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New Who Review – “The Caretaker”

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  • September 28, 2014

You think it’s hard to balance a life as a mother and a businesswoman, or that of a governor and a single dad, how about alternating trying to cultivate a new relationship while you’re off saving the universe?  Clara Oswald has got this very problem.  Luckily she down’t have to deal with it alone, she’s got…

THE CARETAKER
By Gareth Roberts and Steven Moffat
Directed by Paul Murphy

After an exhausting montage of travels across the universe that need to end in tome for making dates with Danny Pink, The Doctor is pleased to let Clara know that she’ll be getting some time to herself.  He’s got a job he needs to handle on his own, and is somewhat vague when pressed for details.  She happily reports to Danny that while she has been distracted of late, she’ll be more centered on him for a bit. That bit ends quickly when it’s revealed that The Doctor has taken the role of caretaker at Coal Hill School.  He’s on the search for a Scovox Blitzer, a warrior robot who has taken up residence nearby the school.  His plan is to trap the robot in the empty school before it gets too curious about its surroundings.  The first attempt goes wrong when Danny Pink gets involved, thinking The Doctor is up to something nefarious, and suffice to say he and The Doctor do not get along,  When the Blitzer returns from his temporary prison, can the new triangle of The Doctor, Clara and Danny save the world without driving each other crazy?

A wonderful episode that really lets Capaldi and company have some fun. There’s been much more humor in this season so far – this episode could easily have sat in the position of directly preceding the season finale, where there’s usually both a funny and a cheap episode, the double-banked production that features less Doctor to make time for filming the Christmas story.  This episode is much more character-driven, as many of Gareth Roberts’ stories are.

GUEST STAR REPORT – Chris Addison (Seb) has arrived MUCH earlier than expected.  Chris is an established comedian and actor in Britain, but he’s best known for playing Oliver Reeder on The Thick of It, which starred a certain…Peter Capaldi.  He got his start on Lab Rats, a series for which he also wrote. He’s directed several episodes of Veep, the series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and created by Armando Ianucci, creator of The Thick of It.

Jimmy Vee (Scovox Blitzer) has played diminutive aliens throughout the new series.  He played the Moxx of Balhoon in The End of the World, various Graskes in both Who and Sarah Jane, and Banakaffalatta in Voyage of the Damned.

Gareth Roberts (writer) has made a name for himself on the show for writing the more light-hearted episodes.  He brought us Craig Owens, star of The Lodger and Closing Time, as well as The Shakespeare Code and The Unicorn and the Wasp.  He wrote several episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures.  He delivers some solid and hilarious dialogue this time around, playing off a theme similar to that of The Lodger, of The Doctor having to spend time among normal folk.

THE MONSTER FILES – The Scovox Blitzer is the latest in a series of warrior robots we’ve seen The Doctor meet up with over the years.  from threats like the Mechanoids and the War Machines in the Hartnell era, the Raston Warrior Robot in The five Doctors, to the robot knights in Robot of Sherwood, they’re an easy foe – single-minded, hard to beat, and powerful.

BACKGROUND BITS AND BOBS –

WHEN WE LAST LEFT OUR HEROES – Neil Gaiman had the idea of starting an adventure with the tail end of another.  We’ve been seeing a bunch of mini-adventures since, tossed into the narrative like  cut-away jokes on Family Guy.

“I’m the caretaker” – The Doctor has played caretaker before, more notable in the Christmas episode, The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe.  He’s also gone undercover at a school in School Reunion.  Jon Pertwee was pretty good at going undercover, wigs and makeup and all. Capaldi got the idea right perfectly when he observed that everyone was simply ignoring him, which was exactly his plan.

“Human beings are not otters!” – Go look up “Benedict Cumberbatch otter” and you’ll see arguments to the contrary.

“Courtney, you are big enough to look after yourself.” – Courtney Woods has been making background Vatican cameos in the season ever since Deep Breath. She was the student who challenged Clara to carry out her threat to expel the whole class, which gave Clara the idea to stand up to the head of the clockwork droids.  It’s neat that she and The Doctor got on so quickly, and equally fun that her tough exterior peeled away when exposed to the vacuum of space.

“I’ll tell the Headmaster” – I’ll lay odds he’ll be told it’s not a problem.  The Chairman of the Governors of Coal Hill School is listed as “I. Chesterton” as far back as the anniversary episode.  Ian Chesterton, with Barbara Wright, were The Doctor’s first on-screen human companions in the first episode of the series.  And as revealed on The Sarah Jane Adventures, when she did some research on The Doctor’s other companions, Ian and Barbara Chesterton (another happy change)…don’t age.

