Year of the Gargoyle!

Well, 2014 has been around for a bit, and it's not been TOO obnoxious thus far. Furthermore, Chinese New Year has been around for a few days, and it also doesn't seem all that bad. But it's not the Year of the Horse, like everyone is saying. No, no...

It's the Year of the Gargoyle.

That's right- in October 2014, Disney's Gargoyles will be celebrating it's 20th Anniversary. So, to commemorate, all my posts in 2014 will  be Disney-centric, focusing on Gargoyles, other Disney films that skew towards geeks and nerds, Marvel, Star Wars, and other things.

In the meantime, what can YOU do to celebrate? Here's a list...

1) BUY THE DVD'S!- Season 2, Volume 2 is now available after a wait of nine years, so now is the perfect time to get caught up. Furthermore, these are the unedited, original broadcast versions, so that's awesome. And if you haven't gotten the previous installments yet, what are you waiting for? After you buy and watch and enjoy, go to Disney Movie Rewards; every Disney DVD has a code that you redeem for points that can be used for neat swag. This also lets Disney know that people are buying them.

2) Take to Social Media!- Talk about how much you love Gargoyles on your Tumblrs and Twitters and Facebooks and share! Use the hashtag #Gargoyles20.

3) Show your love!- Do something fun? You like fanfiction? Write some Gargoyles fanfiction. Are you an artist? Draw some Gargoyles! Planning a trip to one of the Disney Parks? Take some of your Gargoyles merch and snap some pictures. Bonus points if you get one with one of the characters down there, like so....

Yes, I took Gargoyles comics to Walt Disney World with the sole intention of getting a picture of Belle reading them. You will never be that geeky.

So, stay tuned, and let's make 2014 the year that Gargoyles "LIVE AGAIN!"

Five Stages

In this era of media proliferation, it's easy to miss news. After all, when all you hear is hubbub about whether or not Christine O'Donnell is a witch (she says she's not, but really, isn't that EXACTLY what a witch would say if caught?), you tend to enter a fugue state.

So, perhaps it's absolutely reasonable then that I missed some sad news. The third season of Batman: The Brave and the Bold will be it's last.

Here is what I went through upon learning this news. By posting it, I hope you readers will be able to cope easier than I did.

Denial: "What? Why? It's a successful, critically acclaimed show! People love it! I love it! Why would they do it?!?"

Anger: "Because Warner Brothers are jerks, that's why! I'll give them a piece of my mind!!!"

Bargaining: "Better yet, I'll see what I can do to spread awareness of the show! I'll post links on my blog, drive up sales... There's no way WB will let it die then!"

Despair: "Except, that really didn't work with Gargoyles, did it? I'm STILL waiting for Disney to release Season 2 Volume 2! WB will probably pull the same kind of nonsense, meaning I'll never see 'Mayhem of the Music Meister' on DVD!"

Acceptance: "Hmmm... When's the Young Justice cartoon start?"

An EVENTFUL post....

Last week, I commented on the pilot episode of NBC's The Event. I was brief, but critical; I felt it left a lot to be desired. It was slowly paced, and the numerous flashbacks seemed obtrusive and poorly integrated into the plot. With that in mind, I watched this week's episode, expecting to be disappointed again.

What happened was that my expectation of disappointment was itself disappointed, as this week's installment was a marked improvement over last week. The pacing was up, secrets were actually revealed which lead to more questions (whereas last week, the only question arising was, "What the **** was that?"), and overall, it felt like things HAPPENED; the plot felt like it had achieved substantially more advancement than it had last week. The flashbacks were still there, but, for the most part, they seemed more essential to this week's narrative. There are still some rough spots, to be sure, but it seemed like the producers of The Event got their act together in a very short amount of time.

Of course, the big thing about this week's episode is the reveal in the middle. Now, many internet users have already leaked it weeks before the show's debut, so don't read what's in these parentheses if you haven't watched any of it yet and would like to (Those people in the prison camp? They're ALIENS! Dun-dun-DUNNN!!!).

Anyway, I knew that reveal would come, but I'm frankly surprised they unveiled it so soon; judging from last week's episode, I had thought they'd drag it out a LOT longer. Now, there are still more questions that need to be answered, and I do wonder how long they can maintain the premise before it runs out of steam, but overall, if The Event can continually deliver like they did tonight, I think NBC has a solid addition to it's Monday Night Line-up.

