Watching Muppets

Ah the muppets.

I admit to having a soft spot for them (pun intended).  I practically grew up on Sesame Street and watched the Muppets’ Christmas Special (in which Jim Henson himself appeared) every year until we lost the tape.  So the movie is graded on a curve, just like if I was forced to review a movie put on and staring my own family.  Plus it co-stars Amy Adams and she’s so cute it’s hard to hate anything she’s in.

This movie is a lot of fun, a definite return to the muppets’ best work.  Heck, normally I can’t stand musicals (though operas rock) with very rare exceptions.  The rules for the whole thing just never made any sense to me, (so in this song they understand your message but in this song they can’t because it’s like… your thoughts or something?) and while I will admit that maybe if I studied them more, they would be clearer, I am not motivated to put that much work into it.  This movie remains one of those rare exceptions as very quickly the rule of its songs became clear to me: whichever action is funniest.

Now some (like the always awesome Furious D) have accused this movie of being just a bit hackneyed and cliche.  Well I can’t exactly argue with his point, because that is the point of this narrative: one of the most rapid-fire deconstructions and reconstructions I’ve ever seen.  Much of the humor comes from setting up a cliche, and then making the audience guess whether they’ll follow it or subvert it.  Heck, the villain gets his own over the top singing number so it’s kind of hard to be too offended, even as a writer.  BUT (and this is a huge but) such will only work for this movie which is built as a “return/reboot” film for the Muppets.  If any sequels happen, they will have to try new things with their antagonists.

So how does the movie work as a narrative whole?  Well there’s plot holes galore, but that’s kind of the charm, if you’re going to start arguing about them, you may as well argue about how felt puppets are treated like people: You’ve clearly lost all joy in life and just don’t get it.  I only have one real complaint.  In this movie, a new character is introduced (quite well) named Walter.  Him and his brother are the two that have the largest character arcs in the movie, and with Walter, part of it is that time-honored “finding where you belong”.  So far so good (see above for why I let this cliche slide).

spoiler warning

———————————————————————————————————

Part of the climax turns upon Walter filling in an act on the Muppets’ reunion show, but he’s not sure what he could do.  In the end we learn… he can whistle.

…

I mean it’s not bad, but we’ve never seen him whistle once in the film. (or if we did, it was so brief that I had forgotten)  Throughout the movie, it has been established that Walter is THE biggest Muppet fan ever to live.  Then, right in the middle of their big show, Kermit has to run an errand and leaves Scooter in charge (with Scooter panicking since he doesn’t “host”).  The build up was perfect, I expected at any moment: Walter would be the sub-host, the fill in.  Except he doesn’t.  Scooter does end up filling in briefly.  Like I said, you can bend or play with a lot of cliches in your work, but violating character and narrative arcs should only be done in absurdest comedies.

———————————————————————————————————

end spoilers

All in all, I ended up enjoying myself a lot more than I expected and laughing harder than I have at a movie in awhile.  And that’s more than I could ask for.  I’d give it:

Parents, I’d definitely get a copy of this as it’s going to be a lot easier to watch twenty times with your kids than other kiddy fare.

Episode Review – Time After Time

Sometimes it’s hard not to get just a little paranoid that either of my readers work for the show as almost every complaint I had last week was “resolved” this week.

We actually see the boys doing their own work!  Badass Elliot Ness (played by Nicholas Lea, aka Alex Krycek for a brain bending meta moment) is doing the job because it has to be done!  Heck, he even calls out Dean for being just a bit too whiny.

To quote myself from two posts back:

Lorewise, I did appreciate this book hinting that SPN could do a dozen spin-off shows of hunters across lands and cultures (possibly even time).

And this episode definitely makes one wish that we had a show of just 1944 Ness being a hunter (would have been an awesome season 6).  One wonders if he took on the mob just for a vacation.  It is kind of a shame that Dean didn’t think to leave info on Leviathans for himself & Sam & Bobby back in the ’40s, but it’s not a bit deal.  The writers wisely put Dean on a ticking clock plot, which generally helps excuse characters from thinking through all possibilities.

Above average episode, and gives one hope that the season can finish out on a high note.

Episode Review – Adventures in Babysitting

Ugh.

Don’t get me wrong, the episode wasn’t horrible but what can I say about it that I haven’t said several times already?

Again, it is nice to see them folding bits of this season’s arc into the monster of the week episodes, this is a great touch that would have made season 5 spectacular had it been done there.  If anything this season, they are doing the arc right.