The current headmaster, W. Coburn, shares the name of Anthony Coburn, who wrote An Unearthly Child. Wendy Coburn was a student in Coal Hill in 1963, as revealed in the prose adventure Time and Relative. The Headmaster has not been seen on screen yet – it’d be fun it is were Wendy.

“Very qualified” – once again, the sound mixers are doing a bang up job in background comedy.  Hear that car alarm go off after The Doctor makes all the electrics spark?

“I’m a maths teacher” – After he retired from UNIT, The Brigadier taught mathematics, as The Doctor learned in Mawdryn Undead.

“What were they like?  The others, before me; did they let you get away with this sort of thing?” It’s rather amazing how little they spoke about past Companions in the original series.  Nowadays, it’s almost all they do, and not in a positive way. The Doctor is endlessly bemoaning the idea that all his old friends came to sad ends, and it’s simply not the case.  The modern series companions have all been much more active partcipants of the adventures, not just “someone to nod” as he put it in Listen.

“Atron emissions – you’ve had enough of them in this area over the years” – Considering Artron energy is generated by time travel, then yes, it’s safe to say the vicinity of Coal Hill School has seen its share.  The Doctor has returned to Coal Hill and its environs a number of times since that first adventure. The Imperial Daleks were attempting to find the Hand of Omega in the area in Remembrance of the Daleks. And indeed, the entire junk yard where The Doctor first set down was once the setting of a traveling time fair, run by fellow a Time Lord renegade named…I. M. Foreman, in the prose adventure Interference. (As I’ve said elsewhere, science fiction and comics does sometimes attempt to make everything a bit TOO connected.)

 “Possibly reminded me of a certain dashing young time-traveller” A classic Three’s Companyesque misunderstanding, The Doctor dow not recognize Danny Pink as the ancestor of Orson Pink, but notes that fellow teacher Adrian vaguely resembles his previous incarnation, notes that he and Clara talked to each other, and came to the perfectly pompous and self-aggrandizing conclusion that Clara was in love with someone who looked like he used to.

“Do you want to see the Thames frozen over? Ooh, those Frost Fairs…” – The Doctor has had a number of adventures at the Frost Fair.  He took River Song to one during one of her break-outs of Stormcage.  In the audio adventure Frostfire he fought the eponymous threat at what was called one of the last great Frost Fairs, an adventure where he was joined by…Jane Austen, albeit a few years after she wrote Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

BIG BAD WOLF REPORT – So apparently Heaven is not just for people who have died in actions directly connected to The Doctor.  Seb serves as a functionary it what he prefers to call “The Nethersphere” (first time we’ve heard that term on the show, though Missy has been referred to as “Gatekeeper of the Nethersphere” in the various PR releases after her casting.) He is seen processing the poor policeman, only on-camera victim of the Blitzer, though Seb says they’ve gotten a number of them lately, suggesting he wasn’t the only victim.  This is the first we’ve seen of anyone else in the running of this mysterious Promised Land, which certainly makes it look to be a bigger project.

“You’ve explained me to him – you haven’t explained him to me” – The real meat of this episode is The Doctor’s meeting and getting to know Danny Pink.  The Doctor’s dislike for soldiers is long standing, but the dislike has take a more extreme turn with this new regeneration.  He’s called many soldiers friends, mostly from the members of UNIT like The Brig and Mike Yates. At least one of his companions was a soldier, Steven Taylor, who served on a battleship before being downed over Mechanus and kept as a prisoner for two years.

It’s possible some of the dialogue from Listen may come back to fill that dislike in.  Clara overhears the conversation of the people caring for the child that will become The Doctor, people who may or many not be his parents – there’s mention of “the other boys”, not “your brothers”, suggesting it might have been a school of some type. The male voice makes the observation, “There’ll be no crying in the army”, and the woman makes it clear he’ll not be joining the army, implying the reason is well-known.  So his dislike for the military is long-standing.

“I was gonna say, I might have a thing…” – Moffat’s writing style (note that this is the first series so far where he’s written or co-writtern every episode so far) has us looking behind every corner for secrets, so everything Danny says is read into.  He may be honestly allowing Clara to skip their date by giving her an out, he may simply want the time to keep an eye on the new caretaker, or that “thing” might be a nefarious thing indeed.