As an aside, this post marks the beginning of my blog's Hundredth Post Countdown Spectacular. Only nine posts left until I reach triple digits!

Brave and the Bold Wishlist

So, this musical clip from an upcoming episode of Batman: The Brave & the Bold has been making the rounds. This clip only proves that B&B is the best Batman take in YEARS.

However, it caused me to wonder: the past two seasons have been so great, what could they do to top it if (God willing) they get a third season. Many of the characters that I've wanted to see have made it into the show already. Captain Marvel? Check. Woozy Winks? Check. Detective Chimp? CHECK.

Still, while they've put in many, MANY characters, there are still some guest stars I'd like to see. What follows is my list of Top Ten Characters I'd Like to See in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

10) The Batmen of Many Nations- These guys are somewhat obscure, but it'd be cool. Basically, the Batmen are costumed crimefighters from other countries that admire Batman. DC's Knight and Squire are the most obvious, but there are guys from Russia, Japan, and China, too. I'd like to see a little international flair come to Batman.

9) The Wonder Twins- If you have to ask about this one, then you clearly haven't read my blog enough. It should come as no surprise that I ADORE Zan and Jayna. I once wrote a philosophy paper where I use the Wonder Twins to illustrate a certain principal of Hindu thought.

Granted, Alex Ross can make anything look cool.

8) Captain Atom- But only if they get Greg Weisman to write the episode.

7) Swamp Thing- It used to be that Swamp Thing had quite a high media profile. He had a movie, a live-action tv series, and an animated series. But in the past few years, Swamp Thing has all but vanished from mass media. Now, when kids think of an ambulatory mass of vegetable detritus, they'll think of Man-Thing which, considering the SyFy original movie made of him, is unfortunate. Let's have Swamp Thing return to television, before it's too late. This message brought to you by the Swamp Thing Awareness Foundation.

6) Batman Beyond- Terry McGinnis kicks ass. Plus, he'd be a natural lead-in for the next group...

5) Legion of Super-Heroes- Brave & The Bold takes many cues from the Silver Age of Comics, and few comics reflect the sensibilites of that time period more than the Legion. Have Batman travel in time (perhaps with Booster Gold) and meet Karate Kid (not the Ralph Macchio one).

Not this one, either.

4) Dial H for Hero- Another very Silver Agey character. For those who don't know, the basic premise is that a young kid has this alien doohickey that looks like an old rotary phone dial. By dialing HERO, said youngster is turned into a random superhero. Now, it's similar to Captain Marvel/ Billy Batson, but I think the writing staff could come up with a way to work it in.

3) Mr. Terrific II- He's very similar to Batman, but he's more sociable. Also, he's awesome.

2) Wonder Woman- I honestly don't think there's really been a good Batman/ WW story. True, some writers, like Joe Kelly and Bruce Timm's staff, have toyed with them dating, but that always struck me as lazy. I'd like to see a well thought out story that shows the differences and similarities in personality without falling into the romance cliche.

1) Superman- They need to do at least one team-up with the Man of Steel. Or, if that's overplayed, have one of Superman's supporting cast show up so you can still touch on the Superman/ Batman dynamic in a new way. Jimmy Olsen or Steel are two characters that come to mind. At the very least, I want to see a Mxyzptlk/ Batmite or an Ace the Bathound/ Krypto team-up.

New TV Season, Part 3

Big Bang Theory (CBS)- Ah, yes. I'd never really watched this show before, despite how awesome all my friends told me it was. After all, it used to air on Mondays, and there was always something else to grab my attention- pro wrestling, Chuck, Heroes, shows on Cartoon Network, etc. Now it's on Thursday nights, so there's nothing preventing me from watching it.

This show is GENIUS in how insidious it is. On the surface, it appears to be nothing more than your typical formulaic sitcom that CBS has been trying so hard to resurrect. However, I'd say it's target audience is NOT formulaic sitcom fans. All the jokes are aimed towards nerds! Jokes about Star Trek, comics, etc. The season premiere even featured this gem- "How does Aquaman poop?"

