Category Television & Streaming

Nov 18 2014

DC Wins The TV War…For Now, Part One

 old DC

One of the great corporate rivalries is the one between the comic book giants Marvel Comics and DC Comics. It’s a competition that has spilled over to other media. When it comes to films, Marvel has won the war on that front due to the monumental successes of their Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films. However, take a quick glance at the current TV schedule. From looking at that and television history, it’s obvious that DC has won the TV War…for now.

Head Start

In reality, DC had the war won for decades now. This goes way back to the 1950s with the success of the first TV show based on Superman. That would be, of course, the landmark series Adventures of Superman, which starred George Reeves. It’s well known that the series was very popular and helped cement Superman’s legendary status in pop culture. Marvel at that time period didn’t even exist, nor did their most popular heroes because the company was concentrating on non-superhero comic books.

Following the cancellation of Adventures of Superman, the next DC superhero to bask in the television spotlight was Batman. Beginning in 1966, Batman was an instant hit and a genuine pop culture phenomenon. Starring Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin, the show was a decidedly goofy sendup of comic books and introduced characters like the Joker and Catwoman to non-comic book readers. Although, it was and is still popular, many decried the way Batman belittled the Caped Crusader and comic books in general.

wonder woman

In the 1970s, there were a few TV shows and specials based on DC Comics superheroes. The best known was Wonder Woman, starring Lynda Carter and it aired from 1975 to 1979. The show wasn’t as cheesy as Batman, nor as popular, but it was noted for its pro-feminist stance since the title character was a superhuman woman. The women’s lib messages obviously went over the heads of most younger viewers, who were enamored with Lynda Carter and her skimpy outfit.

Other TV shows airing in the 1970s were strictly aimed at children like Shazam! and The Secrets of Isis. In fact, these half-hour programs only aired on Saturday mornings and had limited appeal.

Around this time period, Marvel got into the hulk showact with the premieres of TV shows and TV films based on their characters. The first superhero to make a live-action appearance was Spider-Man, who made non-speaking appearances on The Electric Company. Some of the Marvel TV films and shows were truly awful like Captain America and The Amazing Spider-Man, which thankfully did not last long as a series. But a couple were actually decent like Doctor Strange and Marvel’s biggest hit on TV The Incredible Hulk. Airing in November 1977 and starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, the TV film was a big hit and led to a successful TV series the following year.

Second Wind

superboyThe decade that followed, the 1980s, was slow for comic book properties on TV. After The Incredible Hulk was cancelled in 1982 there wouldn’t be another superhero TV show until the syndicated program Superboy debuted in 1988. Coming after the film disaster Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Superboy was a welcome respite for fans who just wanted to see good, old-fashioned superheroics and teenage angst. Plus, Superboy was a competent place holder until DC and its parent company Warner Bros. could bring out another Superman TV series or film.

On a side note, there were a trio of TV films that continued the Hulk’s adventures and the first two introduced live-action versions of Thor and Daredevil. The Hulk and his alter ego David Banner actually died at the end of the third film, but there were plans to do more TV films. However, those ended after Bixby’s untimely death in 1993.

The humongous success of the film Batman in 1989 helped jumpstart new DC-based TV shows in the 1990s. Not wanting to rest with the success of Superboy, Swamp Thing: The Series premiered on the basic cable channel USA Network in 1990, while a show based on the comic book Human Target aired briefly on ABC in 1992.

old flashThere were two shows that made the largest impact in that decade. They were The Flash and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. The Flash, starring John Wesley Shipp, premiered in the fall of 1990 fresh off the success of Batman and seemed to copy the stylistic direction of the Tim Burton film. Even though it only lasted one season, the show is revered by fans because of its fun stories, dazzling effects, and character work. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, which aired on ABC, was targeted more towards women since it concentrated more on the relationship between Lois Lane (Teri Hatcher) and Clark Kent (Dean Cain). The superhero aspects of Superman took a back seat to the romantic shenanigans and it was laden with light humor. Of course, this displeased some fans, but it was still a successful program.