“He’s an officer…That’s who he is” – And Danny’s dislike for The Doctor, or at least what he thinks The Doctor is, is most clear as well.  He sees The Doctor as a member of the upper class, revealed by his title of Time Lord.  He mocks The Doctor by acting all military and proper, much in the same way The Doctor will often mock members of the military.  But he realizes that his mocking description of an officer is more correct than he realized.  Like good officers, they make men stronger and braver, just as he sees Clara.  It all ties back to Dalek Caan’s accusation that he turns his friends “into weapons”, and Rory’s observation that people do amazing and brave things in The Doctor’s presence in an attempt to impress of please him.

“I just have to be good enough for you” – He gets Danny’s name wrong in the same dismissive way he’d get Mickey’s name wrong, the same way Endora would get Darren’s name wrong on Bewitched, and for exactly the same reason.  The Doctor is not jealous, he’s simply protective of his friends.

“If he ever pushes you too far, I want you to tell me” – Considering the swirling rumors that Jenna Coleman will be leaving the series at the Christmas episode, this relationship between Clara and Danny seems setting up precisely to giver her a reason to part company.  Many companion have left The Doctor for a true love, including Leela and Dodo, who more fell in love with a time period than a person.  The most thematically similar event is the first one, when Susan left.  Indeed, she’d fallen in love with a boy after The Dalek Invasion of Earth, but felt she had to stay with The Doctor to protect him.  He was the one who made the decision – he locked the door to the TARDIS, and told her that he’d be fine.  Considering the relationship here, I suspect a similar scenario may present itself come the Holidays.

“My God…”  “I’m afraid she’s a bit busy” – So apparently Missy goes by more than a few names.

NEXT TIME ON DOCTOR WHO – A difficult choice, a recurring spacesuit, and isn’t it interesting how much goes on a lifeless satellite? Kill the Moon, this Saturday

John Ostrander and The Rock of Gibraltar

Ye Ed Babbles…

Our pal John is, as they say, under the weather. He’s been in the hospital for a couple of days and is scheduled to be unleashed mid-week. He’s in for complications resulting from, ahhhh, “passing the Rock of Gibraltar” and if you don’t understand that, ask an aging Baby Boomer.

Mary Mitchell has been keeping us informed and he’s doing a lot better now. I spoke with him yesterday afternoon, and he sounded strong and relieved, with his sense of humor intact. John will stalk the interwebs again soon; not soon enough for any of us, but we, his friends, are sympathetic. 

Personally, we blame all this on George Lucas for selling out to Disney.

Get well, Brother John.

Marc Alan Fishman: The New Breed of Con Goer

This past week, you’ve likely seen it: Denise Dorman, wife of “Famed Comic Book/Sci-Fi/Fantasy illustrator Dave Dorman,” decided to write an op-ed concerning the decline of sales she and her husband have been privy to over the last years. She has since posted a second response to make her points more clear.

Denise’s original piece began: “Privately, famed comic book industry personalities everywhere are discussing with each other whether to stop exhibiting at comic book conventions. There’s a fine line between being accessible to and pleasing the fans vs. losing money at these conventions.”

Unshaven Comics has been independently producing comic books and attending comic conventions regularly for only seven years or so. In no way, shape, or form do we come close to the level of fame and success her husband has enjoyed. But in the time that we have been active, I have never heard a single peep (and we in the Artist Alley tend to be a gossipy bunch to begin with) about this discussion. In fact, at the Cincinnati Comic Expo I attended this past weekend, with Mark Bagely, Marv Wolfman, George Pérez, Neal Adams, and Bob Layton I saw only smiling faces – even when lines weren’t incredibly overcrowded. And while I did hear from some folks around us that the show wasn’t bringing them tons of business, only our neighbors decided to cut ties early. And for those playing at home, Unshaven Comics beat our desired sales goal by over 25%.

At first, Bleeding Cool would have you believe that she blamed the Cosplayers. This is not true. In her second blog on the matter, Denise points blame to the “new breed of attendees who are there because someone said its cool to be there.”

To that point: Comic Conventions weren’t founded with the expressed concern of making creators money, they were ways to bring a community of fans together for the opportunity to commiserate, a way to trade and purchase issues to build budding collections, and meet those would-be creators who were the reason the conventions were created. These conventions were small – starting out in gymnasiums, VFW halls, and hotel ballrooms. This new breed (and those who specifically come to the new larger shows), per Denise, are hangers-on to the fad; those who come because they think it’s en vogue. Those who show up not being card-carrying comic book fans.

