This Week in Geek (18-24/06/07)

Buys

Damn it, it was raining so I went to the comics store a couple days late for my copy of Brave & the Bold #4 and they were completely out! Which is strange because they still have a dozen copies of #3. How can Supergirl/Lobo trump Batman/Blue Beetle? Damn you, blogosphere, if I found out your promotional skills are behind this...

"Accomplishments"

First, the usual crap: My World of Warcraft character went from level 51 to 53.6 (yes, POINT SIX! Every little bit counts at this point.) And even with all that play time, I still managed to craft 8 cards for the Doctor Who CCG, finishing my commitment to The Runaway Bride. I'm most proud of the Racnoss Hatchling since it was composited from the Racnoss Empress action figure and other elements. Not a perfect job, but a lot of fun to do.
Speaking of Doctor Who, three more Big Finish audios fell under my awesome listening power: Last of the Titans is a brief half-hour tale with a big comedy titanthrope and... I forget. Terminally forgettable, I'm afraid. Creatures of Beauty is a 5th Doctor&Nyssa story that's told completely out of sequence. A worthy experiment I think, but I kept wondering if I'd mistakenly put the cd player on Shuffle (I've done that before). I did like the narrative twists though. Finally, there's Axis of Insanity, teaming the 5th Doctor with Peri and Erimem this time. It's a weird story in a Jungian pocket universe. Some interesting imagery, but the villain just annoyed the heck out of me.

I also flipped the tape on the Logopolis DVD, the 4th Doctor's last story. As usual, the DVD package is excellent with a number of documentaries and interviews, and a commentary track, this time including Tom Baker himself. I've gone on record before saying that Baker is for many reasons UK's answer to William Shatner. It's not just the seminal role in a sci-fi series. It's that in their old age, they've both gone completely bonkers. Exhibit A: This commentary track. Which is actually not as strange as some others he's done. I do enjoy how he freely admits he was a jackass to everyone around him in the series by this point. Also flipped: Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4.

And finally: Last week I said Checkmate looked like a worthy successor to the beloved Suicide Squad. Well, I finished the first trade and the Squad makes an appearance (with suicidal results!). And now I see a Squad mini-series will spin out of Checkmate. Well there you go. Can't keep Waller down.

Website finds

An important research tool for guys like me is The Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe. They've got some impressive indices covering 70 decades of DC comics.
Don't know the difference between Drum and Bass, Oldskool and Darkcore? You're not alone. Everything you need in a cool package is at Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music. The definition to Deep House is "This genre is to House music like Superman is to the Superfriends: Indispensable." I think you can see the value now.

And I'll end on a little Photoshoppery... a contest in which the object was to combine classic works of art. Some of them are pretty funny.

And on that note, I'll see you in the morning!

Star Trek 198: Night Terrors

198. Night Terrors

FORMULA: The Loss + The Tholian Web + Day of the Dove

WHY WE LIKE IT: Some creepy and atmospheric scenes.

WHY WE DON'T: The technobabble plot. Having to see Beverly and Troi sans make-up ;-).

REVIEW: Night Terrors attempts to be a supernatural thriller with plenty of chills and scares, but it severely impeded by the too-early realization that the crew is hallucinating the weird goings-on. This dispels a lot of the suspense, and while some of the set pieces are atmospheric and creepy (in particular the body bags sequence), we know there's no actual danger. Good direction, but these are only images, independent ideas that aren't instrumental to the story.

Another problem is the overt technobabble that motivates - and resolves - the plot. When looking at plots, I often find myself thinking in terms of role-playing games. Specifically, if I were a gamemaster forcing this plot on my players, would they be able to find the solution on their own? The answer is no, since the phenomenon and its solution are total inventions. As with the players, so with the audience. The REM sleep deprivation stuff is better, but it just seems like the plot exists to force Troi to be the hero (despite Data's strange "hero shot" at the end). Directed dreaming as a plot device? They're pushing it. Oh, it works in that context, but it takes a lot of work to get to that conclusion. Never mind the fortuitous "one moon..." epiphany that relies on 1) Troi not knowing what a hydrogen atom looks like, 2) her asking Data "watcha doin?" at the best possible moment, and 3) hydrogen being placed smack dab in the middle of complex molecules instead of at the beginning. If the details manage to bug me so much, it's because the rest of the episode barely manages to get my attention.

There's a lot of padding here, since any of the set pieces could be removed without hurting the plot or even long-term characterization. The mutiny brewing in Ten-Forward, for example, ends with Guinan pulling a gun, which is either cool or totally naff, depending on your mood. However, I will recommend the previously mentioned body bags sequence, Worf's near-suicide, the effects in Troi's dream sequence (though not her dialogue), and the return of the O'Briens.

