Category Television & Streaming

Mar 4 2012

Grieving & Lost Hope On The Walking Dead

beth-walker-by-russell-kaye

The pre-credits scene of episode eight of The Walking Dead, “Nebraska,” picks up at the previous episode’s conclusion. Ex-sheriff’s deputy Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) lowers his gun after shooting the young Sophia (Madison Lintz) -who, unbeknownst to the survivors – was a walker and locked up in Hershel’s (Scott Wilson) barn with the other undead. As Carol (Melissa McBride) sobs over her daughter, the survivors stare in shock at the girl’s crumpled body. Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) – who busted open the barn door to free the walkers – is initially speechless but snaps out of it, boiling inside. Shane vents his anger on Hershel, who he blames for knowing about Sophia but staying silent about it, which in turn a) prolonged the survivors’ stay on the farm, and b) caused them to go on needless, dangerous searches, such as the ones that almost got Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), Shane, and Andrea (Laurie Holden) killed. Hershel denies the allegations and evicts the survivors.

Post-credits, it turns out that Shane isn’t alone in his suspicions: Glen (Steven Yuen) confronts Hershel’s daughter Maggie (Lauren Cohan), who responds with fumbling half-answers; Glen leaves it as it is. Daryl tries to comfort the silent and grieving Carol.

episode-8-dale-and-dead-walkers-russell-kayeThe survivors agree to dig graves for Sophia and Hershel’s wife and stepson, and burn the rest, a herculean task. As everyone gets to work, grumbling over this disgusting job (body parts keep falling off the terminated walkers), Rick broods over his failure to protect the girl. Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) coldly eyeballs Shane with a knowing stare, causing Shane to explode and launch into an angry rant comparing each one’s contribution to the group.

Hershel presides over the funeral service, and takes it seriously, dressing in a suit and a tie, but not without staring longingly at his flask. Noticeably absent from the service is Carol, telling Lori Grimes (Sarah Wayne Callies) that the thing in the barn wasn’t her daughter but a different creature.

Hershel’s other daughter, Beth (Emily Kinney), in the meantime has taken ill, and is somewhat catatonic, but even odder is that the tee-totaling Hershel left his flask on his dresser and disappeared; the survivors presume he is at the town bar. Rick sets out with Glenn to find him and bring him back to check on Beth…

Please click on the link to Deadloggers to continue reading about Episode Eight

Evan Rothfeld

Feb 11 2012

Secrets And Death In The Walking Dead

 

shot daryl

Episode Five: The pre-credits scene of The Walking Dead’s season two’s fifth episode, “Chuapacabra”, opens with a flashback that takes place during the time when Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) was in a coma and presumed dead. In a nighttime traffic jam, teeming with refugees, his wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) waits with their son Carl (Chandler Riggs). Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) flips the radio dial, searching for news about the refugee center, but is frustrated by recorded messages and uselessly repeated emergency broadcasts. Suddenly an air convoy flies overhead, and as the stunned crowd watches, napalms nearby Atlanta. Lori breaks down into Shane’s arms…

atlanta

Post-credits, we return to the present. Camped out on Hershel’s farm, the survivors have settled into a routine. While doing laundry, Carol (Melissa McBride) confesses to Lori that she needs to keep her mind off her still-missing daughter, Sophie (Madison Lintz), and suggest that they cook dinner for Hershel (Scott Wilson) and his family. Lori agrees.

An eager Glenn (Steven Yeun) confronts Maggie (Lauren Cohan) in continuing their tryst. Maggie spurns his offer, and mocks their lovemaking as a waste of time. Glenn is left hurt…

Rick maps out new ways to search for Sophie, and the search parties arm themselves and split up. While searching out in the woods, Rick and Shane share a little private time between old buddies. What starts out as good-natured “guy talk” of sexual prowess and high school conquests turns ugly. Shane, angered, feels that Sophie must be dead by now, and that the sane thing to do is to head for Fort Benning; Rick disagrees.