On one level, I kind of get Dean’s continued railing about the hunter life.  On the other, it passes right into character stupidity level.  Dean should know that being “innocent” is no guarantee against the monsters of the world.  Watching his dealings with the girl in this episode was kind of like watching a cop/soldier ordering someone to not learn self-defense.  (in my experience, it’s the opposite, few people encourage self-defense MORE than a cop or soldier)

Speaking of the girl & her father… so in season 5, I frequently griped that we didn’t see the boys at least make a token effort to build an army to fight Satan (or talk about it beyond one or two episodes).  This season the threat is one that requires more subtlety and subterfuge, so it makes some sense for the brothers to keep their recruitment efforts low.

BUT THEY CAN STILL INFORM PEOPLE ABOUT WHAT’S GOING ON!

We don’t even have to see it, just a side mention like, “Thanks for saving me, Dean, and I’ll keep an eye out for those Leviathan.”  Or even a “Whatever you do, don’t vote for Dick Roman.”  “Watch what you eat.”  Instead… now what?  How’s the girl going to go to Stanford if the Leviathan win?

One of my favorite scenes from Men In Black is outside the Jewelry store, where K explains to J the mission.  As Tommie Lee Jones points out, the Earth is always on the verge of being destroyed, what keeps humanity going is not being aware of it.  Now the morality of information is a debate without limits and increasing relevance in our present time, but what separates MiB from SPN in this regards is that the citizens in MiB cannot make any difference with regards to Earth’s destruction.  In SPN, not just citizens, but the other hunter especially can make a difference with fighting the Leviathan.  Heck, a plot point in this episode was some hunters getting in trouble because of incorrect information.  So maybe you want to share more information with them, Dean, to keep this from happening again?  If the characters are going to continue on like this, we need at least a lampshade hanging on why.

Frank is… ok as a character, but it’s just tiring to see him take over the role of “plot hole Spackle” that Bobby vacated.  Show the boys doing work.  We know they can!  If something’s beyond their skills (like hacking the security feed) THEN you bring in an ally like Frank but they should be rare appearances and a last resort, not a major cast member.

Lorwise: silver knife to the heart and twist makes me wonder why silver bullets won’t work, especially since modern guns spin the bullets, so they would “twist” when hitting a heart.  That would have been a nice touch in this, the girl saving them with a sniper shot, pointing out the aforementioned fact.  Also, why don’t the guys use concealed weapons more? (they used to)  At some point I’m wondering why they don’t walk in, brandishing a knife in their left hand, then when they’re thrown against a wall with that neck & wrist grab, reveal concealed knife in right hand and stabby stabby.  Oh wait, the girl ended up doing that!  (And don’t even get me started on the Matrix – that should have been an entry on this list: no concealed weapons)

Also, I’m still hating their car.  It sucks.  So much.

 

Still, a pretty average episode over all.

Cute for Hiatus – Coyote’s Kiss

What?

…

Supernatural’s back already?

…

Dang, I thought I’d have another week or two.  And I was actually around to watch it!

.

.

.

Let me be honest: I was prepared to hate this book.  It has every SIGN of not just being one of the worst Supernatural books, but one of the worst I’ve ever read.  Let’s look at the back of the book blurb.

When a truck full of illegal Mexican immigrants is found by the side of the road, the occupants slaughtered with violent and unnatural force…

Real big, hot button political issue?  Warning: high chance of anvilicious preaching.

Guided by the tattooed, pistol-packing bandita on a motorcycle, Xochi Cazadora, the brothers…

Mary Sue signals?  We’re at narrative Defcon 2!

And the historian’s note?

This novel takes place during season six, between “Caged Heat” and “Appointment in Samara.”

Following right after one of the WORST episodes the show ever had?

There’s just no possible way for this novel to be any good.

…

Hmmm…  Rarely am I so glad to be wrong.

.

If you’ve read just about any other entry on this blog, you’ve seen how I generally despise politics, that I want to get AWAY from it in my narrative enjoyment.  This story doesn’t address it, illegal immigration is just a bit of a backdrop, a prop, a fact that is mentioned in the story, there is no comment on it beyond that.  What’s the author’s opinion on the issue?  I couldn’t tell you.  Yes if you’re a heavily political minded person you might be able to tease and torture out a political message of this book (heck, the monster is a “borderwalker”, but we’re not talking nation borders…) but you’d have to go a bit out of your way to do so and it speaks more about you than this story or its author.

So ix Xochi a Mary Sue?  She is a female Dean.  And I’m not really making that up either.  Here’s a passage:

“No,” she said.  “No one.  I mean, I tried but…” she shrugged again.  “I was a terrible wife too.”

“What happened?”

“You know,” she said.  “Things don’t always work out.”

