Like last season, season 5 of The Walking Dead seems to be unfolding in little acts. Last year, we got a couple of episodes about an epidemic at the Prison followed by an arc about the Governor’s resurgence to power. This all led to a final confrontation during the midseason finale. Things are taking the same sort of shape this season. THE BIG VILLAIN PROBLEM It’s become apparent to me after several seasons and lots of comic books that The Walking Dead has a big villain problem....

5.13 Forget After all, even the safest of walled cities is only as safe as its craziest member, and it’s clear that there are some damaged people within the walls of Alexandria, and that’s just Rick’s group. The two most damaged members of the team, Daryl and Sasha, are still having some difficulty getting integrated, but all it takes is one hunting trip with Aaron and a garage full of motorcycle parts to get things clicking and working in the right direction....

6.12 Not Tomorrow Yet That’s why Rick and company, after a town meeting, decide to take the fight to Negan and the Saviors, rather than wait around for them to find them, like The Wolves or the Woodbury folks did before them. It makes sense, particularly for people who have been around the post-apocalyptic block a few times. Get them before they get you, get some delicious food courtesy of the folks at Hilltop, and eliminate a threat....

A fault mostly of ambition, The White Queen’s weakest link so far is its dialogue. Slimming down twenty years of obscure historical personage and event into ten hours of telly is a lofty goal. Assume too much prior knowledge, and the viewers will be lost. Laboriously describe the position, allegiance, and family ties of every jerkin and headdress that walks onto set, and orientation eclipses story. In these first two episodes, The White Queen has so many introductions to make that its script less dramatizes history than catalogues it....

1.1 Ring Of Fire The puppets, and their charm it has to be said, may have been replaced by computer-generated characters, but the iconic ships and Tracy Island remain, for the most part, as beautiful standing-set models produced by Weta (The Lord Of The Rings). This first instalment, which sees two episodes aired together as one, neatly introduces to the International Rescue troupe. All the Tracy brothers remain, though dad Jeff Tracy has been extracted from the story and we’re given a new character Kayo to enjoy (who, according to lead writer Rob Hoegee is a reversioning of Tin-Tin Kyrano)....

Timeless Season 1, Episode 8 Perhaps viewers are willing to accept, for example, that Anthony was able to assume the identity of moon mission scientist in order to introduce a computer virus into Houston’s mainframe, stranding the Apollo 11 astronauts on the moon. But once communications went down, wouldn’t it be nearly impossible for a janitor and a secretary to infiltrate the affected server area, even with the help of unsung hero and basement mathematician, Katherine Johnson?...

Bird brings his blue-sky storytelling to bear on Tomorrowland: A World Beyond, a eyed sci-fi fairytale with elements taken straight from classic pulp magazine stories. It’s The Wizard Of Oz retold by Ray Bradbury or Hugo Gernsback, with bits of The Terminator and Buck Rogers thrown in for good measure. It’s an entertaining yet sometimes befuddling bag of intricately moving parts, not all of which fit together too well. Like Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, Tomorrowland is steeped in post-Space Age nostalgia....

After six weeks where Captain Jack Harkness has become the only mortal human on the planet, and where he’s been anything but on the front line of Miracle Day, it’s time for John Barrowman to go front and centre. With the latest episode, Immortal Sins, it’s very much the first Jack-centric hour of new Torchwood, and it’s been well worth the wait. It’s excellent flashback work, too, which we won’t spoil here....

Trailers depicting chaos and disorder are never less than intriguing, and so that proves to be the case here. The teaser for Fernando Meirelles’s latest flick, released earlier this year, was a taster of this interesting premise of a mystery illness that’s causing wide scale blindness. Now, this full-blown trailer expands further, suggesting a story that will deal with themes of loss and the breakdown of society. Watch it here....

After a couple of episodes that by True Blood standards could be considered slow, season two kicked up a gear this week with Hard-Hearted Hannah. Deepening the mystery considerably, episode six also has more than its fair share of revelations. It seems that Bill and his maker’s relationship back in the 20s generally involved pretending to be French, and robbing and feeding on unsuspecting flappers. Kind of a blood-sucking Bonnie and Clyde....