Her column went on to note as sales were simply non-existent at ole’ Wally World:

“…You know, you start to get paranoid. You start to think, ‘Is it only us? Is Dave no longer relevant?’ So I began covertly asking around. Asking artists equally in demand, equally famous. No one I interviewed made money at that show.” Ultimately Denise falls back on her assertion that it’s these quasi-fans that are most likely the culprit to her husband’s decline in sales specifically at conventions. Mrs. Dorman continued “I have slowly come to realize that in this selfie-obsessed, Instagram Era, cosplay is the new focus of these conventions – seeing and being seen, like some giant masquerade party. Conventions are no longer shows about commerce, product launches, and celebrating the people who created this genre in the first place.” She’s absolutely right. And may Rao bless that fact from here to the next Crisis.

Comic book conventions have become less and less about comic books. On this, I don’t disagree. In addition to comic books, they now encapsulate science fiction (like Doctor Who, Star Wars, and Star Trek), fantasy (like Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter), and gaming (like Magic: the Gathering, and Warhammer). A cursory glance back at Mr. Dorman’s Wikipedia page celebrates that he has created artwork for Batman, Spider-Man, Harry Potter, Star Wars… and Magic: the Gathering. Curious then that he’s not connecting to the larger audiences coming to these shows. But I digress.

The point made was that the flux of cosplayers and their subsequent fans are now taking away from the open commerce, Marvel and DC press release parties, and the creator-gushing of yesteryear. You might say that the conventions are becoming more about a gathering of a like-minded community coming together to celebrate their loves and less about dropping ducats on merchandise from people who now can be accessed via a personal website, or any number of social medias.

What troubles me is this: My table of artists (including me) who aren’t in demand or famous saw an increase in book sales upwards of 10% at the show (over last year) Mrs. Dorman most recently attended. This included a day where we set a single day record for total books sold – 225 of them to be exact. How would it be then, that a table of peons would somehow out-earn those who are known in the industry? Did our nefarious plan of installing a toll booth actually work? Someone better go back and get a shit load of dimes!

Denise went on to ask: “At what point do you start to wonder if – other than your faithful, loyal regulars who are like family and who find you every time – the general fandom population even gives a shit about the creators more than they care about their Instagram profiles?”

Allow me to answer in kind. The general population – those Instagram-obsessed fans – gives more than just a shit for those creators who take the time to reach out and communicate. I say this admitting freely I’ve never seen Dave Dorman. And we’ve exhibited at the same shows more than once. I don’t know how specifically Dave exhibits. But if he is like others I’ve seen over the last seven years… he may sit, smiling, awaiting those loyal regulars to come with cash in hand. In short, it’s not enough anymore. It hasn’t been that way in a long time.

For those new fans Dave needs to continue to be the celebrated creator he is, I ask how he chooses to engage them? Having not been a specific fan of his work (and yes, he is actually an astounding talent), if I were to walk past him, would he attempt to stop me and chat? I’m not selfie-obsessed, but I’m also not apt to make it a chore to check with every exhibitor at a convention. Especially if there’s a cool cosplay I need to post a picture of. It’s no longer enough to rest on the laurels of a resume, or even the strength of a displayed portfolio. The market has evened out. All who exhibit are slowly becoming equals amongst the growing legions of fans flocking to the shows. And it’s clear to me, as it should be to all creators: If you’re not making money… it’s not the fault of the fans, or the rising ticket prices, or food costs. The blame doesn’t get to be shuffled anywhere else but on those who make no effort to change with the rolling tide.

The fact is that the newest generation of fans that frequent comic conventions are coming first and foremost to celebrate their love of the media. That love need not be via purchases in the digital era. A comic on my table is considerably less than a commission a known artist offers at their table. When one faces a sea of new faces (heh), the easy money is on the short sale – be that a celebrated or loathed fact. Never once in my time behind the table have I heard from legit fans (including those in every conceivable generation) that the cost of a ticket, a hot dog, or an autograph prevented them from purchasing a comic or print from my table. Cons are costly, I’m not denying that. But at the end of the day, the fans are coming on their own terms, not by the financial needs of those of us behind the table.

Mrs. Dorman’s original post ended “…at what point would YOU cut bait and stop attending these shows? How do we satisfy the fans in a way that makes sound financial $ense ? ? ?”

