeping somewhat to the source material, Joan Watson is former surgeon who became a "sober companion" for reasons later explained as the series progressed. Unlike many of the Watsons that have been portrayed in other mediums, Liu's version is much more useful and becomes a capable detective later in the series. Her banter with Holmes is often quite humorous and Miller is usually at his best when acting off of Liu.

Aidan Quinn as Captain Tobias "Toby" Gregson: Typically in most Sherlock Holmes adaptation Inspector Lestrade works with Holmes as his conduit to the law, in this version however, Aidan Quinn as Captain Gregson plays in a similar role. Gregson has a history with Holmes when the two were back in Scotland Yard and Holmes was working as a consultant. Quinn gives a solid performance as a typical New York cop. Captain Gregson is loosely based on a character mentioned in "A Study in Scarlett" (thanks Buddy2Blogger for the info).

Jon Michael Hill as Detective Marcus Bell: Bell is Gregson's assistant and often conflicts with Sherlock's theories, especially early on in the series. While there are a few episodes were he is given some character development, Detective Bell is mostly a background character. Bell is not a character from the Sherlock Holmes cannon, however he is named after Joseph Bell, who is credited as inspiring the character of Sherlock Holmes (thanks Buddy2Blogger again for the info).

Natalie Dormer as Irene Adler: As it is revealed early on in the series, Irene was murdered by the mysterious Professor M and is only shown in flashbacks.

There are two main opinions of Elementary. 1: The fan for the most part, absolutely hate it or at least dislike it. 2: Many of the critics opinion ranges from good to fantastic, but in general critics the reviews are positive. Being a critic, I believe the show to be very good and definitely worth a watch and among the scripted show I watch on network TV, it is the best. Also the series is often in the Top 10 most viewed shows every week and it has already been renewed for another season.


Overall: 8.2/10- As with any TV series, not all episodes are fantastic, more often than not however, Elementary is an excellent mystery series with good use of humor and entertaining characters.

Closing comments: Basically, if you are a fan of the source material you will probably dislike it, however I recommend you give it a shot if you are the least bit interested and if you are not a fan or just enjoy good TV it is definitely worth watching.

Thank to Buddy2Blogger for answering my questions about the Sherlock Holmes source material. If you are a Sherlock Holmes fan I recommend checking out his blog, just be careful of spoilers in his recent Elementary reviews.

If you want to contact us or have any questions please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

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Doctor Who Season 7 Review: Part 1.

Doctor Who season seven started with the last few episodes of companions Amy and Rory and gave them proper send off. It is hard to believe that the season is actually finished, it seems as though it was yesterday that the series started back up, but I guess time flies when watching everyone's favorite time traveler. Because few of the readers have actually seen this season of Doctor Who, this review will be spoiler-free. It is, by far, my favorite TV show of all-time and I have been a fan since the series began back in 2005 and if you have not seen the series I highly recommend watching it. Basically I will give my opinion on each of the episodes from this past season with a rating as well as my opinion of new companion Clara.

Note: It is very difficult to rate these Doctor Who episodes. With the exception of one episode, Doctor Who is consistently better than every other TV series that I watch, so the scores are a combination of relative to other Doctor Who episodes and TV in general. In the words of the Doctor: "People assume that rating stuff is a strict progression of cause to effect. But actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey... stuff." Are you a little lost? "It got away from me, yeah." (Doctor Who fans should get the reference)


Asylum of the Daleks: Season seven opened with a bang! The Amy/Rory sub-plot could have been better but Jenna-Louise Coleman as Clara gave a decent first impression, although her performance did not give me much reason to be excited for her return. The ending was spectacular and made for a shocking finale!
Rating: 9.7/10

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship: "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship!" Surprisingly the effects for the dinosaurs were better than the show "Terra Nova", which was all about dinosaurs. Mark Williams was humorous as Rory's father and Amy and Rory were fun and adventurous as always. While nothing profound, "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" was a blast of fun and excitement.
Rating: 8.6/10

A Town Called Mercy: Unless I am forgetting something, this is the first time a Doctor Who episode has had a western setting. The episode was slightly underwhelming compared to my expectations, yet still had an entertaining story with a satisfying ending.
Rating: 8.5/10

The Power of Three: For whatever reason my memory of this is a tad foggy, although I do remember enjoying it overall.
Rating: 8.6/10

The Angels Take Manhattan: A saddening end to my favorite two companions. Some of the "wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey... stuff" could have made a little more sense. For my full review please click on the link below.
Rating: 9.7/10
Doctor Who The Angels Take Manhattan Review.

The Snowmen: While not the best Christmas special, it was a fun Christmas adventure nonetheless. This episode re-introduced Jenna-Louise Coleman as Clara Oswin Oswald. Although she was a fun character, Clara did not win be over at this point. The problem with this episode was one that I had with a few other episodes this season, too much Madame Vastra and Jenny. I do not know why but their characters annoy me, maybe it is just Jenny's voice, however Strax was hilarious!
Rating: 8.5/10

 

 

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