3.14 We Are Like The Dreamer Part 14 has two great sequences of spiritual policework. There’s the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department heading to the woods and Gordon Cole’s dream. I love how characters in Twin Peaks have simply accepted that dreams and the supernatural are part and parcel to solving cases. Following Major Briggs’ message, Bobby, Hawk, Andy, and Truman all put soil in their pockets, without any hesitation (Truman expresses mild skepticism, but still goes along with it)....

Pick a weekday, any weekday, and you can be sure that this shitstorm of a TV show will be blathering its nonsensical, desperately unfunny comedic wares to an apparently eager-for-more audience. Listening to the laughter from the TV audience, you’d think you were watching the jewel in the BBC’s comedic cannon and yet whenever I’ve tuned in I’ve been left dumbfounded at the lack of jokes, comic timing and general acting talent to warrant such guffaws....

Vikings Season 4 Episode 7 After several weeks of more introspective episodes, Vikings returns to its roots as the Northmen return to Frankia despite Ragnar’s loss of enthusiasm, and we finally receive the battle scenes that drive the show. Unfortunately, Ragnar grossly underestimates Rollo’s military acumen, and the initial attack takes us back to the first time they attempted to lay waste to Charles’ kingdom. What stands out loud and clear is that Ragnar has lost his mojo, whether through injury, illness, or Yidu’s medicine really doesn’t matter, but his leadership role is rife for the taking....

Voltron Season 5 Episode 2 Last season I felt like the Voltron crew had missed a huge opportunity in not letting Keith be the leader for longer. It felt like they had set up a great new status quo only to rip it away from us. Now I know part of that was a note from the DreamWorks higher ups but still. It’s also god damn breathtaking. That fight scene with Zarkon and Lotor was so anime in the best way possible....

Voltron Season 5 Episode 4 Is it premature to say this will be the best episode of the season? Probably, but I don’t care! This episode had everything. The Blade of Marmora space ninjaing all over the place, Paladins in conflict over whether they should help Lotor, and my ever-loving favorite, Galra politics! I know I keep harping on how beautiful this stuff is but it really helps to fill out the Galran society and make them more engaging....

Stylishly directed by Eran Creevy, Welcome To The Punch stars James McAvoy as maverick cop Max Lewinsky, who’s hot on the trail of rock-hard, motorbike-riding gangster Jacob Sternwood (a typically formidable Mark Strong). Three years after Jacob leaves Max crippled during a high-octane post-heist getaway, the former’s back in London town to settle old scores – namely, the shooting of his young son (played by Elyes Gabel, who looks distractingly like Ralph Macchio circa 1984), which has something to do with crooked cops, cargo containers and gun smuggling....

Those words launched a musical and pop culture revolution like none other in our lifetime when they heralded the arrival of MTV on August 1, 1981. For better or worse, it’s inconceivable to imagine what the past three decades would have been like without it. The world would never have experienced 120 Minutes, Remote Control, Liquid Television, Beavis and Butthead, The Real World, and on and on and on and on and on....

Imagine our elation when we caught up with Mr. Conroy for a chat about Batman: The Animated Series at New York Comic Con. We spoke to Conroy about several aspects of the show, including whether the actor thinks Batman would ever kill. As you probably know, killing a bad guy is the one line the hero won’t cross. Breaking some bones? Sure. Scaring them into submission? All in a night’s work....

Now, a lot of people are grumbling that this is just a thin attempt to cash in on the movie again. After all, the premium you’ve already paid for the 3D version, and the vanilla DVDs and Blu-rays you’ve bought, have given plenty of funds to Pandora. Perhaps this attempt to get you through the doors again for a few more minutes of extra footage is not worth shelling out for....

Based on a popular Xbox 360 visual novel that originally appeared in 2008, Steins;Gate introduces Okabe, a self-styled mad scientist with plans of world domination. Pompous, arrogant and constantly babbling grandiose monologues to anyone in earshot, Okabe may think he’s some sort of billionaire despot in the making, but in reality, he’s just as much of an outsider as his sidekick, Daru – a computer geek and otaku culture obsessive....