Daryl (Norman Reedus), on Hershel’s horse (taken without permission), heads out by himself. From a ledge, the experienced tracker scans a river below and notices a doll lying limply in the water. Wading in to retrieve it, and assuming Sofia must be nearby, he calls out for her. With no response, he heads back to the trail with the doll. A snake startles the jittery horse, who throws him. Daryl slips and rolls down the steep rocky hill, but not before one of his arrows pierces him in the side. Bleeding and in pain, he uses his torn shirt as a tourniquet and begins the herculean task of climbing back up the mountain, but he slips and falls back down. episode-5-merle-daryl-walking-dead-gene-page[1]Laying in the river banks, a dazed Daryl hallucinates that his brother Merle (Michael Rooker) – not seen since the early episodes of The Walking Dead – approaches him and mercilessly taunts him into showing his resilience. Merle’s final words and vision fade out as a walker tries chewing on Daryl’s booted feet. Daryl snaps to consciousness and beats the walker to death, ripping out the arrow in his side just in time to use it to kill a second walker. Daryl sets out again, and after Merle’s vision re-appears, he scales the hill successfully. Later, as he approaches Hershel’s farm, a trigger-happy Andrea (Laurie Holden) mistakes a bloody Daryl for a walker and shoots him…

Please click on the link to Deadloggers to continue reading Episode Five

 

walkers in the street ep six

Episode Six: The pre-credits scene of episode six of The Walking Dead’s second season, “Secrets”, shows Patricia (Jane McNeill) entering the farm’s henhouse. Grabbing a few chickens, she breaks their legs as they squawk in pain. Quietly entering the barn, she throws the helpless birds into the walkers’ pit. The snarling creatures scramble hungrily after their food…

Post-credits, Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs) and Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) – the latter shot by Andrea (Laurie Holden) in the previous episode after being mistakenly for a walker – are recuperating. Glenn (Steven Yeun) – the only one in Rick’s group that is aware of the hidden and captive walkers – confronts Maggie (Lauren Cohan) about this gruesome development. Maggie reveals nothing but asks Glenn for secrecy. Later, Glenn confronts Lori Grimes (Sarah Wayne Callies) about her pregnancy, offering to go on another run for vitamins and other needed pregnancy supplies. Lori – like Maggie – asks only for secrecy.

practice

As Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), Jimmy (James Allen McCune), and Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) pore over maps in their search for the missing Sophia (Madison Lintz), Patricia and Beth (Emily Kinney) request shooting lessons, explaining that they have Hershel’s consent. Carl, with his mother Lori’s grudging permission, joins. Shane and Rick take them and Andrea to a makeshift shooting range for instruction. Andrea turns out to be a natural shooter, hitting a stationary target with ease, but finds it difficult to hit moving targets. Shane presses her into bearing down harder, but angers her by mentioning her murdered sister, Amy. episode-6-andrea-walkers-gene-page[1]After calming down, the two go to look for missing Sophia in a nearby suburb. Paralyzed by the horrific sights – they find decaying and charred bodies scattered throughout the upscale homes – hordes of walkers appear in the streets, alerted to their presence…

Please click on the link to Deadloggers to continue reading Episode Six

 

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Episode Seven: The pre-credits scene of episode seven, “Pretty Much Dead Already” shows the survivors early in the morning, eating breakfast in their outside camp. The sky is overcast and the overall mood is glum, as the group silently munches on pancakes prepared on the makeshift stove. Glenn (Steven Yeun) suddenly stammers the truth about the walker-filled barn as the survivors stare at him, shocked. Approaching the barn warily, they stay at a safe distance as Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) peeks in through the cracks and sees the creatures shuffle aimlessly in the dark. Shane gets ticked off, demanding that the survivors clear out the barn or leave Hershel’s farm; Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) objects, reminding him that they are Hershel’s (Scott Wilson) guests and need to stay and find Sophia (Madison Lintz). In the ensuing argument, Shane and Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) almost come to blows until Rick steps in. The noise alerts their presence to the walkers, who suddenly strain against the barn door from the inside. The survivors reel back in shock…

Post-credits, Shane later returns, fixated on the barn. After gingerly testing the lock and chains, the aroused walkers push suddenly against at the barn door. An ominous glimpse inside the barn shows the hungry creatures watching Shane, waiting…

Hershel’s daughter Maggie (Lauren Cohan) is upset with Glenn’s open revelation of the trusted secret and expresses her displeasure by smashing a raw egg on his head. Meanwhile, Carol (Melissa McBride) confronts a recovering Daryl as he saddles up to search for Sophia. Warning him that he can worsen his injuries, even she begins to openly express doubts about the search. Daryl, angry, curses Carol and storms off. After calming down somewhat, he takes her to a pond, showing her another Cherokee rose, a symbol of Sophia’s imminent safe return. Her spirits are lifted somewhat.

