For most of the year, we Star Trek fans have been teased with the casting of the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery TV show that is premiering next year. We were excited over the casting of Michelle Yeoh, Doug Jones and others who would play diverse characters in the show, but no lead had been cast. That all changed today when word came that after an exhaustive search Sonequa Martin-Green has just been cast to play the lead role Lt. Commander Rainsford in Star Trek’s eagerly awaited return to TV.
Most fans know Martin-Green from the hit TV show The Walking Dead. For those of you out there who don’t she plays the role of Sasha, one of the few survivors of the walker apocalypse. Not to beat up on The Walking Dead, but that show has been in a rut this season with the Negan overkill and the tropes that the characters, including Sasha had been going through.
Obviously, Sonequa Martin-Green’s casting means that Sasha will probably be the next victim of Negan on The Walking Dead. It’s just as well, since her arc had come to a conclusion last season and the men she cared about in her life, her brother, Tyreese, and her new lover Abraham are both dead. In other words, The Walking Dead’s loss is Star Trek: Discovery’s gain.
Her casting is quite inspired, since it covers many important areas. One, she is the first woman of color to have the lead role in a Star Trek show. The honor of the first non-white goes to Avery Brooks who starred as Captain Ben Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine back in the 1990s. Ironically enough, like Sisko, Sonequa Martin-Green’s Rainsford won’t begin the show as the captain but as a lieutenant commander. Hopefully as what eventually happened with Sisko, her character will get promoted to captain before too long because she has the look of a Star Trek captain.
But more importantly, as seen in The Walking Dead, Martin-Green has the acting chops to headline a TV show and being that she has experience in a related genre, she will please many fans who only want the best casting options for the beloved Star Trek franchise. Finally, her landing the role cements the notion that Star Trek: Discovery will be populated by a diverse group of people with different backgrounds. This is actually reflective of our society today, despite what some on the fringe-elements may wish for, and this casting proves that Star Trek on the whole is able to keep up with the times.
Seriously, this is an excellent cap to Star Trek’s 50th anniversary as this year draws to a close.
The following will contain spoilers from the season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead...
The question that we all wanted to know and not know has been answered this past Sunday with the season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead. That question being who Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) killed among Rick Grimes’ (Andrew Lincoln) group. It turned out that the madman didn’t just kill one, but two beloved characters; Abraham Ford (Michael Cudlitz) and Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun). Let’s be clear, this episode was brutal, raw and frankly, it went overboard in its portrayal of violence and depravity.
That isn’t to say that the episode “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be” isn’t without its merits. Technically it was well done, well acted, well shot; it emoted tension like you wouldn’t believe. But the bottom line is while it was too gruesome, it had the air of a bad car wreck. You want to look away but can’t help but look. However, you often wind up regretting watching what was on the screen because it was so gratuitous to the point that it bordered on torture porn. Did we really have to see Negan repeatedly bash in Abraham and Glenn’s skull until mush was left? Sure, creator Robert Kirkman and the showrunners probably wanted to convey some message about helplessness and the ugliness of violence. The problem isn’t just the violent display of Negan’s sadistic violence, but what went on before and the presentation.
For months, we had to wait to find out who was Negan’s victim. The season 6 finale was overhyped (as was the season 7 premiere with all the images of Negan and his barb-wired bat Lucille) and we were all expecting to see Negan kill someone. But we didn’t. Instead we had to wait for months to find out that the reveal largely followed what happened in the comic books. In The Walking Dead #100, Negan bashed in Glenn’s skull, but Abraham had been killed beforehand issues past. So “the Day Will Come When You Won’t Be” threw off viewers with Abraham’s death.
The only problem with that death was that it was very telegraphed in season 6 of The Walking Dead. Abraham has had a death wish for much of the season. He seemed aimless with little to live for. In the season finale though, he began to muse about a life where he can settle down…a dead (forgive the pun) giveaway in The Walking Dead that he is doomed. This happens to all characters who find a measure of peace (look out Morgan, you’re next), except Rick. Another clue was when he told his friend Eugene Porter (Josh McDirmett) that he’s come a long way and become capable of taking care of himself. It was a way for the two men to say goodbye to each other and it was obvious by that small scene that Abraham wasn’t long for the world.
By the end of its third (and final) season, Defiance had become completely engrossing and well developed thanks to memorable acting and character arcs. It’s too bad that Syfy cancelled the series about a town in the future populated by struggling humans and aliens trying to get along with each other.
Best Horror TV Show
TheWalking Dead continues to chomp up the horror competition on TV. It’s been a long road for Rick Grimes and his battered and worn troupe as they battle undead zombies and savage humans, but the show still delivers the chills and excitement.