The premise is that a bunch of nerds live together and there's a hot blonde who lives next door. Hijinx, predictably, ensue. And you know what, it works. Sitcoms have had nerds before, but usually they've been on the periphery. They show up, a joke is made about pocket protectors, and then the standard jokes about how men like football and women like shopping resume. BBT takes a hard look about how it is to be a nerd living in society. And they're NOT portrayed as losers; they're generally pretty happy about their lives. Brilliant.

**** My Dad Says (CBS)- One would think this would be a good show for nerds. It's based on a blog, and of the two leads, one was a villain on Chuck and the other is William Shatner. Needless to say, I was looking forward to it. After five minutes, I was looking away from it, disgusted.

**** My Dad Says IS totally a formulaic sitcom. Shatner is basically Archie Bunker, and every word or act is merely a set-up so he can say something that's shocking, offensive or (in theory) funny. Bleh! You know what sums up the show? This...

"It STINKS!"

Fringe (Fox)- I never watched Fringe before, but I'd heard some good things about it, so I decided to check out the season premiere. The premise was that a group of FBI people check out weird happenings using fringe science and solve them. Now, there's some kind of cold war with an alternate universe. It was entertaining enough, but if you haven't seen it before, it's not the easiest to follow.

The Good Guys (Fox)- This show debuted last May, but no one said anything, so I'm sure there were a few people who thought last night's episode was the first. Anyway, it's pretty easy to get into.

Bradley Whitford plays Dan Stark, an 80's cop who still acts like it's the 80's. His partner, Bailey, is a by-the-book type fellow. Together, THEY FIGHT CRIME. It's a silly, mostly enjoyable, action-comedy spoof. It still feels like the producers and writers are trying to find their groove, style-wise; I feel they could've gone a bit more over the top. Still fun though.

Also, TNA's Matt Morgan guest-starred as a large, violent criminal, which is what pro wrestlers usually get cast as. Still, I certainly believed that Morgan was a large man who could kill me with his bare hands, so he at least nailed the character.

New TV Season, Part 2

Hawaii Five-O (CBS): It wouldn't be a new tv season without a rehash of a beloved show, and yet no one has tried to revamp Airwolf. Shameful. Anyway, as the original was inspired some of our generation's finest minds, including Mick Foley and Conan O'Brien, I decided to give this a shot.

The Bad- Oh, man, the two leads take every play out of the TV cop cliche handbook. McGarrett, a man seeking to bring the man who killed his father to justice, is a loose cannon. He doesn't like the system, he doesn't like the governor who gave him the authority to go outside the system, and he doesn't like his new partner who he himself picked. Meanwhile, Dan-O, an East Coast cop who moved to the Big Island to be closer to his daughter, appears to have gone to the Lenny Brisco Police Academy. He's sarcastic, talks a lot, and has a psychotic ex-wife. Together, McGarrett and Dan-O run the gamut of the TV/ Movie Police Range of Emotions, running from dislike, to grudging respect, to friendship. Together, they form a team of police force outcasts who are Hawaii's only hope of ousting corruption from the island. Meh.

There's also a decided lack of pompadours. What the hey?

The Good- Daniel Dae Kim is in this, and he's, as expected, awesome. At one point, he smacks a suspect across the face with an ash tray. James Marsters also plays the pilot episode's villain, but he's only in it for five minutes. Finally, they kept the original theme song, more or less unchanged.

Undercovers (NBC): This show would probably win the Most Hyped Show of the Season if The Event didn't exist. The ads have usually taken one of two forms.

Ad One- "From JJ Abrams, the man who brought you such JJ Abrams programs as JJ Abrams' Alias, JJ Abrams' Lost, and JJ Abrams' Fringe, as well as the visionary who brought you JJ Abrams' Star Trek (but not Cloverfield; let's just pretend that didn't happen), comes the most JJ Abrams-est series in at least 3 months!"

Ad Two- This ad consists of nothing but the word "sexpionage" ad nauseum. You'd think it was some lame word invented by a marketing exec, but no! They actually use that word six or seven times during the course of the pilot. And it's not like you even need a new word combining sex and espionage. Sex has been a part of the spy genre for decades, thanks to James Bond and others.