Dean didn’t say anything.  He could sense she wanted to say more.  He waited.

“I tried to walk away.. to be a normal person.”  She looked down at her scarred hands.  “But this life.  Hunting.  It’s the only thing I’m really good at.”

But that’s the only moment that really pushes the blatant copying.  So you have to ask yourself: Is Dean Winchester a Marty Stu?  Eh… I can see a legitimate argument for that as even I can admit he really rides that line at times (especially with the angel revelation in seasons 4 & 5).  So if you’re not that a big of a fan of Dean, keep in mind you’ll be dealing with two of them (even if one is eye candy for the guys).  Also the author appears to actually put effort into the chemistry between Dean & Xochi instead of just throwing together a new ‘ship’.  Heck, I almost wonder if she’s read something else I’ve written…

Lorewise, I did appreciate this book hinting that SPN could do a dozen spin-off shows of hunters across lands and cultures (possibly even time).  A few lines here and there seem problematic in light of later season 6 revelations, but not insurmountable for the dedicated fan. (stop looking at me like that)  I did highly appreciate this segment, however:

“You’re dealing with a whole different system of government here,” Castiel said.  “Different gods.  I’m not allowed to interfere.”  … ["]What you are up against is from a totally separate, independent spiritual realm.  Upper management has a longstanding laissez-faire policy with other gods.  By the terms of our recent agreement, they stay out of our business and we stay out of theirs.”

I’m quite supportive of this bit becoming canon SPN lore.  It certainly puts some extra spin on the Hammer of the Gods episode. (maybe the old pagans were weakened because they broke the agreement first and was going after Lucifer?  or did Gabriel break it by hiding among them?  is Gaby what caused this agreement to be formed?)  Great addition to lore, doesn’t break anything, and allows the universe to expand so we can see other hunters with a ready-made explanation for why say… Castiel doesn’t meet them.  Way to win a bit of kudos from me.

I won’t spoil the final reveal (well not so much a “who” as much as a “why”) but it was somewhat unique and showed what an interesting arc antagonist could have been over the sixth season.  (I might discuss on the TV Trope board or in the comments.)

Best quote from the book?

“Think she can tell we’ve been rolling in another Impala?” Sam joked as Dean got behind the wheel.

“Don’t listen to him, baby,” Dean said, patting the dash.  “I swear, she meant nothing to me.  I didn’t even drive, honest.”

(although I’m not sure soulless Sam intentionally joked)

Normally this book would rank a straight average score, but with everything the author managed to pull off?

I didn’t think it could be done. *slow clap* This book is definitely recommend this to fans of SPN that acknowledge season 6.

Watching Sherlock Holmes 2

Ah the Dark Sir Holmes.

Wait – no – I mean Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadow.  Though it’s easy to see the mistake.

• Like Batman Begins, the latest SH series had a first installment which utilized a lesser known villain to better establish the hero and the rules these worlds are operate under.
• Like the Dark Knight, the 2nd part of the SH series has the hero’s most famous villain appear to menace him.
• In both part ones, there is a hint or preview of the hero’s most famous antagonist.
• In both part twos, a major character is presumed dead, only to have a later reveal that they’re not.
• I would also say that the improvement from BB-TDK is the same proportion as that between SH 1 & 2.

As I’m not very familiar with the source material, I won’t comment on that (I have some of the stories, but I haven’t got to read them yet) – though a friend of mine mentions that they are pretty faithful.

The movie also contains one of the instances of “ramping” that’s actually GOOD and appropriate – usually.  My golden standard for ramping (and one of the first instances I saw) was from the teaser of the episode “A New World” from the TV show Angel (you can watch it here or read the summary).  Ramping should be used when an action scene involves a lot of details, characters or placements that an audience will need a few seconds to process.  Thus when the scene resumes at regular speed, the audience follows and tracks the action.  At least, that’s how it should be used instead of for pointless “coolness” like in 300.  Sherlock Holmes 2 has a few of those, but not enough to be offensive.

As always the actors are magnificent, with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law possessing the annoying, yet tolerating chemistry that guy friendships do have.  Also it’s nice to see an iteration of Sherlock Holmes which shows Holmes’ brilliance by making the surrounding cast intelligent themselves (something that – at times – annoys me about House).  Watson is quite smart and capable in a fight in a way that’s not necessarily better or worse than Holmes, but different.

All in all, I’d give this movie:

There’s worst things to spend a matinee ticket on.

.

.

.