Best Fantasy Show
Game of Thrones rightfully won the best drama Emmy, making it one of the few genre shows to accomplish this honor. What helped make the show so captivating is that it outpaced the novels from which it’s based on with new character and plot developments, providing new territory for fans.
Best Cancelled TV Show
Defiance came into its own when it was regrettably cancelled. At least we got three full seasons and the final episode provided for the most part a sense of closure…except will Nolan ever come back from space?
Best Animated Show
Star Wars:Rebels is a fun and engaging TV show that captures the mood of the original Star Wars films as it fills in the gap between the original and prequel films.
Best TV Character
This is a hard one since 2015 featured many terrific and memorable characters. With that said the best character has to be Jessica Jones from the TV show named after her. Hard boiled, weary and sporting a tough exterior to mask her pain, Jessica Jones was your typical private detective with superpowers struggling to get by with her life.
Most Missed TV Character
The Walking Dead is noted for the constant death of regular characters. Each time this happens, the other characters lose more and more of themselves every time. The slow death of semi-gentle giant Tyreese after he was bitten by a walker wasn’t an exception and came to viewers as a sad surprise.
Best TV Superhero
Thanks to an inspired performance by Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, his alter ego of the Flash has quickly become one of the best superheroes featured on a TV show. Fast, quirky and full of wonder and angst, this version of the Flash combines the traits of many different superheroes and became his own unique character.
Best TV Villain
The most memorable and unsettling aspect of the Netflix show Jessica Jones was the chilling performance by former DoctorWho actor David Tennant as Kilgrave, the sociopath who can control people with his voice alone. Spoiled, petulant and with a savage streak, Kilgrave was one of the best supervillains ever shown on TV.
Best Fight Scene
The highlight of the second episode of Daredevil (“Cut Man”) and in fact the entire first season was this long, continuous fight scene that took place in a hallway between Daredevil and some Russian thugs. It was brutal and ugly but became a standard bearer for an unforgettable fight scene.
Even though Constantine was cancelled earlier this year, that didn’t mean that the title character was forgotten. To fans’ delight, he turned up later this year on Arrow and proved that a cancellation couldn’t keep a good sorcerer down.
Best Sci-Fi Film
There were some great competitors for this category like Mad Max: Fury Road and Ex Machina but Jurassic World just edged them out with its roaring dino action, some food for thought and that unforgettable moment with Owen riding his motorcycle flanked by his raptors sealed the deal.
Best Horror Film
CrimsonPeak was a nice throwback to old-fashioned Victorian-era ghost stories that raised viewers hairs while adorned with spooky modern touches.
Best Fantasy/Animated Film
One of Pixar’s two offerings in 2015, InsideOut, quickly won over the hearts of viewers over the summer as they witnessed the inner psyche of a young preteen girl. It was so easy to identify with and delight in the way her inner feelings were represented by such amusing archetypes.
Best Action Film
Director George Miller showed today’s generation of action junkies how to do a real action film without CGI. Mad Max: Fury Road was jammed with non-stop excitement and gasp-inducing action scenes that rarely let up.
Best Superhero Film
Despite its many behind-the-scenes obstacles, Ant-Man defied low expectations, continued Marvel Studios winning streak and proved to be a more fun film than the other Marvel Studios offering, Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Best Superhero on Film
Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, turned out to be the most memorable and fun superhero to star in a superhero film in 2015. He has many downtrodden tropes of a hard-luck superhero like Spider-Man, but witty dialogue and solid acting by Paul Rudd who added just the right amount of humor made Ant-Man a character to watch out for in future films.
Best Film Character
Out of all the characters, old and new, from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rey was the most intriguing with a mysterious back story that has yet to be fully revealed. Thanks to Daisy Ridley’s performance and the way she was written, this future Jedi left viewers with a confident impression that she will carry the torch for the StarWars saga.
Best Line in a Film
“What a lively day!” Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Film Villain
Indominus Rex was literally the biggest and most terrifying villain/movie monster to come along in some time. His savage rampage across in JurassicWorld was one of the reasons why the film became the summer blockbuster of 2015.
Best Special Effects
There was so much to choose from this year from the dizzying size proportions of Ant-Man to the practical effects showcased in Mad Max: Fury Road to the rampaging dinosaurs in JurassicWorld. But one film stood out above them all and that one was the seventh film of a long-running franchise, StarWars: The ForceAwakens.
Best Trailer for an Upcoming Film
There were some cool trailers like the one for Independence Day: Resurgence and some Godawful ones like StarTrekBeyond, but the trailer that stuck was one that was leaked out of Comic-Con and forced into general release to the delight of millions as they met the new Joker played by Jared Leto. That trailer was for SuicideSquad.