To be blunt, here are my answers: I won’t cut bait, ever. We earn our fans one at a time. I assess the marketplace. I exhibit within my means. I analyze my sales data. I adapt to a changing market. I work my ass off. And I don’t wait for fans to come discover me. I make them discover me. I don’t want to be an instigator, or one to throw a punch at an undeserving target. The truth of the matter is that the conventions of old are dwindling, if not dead. If Wizard and their ilk don’t offer comped tables to creators who are there to turn profit, then those creators must accept that the shows are now not there the fans’ need to connect to creators. For good or bad… They’re there to connect with each other. If you want that to change… It’s not about cutting ties or holding conventioneers responsible. It’s about getting your hands dirty and figuring out how to make the change yourself.

 

The Point Radio: SCORPION Stings Monday Night TV

If the response to they first episode is any indicator, CBS TV’s SCORPION might be the first big hit of the new TV season. We talk to the show’s stars, Katharine McPhee, Elyes Gabel and the real life genius who actually experienced these adventures. Plus from runway to courtroom, JUDGE FAITH is handing out some tough justice.  Meet Faith Jenkins, star of her own new courtroom reality show.

THE POINT covers it 24/7! Take us ANYWHERE on ANY mobile device (Apple or Android). Just  get the free app, iNet Radio in The  iTunes App store – and it’s FREE!  The Point Radio  – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE  – and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

The Law Is A Ass

BOB INGERSOLL: THE LAW IS A ASS #306: AMERICA’S GOT POWERS CORRUPTS

americas-got-powers-taps-into-tv-zeitgeist-4919ii99-x-large-4665674Let’s just say… I was disappointed.

I have a name for my disappointment and it’s America’s Got Powers #1, the first issue – hey, with the screwy numbering system American Comics use nowadays, one can’t be sure # 1 is actually the first issue – of the new mini-series from Image. Disappointing because it was such a cynical and negative portrayal of America. So let’s proceed that I might give voice to my disappointment.

In the not too distant future, to borrow a line from the Mystery Science Theater 3000 theme – because “borrow” sounds so much nicer than steal – something happened. Which, makes America’s Got Powers better than most mainstream comic books, where super heroes can take four pages just to get their mail – and you only think I’m making that up – so as to stretch out some skimpy story out for the six issues suitable for framing or collecting into a trade paperback.

What happened? A big blue crystal fell from outer space and landed in the middle of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Then, in a real break from mainstream comic books, something else happened. Yes two things happened in the same issue. Every pregnant woman within a five mile radius of the crystal went into labor. (Good thing that crystal didn’t land in Arizona where the new abortion law says pregnancy starts on the first day of a woman’s menstrual cycle. Under that definition, girls who’d never had sex would still be pregnant and might have given spontaneous, virgin births. The theological implications are staggering.)

Now you might think that’s enough for the first issue of a comic book. “But wait!” I say in my best Ron Popeil imitation, “There’s more!” Every one of those babies was born with a super power. And that’s where the fun began.

After all those super babies were born, the country endured the Power Riots, whatever those were, which “destabilized the entire country.” In order to calm the public, the US government rounded up the children who got super powers from a crystal, or “Stoners” as they were called, then put them in camps and a training school. The government conducted research on the interred Stoners and trained them how to use their powers, all, ostensibly, in an effort to “re-integrate them” into society. The government funded this facility with the TV series America’s Got Powers.

What’s America’s Got Powers? It was the country’s newest mega-hit reality TV show. The show’s premise was simple. Imagine a reality show which took the best parts of American Idol and American Gladiators, tossed them out, and presented a mash-up of the rest. In other words, in America’s Got Powers, Stoners fought both mechanical adversaries and each other in televised combat all in an effort to be the last one standing. America’s Got Powers was kind of like The Hunger Games but with less food. The winners got to join the world’s only super-hero team,“Power Generation,” while the losers who survived went “back to the camps.”

As the story opened, America’s Got Powers was about to start its seventeenth season. Each of the shows’s first sixteen seasons had become increasingly brutal. With its seventeenth season, the producers decided to reduce all the safety protocols in the combat arena to the minimum settings and to handicap the Stoners with secret treatments or devices that slowed them down. The result was the Stoners couldn’t fight their robotic opponents effectively and were pounded on until they looked like Wile E. Coyote on a particularly bad day.