As for Marvel, the 1990s was a decade best left forgotten. There were DOA pilots based on Power Pack, Generation X and Nick Fury. As for the syndicated show Night Man, the less said about it the better.

Animation Dominion

young justiceAs DC dominated the television medium, there was another TV venue that it conquered. That was with their animated TV shows. Since the 1960s, there have been numerous TV shows that aired on Saturday mornings and on syndication based on DC’s superheroes. DC enjoyed early successes like Superfriends in the 1970s, but their animated shows weren’t acclaimed until Batman: The Animated Series premiered in 1992. Boasting memorable characters, villains and plots, the show was a huge hit and led to other superior animated gems like Batman Beyond, Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League. DC’s animated renaissance probably culminated with the recent Young Justice. It just lasted two seasons, but its smartly written scripts, mature themes, and complex character development won wide appraisals from fans and critics.

In this venue, Marvel actually presented itself as a viable counterpart to DC since the 1960s with series based on Spider-Man, the Hulk, the Avengers and other stalwarts. The results were quite admirable in many instances, but DC on the whole produced more noteworthy animated TV shows.

New Century, New Renaissance

As DC celebrated their animated successes in the 1990s, the live-action field was stagnant after the cancellation of Lois & Clark in 1997. There was an infamous pilot made for the Justice League that thankfully never made it into a series. It can be found on Youtube for anyone that is curious.

The live-action drought ended a few years later in 2001 with Smallville. This long-running show starred Tom Welling as Clark Kent in his teenage years and early twenties. It ran on The WB and later The CW networks and explored many aspects of the Superman mythos while concentrating on Clark’s emotional development and how he came to be Superman. It had its faults like the producers’ insistence of “no tights, no flights”, which meant Clark never put on his iconic Superman suit. (The final episode doesn’t count since he was never fully shown wearing it.) This was strange because many other superheroes featured on Smallville like Green Arrow, the Justice Society and Supergirl were allowed to fully embrace their comic-book roots. The Warner Bros. network tried to capitalize on the success of Smallville with other programs, but weren’t successful. Efforts included the short-lived Birds of Prey in 2002 and a pilot for Aquaman.

Around the time that Smallville came to an end, the superhero genre exploded in theaters. Super hits like The Dark Knight, Iron Man, and The Avengers cemented the permanence of arrowsuperhero films. As it goes, whenever there is a mammoth box office hit, TV executives take notice and follow suit. Warner Bros. and DC took advantage of the heightened interest in superheroes and produced many TV shows. Not all of them bore fruit like pilots for Aquaman and Wonder Woman, or another iteration of Human Target, but others blossomed and are now hit shows. These include Arrow, The Flash, Gotham and to a lesser extent Constantine. And that is just the beginning.

José Soto and Lewis T. Grove

To Be Continued

Nov 13 2014

The Flash Streaks Ahead Of DC’s TV Invasion

flash1Out of the four current TV shows based on a DC Comic, The Flash is the one that sticks closest to its comic book roots.

Airing on The CW network, The Flash stars Grant Gustin as the Flash or Barry Allen. He was introduced in a couple of episodes of Arrow in its second season, which set up his origin. The pilot episode of The Flash embellished the Flash’s origin and opened up Allen’s world. When he was young, his mother was killed by a mysterious figure in a vortex. Unfortunately, his father (played by the original Flash John Wesley Shipp) was sent to prison for her murder and Barry’s been looking for the killer ever since.