rick and hershelAs Hershel is eating a quiet lunch alone, Rick comes by and reveals that they discovered the barn and captive walkers, raising Hershel’s ire. In a curt, assertive tone, the country vet demands that the survivors leave at the end of the week. Rick argues that the world is different now and begs Hershel not to send them out there again, arguing that his wife is pregnant and they need the safe refuge that Hershel can provide. Rick storms out and finds Shane, still watching the barn and brooding about clearing it out. They argue and as Rick walks away, he tells Shane all about Lori’s pregnancy…

Please click on the link to Deadloggers to continue reading Episode Seven

Evan Rothfeld

Feb 4 2012

Alcatraz Plays It Too Safe

Alcatraz is the latest show that premiered on Fox from executive producer J.J. Abrams (for anyone who doesn’t know, he’s the guy behind Alias, LOST, Fringe, Super 8 and the Star Trek reboot). It’s co-created by Elizabeth Sarnoff, Steven Lillen and Bryan Wynbrandt and is about the manhunt for prisoners who escaped from the infamous Alcatraz prison.

The twist? Back in 1960, 256 prisoners and 46 guards disappeared from Alcatraz without a trace and now they are popping up all over modern-day San Francisco and haven’t aged a day. Was it time travel? Hibernation? Not even the prisoners know. After being captured and interrogated, they reveal that they’re just as mystified as the show’s main characters, though there are hints of time travel during nuggets of revelation.

The show stars Rebecca Madsen as Sarah Jones, a local police detective with unexpected ties to one of the escaped prisoners; she is recruited by a mysterious government agent Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill), who was once an Alcatraz guard and knows a lot more about what is going than he’s willing to reveal. Sarah is teamed up with comic book store owner and geek Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia, well known as the beloved Hurley from LOST), who is a walking encyclopedia of Alcatraz trivia that proves useful in the investigations.

The rundown of each episode aired to date goes like this: some escapee appears in the city unaged and continues the same criminal activity that had him jailed in the first place. Sarah and Diego run around the city, tracking him down with half-hearted help by Hauser, (who sometimes seems as if he’s impeding them) and his aide Lucy Banerjee (Parminder Nagra), who like the prisoners hasn’t aged since 1960. In between, the manhunts, we’re shown flashbacks to life in Alcatraz before the prisoner escaped so that he can be fleshed out and given some motive. Here and there, viewers are given clues and riddles without an answer such as how did the prisoners and guards disappear and why? Who is behind this? What is the deal with Hauser’s assistant? Why hasn’t she aged? Will Hauser stop beating around the bush and just explain it all to Sarah? After all, she is supposed to be working for him now and should be privy to what is happening in order to better perform her duties.

There lies the flaw with Alcatraz. It has some good moments and hooks to keep viewers watching, but it doesn’t have the drive and real mystery that LOST and Fringe had. The mythology isn’t as compelling and many of the characters aren’t as interesting. Maybe it’s a response to complaints about J.J. Abrams’ shows being too mythologized, so he plays it safer this time. Sarah comes off as a pale imitation of Fringe’s Olivia Dunham, just a younger, bustier version without Dunham’s inner toughness. Hauser, as portrayed by Neill, seems bored half the time. Garcia’s Diego is the most interesting character but only because he isn’t a law enforcement type and the show wisely shows how he is more like an ordinary person swept up in this mystery. And while the stories about the prisoners are so far interesting, the basic setup of each episode is starting to get repetitious. In many ways, Alcatraz seems more like a procedural cop show that belongs on CBS.

Then there are some nagging problems about the premise. Chiefly with the way the prisoners so easily get by in modern society without drawing attention to themselves. Sorry but if someone from the early ’60s were to suddenly appear today, that person would experience a future shock over how things have changed. They would speak differently, act a bit strange, not know how to use modern devices or how to blend in. Yet none of this is shown, unless the prisoners are lying about not knowing anything and had time to assimilate into modern society.

So is it worth watching? Short answer: yes. When compared to ninety percent of the garbage on TV now, it stands above them. But so far it isn’t as captivating as Abrams’ other shows.