Anyway, the premise of the show is that two CIA agents, Steven and Samantha Bloom, get married, retire, and then are brought back into the spy business years later by Major Dad. This helps to rekindle their marriage, as evidenced by slightly humorous but forced banter throughout the course of the pilot. They also cross paths with the guy who played Sammy's evil ex-husband Franco on Days of Our Lives.

Anyway, as this is a JJ Abrams show, I'm waiting for the inevitable WTF turning point. My theory is that the Blooms' marriage was subtly orchestrated by a secret government conspiracy. Their retirement threw a wrench into the secret cabal's plans. Major Dad brings the Blooms back in so they can rekindle their romance and proceed to boinking. The desired outcome of said boinking is to produce a super spy baby who is genetically predisposed for sexpionage. This baby will grow up to be Major Dad, who will travel back in time to continue the loop.

Either that, or something totally ludicrous.

New TV Season- my thoughts thus far....

The trees are starting to drop their leaves; similarly, in a few weeks, the networks will drop half of the new shows they've trundled out! Zing!

Anyway, in the meantime, there are quite a few geek-friendly shows. Here are my thoughts on a few....

Chuck (NBC)- I LOVE this show. Any program that will do an '80's style montage set to the tune of "The Touch" by Stan Bush will have my unconditional affection guaranteed. The season premiere was this past Monday, and it had everything I've come to expect- action, comedy, drama, and LOADS of nerd references. This season also promises a ton of guest stars, including Linda Hamilton, Olivia Munn, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, and Timothy Dalton, to name a few. Chuck's guest stars always make sense, and their presence adds to an episode instead of detracting from it.

The Venture Bros. (Adult Swim)- Whether this is a continuation of the last season or a new season all it's own is irrelevant. It's fantastic, and HANDS DOWN the best animated and best written show on Adult Swim.

The EV3NT- Ugggh. This show is slow-moving. They took an hour to advance perhaps 10 minutes of plot! If you like pointless flashbacks and scenes replayed several times, then this is the show for you!

"Get me Kaputnik and Fonebone!"

So, the other night, I watched Cartoon Network's newest program, Mad. Now, like many a young man, I read Mad Magazine a time or two in my youth. I read Cracked Magazine first, mind you, but that's irrelevant as they've REALLY differentiated themselves from Mad over the years.

And in high school, I watched Mad TV, a sketch comedy show that was AWESOME in it's first few seasons, though it turned to crap in later years. (Personally, I blame a decided lack of That's My White Mama sketches for the decline.)

So, I decided to catch the new animated version of the venerable comic humor magazine.

It's like Robot Chicken in that it's a fifteen minute animated program with a variety of short sketches. It differs from RC in two main regards. First, it does not feature one Leah Cevoli, who is one of my favorite voice actresses and a really nice person besides, so go check out her IMDB page, why don't you? Second, unlike Robot Chicken, it's AWFUL.

Perhaps that's a rash judgment, as I've only seen one episode. However, I feel justified, as that episode damaged me badly. Not nearly as badly as the WWE's Katie Vick fiasco, which is quite possibly the worst thing to have ever aired on television EVER, but Mad the animated series was unpleasant nonetheless.

There was a bad Transformers parody, a Facebook joke, a iPhone parody (instead of "app", they say "crap"! Ha-ha-haa! Kill me.), and a parody of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series. While I'm no fan of George Lucas's megolamaniacal raping of his once beloved creation, I question the wisdom of a Cartoon Network series making fun of a series ON THE SAME NETWORK.

Overall, the show was tiresome and loaded with lame pop culture jokes. Even a Spy vs. Spy cartoon did little to provide solace in the face of such tripe. Only watch Mad if you are contemplating driving rusty nails in your eyes and need a strong incentive to do so.

Zoinks!

I, like many Gen-Xers and subsequent generations, grew up on Scooby-Doo. When I was a kid, I would watch it all the time. As I grew up, my love for the show turned into the kind of ironic love that hipsters had for it- you'd watch it because as an adult, you realize it was kinda stupid.

I especially loved episodes with guest stars- Don Knotts, Sandy Duncan, and Jonathan Winters are all favorites.

