Category Entertainment

Oct 4 2014

Star Wars Returns With New Rebels

Star Wars is back with the long awaited premiere of the pilot for the animated show Star Wars: Rebels on Disney Channel.

Right off the bat the action kicks off with the introduction of the main character, a Jedi in hiding called Kanan Jarrus (voiced by Freddie Prinze, Jr.), who leads a crew of rebels on a ship called the Ghost in stealing weapons on a remote outer rim world Lothal. On the planet the crew encounters a young thief named Ezra (voiced by Taylor Gray), who is also strong in the Force.  This sets off a chain of events that lead them on a rescue mission to free wookie slaves on the spice world of Kessel. The show displays classic Star Wars action with a speeder chase right out of Return Of The Jedi, gun battles with imperial stormtroopers, who still have lousy aim, and dog fights in outer space with the iconic TIE fighters echoing scenes from A New Hope.

speederAll of this sets up the series nicely as a return to the Original Trilogy era, as this show is set between events in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and the original film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.  The tyranny of the Empire is on display as well, the episode starts with an agent from the Imperial Security Bureau harassing citizens of the planet Lothal, and later wookies are being shipped to certain death as forced slave labor. As much as I liked the prequel era and Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, it is great to see a return to this time in the Star Wars universe.  But I hada few nitpicks with the pilot episode. Take the way Kanan reveals himself as a Jedi to the imperial forces in the end of the episode. It did seem somewhat sudden, as was the quickness that Ezra accepts Kanan’s offer to be trained as a Jedi. ezra lightsaberI thought that their identity as Force sensitive people would have been kept under wraps for a while and be gradually brought up as the series went on, but by the conclusion of the pilot, they basically lay their cards out on the table. This brings them to the attention of the next big Star Wars villain, the Inquisitor, who seems like a sinister character even though his screen time is only a few seconds. Having said that, it was nice to see some exciting lightsaber action, as was seeing our heroes help their fellow man. Whether it was feeding starving outcasts on Lothar or helping Wookie slaves escape from Imperial clutches.

ghost battleThis series is being executive produced by Dave Filoni, who oversaw the excellent Clone Wars  show and it will be interesting to see how Rebels develops in comparison. Star Wars: The Clone Wars had familiar characters and settings while Star Wars: Rebels is kind of in new territory with new characters (and a cameo by one of the beloved Star Wars characters) and a setting that has to bridge the gap between the trilogies.   Overall, this pilot gets the series off to a good start. The characters seem to have a good rapport with each other and have a history as a crew that will hopefully be explored in the coming episodes. It will be fun to see how they will fit into the overall story of the rebellion and hopefully we will see classic Star Wars characters interacting with the crew of the Ghost.

C.S. Link

 

Sep 30 2014

Z Nation Is Zero Grade TV Fare

znation4There’s this really great show on TV right now. It’s got a terrifying premise, riveting storylines, memorable characters and it’s full of nail-biting scenes and moments of pure horror. That would be The Walking Dead…then there is this show; Z Nation, which has none of the above qualities.

When I first heard that Syfy was going to air this new show, I was excited. Given the runaway success of The Walking Dead, I wondered why it took so long for another TV show to come out with a similar premise of a zombie apocalypse. But then I learned that Z Nation was produced by The Asylum, the production company responsible for all those grade zero schlocky movies that airs on Syfy on Saturday nights.  You know classics like Sharknado and Mega Shark Versus Mecha Shark.

Still, I kept an open mind, maybe Z Nation might actually be decent. It’s got a decent premise: survivors of a zombie apocalypse have to travel across the U.S. to deliver to a med research base a person who is immune to the zombie versus that has decimated the world. But nope, the show is crap.

As expected with productions from The Asylum, Z Nation looks cheaply done on the fly with amateurish CG. Most of the acting is awful and the dialogue is atrocious and inappropriate at times. Half the time, the wooden characters bark clichés and lazy one-liners that ruin the supposedly dour mood of the episodes. It’s like the actors know that they’re in a crappy production and have a “hell with it” attitude.

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The only actor that stands out in this troupe is DJ Qualls, who isn’t part of the main action. He plays Citizen Z, the last surviving communications soldier at an arctic NSA outpost codenamed Northern Light. As the survivors trek across the country (at this point, they’re situated in the northeast), he keeps in touch with them via radio and phone calls. Since he’s isolated from the main action, his scenes allow for some exploration on the themes of isolation and for the most part they work. He had an interesting story in the second episode when he encounters a dog and befriends it. It’s just too bad the show cuts away from him to focus on the survivors and their moronic actions.