Spoiler Discussion

I’m not always a fan of mysteries.  I mean thrillers aren’t too bad, but I always have this sense that a mystery story should be one where a reader can figure it out about the same time as the protagonist, that upon rereading, you see how everything fit together and sometimes… this isn’t as effective as it should be.  At times I can’t figure out whether Holmes wants to be a thriller or a mystery (though with the name “Sherlock Holmes” it is usually assumed to be mystery) and the problem is that sometimes it seems like the viewers should have knowledge that they can’t.  Example from the first one: the remote control device.  Now that works for modern audiences because that technology is common place for us, we know it exist and that it’s possible.  If, however, it was an older audience (a contemporary one to Holmes), then it would have seemed like a character was trying to fake a magic trick by… using real magic (yes you can call it tech, but if it’s fantastical enough, it becomes indistinguishable from magic – see Chuck’s (of SFDebris) treatise on technobabble).

In this sequel, we come upon the “face transplant” – something we’re STILL working on perfecting in the modern day (last I heard), much less in the time that this takes place.  Part of me wonders if this was a later decision forced upon the movie makers by the studio.  The entire plot ultimately revolves around this woman’s brother having the face of another person.  But we’re never really shown any reason for him to look different (never any sign of picture IDs).  In this time and place, it shouldn’t have been that hard (especially with the money and power we see Moriarty wield) to have infiltrated a lackey in an appropriate position.  Which then would have made the later attempt on his sister’s life (and a few others) more logical – you don’t want that person to show up and identify the infiltrator.  But if you’ve changed the infiltrator’s face… what does it matter whether his sister (or friends) live?  In fact, making an attempt on their life would just end up cluing law enforcement (or your detective nemesis) onto your plans – which it did.  If they had let that “technobabble” out of the movie, the story would have been tighter and more organic, and rated an additional shell.  As it is, I wish movie makers would think through their story choices more…

Merry Christmas

Happy holidays everyone!  I see Peter Jackson got us just what we wanted this year.

Cure for Hiatus – One Year Gone

One Year Gone is a SPN novel bridging the gap between season 5 and 6.

And it’s definitely in the same spirit as season 6.

Good, even neat moments?  Check.  Ultimately disappointing and occasional missteps?  Check.

The story involves Dean transitioning to a life with Lisa while Sam learns to hunt with his grandfather.  Dean eventually gets the idea to go hunt for the Necronomicon in Salem, Massachusetts.  With it, he might be able to raise up Lucifer and get his brother back, but he’s going to need a witch’s help.  Sam & Samuel go follow him to make sure he fails.

While I certainly won’t object to characters actually having to work to get over emotional problems, a lot of this (and the last few seasons in general) really feel like the writers have gotten confused and flanderized Dean (yes he’s on there).  Yeah, the guy misses his brother and all – I like that family is important in this series, but… at some point you just start to wonder why he never thought about accepting Michael, then throwing himself and Lucifer’s first vessel into the pit so Sam could lead a life. (Meta-wise, it’s obvious that Kripke’s concept had Sam always intended to become Satan and sacrifice himself to save the world.  The late-game addition of other angels kind of made the concept go pear-shape and while it was definitely a plus over-all, it does lead to some lore hiccups.)  At some point one wonders what Dean was really fighting for.  I mean, there is something to the idea of a character fighting hard for something they end up not wanting, but we never see this with Dean – not even in this book where we get to see inside his mind.  Just once it would have been nice to have him weigh or admit that he choose wrong in the war.  That the price wasn’t worth it or something.  Take for instance this passage:

As they made their way through the narrow streets, tourists crammed the brick sidewalks.  Dean wondered at all the people enjoying their lives-oblivious to how much Sam and Dean had sacrificed so that they could continue on as normal.  Would they even appreciate it if they knew?  Dean doubted it.  He didn’t get a chance to walk among the masses very often and he was pretty sure he hadn’t missed much as he watched tourists munching ice cream cones and shoving their bratty kids in front of buildings and statues to be photographed.  For a moment, he wondered why he even cared about saving all these schlubs’ lives…

I may have to rewatch the earlier seasons, but once upon a time, Dean was kind of the blue-collar champion of the people.  Sam was the one hunting for revenge, Dean was the one hunting because it needed to be done.  This also further fuels my belief that Dean really needed Anna to be his girl, not Lisa.  One trait of Dean’s is that he wants to be recognized as a hero.  Think of the last episode, “Death’s Door” when he’s screaming about how they do their job.  The hunters perform tasks every bit as essential for society as soldiers, firemen and policemen.  Yet they are generally feared and hated by the populace like Batman.  Lisa is aware of Dean’s life, but she doesn’t quite appreciate it as fully as someone like Anna would have.  Although in Lisa’s defense, Dean doesn’t bother telling her what he’s accomplished – again, something I can sort of understand but we really should have some scene addressing this.