In the pilot (and the Arrow episode “Three Ghosts”), Barry was hit by lightning and fell onto chemicals at his lab in Central City when a nearby particle accelerator exploded. star labsThat accelerator was part of S.T.A.R. Labs headed by Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) and the accident made him a pariah and a paraplegic. What’s revealed in the pilot and several episodes is that Wells is only pretending to be a paraplegic and that he has nefarious and deceitful intentions. After the lightning bolt knocks Barry into a coma, he later awakens in Wells’ lab and soon discovers he has superhuman speed. This was caused by the accelerator, the storm it created and the chemicals that splashed over him when he was struck. The accelerator also unleashed a type of radiation that randomly gave some people in Central City superhuman powers, turning them into supervillains of the week.

Now Barry, when not doing his job as a dorky crime scene investigator, spends his spare time at S.T.A.R. Labs where Wells and his assistants run tests on Barry and help him catch the new supervillains that have sprung up from the explosion.

strealAs a show, The Flash is generally entertaining. It’s not deep, and a bit too lightweight and clunky, but it captures the breezy spirit of the comic book with fast-moving stories and Barry’s superfast antics. They’re among the highlights of the show and are very inventive. In the episode “Plastique”, he used his powers to blur his face and reverberate his vocal chords to hide his identity and it was as much fun to watch as seeing him run across water.

One thing the show did right when compared to most comic-book-based shows is that it jumped right into the mythos of the superhero and showcased the Flash’s famous rogues gallery. Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) has already made his appearance, as has nods to Gorilla Grodd and Professor Zoom. But the most interesting villain is Wells himself. The pilot revealed that he has knowledge of the future and seems to be using all means, including murder, to guide Barry into fulfilling his superhero destiny.

It would all be more palatable if the acting were better. Gustin is OK as Barry, but earlier on, he emoted allenPeter Parker too much, which wasn’t in line with his character. But he’s toned down the nerdy act in recent episodes. The other actors are fine, if not exceptional, except for Carlos Valdes, who plays Cisco Ramon, an overeager and annoying lab assistant. It seems like he is trying to emulate the quirky Felicity Smoak character from Arrow but he cannot pull it off and the result is that his scenes are irritating. Then there is the situation with the love of his life Iris West (Candice Patton). In the show, they have it that the two grew up together in the same home after Barry’s father went to jail. Essentially, Barry was a foster child in Iris’ home…so that means they’re really foster siblings. If that is so, then the unrequited attraction he has for her is uncomfortable to watch.

Putting that aside, The Flash is still young and finding its legs, but it’s better done than some of the other superhero shows. To date, the show is worth watching and hopefully will become much more captivating once the kinks are worked out.

Waldermann Rivera

Oct 28 2014

Top 13 Supernatural Heroes

hellboy  

The horror or supernatural genre is noted for its deadly monsters and evil creatures of the night. But genre also has its fair share of heroes, who willingly put themselves in harm’s way to protect us from the forces of darkness. Whether imbued with supernatural powers themselves or just plain ordinary folks, these are the greatest heroes of the supernatural.

ghost rider13. Ghost Rider (Ghost Rider): Noted for his flaming skull, a kickass fiery motorcycle, and a passion for vengeance, Ghost Rider is no doubt the flashiest antihero on this list. After selling his soul to Satan, motorcycle stuntman Johnny Blaze became the terrifying Spirit of Vengeance as he meted out justice against evil with his hellfire and penance stare.

12. The Crow (The Crow): James O’Barr created this haunting anti-hero for a series of moody comic books. In them, Eric Draven came back from the grave to avenge the killing of his girlfriend by vicious thugs. Adapted into a cult hit film starring the late Brandon Lee, the Crow has grown in popularity among fans.

crow

11. Abraham Van Helsing (Dracula): The original vampire slayer and archenemy of Dracula has been a staple of many adaptations of Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel. Played by a host of reputable thespians like Peter Cushing, Anthony Hopkins, Sir Laurence Olivier and even Hugh Jackman (as Gabriel Van Helsing), Van Helsing is the one human match against the King of the Vampires.