Now, you might have noticed that I used the word “ostensibly” when I said the purpose of the government’s program was to re-integrate the Stoners into normal society. We’re dealing with an agency of the United States government in a comic book. In today’s comic books, any government agency that doesn’t have a secret agenda is underachieving. America’s Got Powers’ evil secret agenda was confirmed by the producers of the show; an Army general, a United States Senator, and a corporate CEO. We’re not quite sure what the secret agenda was, but we’re pretty sure it was up to no good. After all, what fun is a secret government agenda that’s up to good?

(One point about this trio of producers: Creators, when you set up a government agency with an evil secret agenda, you risk both having your political motivations questioned and having subtlety points deducted from your score by drawing the politician to be a dead ringer for Sarah Palin.)

“But, Bob,” you ask in one of those marvelous imaginary conversations between reader and columnist which I pretend can happen as a way of making a transition, “why fret about the subtlety of political caricatures when this story postulated that the US government was rounding up differently-abled minors, putting them into camps and training them to become involuntary soldiers or some such? We have the Emancipation Proclamation and the 14th Amendment. And child endangerment laws. And child labor laws. Those sorts of things can’t happen, can they?”

Of course not. Those things can’t happen. That’s why colleges and high schools all over this country televise football games. Games in which young men get injured, seriously injured, catastrophically injured, and even fatally injured. And that’s just college and high school. Imagine if a government with a secret agenda got involved. Because that sort of thing can’t happen.

Of course not. Those things can’t happen. That’s why this country never had a Selective Service Commission or a draft and it never conscripted minors who couldn’t even vote yet into the armed forces to fight wars in North America, Europe, Africa, western Asia, southeast Asia., central Asia, and anywhere else where those conscripted minors ended up in the path of enemy bullets and fragmentation grenades. Because that sort of thing can’t happen.

Of course not. Those things can’t happen. That’s why the PATRIOT Act doesn’t exist and has never been used to abolish the Writ of habeas corpus or to justify rounding up people and confining them in Guantanamo Bay indefinitely without trial. Because that sort of thing… Oh you get the idea.

And before you argue that Gitmo is used to house – or warehouse – foreign nationals and such confinement can’t happen to United States citizens, I remind you of the Japanese Internment Camps of World War II. You know, the program where thousands of people who happened to have Japanese ancestry but who were born in this country and were unquestionably United States citizens, were removed from their homes, deprived of their property, and placed in indefinite confinement in internment camps without ever having been charged with a crime. Without, in fact, ever even having committed a crime.

And I guess that’s why I was so disappointed with America’s Got Powers and its cynical and negative portrayal of America. Given what we know about what truly happens in this country, I don’t think America’s Got Powers was anywhere near cynical or negative enough.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: From time to time I have been running columns I wrote years ago which, for one reason or another, have not been widely published. This is another one of them. This is, in fact, the last such column I have in my files. So I guess I’d better get busy writing the next new column, because I don’t have any more old ones with which to buy myself some time.

Martha Thomases: It’s A Bird… It’s A Plane… It’s A TV Show!

supergirl-1781767Supergirl is one of my favorite characters, so I was delighted to read that there is a Supergirl television show in development.

Supergirl is one of my favorite characters, so I was terrified to read that there is a Supergirl television show in development.

There are several reasons for my conflicted feelings. When I was a girl, Kara Zor-El was my ideal. Not only was she blonde and cute (two adjectives not customarily applied to me), but she had powers, she was unsure of herself, and she was always trying to prove herself, not only to her cousin Superman, but to prospective parents who shopped at her orphanage. I wanted to have a robot double in a tree. I wanted to have a flying horse and a super-powered cat. Sometimes I wanted different parents.

I don’t think there is anything innately “feminine” about wanting super-powers, robots or flying pets. I still want them (and ain’t I a woman?). The difference between the me who liked these things in the first place and the me who likes them now is that I’ve gone through puberty.

And feminism.

This isn’t going to be one of those stereotypical PC rants (which I’ve never actually read, but then, I don’t seek them out) about how women are misrepresented in comics. They are, but I’m not arguing that in terms of politics, but in terms of realistic character development.

In the case of Supergirl, too often, she is written and drawn by men who don’t know anything about what it feels like to be a young adult woman – either teenaged or in her early twenties, as she will be portrayed in the show. If they do any research at all, it reads as if the watched Clueless and Mean Girls and decided that was enough.