José Soto

Jan 31 2012

2012 Doomsday Scenarios: Month One

Okay it’s 2012 now, supposedly our final year according to the Mayan calendar. Earth was put on notice last week with that big solar flare that could’ve disrupted our satellites (but thankfully didn’t). With all the hoopla about the end of the world, one has to wonder if this is our swan song, how will it end? Here at Starloggers, we’re going to examine the possible doomsday scenarios each month as a sort of countdown.

Doomsday Scenario No. 12: The Aliens Are Coming, The Aliens Are Coming

Whether the E.T.s are friendly, cuddly visitors or blood thirsty, destructive invaders, it can’t be denied that once they do arrive life as we know it is over. So even if the first contact is benevolent our isolation in the universe is gone and with it the way we see ourselves. This scenario would bring about an end of our world. These are the possible scenarios:

  • Friendly, curious neighbors come by to say hello: Think of E.T. or Starman or the alien greys from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. They mean well, they’re just explorers but their arrival is nonetheless disruptive. A variation of this scenario is explored in Carl Sagan’s book Contact (and film based on his work), where just the radio signals from another star changes our society.
  • We’re invited: Continuing to look at Contact, the aliens willingly or unwittingly give humanity the technology to travel to their world. This theme is also seen with the film Stargate and its TV shows, the John Carter books and Adam Strange in comic books.
  • The Enforcers: The gist of this scenario goes like this, aliens make first contact with humans. But we’re given a stern warning to clean up our act and play nice otherwise either  A) we can’t join their club or B) they’ll wipe us off the map. Option A was presented in Allen Steele’s Coyote universe books and option B was best shown with the classic The Day The Earth Stood Still.
  • Caught up in an interplanetary conflict: This is the plot for those Transformers films. We’re standing by innocently in our little blue world obsessed with nonsense like taxes, the presidential election and Snookie until BAM! A bunch of aliens from two different sides arrive and duke it out, using our planet as a battlefield. This also happened in the book The Last World War and the Aliens Vs. Predators films.
  • Aliens with a mysterious agenda: Most recently seen with the V series but a terrific example is Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Childhood’s End. What happens is that aliens arrive in mammoth motherships over major cities. They claim to be peaceful and want to help humanity but have another agenda they’re keeping from us. With V (the original show, the remake was pretty vague–could be why the show failed) the aliens wanted our water and us for food. In Childhood’s End the mysterious Overlords arrived to shepherd in our next evolutionary stage and move our descendants into the cosmos. Another example is that show from the late ’90s Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict, where the mysterious Taelons arrive on Earth bringing an era of peace but have secret motives for coming to our world.
  • This Petri dish Earth or we taste like chicken: The first V show and mini-series fit this bill. And if the UFO fanatics are to be believed, alien greys come to our planet to create human/alien hybrids and to conduct painful, invasive experiments on humans. On the big screen, this was best shown with the underrated film A Fire In The Sky.
  • INVASION: The tried and true plotline of alien contact. Aliens arrive in huge ships and proceed to stomp us into smithereens until the heroes in the third act find a way to beat them. Examples in film, shows and books are numerous and include War Of The Worlds, Independence Day, Battle: Los Angeles, Footfall, the Worldwar books, etc. A variation of the invasion scenario is the clandestine invasion where the aliens slowly infiltrate us until it’s too late. Check out the shows Threshold,  The X-Files, The Invaders, and First Wave (this invasion scenario is probably prevalent on TV for budgetary reasons) as examples. On film the most famous example is Invasion Of The Body Snatchers.

That’s one look at how 2012 could the end of the world as we know it (apologies to R.E.M.). One month down, eleven more to go; be prepared.

Special thanks to GEO for his contribution

Jan 26 2012

New Doctor Who Companions Scenarios

The Doctor and the Ponds

Showrunner Steven Moffat announced on December 15 that the Ponds, Amy and Rory, will be leaving Doctor Who, well I can’t help wondering, what’s next? This is sad news but at the same time, you can appreciate that change means creativity so goodbye is inevitable.  It’s a bittersweet time.  We will miss the camaraderie and hope for occasional visits, but shaking things up a bit might be fun, too.