Biggest Disappointment
Sure there were many truly dreadful films this year like Fant4stic, but Avengers: Age of Ultron has to take the title for biggest disappointment. It’s not a bad film at all, it’s got a lot going for it, but it lacked the energy and fun of the original Avengers film and failed to live up to the buildup.
Best App
Marvel: Future Fight is a true successor and competitor to Marvel: AvengersAlliance with its wide roster of heroes, inventive game play and thrilling graphics.
Best Video Game
Thanks to a sprawling, post-apocalyptic virtual landscape, involving storyline about a parent looking for a lost child and addictive gameplay Fallout4 gets the honor for the best video game of 2015.
Best Merchandise
Anything with BB-8 🙂
Best Hallmark Ornament
With Leonard Nimoy passing away this year, this ornament poignantly symbolized the friendship between Kirk and Spock as it recreated their final scene in Star TrekII: The Wrath of Khan.
Biggest News Item
2015 started off with the exciting announcement that Spider-Man would now be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the news event that sadly supplanted that later on was the unfortunate passing of Star Trek legend Leonard Nimoy. His Spock is a genuine cultural icon and Mr. Nimoy is still missed by us.
OK, we’re all still digesting the most recent episode of The Walking Dead and over what happened in it. But what happened is actually the norm for The WalkingDead, since major characters get killed off in the TV show (and comic book) all the time, so we should expect death. It doesn’t mean that we have to like it. OK, this is the last warning about spoilers before we get started.
So, Glenn became the latest fatality in the walker-infested world of The Walking Dead. It shouldn’t come as a surprise given that he’s been dead for some time in the comic books. It’s just that we all expected Negan to come along and bash his head in, not fall into a swarm of hungry walkers. BTW, thank you Nick for being a coward til the end and taking out the one person who saw something in you.
Anyway, who’s the next one to die? Will it be fatalities from the comic books like Carol and Abraham or will it be someone who is still alive like Carl? Leaving out the Alexandrians, who we don’t care about, here are the main heroes from the TV version of The Walking Dead. What are the odds they’ll survive the zombie apocalypse?
Rick Grimes: The main character in The Walking Dead, the story is told mainly from his point of view. Creator Robert Kirkman stated that the story will end when Rick dies, so he’s likely to last until the final episode. His hand, though, is another story and it’s already being foreshadowed.
Daryl Dixon: If the show’s creators believe the fans’ declaration: If Daryl Dies, We Riot, then it would be a mistake to kill off the major original character in the show. Then again, what’s been going on with him lately? Most of the time he’s moody, wants to be by himself. Maybe he’ll be written out but not killed so he can come back for the special episodes.
Carol Peletier: The formerly abused housewife has become the female version of Daryl: a complete badass. Robert Kirkman recently said that is the one character he refuses to kill off in the TV show because he loves how she has developed.
Michonne: This modern-day samurai just seems too tough to be killed off…or is she? Rest easy folks, odds are that she’s not going anywhere. She’s on a Daryl level of popularity ever since she was introduced in the comics.
Maggie Greene: The only surviving member introduced in season two and Glenn’s wife. She’s going to have some dark days ahead, lots of fodder for character development. It would be waste to then just kill her, but this is The Walking Dead. Also let’s consider the wild speculation that Glenn somehow survived (yeah, I know that would be far-fetched), suppose it’s true, what would be a greater tragedy than having him go home only to find out she died?
Carl Grimes: Rick’s son has lost an eye and half his face in the comic books and he is a candidate for carrying the torch given his young age. But his infant sister who was killed in the comics is still alive. That means one of the Grimes kids has to die, and killing Carl would be a twist. Like with Rick Grimes, at the very least expect him to lose an eye. Having him waltz around with an eyepatch would be easier (and cheaper) to film than a missing hand.
Sasha: This lady has had a death wish in the second half of season five and who can blame her since her brother and lover died at that time. Now she seems to have snapped out of her funk. All the more reason to kill her off. Whenever someone on the show finds some peace then they’re history.
Abraham Ford: Killed in the comic books fighting Negan’s army, Abraham was always a bit crazy and this season he’s picked up Sasha’s reckless, suicidal verve. Ever since he found out that Eugene lied about having a walker cure, his life has lost meaning. Perfect candidate.
Eugene Porter: This oddball is too goofy to be killed off. I predict doing so will touch off a firestorm on a Daryl level.
Rosita Espinosa: Abraham’s girlfriend hasn’t had much to do lately and is becoming a redshirt. Perhaps she bites it in the mid-season finale.
Tara Chamblers: She was originally part of the evil Governor’s group, but quickly realized her error and has become a staunch member of Rick’s group. Though her story is pretty interesting, and her friendship with Eugene is nice to watch, but she hasn’t caught on like Daryl or Carol. She may be next.