Too many Supergirl stories (and movies, like this one) have her worrying whether boys will like her because she’s so powerful, or what is she going to do with all her power, or how does she fit into a world she never made with all this power. It’s all about being a Female With Power, not about being Kara Zor-El… or, in my fond memories, Linda Lee Danvers.

Her origin story has varied over the years. I believe in the New 52, she used to be a baby-sitter to her cousin Kal (now Superman) but, when Krypton exploded, she was sent into space in suspended animation. She crashes into Earth, not knowing the language and suddenly having super powers.

And since then, mostly, she’s been smashing things. No one understands her and she’s angry about it. So angry that, for a while, she was a Red Lantern.

Isn’t she the least bit curious about Earth? And her cousin? Doesn’t she want to know why she ended up here? I mean, if the baby I used to care for suddenly turned up and he was at least ten years older than me, I would want to know what his life was like.

And wham, she has super powers! Kal-El grew into his, but Kara gets hers all at once. Is that confusing? Is it wonderful? Is it awkward? Is it all of these things and more?

If anything gives me any hope at all for the possible television show, it’s that Greg Berlanti, the producer, has an okay track record in the way he deals with female characters on his shows. I really enjoyed Sigourney Weaver and Ellen Burstyn in Political Animals and Emily Bett Rickards plays a well-rounded, believable Felicity Smoak on Arrow. I’m not sure his shows pass the Bechdel test, but I believe it’s possible that they could, that these female characters have conversations about their jobs and their hobbies and their voting patterns when they are off-camera.

It would be worth everyone’s time and effort to involve more fully realized women characters, not just to be Supergirl, but in general. And I mean this in the most crass, materialistic way. Buffy the Vampire Slayer made a lot of money with a lead character who didn’t worry about whether or not boys would like her. She didn’t fret that being powerful would turn them off. At most, she worried it would kill them.

And she’s not the only one.

 

The Rock’s Hercules Comes to Home Video November 4

herc_bd3d_oslv_3dextraskw_mech-e1411670814904-1479043HOLLYWOOD, Calif.  – “Fast-paced and packed with eye-popping action” (Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News), Paramount Pictures’ and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures’ wildly entertaining epic adventure HERCULES debuts on Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack and DVD November 4, 2014 from Paramount Home Media Distribution.    The film arrives two weeks early on Digital HD October 21.  Global superstar Dwayne Johnson delivers an unforgettable performance as the mighty Hercules in this thrilling story of strength, courage and heroism.  When a terrifying new enemy threatens the innocent, Hercules and his fearless team of warriors must lead their army in a battle against overwhelming odds. HERCULES boasts a sensational cast of acclaimed actors including Ian McShane (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), Joseph Fiennes (TV’s “American Horror Story”), Rufus Sewell (The Illusionist), and John Hurt (Immortals).

The HERCULES Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray Combo Packs with Digital HD include both the theatrical version of the film, as well as an extended cut (in 2D only) with exciting new action not seen in theaters.  The sets also boast over an hour of in-depth, behind-the-scenes special features including 15 deleted and extended scenes, interviews with the cast and crew, a look at the weapons employed by Hercules and his team, commentary featuring director Brett Ratner and more.

HERCULES Blu-ray Combo Pack

The theatrical version of HERCULES on Blu-ray is presented in 1080p high definition with English Dolby Atmos (7.1 Dolby TrueHD compatible), French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.  The DVD in the combo pack is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, French and Spanish subtitles.  The combo pack includes access to a Digital HD copy of the film as well as the following:

Blu-ray

  • Theatrical version inhigh definition
    • Commentary by director Brett Ratner and producer Beau Flynn
  • Extended cut in high definition
  • Brett Ratner and Dwayne Johnson: An Introduction
  • Hercules and his Mercenaries—Delve into the story behind the team assembled by Hercules for his perilous missions and the skills required of them.
  • Weapons!—Exploration of the weapons created for the spectacular action scenes, including training with the actors.
  • The Bessi Battle—Discover how one of the major action sequences of the film was created with the filmmakers, actors, stunt team, make-up effects and more.
  • The Effects of Hercules—A behind-the-scenes look at the film’s spectacular visual effects.
  • 15 Deleted/Extended Scenes

DVD

  • Theatrical version in standard definition

HERCULES Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack

The Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack includes all of the above, as well as a Blu-ray 3D with the theatrical version of the film presented in 1080p high definition with English Dolby Atmos (7.1 Dolby TrueHD compatible), French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.

The Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack and Blu-ray Combo Pack available for purchase include a Digital Version of the film that can be accessed through UltraViolet™, a way to collect, access and enjoy movies.  With UltraViolet, consumers can add movies to their digital collection in the cloud, and then stream or download them—reliably and securely—to a variety of devices.

HERCULES Single-Disc DVD

The single-disc DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, French and Spanish subtitles.  The disc includes the theatrical version of the feature film in standard definition.

Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures present a Flynn Picture Company production in association with Radical Studios a Brett Ratner film: “Hercules.”  Executive produced by
Ross Fanger, Jesse Berger, Peter Berg and Sarah Aubrey.  Produced by Beau Flynn, Barry Levine and Brett Ratner.  Based on Radical Comics’ ‘Hercules’ by Steve Moore.  Screenplay by Ryan J. Condal and Evan Spiliotopoulos.  Directed by Brett Ratner.

HERCULES

Street Date:             November 4, 2014 (Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD and                                          VOD)
October 21, 2014 (Digital)
SRP:                             $49.99 U.S. (Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack)
$39.99 U.S. (Blu-ray Combo Pack)
$29.99 U.S. (DVD)
Runtime:                   98 minutes (theatrical version)
101 minutes (extended version)
U.S. Rating:               PG-13 for epic battle sequences, violence,                                                           suggestive comments, brief strong language and                                             partial nudity
Canadian Rating:  14A for violence; not recommended for children

Tweeks: MLP Spooktacular Pony Tales Ushers in Halloween

chicken_pie_by_keinzantezuken-d4dj64i-7424326Now that it’s officially autumn, we’re ready to jump right into Halloween.  Thankfully, Shout! Factory has just released Spooktacular Pony Tales, a collection of six My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episodes (along with extras like pumpkin stencils & a sing-a-long!) to help us ease into probably the best holiday ever!  Of course, we’d watch Pinkie Pie in a chicken costume any time of year.

Dennis O’Neil On Alternate Earths

Good news! The angel Fettucini has just delivered a Message From On High: from this moment on, all politicians must be free of greed and egotism and be motivated solely by the desire for good governance and love of heir fellow man.

The, uh, bad news is that the above is true only on Earth 4072, which, of course, exists only in an alternate universe. These things are relative. To the inhabitants of Earth 4072, the news is not bad.

They can be useful, these alternate universes, especially, if you write fantasy or science fiction.

Consider Julius Schwartz, an editor at DC Comics. In 1959, he was given the task of reviving a character who had been dormant for most of the decade, the Flash. Instead of merely redoing the Flash comics readers (okay, older comics readers) were familiar with, Mr. Schwartz and his creative team gave the Flash a comprehensive makeover: new costume, new secret identity that included a new name, new origin story – the whole bag. But Mr. Schwartz had a potential problem: some of his audience – those pesky older readers – might wonder what happened to the original Flash. Mr. Schwartz provided an answer by borrowing a trope from science fiction: alternate worlds. In the Schwartz version, there were two Earths coexisting in different dimensions. The original, Jay Garrick, was on one Earth and the newer model, Barry Allen, was on the other Earth. It was the publishing equivalent of having your cake and eating it, too.

Take a bow, Mr. Schwartz.

The gimmick must have boosted sales because Mr. Schwartz soon applied it to other DC superheroes with similar success. Then other editors and their teams took the alternate Earth idea and ran with it and eventually, there were dozens of versions of Earth, each with its own pantheon of costumed heroes. This may have created story opportunities, but it also probably created confusion and narrative unwieldiness. For whatever reason, in 1985, the guys in the big offices decreed that all Earth be cosmically mashed into one, in a storyline titled Crisis on Infinite Earths that included all of DC’s superhero comics. Later, DC’s editors repeated the stunt three more times.

So…can we reach a verdict? Alternate Earths: pro or con?

Well…if you can get a good story from this, or any other, concept, yeah, sure. A good story is always its own justification. But you do risk alienating new or merely casual readers who might be confused, and you burden your inner continuity with the need to explain the multiple Earths stuff. Maybe this particular story could be told without multiple Earths elements and if that’s true, maybe it ought to be. Or do you risk compromising the uniqueness of your hero by presenting diverse versions of the character, and do you care?

You might want to mull these matters, especially if you make your living from comic books. Or you might not, but if that’s the case, why don’t you want to mull them?

 

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