LESSON: Keep your text messages short and to the point.

REWATCHABILITY - Medium-Low: Some scenes are worthy of your attention, but the plot is pretty dull as the characters one by one lose both their ability to speak coherently and their make-up artists.

B&B 2-in-1 Round 17: Morbius vs. the Teen Titans

The Thing is fighting his way back... maybe! 6 to 10 against the Batman is still a wide gap. Can he close it in Round 17?

In the orange corner... it's the Thing and Morbius the Living Vampire written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by Arv Jones and Dick Giordano, Marvel Two-in-One #15, The Return of the Living Eraser!

In the black corner... we've got Batman and the Teen Titans, written by Bob Haney and drawn by Neal Adams, Brave and the Bold #83, Punish Not my Evil Son!

Looks like Batman doesn't want to give up his lead and brings in an entire team... DING DING DING!

The Stars
The Thing is taking flowers to his girl Alicia when he surprises her with another man in some sucking action. No, not the Human Torch, that's 15 years ahead, I'm talking about Morbius the Living Vampire, and he wants her blooooooooood. Ben's reaction is much the same either way, as he starts to throw her sculptures around as if they made better weapons than his fists.
Blind or not, that's no way to treat an artist. The greater threat may be the Living Eraser (everybody's Living, in this book), but Ben focuses on the pasty dude who tried to kill his girlfriend, eventually just swatting the Eraser with the back of his hand.
So ok, Morbius WAS the bigger threat. You won't hear me complain about your priorities again, Ben Grimm. +5 points

We haven't seen Batman in such good form for many rounds! He gets in there by riding tons of crude oil through a secret pipeline with nothing but a failing "scuba gizmo" (gee, Batman, can't you just call it a bat-breather or something?) while investigating the theft of the oil from one of his subsidiary companies (all the profits of which go to charity - aww, what a great guy - but how does he make money?). His finishing move is to bat-grapple a line on the fleeing boat of the villain who then attempts to drag him until he drowns. But Batman studied water-skying with a Tibetan Master:
Extra points for being portrayed as a good father to his wards, and an excellent leader when the Titans are around. I'm not even gonna deduct a point for shedding a tear.
+9 bat-points

The Guests
Monster vs. monster is one of Two-in-One's tropes, so the superhero vampire that is Morbius was sure to show up one day. hey, he's just misunderstood! And pretty damn addicted to red corpuscles. Biting Alicia Masters' pretty neck is one thing. But the Eraser? And then a hapless guard from Dimension Whatever?
Insatiable. But you know the way vampires have with the ladies? Morbius has that too. And the princess of Dimension Whatsit falls for him at first sight.
What does she SEE in him? With characterization at an all-time low, I don't have the answers. +4 points

The Teen Titans are Bob Haney's baby, so you'd expect him to treat them right. And he does. Robin spends a little too much time convincing everyone (and himself) that Bruce Wayne is a great father, but he gets to save Batman once or twice, deduce the solution to a mystery, cover for his bum of a "brother", and get hosed down an oil refinery.
Ok, that may not be so good... But the Titans as a whole work as a finely honed team, all of them getting their licks in, and being a fun group even out of costume. Wonder Girl is especially great.
I wish that were me. +9 bat-points

The Villains
The Living Eraser is an old Giant-Man/Wasp villain from Dimension Z (actual designation) who once tried to "erase" a bunch of scientists back to his home so they could give his society atomic power. He's since set himself up as ruler of Dimension Z and now he's back to finish the job. The D-list doesn't even want to be associated with this guy. The only interesting thing about him is the "erasing effect" that accompanies his powers.
His poor performance includes being choked by Morbius, swatted away by the Thing, and sending super-powered characters to the cell that contained the royal family of Dimension Z so that they can come to power again. He does erase a homeless guy, though! +2 points

Batman, for his part, is up against some oil thieves, which is an interesting crime despite the lack of costumes and code names. I don't know how you set up a secret pipeline, but it's cool. The real antagonist, however, is Lance Bruner, Bruce Wayne's new ward! This kid is a bad seed who's been in and out of reform school all his life and who killed his father by breaking his heart. When we first see him, I thought for sure he was Speedy high on crack cocaine:
But it's Lance, destroying priceless Peruvian artifacts. He follows up by stealing money from Alfred, defacing a police bike, smashing up Bruce's sports car, taking himself hostage with the help of a mobster to collect 25,000$ for himself, and if you're not convinced he's a psycho, he insults Wonder Girl in a discotheque. When he discovers the Batcave, you know two things will happen: 1) He'll try to sell the Dynamic Duo out to the oil thieves (for 100,000$ in a Swiss bank account - kid's a real operator), and 2) he'll be dead by the end of the issue. How he dies is of particular note for quickie redemption fans: Seeing how Robin sacrifices himself for Batman, he comes to understand what family and love are all about. So he strips Dick naked, puts on the costume and tries to save Batman. He gets shot, of course, and goes on to inspire the whole Jason Todd debacle. Except he never returned.... right? +7 bat-points