Morgan Jones: The first dude Rick met when he woke up from his coma is a fan favorite given his badassery. But let’s be real here, his let’s-all-get-along attitude is costing the group. He’s in danger of being a liability, then don’t forget he’s already dead in the comics. Can anyone say Dead Man Walking?
Another Comic-Con has made its impact with genre fans from all over the world. As exciting as it was for those lucky enough to attend the annual gathering at San Diego, there wasn’t any Earth-shattering news to come out of the convention. Nonetheless, many presentations and speakers were able to whet the appetites for fans at what lies ahead.
TV Shows
New trailers for The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead made their debut and whetted the appetites for followers of the zombie phenomenon. While Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) has leadership headaches in season six of The Walking Dead, we all finally get to see how the walker apocalypse got its start with the prequel spinoff.
While Marvel Studios was conspicuously absent this year, we did get news about their TV shows Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter. The most intriguing was the tease that one of the actual Avengers (and Maria Hill doesn’t count!) may appear in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. That being the Falcon (Anthony Mackie), which is terrific news since he is so popular.
As for their natural rival, DC, we found out that Jay Garrick will indeed be featured in The Flash and portrayed by Teddy Sears, plus Wally West is coming to the popular show as well as a new villain Zoom. Also, Hawkman himself will appear in the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow. Do we smell another spinoff coming?
Movies
The three big movie-related revelations at Comic-Con were about Fox’s Marvel movies, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and DC/Warner Brothers’ superhero films. The clear winner was DC who presented a teaser for the Suicide Squad, announced that there will be a Green Lantern Corps. film and that Ben Affleck will direct and star in a Batman solo film, and showed a near-perfect trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. But let’s go over the first two revelations.
Fox presented teasers for next year’s Deadpool and X-Men: Apocalypse, as well as next month’s Fantastic Four. While the new X-Men presentation was fascinating, what brought the house down was the first look at Deadpool. The teaser featured many of the same scenes from the ashcan trailer that made the rounds in the Internet to sell the idea of a Deadpool film. But added to that were the basic origin stuff of how Slade Wilson became the Merc with a Mouth. Overall, the trailer clearly shows that this will be an R-rated film to the delight of fans.
Just as delightful to watch was the Star Wars: The Force Awakens panel that was highlighted by a reunion of the Original Trilogy stars, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. A behind-the-scenes video was released that had new footage from the upcoming Star Wars film and one point that seems to be hammered into the video is the reliance on practical sets and effects so as to set it apart from the prequel films.
Arguably the most popular presentations where done by DC/Warner Bros. with their two comic book films due next year. The Suicide Squad trailer was fairly standard with Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) winning over drooling fans as expected. The images were buttressed by Will Smith’s take of Deadshot, who added some gravitas to what looked like a costume parade. However, Jared Leto stole the entire trailer at the end when he showed up as the Joker. He seemed just as manic and deadly as he appeared in the photos.
What set the DC presentation apart was the winning trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It showed that there will be real repercussions for the events in Man of Steel where Superman (Henry Cavill) and his foes effectively destroyed Metropolis. We find out that Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) was present in Metropolis during the climatic battle and witnessed firsthand the threat that meta-humans pose. His hatred for Superman seems natural and justified. Meanwhile, Superman has to contend with either being revered as some kind of god and feared and hated by others. All the protesters with the signs calling him an illegal alien is very topical. The final and winning touch to the trailer was the premiere of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. It didn’t show much but she looked beautiful and powerful. Thanks to the trailer Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has become the must-see film of 2016.
Marvel Studios MIA
DC’s presentations sucked all the air out of the convention for the other properties, even the Fox Marvel movies. What could’ve countered this was if Marvel Studios had bothered to make a presentation at Comic-Con. Instead, they stayed home and it remains to be seen if a price will be paid for this absence.
They had their reasons for staying out of Comic-Con, Ant-Man will be out in a few days and their other films may not be ready yet. Then there’s the fact that there may be presentations at next month’s D23 Expo, which will solely be about all things Disney. Or perhaps Marvel Studios will have another special presentation like they did last fall where they announced the full slate of the Phase Three MCU films. Except this time we’ll get actual footage from Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange.
Be that as it may, it is still probably a strategic mistake to take the year off Comic-Con. While the MCU films are riding a wave of popularity now, this year’s convention showed that genuine competition is coming and Marvel Studios needs to stay alert. Some cracks in the armor showed with Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man’s potential for success is unknown. If they didn’t want to show any footage, they could’ve at least shown some props or artwork from the upcoming films. Instead we got to see cool props from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice like the Batman armor. Score one for DC. 🙂
Starloggers 