Speaking of characters, a delight of this book is its look into the history of the Campbells and their hunting activities even as far back as early America.  It was gratifying to read this bit from a letter of one of the ancient Campbells:

After the fight with the Salem witches, Caleb and I realized that all the country villages and towns are being abused and attacked by the kinds of evil we know how to fight.  It would be lovely and comfortable to stay with you here, to see you marry and have a family.  It would be lovely and comfortable for Caleb and I to do the same.  But we feel that would be wrong and selfish.  The world outside Salem needs us.

Again, this would have a welcome motivation for Samuel.  Speaking of which, in this book we do get to see Robo!Sam’s first meeting with his grandfather; which makes it less of a surprise for the way Samuel treats his grandsons later in the season.  Though it still would have been nice to see him motivated not by a desire to resurrect Mary (which has been done in the series) but to save the soul of his grandson.

Lore-wise, the book will almost have to be thrown out.  At least twice it references the “four princes of hell”.  And Crowley as “king of Hell”.  While not a large annoyance, it does seem odd that some random demon would get promoted to king over any of the four princes (princes are usually the ones that get to be kings).  Also, during one summoning, we get this passage:

Constance caught one of her young farm hands by the arm, pulled him close, and, grabbing the knife, started to chant once again. I realized she was trying to raise the second Prince of Hell, whose name I knew to be Leviathan.

So, with season 7… looks like this book will have to be tossed out. (Also, it seems to be further proof of just how much the show runners were making up as they went along season 6.)

Plot wise, this book is serviceable.  My biggest complaint is that towards the end they utilize “gangmembers-with-a-heart-of-gold” cliche as a deus ex machina.  It comes out of no where and with such little prep the impact of them is not what it should have been.  Which sucks because I like “gangmembers-with-a-heart-of-gold” and the brief bit we see does spark intriguing ideas.  Such as if Dean had met them earlier and unwittingly created the SPN universe’s version of Gunn’s gang. (hmmm… gives me an idea for a fanfic)  Ironically, the strongest parts of the book are the ones that take place in the past, away from our mains.

All in all, I have to give the book:

Not one of the better novels, but I think they did about as well as could be expected considering the crapitude of season 6.

Episode Review – Death’s Door

This is another episode that I was having trouble deciding how to review.

Let me say this first of all: The whole “live just long enough to pass a plot coupon” is an old cliche, so kudos to SPN for actually devoting an entire episode to explaining just that event.  Well done on that.

And let me also say that I do adore Bobby Singer as a character and Jim Beaver’s skill as an actor (plus, Jim seems like a genuinely decent guy).

But part of this episode did bug me, and I think it highlights the cultural disconnect between urban and rural peoples (or maybe more of a south-midwest vs coasts thing).  It really hit home when the show made a point about Bobby playing catch with a young Dean instead of taking him shooting.  Where I grew up, a lot of kids would have LOVED to go shooting (heck, I would have preferred that over catch myself).  So when Bobby has an argument with John about Dean “needing to be a kid” I was a bit confused – getting to enjoy guns isn’t being a kid?  Not to mention that this whole “kids should be kids” idea is a rather recent (and modern) invention.  In more severe situations and primitive cultures, kids have to help out with survival, it’s actually a bit of a sign of how well off a society is that kids have the luxury of being kids.  (Don’t get me wrong, I’m VERY grateful that our kids have that luxury, but it just comes off as weird having that being put forth as a moral right.)  Plus it makes one wonder, isn’t this still pretty close in Dean’s life to his mother’s horrific death?  Wouldn’t he want to train in guns just to make sure nothing like that happened again?

Finally, where I grew up I was surrounded by extended family and friends of said family.  I used to joke that I had multiple moms and dads and I didn’t mean in any sense of gay marriage or divorce or whatever.  So it comes off as strange that the show seems to imply some kind of competition between Bobby & John as the boys’ father, when it should be.  Plus it kind of comes off as a bit of a retcon.  Consider that in season 2, “What is and What Should Never be” Dean, needing moral guidance, goes not to Bobby, but John’s grave.  While John was undoubtedly more absent than he should have been (though I wonder how much of this is the real life absence of Jeffery Dean Morgan writing the show), he was still in the boys’ lives and played a role.  This episode really came off like they were trying to life Bobby up by pushing John down – which isn’t necessary.