 So I am sure that everyone has their own theories about who should be the new companion, but here are three possibilities that I’ve come up with and I am sure that just as the universe is infinite so are the possible companions for the Doctor.  My imagination led me here.  It will be interesting to see if there are any similarities between Steven Moffat’s companions and a simple fan.  Who would you pick for the esteemed Doctor?

 Scenario One – Strange Puppy Love:  A middle-aged women from New York City and her pre-teenage daughter travel with the Doctor along with their Pomeranian.  However, the women thinks she is dreaming and that the Doctor is actually the Pomeranian transformed into a man, who’s name happens to be Doctor Sandy. Coincidentally, he is sometimes called the Doctor.

Foxy Lady as Doctor Sandy. Photo by Olivia McLernon

She become flirty with him and laughs at herself because she thinks she is only dreaming this and that she is flirting with her dog.  The daughter knows the truth but needs the doctor to show her and her mother around time and space because her mom is a historian and is trying to write a book.   With her daughter’s help the mom is getting over her writer’s block and has all kinds of interesting historical tidbits that never would have occurred to her before and comes in handy in the Doctor’s adventures through time. 

Some of these tidbits could include her helping the underground railroad during the Civil War. There she helps the Civil War Judge’s wife, Mrs. Piatt by giving her the idea to use a lawn jockey holding an American flag to signal her husband’s absence. Or aiding Sacagawea as she guided Lewis and Clark. At the same time, she is floored by Sacagawea’s hardships and begins to appreciate her own life and time. Then she could wind up in the early 1960s and meets Rachel Carson while she writes Silent Spring. The mom encourages her and helps her see her legacy as she will soon die of breast cancer.

Continuing the time journeys in the 1960s and ’70s she becomes part of the inspiration for songs like “Space Oddity” and” Go Ask Alice” much to the chagrin of the Doctor.

 Scenario Two – The Red Widow:  Every companion that the Doctor travelled with always was light and pretty much excited to be travelling, except for Donna in the beginning.  What if the Doctor gets roped into a support group that doesn’t really do much to support each other and have been stuck in a rut for a couple of decades? To shake things up a bit, these people come from Australia (or anywhere else but Europe).

Some members of the group are upset over a lack of interest, drive and desire, except for one fellow, let’s call him Mack.  He is the extreme opposite.  He’s a knife-wielding Crocodile Dundee type who has been down in the dumps about the environmental protection acts of every species in Australia that has forced him to become a semi-vegetarian, as he cannot hunt as often as he likes.  

In the course of time traveling with the Doctor, he happens upon a hybrid version of the red spider-like Racnoss (the Red Spider Empress that tried to turn Donna into spider food for her brood and killed her no-good fiancé in “The Runaway Bride”).  This chelicerata/humanoid is the result of a human-Racnoss union, that didn’t end so well for the human.  However, this new species aren’t quite as lethal and can pass for normal humans (except for their abdomens).  However, when they mate, the urge to kill their mate is still strong but this varies. 

The Racnoss

Some have been able to resist this primal urge, but it is difficult to tell who can control the urge and who can’t.  The safest course would be to avoid them, but it is difficult to tell if they are hybrids, unless they are undressed because their abdomen is the only difference.  All this uncertainty and violence has made Mack come alive again. He is thrilled to be part of a hunt again, even if he is the prey.  He has become buddies with the few male spiders left who chose not to mate for fear of death.  They run an underground railroad for males who wish to escape the Chelicerae (fang-like claws) of entrapment and ultimately death.  The Doctor ultimately leaves him on Chelicarae

 Scenario Three – Cool Hand Luca:  A young girl, Luca, gets into trouble one night by throwing rocks at some cars’ windows in the Brooklyn hood.  She is about to be arrested when the Doctor intervenes knowing that if she does get arrested, her life is over at this point and he because that she is the female equivalent of the story, Cool Hand Luke.  Like Luke, if she goes to jail, she will become influential to her jail mates, but she will create resentment from the prison guards who will ultimately cause her early demise. 

He tries to give her some hope for her future and show her that she could contribute to the wonders of the universe.  Along the way, he discovers that she does actually have some amazing talents.  She can talk to the TARDIS and can maintain and fix it better than he can.  Her tough exterior and manner can often distract enemies while he searches for their weaknesses and the TARDIS can see that underneath all that hard armor Luca has a soft side, not unlike the TARDIS itself.

Gwen McLernon