I dodge a spray of enemy gunfire and narrowly miss crashing into a roaring waterfall, before quickly righting myself and returning some fire of my own. Flying through a shimmering gold ring, I watch the health bar of my Arwing replenish, and it seems like we’ve made it out of the storm this time. But then I look to my right and see Slippy Toad get blasted out of the sky....
The Alternative Factor is probably one of the few original season stories that doesn’t quite work, although it’s notable in that it explores the idea of parallel dimensions – something that became a staple of later Trek stories. Scanning the planet, they sense a lifeform that had not previously been there, and an away team is dispatched to investigate. They find a tiny flying saucer and a crazy man, who looks like he’s been attacked....
When it comes to quotable moments and catchphrases, the Star Wars universe is chock-full of ‘em. Darth Vader’s “I am your father,” Princess Leia Organa’s “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope,” Yoda’s “do, or do not, there is no try” — these and countless others can all be recalled by fans the world over at the drop of a stormtrooper’s helmet. Some, like “I have a bad feeling about this,” occur in every single film....
A few critiques before getting into the praise: Hera’s plotline was cursory and silly, although it did show off the very organic looking animation on her face and lekku and some Ralph McQuarrie-inspired creature designs. Chopper has gone from peevish to downright murderous, which leads to the tone in his scenes flip-flopping from slapstick to serious. The other thing the episode hinges on is the dark side of the Force, namely the Inquisitor....
Star Wars Rebels Season 2 Episode 4 Sabine has had a lot of potential since Star Wars Rebels began. The young Mandalorian has taken a backseat to Ezra for most of the show, so an episode featuring her looked like it might add some much needed characterization as well as tell a story that connected to the Original Trilogy. In “The Antilles Extraction,” Sabine infiltrates an Imperial training academy to rescue some teenage pilots who have grown dissatisfied with the regime....
2.14 Homecoming Homecoming gets down to business quickly, showing the death of yet another member of Hera’s squadron in order to provide sufficient motivation for the Rebels. Sato thinks a larger ship will mean more safety, so he sends Hera to capture one from the Empire. That ship happens to have parked above her homeworld, and the best way to fight it is to get in touch with her father....
So, after a prolonged period of development, the big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s IT is finally ready inspire a new wave of coulrophobia. And while we have some issues with this new version, which we’ll get to shortly, it’s a film that succeeds at making you want to stand up and leave your seat while loudly conceding “Oh fuck that. I’m not dealing with this clown. No way. Fuck that....
2.17 Distant Sun Many viewers would be glad to see Mon-El gone from Supergirl. They haven’t liked watching a privileged dudebro take up so much of the narrative space on this show — a critique I understand. Privileged dudebros get almost every mainstream story. Can’t they let us have Supergirl? I do get that, and think it’s a valid way to respond to this storyline. (Not that there is an invalid way to respond to your favorite media....
Let’s look at the three distinct artistic lighting choices in this episode. The aftermath of Amara’s destruction shows the forested area during the afternoon—but it looks like midnight. There’s a note of the surreal in the lighting before Castiel tells us it should be daytime. The scenes here were likely shot during the day, and color graded during the editing process to look like nighttime (aka “Day for Night”). It is a technique used in many TV shows and movies, but the look always has something just slightly wrong about it....
Raphael rarely shows warmth to anyone, with the exception of Spike, his pet turtle that’s been around the entire series. Like Timothy’s innards to Donnie, Spike was the one character that Raph could confide his problems to. So when the confidant ingested mutagen, it took in all that baggage (in this case, anger management issues and frustrations with Raph’s brothers) that the turtle left with him. The ensuing beat-downs (calling them fights aren’t really a fair description) are brutal; Slash demolishes Donnie and Mikey in one of the most violent and destructive battles the show has done....
This has not been a good month for The 100showrunner Jason Rothenberg. In the wake of the Lexa death backlash, actor Ricky Whittle is speaking up about how Rothenberg allegedly bullied him into leaving the show. Whittle’s character, Lincoln, who has been on the show since the first season, was killed off in the March 31st episode, after which Whittle told AfterBuzz TV in a lengthy interview: Whatever is happening in what is probably a complicated behind the scenes situation, it’s true that Lincoln’s story has been less than meaty this season (though, to be fair, this entire season has been a narative mess)....