I was disappointed that Bobby didn’t even try to negotiate with the reaper to deliver a message.  And for continuity hounds, the scene with Dick Roman really has the feel of an episode that ran short so they shoved an extra scene in.  One that doesn’t make much sense since Dick tries to downplay the boys’ importance when the leviathan have been trying to kill them for several episodes.  Yeah, not doing a good job of convincing us they’re not important, guys.

All in all I have to give this episode…

Not exactly average, but the good parts were kind of dragged down by the bad parts so it all averages out.

Visiting the “Dollhouse” (a tv review)

I’m not exactly a Joss Whedon fan, but he’s built up enough good will for me with Angel and Firefly (the latter one of the greatest shows of all time) that I will give anything with his name on it a fair chance.

I remember the rumblings in nerddom when Joss returned to TV with a new show on Fox, one Dollhouse.  I tried catching two episodes of it but was so confused and lost I didn’t bother any more with it.

Until one weekend when, browsing through netflix, I sought for something on instant streaming which I could devour fairly quickly.  Lo and behold, Dollhouse was on streaming and was 27 episodes.  So I decided to see what the show had to offer; I at least wanted to see how the few episodes I’d seen on air fit into the story.

Dollhouse is Joss Whedon’s greatest TV work to date.

And it’s not surprising at all that it didn’t last more than two seasons.

If I had to compare this series to something that invoked similar emotions, it would have to be Lord of the Rings.  Both of them had a slow start.  But once I got used to the style and rhythm of it, it grew on me, until an emotionally powerful ending that made me want to cheer and cry.  Structurally, this is very much like a novel and one of the things that makes it work on DVD/streaming far more than on network TV.  While an author can set his/her own pace, the reader can still read through it as fast as he/she desires.  In the same way, Dollhouse has a set pace by its creator, one that is very difficult to suffer through on a one “chapter” a week schedule, but is more bearable when the viewer is able to watch as fast as he/she desires.

The question is how to review this, because it’s best viewed when you go into it as blind and ignorant of it as possible.  The series has more than a few motifs in common with John C Wright’s Chaos Kids trilogy (enough to make a drinking game), including the tactic of deceiving the audience about what the actual story is.

Dr Helen once wrote about how lately there seems to be a lot written about humanity’s lack of free will.  Dollhouse examines a world where not only is this true, but we’ve mastered the brain completely.  And in examining this sci-fi premise, Whedon ends up making one of the best cases for religion I’ve ever seen – or rather, he creates a parable where by the end, you deeply hope that man is more than the sum of his parts.

As far as writing goes, I loved it.  While the show had “plots of the week” episodes, by the end, you realize that they weren’t as disconnected as you thought.  Each episode of this show either advances the overarching plot, or advances the rules of the story’s world.  There is not an episode you can skip without risking confusion or a lesser emotional impact later on.  The characters are also top notch, demonstrating well the difference I talked before about being rational vs being logical.

I know I gave it 5 out of 5, but let me be clear: this is NOT going to be a show for everyone.  Whereas I would recommend Firefly to nearly anybody in a heartbeat (unless they had no soul), this is simply one of those works that isn’t going to appeal to everyone.  A good litmus test would be how much one enjoyed Inception.  (I can’t even recommend this to every LotR fan, even though I compared it to it.)  While TV Tropes lists “grey & grey morality” for this show, I actually disagree.  The world of Dollhouse is one which has a very definite black and white morals.  The only problem is that it’s filled with very flawed humans.  So one might call it a world of “grey & grey moral actors”.  (Some might say the Bible’s a lot like that – except for that One Guy.)

Language isn’t too bad and the sex is surprisingly sparse but it is talked about.  With that and the themes and the plot lines, less mature viewers (no matter their age) will find much of the show difficult to grasp.

52 comic pickup

So a few months ago, you probably heard about how DC did this whole “relaunch” thing with releasing 52 new comic books completely free of continuity, blah blah blah.

Of course I meant to comment on this, but they were released right when I had the least amount of time from work and haven’t even had a chance to read any comics until recently.  Of course, now that some of these series are up to issue 3, they won’t be just examinations of the first issue alone.

Demon Knights – I had passed this title by initially.  Although the concept of Etrigan – that of a hero and villain sharing the same body – appeals to me, his execution in DC has often been… lackluster. (that I’ve seen – if you have some recommendations, by all means share)  A quick glance through the issue at the newsstand didn’t convince me to pick it up, but a later recommendation from Linkara caused me to reconsider.  All in all, not bad.  It’s kind of like a relaunch of Shadowpact – a sort of “Justice League: Magic edition” but set around medieval times.  I’d say this is probably one of their best examples of the relaunch as you don’t have to be steeped in continuity to follow the story, making it accessible for new readers, but there are still treats and surprises going on in some panels for the veteran reader who knows his DC lore.  So I’m going to keep picking this up, just to encourage DC’s medieval superheroes trend.