10. Blade (Blade): Feared among vampires, the blade“daywalker” is actually a half human, half vampire hybrid with all of a vampire’s strengths, and without any vampiric weaknesses. Originally an obscure Marvel Comics character, Blade became super popular after Wesley Snipes played him in a trio of high-octane films.

9. Hellboy (Hellboy): A demon who was summoned as an infant by Nazis during World War II, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) was recovered by Allied Forces instead. Once grown into a red, hulking super agent with sawed-off horns, Hellboy has fought on the side of humanity ever since against supernatural forces with a sense of humor, a big gun and the heart of a hero.

ash8. Ash Williams (The Evil Dead): After mistakenly unleashing demonic forces into the world, Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) valiantly fought against the malicious spirits with desperate and manic gusto in Sam Raimi’s acclaimed trilogy. While The Evil Dead films are noted for their off-the-wall scares and gore, Ash is the slightly goofy heart of the films and gives us someone to root for.

7. Castiel (Supernatural): First introduced in Supernatural’s fourth season, the angel Castiel quickly became a fan favorite. Brilliantly played by Misha Collins, Castiel is a genuine deus ex machina for the Winchester Brothers, while being the source of many amusing scenes thanks to his literal, stoic attitude and naive demeanor when dealing with humanity.

doctor strange 2

6. Doctor Strange (Doctor Strange, Strange Tales): Marvel Comics’ premier sorcerer is truly the Master of the Mystic Arts. Once a cocky and selfish neurosurgeon Stephen Strange suffered a debilitating accident and in trying to find treatment wound up on a mystical and redemptive path. After becoming the Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange is our dimension’s greatest defender against dark forces thanks to his powerful, magical powers.

5. Carl Kolchak (Kolchak: The Night Stalker): Adorned with a cheap suit, a bulky recorder and a fragile camera, kolchakCarl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) worked a lonely beat as a hustling, streetwise reporter who investigated supernatural incidents. Kolchak was forced in each episode (and two TV films) to put aside his fears and confront deadly supernatural dangers, usually without any help since he couldn’t convince anyone about the true nature of the threats.

buffy angel4. Buffy Summers and Angel (Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel): While Buffy first made her debut in the film Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon made the character soar in the TV version, which starred Sarah Michelle Gellar as the titular character. Quirky and full of spunk, Buffy bravely took on vampires and other supernatural forces that threatened humanity. The TV show also introduced viewers to the tortured vampire Angel (David Boreanaz), who fought alongside Buffy, as he tried to reclaim his humanity.

constantine 2

3. John Constantine (Hellblazer, Constantine): This working-class, British sorcerer and occult detective is one formidable foe against the supernatural. First appearing in the pages of Swamp Thing comic books in the ’80s, Constantine won over many fans with his world-weary attitude, questionable morality and snarky cynicism. Even though his soul is damned to hell. he continues the good fight against evil while going through many cigarettes.

rich, michonne daryl

2. Rick Grimes, Daryl Dixon, and Michonne (The Walking Dead): Among the many heroic figures featured in the comic book and TV versions of The Walking Dead, these three are the deadliest walker killers, as well as the most intriguing. Michonne (Danai Gurira) with her katana and Daryl (Norman Reedus) with his crossbow fall into the silent, deadly types, who change for the better as the stories progress. Meanwhile, with each experience, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) fights an inner struggle to maintain his humanity, while grappling with a post-apocalyptic world overrun with zombies and deadly people.

sam and dean 2

1. Sam and Dean Winchester (Supernatural): There are many supernatural-based heroes out there, many of whom don’t have any powers and must rely on their wits to persevere against supernatural threats. But these two brothers (played by Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) are the most down to earth and carunassuming of the bunch. Raised to be hunters (of the supernatural) by their father, these two roam the country’s back roads with a cache of conventional and mystical weapons and tackle all sorts of opponents, whether they be ghosts, demons, vampires or malevolent angels. What makes them stand out is not just their modest nature (and Dean’s hedonistic ways), but their bravery, witty banter and brotherly love; which are all their best weapons.