WARNING: IF YOU’RE NOT CAUGHT UP AND READ AHEAD, FACE THE WRATH OF SPOILAGE. WRATH!! When Lance Reddick first appeared in Lost, I found it hard to break myself away from his Cedric Daniels character on The Wire – matter of fact, I had to stop myself from squealing “Daniels!” when he showed up on screen. Yet through rewatching the episodes for the recaps, I enjoyed watching one of my favourite TV actors sink into a completely different role, making the mysterious Abaddon his own....
We discovered, for instance, that Sralan Sugar doesn’t like people feeling picked on or victimised. Nope, he made it perfectly clear that he doesn’t like that sort of thing at all. Never mind the fact that he was bellowing away at people like a deranged loon within a minute or two of saying it, of course. It’d be churlish to let principles get in the way of a good, old-fashioned rant, after all....
But then that’s been part of my fundamental problem with the annual interview episode anyway, which had come round again for this year’s semi-final. I don’t believe that Sralan Sugar can’t whittle down an interview selection of five candidates to two, and yet we have to sit through the charade of bringing in four trusted advisers, and lots of pontificating, before he’ll pick the two he wanted. It’s a conceit anyway, surely designed to offset the fact that it’s possible to get this far in the competition without being wonderfully good, and here’s the chance therefore to cut out the ones that Sralan has no intention of employing, under the cover of interviews....
Last week, I got a most pleasant surprise when The Apprentice departed from usual convention, and scrapped the treat segment. Those of you who have followed my assorted rantings on The Apprentice over the past few years probably heard the squeal of glee that emanated from deepest Dudley, amplified by the usual bottle of cheap plonk. At least, I figured, we’d get the return of Margaret Mountford. That’s worth an hour of anyone’s time, surely....
7.19 The Indecision Amalgamation Sheldon’s is the least successful storyline in this episode. The fact that it’s a largely trivial decision is not, in itself, the problem (we say ‘fairly’ and ‘largely’ because games consoles are expensive and if this decision were being made by a character with less expendable income than Sheldon it would be correspondingly slightly more significant – though still hardly life-changing). Ending up completely frozen or obsessed over a minor decision is something that happens to lots of people and this sort of plot in a sitcom can lead to good character work as, usually, total breakdown over an insignificant decision is an indication of something deeper going on....
The first and most obvious problem is with the half-assed villain of the week, a guy who acts as a kind of herald for the mysterious “Berlin.” His plan? Infect innocent people with a particularly nasty strain of…something horrible, and tell them that if they don’t do as he says, they can forget about their antidote. Fair enough, but haven’t we already seen episodes like this earlier in the season?...
I have railed against this before in various reviews of other television shows, and I will do so again here. It is time for TV writers to take a stand against what I call “magic hacking.” Magic hacking is practiced by any number of utterly forgettable villains of the week on an infinite number of network procedurals (and also, sadly, by the otherwise cool Felicity Smoak on a show that I’m sometimes guilty of being a bit of an apologist for, Arrow)....
4.7 Darkness on Umbara A blisteringly cinematic opening, featuring some juicy Republic Gunship action alongside a multitude of Clone Trooper fun, sets the militaristic mood. The invasion is a treat for the eyes and for the first time in many episodes shows off the filmic qualities of the Star Wars animated spin-off. The fighting between the Clones and the indigenous population (who we don’t get a good look at, just mere glimpses) gives way to more problems for Kamino’s finest....
I really quite miss those minor key biopics that used to appear on BBC4. You remember the ones, Feature-length sketches of the highs and, more frequently, the lows of the lives of a procession of dead mid to late twentieth century figures. Michael Sheen as Kenneth Williams, Ruth Jones as Hattie Jacques, Andrea Riseborough as Margaret Thatcher. Formally speaking they were concluded, for budgetary reasons, in 2013 with Helena Bonham Carter and Dominic West dressing up as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton....