Odds vs. Ends
From Marvel Two-in-One:
-The last issue promised a team-up with Ka-Zar, but that won't be until the NEXT issue. Not the first time 2-in-1's done this either. What was up with Marvel Editorial back then? -1 point
-A quick look at the Dimension Z royal family:
Is the Eraser really that bad if he deposed a guy called "Supremor"? His Minister doesn't seem all there either. +2 points

From Brave and the Bold:
-Twin appearances of bat-vehicles this issue: The ubiquitous Whirly-Bat AND the luxury-size Bat-Sub.
+2 bat-points
-What does Dick Grayson do to relax? Ditch his "brother" and read John Lennon's poetry. The Titans were DEEP into the Beatles.
+1 bat-point

Farewells and Scoring
Since the Thing puts the hate on Morbius all issue, there's no way these guys are gonna miss an Unfriendly Farewell.
Morbius erases himself from the comic with a big "Screw this!" Ben's a bit forgiving though. +2 points

Batman's Friendly Farewell is over the grave of his most recent ward:
Batman: "Thanks, Titans." Speedy: "Anytime." Batman: "And if any of you fall out of line, I'll put you in the ground too." Speedy (thinks): "Gotta get rid of those needles... NOW!" +3 bat-points

Can you say LANDSLIDE? The Titans totally own Morbius' sorry hide 31-14! And so Batman reaffirms his solid lead 11-6 with a little help from his friends. Could Ka-Zar have been more successful? Find out next time (unless his appearance is again delayed).

Color scans brought to you by the Comic Treadmill. Check out H's review by following the link.

DVD Tales: Barton Fink to Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

Following from The Ballad of Cable Hogue...

Barton Fink (Cohen Bros., 1991)
I do believe this was the first film by the Cohen Brothers I ever saw, but certainly not the last, or the only one I own. Fink stands as a representation of 40s Hollywood as a corrupting Hell, with John Goodman as the devil (some would say, again). "Where's mah honey?!" remains one of my favorite line readings of all time. Yes, I'm strange. And so is this film.

Batman (Tim Burton, 1989)
Tim Burton's Batman was the first movie I ever owned on VHS, a Christmas gift around the 18th year of my life that was played so often, the tape nearly broke. I really don't have as much affection for it as I used to, and have no inclination to purchase its sequel Batman Returns, or the atrocious films that followed. The music is top notch - I'm even a fan of the Prince soundtrack - and the design a wonderfully timeless idea. I also can't fault the actors who are excellent in their roles (yes, even Michael Keaton) except Robert Wuhl as the superfluous Knox. But I guess the simple plot, fortuitous merging of Joker and Joe Chill, and Batman's willingness to kill affect my enjoyment nowadays. Much better superhero films have come down the pike since then, meaning it hasn't aged well after all. Still, way better than its three sequels.

Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (Boyd Kirkland, 1998)
When I started collecting as much of the WB cartoon canon as possible, I was glad to find the Batman "films" priced at 10$ or less. SubZero (5$) was an ok effort that furthered the story of Mr. Freeze adequately, a character who only came into his own on the Animated Series (seriously C-list in the comics) through Paul Dini's award-winning episode "Heart of Ice". Dini doesn't write SubZero, unfortunately, so it doesn't rise above the norm and feels more like an extra-length quality episode.

Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan, 2005)
I was hooked from the Superbowl teaser that showed the new Batmobile. And the film certainly didn't disappoint. In the summer of 2005, Batman Begins dethroned Spider-Man 2 and X2 as best superhero movie ever made, and outclassed the other Batman films easily. I will tell you why: They actually made Bruce Wayne the central character. All previous efforts focused on villains and treated Batman as an uninteresting cypher. No more. Throw in an A-list cast, some down-and-dirty action, and keep Batman in the shadow, and it just gets better. I, for one, can't wait for The Dark Knight.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm, 1993)
I wasn't really watching the Animated Series when Batman Forever came out, but my girlfriend at the time had a major jones for Jim Carrey, so we went to see that (more a loud disco than a movie), and on the resulting Batmania, to see Mask of the Phantasm. Serviceable, though I don't remember it being some great revelation about animation as a whole or the Batman series specifically. I remember it being a bit short for a feature. Got it recently to complete my collection, but it's still on the unwatched shelf.

But what did YOU think? Next: Batman: The Animated Series to Blood Simple.