I bring this up because this summer, Cartoon Network (or CN, feh!) debuted Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. It's GENIUS. It's got the same kind of attitude that the first live action movie had. More to the point, it has much stronger writing than any previous incarnation (except for the movie). There's continuity between episodes (including an overarcing metaplot), call backs to previous Scooby series, and romantic subplots. Daphne's trying to woo Fred, not to mention the Velma-Shaggy-Scooby love triangle. There are also some celebrity voices, including Gary Cole, Patrick Warburton, and Lewis Black.

Sadly, Scooby-Dum has yet to make an appearance.

Not only is this show great, but apparently they'll continue the old Scooby tradition of guest stars and crossovers. Allegedly, WB animation is in the works to have Mystery Inc team up with this guy...

OUTRAGEOUS!

That's right. In an instance of corporate synergy done right, the new Scooby cartoon will have a crossover with Batman: The Brave and the Bold. This is brilliant; I mentioned I loved the guest appearances, but THE best were the ones with Batman and Robin. Said cartoons brought us the greatest sentence ever uttered by the Dark Knight until Frank Miller's "I'm the Goddamn Batman" line. To wit-

"Look at that adorable chipmunk, Robin!"

Upon hearing this news, I was filled with nerdish glee. Here is my reaction, captured for posterity...

New episodes air Mondays at 7pm on Cartoon Network; several of the episodes are On Demand, if you have that and aren't living in a cave.

Starro Lives!!!

I love On Demand. I honestly don't know how Cable TV survived without this wonderful feature. In addition to free movies, there's a veritable host of other free programming. While surfing the On Demand menu, I noticed they had several episodes of Batman Beyond, Thundercats (HOOO!!!), and other great stuff. I checked out the Batman: The Brave and the Bold section to see something I hadn't expected- "The Seige of Starro! Part 1", an episode which technically hasn't even aired in the U.S. yet (though it's on iTunes, apparently). This is an awesome episode. Without giving away too many spoilers, nearly all the heroes on Earth have been mind-controlled by Starro, leaving Batman to lead a rag-tag team of Booster Gold, Captain Marvel, Firestorm, and B'wana Beast against the alien conqueror and its herald, the Faceless Hunter. It's a great episode; of course, most of the episodes for Season Two thus far have been awesome, but they really stepped it up for this episode. And it's only part one!

New TV show previews!

So, Heroes got canned. Depressing, yes, but it would be a lot more depressing 3 years ago when it was, y'know, GOOD. True, I've heard good things about this past season, but they fooled me with Season 3, too, promising awesome things the first few episodes, then turning into suck. Still, the loss of a genre show is disheartening, no matter how terrible the writing got. (To think, Jeph Loeb's tenure as writer marked a high point for the series!) Still, when one door closes another opens; likewise, when one show gets canned, two new ones fill in the gap. Let's take a look at the respective trailers....

No Ordinary Family (ABC): Ooh, Michael Chiklis. Promising start. However, though some are calling it The Incredibles sans costumes, to me, it looks like your generic family drama, just with superpowers instead of cancer, teen runways, or whatever you need to generate interfamily conflict. It's typical of many post-modern super stories- take the powers but put them in a "realistic" context and setting. It'll probably mention certain tropes to set up a gag, then get back to the family stuff. Now, in fairness, who knows where it'll end up. They might add in other superpowered people down the line. And, ABC has proved me wrong in the past; when the trailers for Lost aired so many years ago, I was all, "So it's like Gilligan's Island, only serious? Yeah, that'll tank."

I'll probably give it a shot, mostly because Julie Benz is adorable, but if its timeslot conflicts with another show, I'll skip it.

The Cape (NBC): Whoa. That trailer's almost a bait and switch. It starts out looking like a crime drama, with a little mystery and a mask thrown in. Maybe they'll do a costumed version of The Fugitive. Despite the scene with the comic at the beginning, it looks like it'll be gritty, with no powers or flamboyance to speak of...

And then the circus folk show up.

"Carnies!!! WTF!!!"

That's when Realism apparently said, "I'm running out for a bit; see ya in an hour or so." In fact, this show seems to revel in absurdity. Whereas Batman Begins had to resort to lots of technobabble to explain the cape, this show's magic cape explains it with spider silk. Either you've got a lot of spiders, or one of those mutant spider-goats. And yet, I DON'T CARE.