Justice League International – After the comic event 52, I got hooked on the Booster Gold comic series that launched from it and collected it from issue 1 until the last.  It had its ups and downs, but all in all I liked the idea of a “superhero of time” and enjoyed some of the adventures they’d have with time travel.  I was disappointed that BG wasn’t getting his own book in the relaunch, but I decided to pick up JLI since it was the only one showing Booster; and hoped his time travel exploits would continue.  Again, a pretty good book although there still seems to be some continuity in play in it.  The worst is probably the inner-book continuity.  Within the first 3 issues we’ve had Batman & Guy Gardner both make appearances on the team.  And while both of them are awesome, Batman has 3 other books dedicated to him as well as making an appearance in the regular Justice League book.  Meanwhile, in the GL:Corps book (coming up), Guy’s in the middle of something that makes one wonder just when these JLI adventures were supposed to be happening.  Look, I actually like team books, but it’s stuff like this which causes confusion for new readers.  How does Batman have any time at all? (he must have stolen a time turner from Hogwarts, it’s the only explanation)  Are these books taking place before or after the GL:C cliffhanger where Guy’s stuck on an alien planet?  Good overall but showing the problems that led to this relaunch in the first place.

Red Lanterns – Why?  No really.  Why?  I picked up this book because I’m a sucker for all things Lantern, but why the Red Lanterns?  Of the 6 other colors of the spectrum (if you don’t count black & white), why does this one get an entire book focused on it?  Their entire schtick is “rage”.  Only one person of the entire group actually speaks!  There’s just… not much meat there for a story.  During the Blackest Night event, DC released a miniseries called “Tales of the Corps”, which told stories about the other colors (and their members) that were fighting in the war.  Why didn’t DC make this book something like that?  An “anthology” of sorts, taking time to look at all the different lantern corps in the DCU?  I’m giving this one more issue (for 4 total) before dropping it.

Green Lantern – And speaking of lanterns, this book shows another problem with the previous one: that it’s almost like the relaunch didn’t happen.  Previously Sinestro had been re-inducted into the Green Corp while Hal Jordan was kicked out of it.  Here, we see both of them trying to adjust to it.  Why this issue had to be #1, I still don’t know, as I just can’t believe new readers will be able to pick up the book and read along.  As for the story itself, I do find it interesting examining Hal trying to adjust to being grounded after being a space cop for so long.  Heck, he’s been away so long he’s behind on rent, his driver’s license expired and he doesn’t have a job.  It kind of makes one wonder more about the earth of DC.  Like why did Hal have a “secret identity”?  1) He was a cop (of space) and there’s kind of a reason societies generally don’t have their law enforcement masked.  Seems like there should be some way for him to parley his status as former Green Lantern into endorsement deals or something.  I know that seems crass (and Booster Gold has been looked down upon for doing this very thing), but the man is homeless and starving!  We provide wages and retirement packages for our police, firemen, etc – why would superheroes be any different?  (the answer would be a very complicated one, which is why I’m disappointed the book isn’t examining it)  2) Is there some kind of allowance for people that have to go away for a long time?  When Superman goes away for a week to save the world from alien invaders, what happens to his stuff? (well, he used to have a wife to take care of it for him)  Looks like a business would sprout up around catering to superheroes, granting them long term storage or something (maybe it would accept them putting it in their hero name instead of secret identity or something).  It just kind of makes one wonder why no one’s had this problem before Hal (who heck, was dead for longer than Superman and still came back).

Green Lantern Corps – Oh hey, the book that IS answering some of these questions.  Sort of.  Although this book is a bit like the previous one (no real difference between it and previous issue), it is a bit more newbie friendly, so I don’t find any fault with the #1 slapped across the cover.  Here we have Guy Gardner & John Stewart trying to create civilian lives for themselves.  Interesting, and a good book over all.  BUT there is something I have to rant about.  As I’ve said before (and again), I REALLY HATE politics in my art – especially when it disrupts the story and just… breaks things.  Here’s a good example.  A quote from a character talking to John Stewart:

…But these safety measures are incredibly cost prohibitive mister Stewart.  You’re asking us to go above and beyond what every other building owner is doing in the city.

Stewart doesn’t like this and after an argument, grabs a couple of business people and drags them to the top of a building his ring builds.  He then says:

Tell your board the next time the Justice League or the Teen Titans have a major throwdown with some major nasties or a 9.2 earthquake rocks the city, the specially developed super-powered inclusion reinforcement they voted for will maintain the structural integrity of their building and keep it from falling down and killing thousands of people.