Maybe Z Nation would be more bearable if the characters were more interesting or likeable. It’s bad enough that the man who holds the key to curing the zombie plague is such a tool. He is portrayed by Keith Allen and boy does he overdo the selfish jerk routine. Meanwhile, most of the other characters don’t want to be bothered with this mission, yet they still follow the orders of Garnett (Tom Everett Scott) a former National Guard who takes it upon himself to deliver Allen’s character to California. It’s all just an excuse for the characters to find ways to kill zombies.

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With that said, the show is rarely dull, it moves quickly. From the way the characters behave and talk, it seems like Z Nation is trying to be intentionally tongue-in-cheek.  I just wish it was actually funny. There are fans of works from The Asylum and they’re the only ones who may want to tune in to Z Nation, but everyone else should just watch The Walking Dead for a good fix of zombie action.

Waldermann Rivera

Sep 22 2014

Lost Pitches For The Walking Dead Spinoff

Ever since AMC announced that they are going forward with a spinoff for The Walking Dead, there has been rampant speculation about the new TV show’s premise. While we don’t claim to know what it will be about (presumably about another group of survivors elsewhere), here are some pitches that probably didn’t make the cut at the AMC executives’ meetings.

???????????210 Walker Street – Tyreese finds out that his long-lost uncle from South Philly left him an apartment building in his will. Tyreese moves in as the new superintendent, but finds out the tenants are walkers! Wacky hijinks galore as Tyreese deals with nosy neighbors, sassy store owners, and collecting the rent without being eaten.

Daryl Dixon: Walker Hunter – This spinoff features Daryl who is now a swampland bounty hunter in America’s southeast. His specialty, of course, is hunting down walkers who go missing busted arrowfrom CDC labs and work farms. Aiding the deadly hunter is his long-lost brother Maynard, a local sheriff who was recently turned into a walker, but his passion for justice enables him to overcome his cannibalistic urges and help his brother bring ’em back dead!

The Dead Beat – Michonne turns into a hard-hitting newspaper reporter, exposing city scandals and top-brass corruption, but often butts heads – literally – with her editor, a rehabilitated walker. Watch the suspense unfold as Michonne fights the good fight to inform the public and not forget her katana.

Dead Dynasty –In the tradition of those popular redneck reality shows this one will star Daryl Dixon as a walker farmer! Business has been good for the farm since med research places need fresh supplies of walkers to experiment on. Tune in each week as Daryl deals with everyday trials and tribulations in a walker farm with his redneck family including his walker brother Merle, who is kept chained to the side of a barn. Don’t worry about Merle, his teeth have been yanked out in case of accidents while playing with little cousin Jimmy.

rick and zombie cop

L.A. Walker Heat a.k.a. My Dead Partner – Embittered by his walker experiences Rick transfers to the LAPD, where he is partnered with a domesticated walker, who happens to be the first of his kind to graduate from the police academy. Suspicious of each other at first, they learn to overcome their mistrust, and together they fight crime and corruption in the City of Angels.

Please click on the link to Deadloggers to continue reading.

Evan Rothfeld and José Soto

                                          Copyright © 2014 Starloggers
Sep 16 2014

The Case For An Obi-Wan Kenobi Star Wars Spinoff Film

kenobi

With all the recent talk about the new batch of Star Wars films, there’s a lot of interest about the spinoff films announced by Disney. Already Gareth Edwards and Josh Trank are slated to direct two of them, which are rumored to be about young Han Solo or Boba Fett. But if there is one character that should headline a Star Wars spinoff it’s the unsung hero of the films, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

For non-fans, Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi was a luke and benJedi Knight who was played by both Ewan McGregor and Sir Alec Guinness in both Star Wars trilogies. He mentored both Anakin Skywalker and later on his son Luke Skywalker for a brief period before allowing himself to be killed by Darth Vader in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Out of all the heroic characters featured in the Star Wars films, his was arguably the most heroic and selfless with noble traits only rivaled by the diminutive Jedi Master Yoda.

What made him so heroic? Look at what he did, how he led his life. Obi-Wan Kenobi clearly put his duty over his personal wants and needs. This was seen in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith and the aforementioned Episode IV.

kenobi yoda, organa

 

At the end of Episode I, Obi-Wan honors his dying master’s wish and chooses to train Anakin to become a Jedi. He did this even though he didn’t hold Anakin in high regard like his master Qui-Gon Jinn did. In Episode III, after the Jedi have been vanquished by Emperor Palpatine and the new Galactic Empire, Obi-Wan could have just hung up his Jedi robe and gone into hiding. Well, he did do that to an extent, although he wanted to continue to fight the good fight against evil. Instead he chose to follow Yoda’s bidding by protecting Anakin’s infant son Luke. He went into hiding on Anakin’s home planet Tatooine where he would live out the remainder of his life looking after Luke from afar. In the dialogue in Episode IV, Luke, now a young man, knew Kenobi so it can be inferred that Obi-Wan kept an eye on Luke as he grew up and only stayed away because of Luke’s uncle’s wishes. Still, he came to Luke’s aid early on in the film when the young man was in danger.