Lewis T. Grove

Oct 8 2014

The Vampires Of The Strain

eichorst ready to eatVampires have been defanged lately. At least on TV and film. Both medium have been filled with overly romantic or brooding, misunderstood loners that filled the roles of the infamous night creatures. In reality, the vampires in Twilight and True Blood among other presentations were really just metaphors for social and emotional themes like teenage alienation, bigotry and even the gay rights movement. As good (or bad) as these presentations were, it was clear that the vampire mystique was diluted and strayed far from the creatures’ legendary horror roots.

Fortunately, The Strain corrects that problem by presenting the vampires in the TV show as the horrific and repulsive monsters they’re supposed to be.

Based on the book of the same name by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan (both of whom executive produce the show as well), The Strain is starts off as a medical mystery but by the end of its first season is a straight up horror tale as a deadly infestationplague ravages modern-day New York City. In just a matter of days, many of the city’s inhabitants are turned into vampires by means of a quick-acting virus spread by aggressive parasitic worms. These tiny creatures are found in vampires and burrow into humans whenever a vampire bites them or simply by coming into physical contact with a vampires’ body fluids.

When infected by these disgusting worms that quickly multiply in the body, a person feels like he or she is suffering from a bad cold. In reality a horrid metamorphosis occurs where sexual organs atrophy and fall off, skin turns deathly pale and gray,  and a craving for blood ensues. By this time, the infected’s personality is largely gone, and are driven by a desire to ingest blood and pass on the virus. Infecting and draining someone else is done through a hideous, long tendril that shoots out of their mouths with grabbers and teeth at the end. Seeing this happen in each episode never loses its shock value and it’s very disturbing.

tongue attack

It’s a unique twist on the way vampires attack their victims and makes logical, pseudo-scientific sense. This method is somewhat reminiscent of the xenomorph creature in the Alien films with its elongated tongue that sports its own tiny, fanged mouth only the vampire’s tongue is much longer and faster. The way the vampires attack their victims takes away any notion of twisted romantic eroticism. The vampires in The Strain don’t try to seduce humans. They have no sexual interest in them and reproduce asexually by transmitting the worms. The end result is that the supernatural aspect of these bloodsuckers are downplayed and instead scientific explanations are given as to how they exist and operate.

Most vampires shown are nearly mindless the mastercreatures driven by instinct. At best, the common vampires display a sort of hive intelligence and carry out psychic commands from the Master, the vampire leader. Meanwhile, a select few retain the personalities of their former lives and possess intelligence and the ability to talk. These special vampires are able to pass themselves off as human through elaborate makeup. That is because a fully fledged vampire has deathly grey skin, no hair, or nose and are bald with pointed ears. They’re also incredibly strong, quick and fast healing.

But Del Toro and Hogan didn’t just toss out all the old traditions with their takes on vampires. They do share a trait with the traditional vampires in that they lull many victims to let down their guards. This happens when a recently transformed vampire is drawn to a former loved one. The intended victim will see that the shuffling creature is acting odd and barely speaking. The vampire will swiftly attack and noisily drain the suckervictim’s blood using its tongue as a fleshy straw and leave the now-infected person in a death-like state. Shortly thereafter, the victim’s DNA is rewritten and the person is now a vampire. Also, the vampires on The Strain  have many of the traditional vampire weaknesses such as being vulnerable to silver and direct sunlight. The show’s heroes use the same tried and true methods of fighting vampires like sunlight exposure, blades for beheadings or silver. But innovative twists are used like UV lamps in the absence of sunlight and nail guns that fire silver nails.

The vampires in The Strain are innovative while being a throwback to their original portrayal across centuries. They’re hideous, disgusting and there isn’t anything romantic about them. They have more in common with the shuffling, mindless and disfigured zombies seen in TV shows and films these days. The end result is that the vampires have become something to be feared again.

José Soto

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