There’s then this exchange:

Strawman- You assured us you’d keep the budget under control.
John Stewart- Not at the risk of human life I didn’t.
Strawman- The city engineers and the mayor’s office approved all the code specs without your upgraded and unnecessary safety measures.

What makes this worse?  Here’s something a person interviewing Guy Gardner says not THREE PAGES EARLIER (not counting ads)

But to be perfectly honest our liability insurance rates would go through the roof having you on school grounds.

Now I admit that the concept that insurance still exists in the DCU is kind of fascinating.  With all the casual property destruction that goes on every day, it seems like no insurance company could afford to be in business.  Still, if having a Green Lantern on school grounds would increase insurance rates, what would having an extra safe building in a major city (common stomping grounds for big power showdowns) do for the owners’ insurance rates?  Just making a back of the envelope guess, but unless John Stewart’s safety modifications are so expensive as to be infeasible, the savings the building owners would rake in from their insurance rate would almost have to pay for the extra building cost several times over.  John Stewart even has a brief aside:

Or better yet, tell them it’ll keep their liability and court costs down.

More than just liability costs!  Heck, every time the building is damaged and rendered inoperable from a battle or earthquake, the owners are going to be losing money until they can get it back up again.  It’s that stupid cliche: the writers are having these people be greedy, but not greedy enough.  STOP TRYING TO MAKE POLITICAL POINTS WHERE IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!

Green Lantern: New Guardians- So far this book is more like a solo book for Kyle Rayner.  Who’ve I always kind of liked.  This is one where it does help to know more continuity, but it isn’t insurmountable to newbies.  I’d recommend it to them as a way of understanding how rich the Green Lantern mythos and universe can be, without being lost over some of its minutia.

Fury of Firestorm- I am… so “meh” when it comes to Gail Simone.  It’s not that she’s a bad writer, I just haven’t found much from her that really strikes a cord with me – and this book doesn’t help.  Firestorm is one of my favorite superheroes, I liked the interplay of two minds having to share one body and all the character examination one got from that.  But there’s always been two sort of problems with the character.  #1. Sometimes the two characters got along a little two well.  Part of the fun of group/team books or stories involving multiple people is watching the personalities bounce off each other.  #2. Firestorm is one of the most powerful heroes in the DCU.  No I’m not kidding – he can make kryptonite any time, any where (just for example).  There have been efforts to balance him out some here and there but the biggest flaw has always been that much of his stories are on a “street level”, like Batman or Spider-man.  Is the mob really that much of a threat to a guy who can make gold, in a cave, WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS?  No.  Firestorm has always been a character who’s power set demands much larger scale stories, worldwide – if not cosmic scale.  So far it seems like Gail is trying to take FS on a more international scale… but it’s still too small for him. (unless you want to do a story about how this single person could disrupt every economy everywhere – but only 3 of us would like reading that)  And while I appreciate Gail trying to bring SOME conflict between the two leads, it all seems way too forced right now (heck, issue 3 has one of them saying – multiple times in a thought box – how much he hates the other one – SHOW DON’T TELL).  Plus, with one of the characters being a nerd, and the other a jock… a lot of the conflict between them has been over their different races.  Just once could we get a story where a white guy and a black guy have a conflict NOT related to their races?  Might go a long way towards getting everybody to hate everybody else for who they actually are, and not just some physical feature.  Still, my fandom of firestorm will force me to pick up every issue till it stops.  Just… the poor guy deserves better. (like his last series right before it got canceled)

Supernatural #1 – …Wait, what?

That’s right, DC is now publishing a SPN comic under their label and not wildstorm.  And while this issue did come out in the midst of their 52 relaunch, it wasn’t technically a part of it.  So we’ll be examining that during the mid-season hiatus.

All in all… looks like DC’s effort is a mixed bag, which is what I said it would be.  Some issues seem to prove the relaunch was the right idea but still a few issues that it made no difference.

You can also listen to Linkara’s thoughts on the relaunch here:
http://atopfourthwall.blogspot.com/2011/08/thats-all-im-saying-8-31-11.html
http://atopfourthwall.blogspot.com/2011/09/thats-all-im-saying-9-8-11.html
http://atopfourthwall.blogspot.com/2011/09/thats-all-im-saying-9-14-11.html
http://atopfourthwall.blogspot.com/2011/09/thats-all-im-saying-9-22-11.html
http://atopfourthwall.blogspot.com/2011/09/thats-all-im-saying-9-28-11.html