In Episode IV, despite his old age, he was willing to leave the planet and aid Princess Leia after she sent him a holographic plea for help in her fight against the Empire. Towards the end of the film, Obi-Wan made the ultimate sacrifice while confronting Darth Vader.

last kenobi battleDuring that battle Luke came upon them and was about to come to his aid. Obi-Wan knew that it was imperative that Luke be kept from Vader and escape so simply stopped fighting and allowed Vader to kill him. Luke soon learned that death wasn’t the end for Obi-Wan, who would continue advising Luke as a spiritual presence.

This spiritual aspect enhanced Kenobi’s compassionate, amiable manner that he displayed in the films and which made him likable. In Episode IV, he had a gentle, patient way about him and only fought at the last resort, which is why Luke was so  drawn to the old Jedi. In Episode II, during an investigation, Obi-Wan visited his old friend Dexter Jettster for some help. In a rare moment, when the two met at Jettster’s greasy spoon diner, Obi-Wan dropped his stoic Jedi demeanor and came off as an average Joe type who was very relatable.

But Kenobi was also a formidable warrior. In the prequel films, Obi-Wan proved that he was an adept warrior who was more than capable of taking out superior opponents. He first showed this knack in Episode I when he killed Darth Maul. Later in Episode III, he was dispatched to defeat the cyborg Jedi killer General Greivous, which he did in a convincing manner. But later in the film, he was able to defeat Anakin Skywalker who had turned evil. Even though Anakin was more powerful in using the force, Kenobi had better experience and skills, and used that advantage to cripple his one-time friend and student.

kenobi badass

As great as these films were, they focused so much on the Skywalkers and Han Solo that Obi-Wan Kenobi didn’t get much screen time. A spinoff film about Obi-Wan Kenobi could explore what he did in between the trilogies and even go into his life before Episode I. Lots of questions about him and his life could be answered. Not only will these details flesh out his character, but a Star Wars spinoff film will finally let Obi-Wan Kenobi have the spotlight that he deserves.

Lewis T. Grove

Sep 6 2014

Star Trek At 48

trek trioThis weekend marks the 48th anniversary of the premiere of the very first Star Trek episode on TV. The celebrations are unquestionably low key; I couldn’t even find any acknowledgement of this on the startrek.com website. But I expect things will be very different in two years time. At least, that is what we Trek fans hope. By then, it will be the fiftieth anniversary and we know for certain that at the very least a Star Trek film will be out in two years.

That is much better than what happened during the iconic show’s fortieth anniversary. Nothing happened then. Paramount Pictures didn’t put out a film because of the failure of Star Trek Nemesis, while CBS Television Studios also followed suit since Star Trek: Enterprise was just canceled a year before on UPN.

Cinematic Rebooting

During that time period both companies felt that the Star Trek franchise needed a rest from the public eye. As we all know, Paramount rebooted the film franchise in 2009 with Star Trek and its sequel Star Trek Into Darkness was released last year. While both films were successful, there is a feeling of unease among a large segment of the fanbase. Under director J.J. Abrams’ guidance, they feel as if Star Trek has strayed far from what it’s meant to be; a story of space exploration and encountering the unknown. Instead, they say that the past two films were just modified Star Wars films. That is a hard viewpoint to argue against, since the films emphasized action and thrills over the more cerebral fare that creator Gene Roddenberry championed when he created the original show and Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG).

 

The Star Trek reboot was supposed to reinvigorate the franchise and raise public awareness, but how successful was that goal? How much in the public eye is Star Trek? It’s there for sure but a lot of attention is being paid these days to the latest superhero film or the return of Star Wars, while any news of the upcoming Star Trek sequel gets shrugs. This was really clear when Paramount announced this year that the screenwriter for the past two Star Trek films, Roberto Orci, was tapped to direct the next sequel. He isn’t a big-name director, actually he hasn’t directed anything at all. Yet, he is being entrusted by Paramount to guide the next Star Trek film, which is coming out in the fiftieth anniversary of the original series. You would think that with that much attention the franchise will receive then, that the film studio will want to ensure that a topnotch director will handle the reins. But who knows? Maybe Orci will deliver the kind of Star Trek film its fans have been clamoring for.

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