Star Trek 197: Galaxy's Child

197. Galaxy's Child

FORMULA: Booby Trap + Tin Man + The Lights of Zetar

WHY WE LIKE IT: Susan Gibney returns hotter than ever. Some nice effects.

WHY WE DON'T: The whole relationship between Geordi and Leah grates on the nerves.

REVIEW: My favorite thing about Galaxy's Child is definitely the return of Susan Gibney as (the real) Leah Brahms. Sexier than ever with her hair down like that and a lot more spark - the holo-version was really sappy - she puts in an excellent performance. Bossy, outraged, confused, warming up to Geordi... she does it all quite well. Unfortunately, that relationship as scripted has quite a few problems.

It starts off ok, with Geordi at his most pathetic, hoping for a romantic connection with the real deal this time. He hasn't got a chance, of course, and at least, it's because she's married, not because he's blind. I mention this because they never do so on the show. Geordi is this total loser in love (aside from getting Christie in Transfigurations), but no one would dare say it's because of some inherent prejudice against his handicap, or obvious prosthetic, or more controversially, as Levar Burton hints at on the Season 3 DVD documentary, because he's black. That kind of thing would be unheard of in the future. Yeah right. It really feels like the character is being shafted for having these traits, but not being allowed to explore them. And so Geordi remains my least favorite character in TNG.

Some of the reasons why are showcased here, such as his ridiculous arguments with the Enterprise computer, all of which seem forced to create comedic moments. And his never being told she was married? If he'd read up on her after Booby Trap (which is mentioned), he would have, I'm sure. That plot device is straight out of sitcom land. I don't buy the argument in the holodeck for a second (strange delivery) or Leah's quick forgiveness. At the very end, making it seem like she did have feelings for Geordi, but was trapped in her marriage, was a mistake. Another good scene for Guinan in connection with this story however.

In the background is the story of Junior, which is pretty good. The effects are good, Picard is excellent when devastated by the death of the mother, and the solutions, though realized through technobabble, are rooted in a common sense approach that makes the drama engaging. If I have a problem with the plot, it's that it seems to occur too independently of the Geordi/Leah plot, with their turning off the warp core and crawling passages during a crisis, the threads only converging at the end.

LESSON: As Kirk also learned in The Changeling, be very careful who - or what - "imprints" on you. There are worst things than paying to put someone through college (only marginally though).

REWATCHABILITY - Medium: Susan Gibney's performance is the real reason to watch this one, with the Junior plot being above average background sf drama. The romance element is mishandled however.

Friday Night Fights: Belgian style!

Ask, and ye shall get. Bahlactus asked for an uppercut. Joncormier asked for a Tintin uppercut. I am happy to oblige. And because Tintin's not just good with his fists...
Soon: Pout asked for Tintin getting hit in the head. He will get his wish.

Both images from L'île noire (The Black Island).

Star Trek 196: First Contact

196. First Contact

FORMULA: Who Watches the Watchers + The Voyage Home

WHY WE LIKE IT: The aliens' point of view is well rendered. The alien groupie.

WHY WE DON'T: Gross violations of the Prime Directive.

REVIEW: First Contact (not to be mistaken for the later movie of the same name) has some nagging Prime Directive implications which threaten to derail one's enjoyment of the episode throughout. It seems crazy to think first contact would be initiated BEFORE the first warp flight, as if that wouldn't influence their culture. And you may or may not find Riker's rescue a justifiable reason for stepping up the contact program (especially in light of the Malcorians' more closed-minded elements). It's a good thing Mirasta and Durken are so reasonable!

But if the episode nonetheless works, I think it's because we're only really shown the aliens' point of view (or more accurately, treating the Enterprise crew as the aliens here). There's something a little disappointing in their being so close to us as we are now, but I suppose that's how we can empathize with them. We see both good and bad Malcorians, and even the bad ones aren't really driven by malice as much as fear and some other ideal. Krola's attempted suicide-for-the-cause, for example, is a striking scene. Another good one, and tonally opposite, is the alien groupie scene with Bebe Neuwirth obviously having fun playing Lanel. Riker, Riker, Riker. You dirty dog.

But while they manage to find some humor, the script is mostly serious, with the focus on how incredibly transforming (and scary!) such an event would be. Picard and Riker are the only two characters to get as much screen time as the starring Malcorians (who do a very good job). Both show off their skills well, with Picard the clear winner, dealing with the situation with great diplomacy and integrity. Kinda saves the episode from being too much of a Prime Directive quagmire.

LESSON: Genetic defects have replaced rice-picker accidents as the excuse of choice for obviously alien captives.

REWATCHABILITY - High: Flawed, yes, but a nice breath of fresh air nonetheless. The formula will be used more often by Voyager later on, but rarely has it been so successful as the original.