It goes further. It seems as if the writers threw in every imaginable genre trope they could think of for his origin. He's a good, law abiding man in a town where corruption reigns, he's framed for a crime he didn't commit, he's presumed dead, and he's upset (presumably) over the loss of his family. I bet it turns out he's an orphan too.

They even loaded up the cast to make sure I give a damn about this show. Summer Glau, Vinnie Jones, the midget guy from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and... Keith David?!? *SWOON* I don't think Mr. David has been in anything that I haven't liked. Well, the Spawn animated series, but that was more the fault of Todd McFarlane.

Bottom line: The Cape has filled me with an unhealthy amount of nerdish enthusiasm. If NBC were a woman, I'd be wolf-whistling right now.

Best of "Batman: The Brave and The Bold"!- Ramblings

If you haven't watched it yet, Batman: The Brave and The Bold on Cartoon Network (or... ugh... CN if you prefer) is one of the best darn cartoons on television right now. It's got a fantastic mix of humor, action, and characterization that simply tickles my fancy. As an added bonus for any comics nerd, it features a slew of B- and C-list DC Comics characters who otherwise would never make it to the mainstream media. I could go in depth on why this show is so friggin' awesome, but I won't. Instead, since the new season has started, I'll rank my top five favorite episodes from Season One. These are ranked not by quality but by rough chronological order. I mention this so no one emails me saying "How dare you say episode x was better than episode y!" So, on we go!

Evil Under the Sea!- I'm not one to rank episodes due to "Well, this is important because it's the first appearance of Whoever." In this case, though, I'm making an exception. This is the first B&B episode to have Aquaman. What's great about this is that it's a different kind of Aquaman than has ever been depicted in cartoons or comics. He's no quiet, misunderstood guy or the lone, brooding monarch. This Aquaman is a big, boisterous, warrior king, and boy howdy, do they play it up to great effect. Mad props are due to the voice actor, John Dimaggio (most famous for playing Bender on Futurama) for bringing such character to the ... uh... character.
Another great thing about this incarnation of Aquaman is the look. The take classic elements from all versions of the character. They blend the orange shirt of Aquaman classic with the Suh-weet beard the grim and gritty version was sporting.
Overall, this makes for a fresh, engaging take on a character who is often the butt of jokes. Placing him with the straight-laced Batman made for great interaction.

Fall of the Blue Beetle!- For those naysayers who constantly say nay and such, for those who claim that B&B is straight up silliness, I present this episode. When the crux of the episode is another character's death, you know they're not playing it for laughs. A gripping story about heroism, sacrifice, and acceptance, this episode proves that this series can be, at times, so much more than lighthearted fare.

Game Over For Owlman!- I could go into a long synopsis here, but really all I need to say about this episode is this: Batman teams up with the Joker to take down Batman's evil twin. Boo. YAH! If that's not a recipe for an awesome Batman story, then I may as well hand in my nerd credentials right now.

Legends of the Dark Mite!- "Batman's rich history allows him to be interpreted in a multitude of ways. To be sure, this is a lighter incarnation, but it's certainly no less valid and true to the character's roots than the tortured avenger crying out for mommy and daddy." With that line alone this episode would've hit the list. But, but, BUT! it has so much more. For starters, it was written by Paul Dini, the man responsible for some of the best episodes of Batman: The Animated Series; it's about a 5th-dimensional imp, and they're ALWAYS awesome; and finally, said imp is voiced by Pee-Wee Herman. Also, there's a scene at a trans-dimensional comic book convention, and that's just funny.

Mayhem of the Music Meister!- A Batman musical episode? Oh, joy! Sadly, Batman really doesn't do any singing in this (Fooey!). However, you have Black Canary, Green Arrow, Aquaman, and a ton of villains singing. AND, the bad guy is melodiously voiced by Neil Patrick Harris. The story is solid, the songs are catchy, and there's a cute, touching, musical-style ending. Quite possibly the best episode of the season.

So, there you have it- my (relatively spoiler-free) opinions on the best of what's already a fine show. Go watch 'em. NOW!