TRANS-SCRIBE

Monday, 17 July 2017

The Strain 'The Worm Turns' Review

This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.

The Strain returns after its literal explosive season three finale to find that nine months have passed since the detonation of a nuclear device on Liberty Island, and that the strigoi have effectively taken over the world.

It's a bold step, and one that has given the show some fresh life as it has gone from horror survival to post-apocalypse fight for freedom, and the time jump gives the show the opportunity to create a new world for our characters to inhabit.

Whilst this episode doesn't feature Setrakian, Dutch or Gus, though it does show us what's happened to the rest of the cast since the end of the world.

We find out that since Zach detonated a nuclear bomb and destroyed the world Ephraim has fled New York and is now living in Philadelphia, working with a group of black marketers to trade his medical knowledge for valuable trade items.

Despite having lost his family, no longer being with his friends, and being in a devastated world that his son helped to create Eph almost feels like a whole new character. He's more relaxed and easygoing, which is a little bit ridiculous for someone living in a world ruled by vampires, but then he's no longer fighting against the Master and trying to save his family, so I guess there's a lot of pressure gone now.

It's during his work as a travelling doctor that Ephraim discovers that the Partnership, the human face of the strigoi rule, have been pumping tankers full of blood into buildings that are home to hundreds of strigoi. Something that I'm sure will be important in upcoming episodes.

After the black market hideout is raided by strigoi Ephraim and his colleagues find themselves bundled into the back of a bus as prisoners. Before we can find out what fate can befall strigoi prisoners, however, the bus comes under attack from bombers and Ephraim becomes the only survivor.

Despite not wanting to get involved and to have a quiet existence he can't stop himself from providing assistance to the injured freedom fighter that attacked the bus and soon finds himself escaping the scene of the attack with the resistance members.

Meanwhile, Zach has been spending the time since he caused the apocalypse living with the Master in his own private apartment full of arcade games, game consoles and toys. The end of the world has done little to lessen Zach's annoyingness.

It would appear that the Master is far from finished with Zach as he begins to groom the boy to be his next host after Palmer. He takes Zach into what's left of Central Park Zoo and arms him with a rifle, having him hunt down and kill a tiger.

The scene plays out differently to the books, where the Master has Zach build up a bond with the animal before killing it. Here however, the Master comes before Zach as a vision of his mother, twisting the boy into believing that the Master is Zach's friend and that his future lies with the strigoi.

It's rare that there's a scene with Zach that actually makes you feel anything for the character other than major annoyance (he makes Wesley Crusher look like Shaft), but here we get a look into just how messed up his mind is and how deeply the Master has his claws into the boy.

On the other side of the country we find that Fet and Quinlan have been searching for a weapon that can help them end the Masters reign; a nuclear bomb.

The two of them have teamed up with a group of survivors, including the tough sharpshooter Charlotte, who would appear to be Fet's latest romantic interest. Despite travelling with a group of fighters Fet seems to be getting himself into bad situations quite easily.

When the group is held up by another group of survivors it's only thanks to Quinlans superhuman intervention that the group gets out alive. Unfortunately for Fet him and Charlotte are later captured by a second hostile group when they're searching for food without Quinlan around to protect them.

Whilst Fet may not be the best at not getting himself into trouble it does actually pay off for him when he finds himself imprisoned with a Roman, a soldier from a missile silo that still has its nuclear weapons.

Using one of the oldest tricks in the book to get the upper hand on their captors Fet and Roman manage to get free (literally just before Quinlan turns up to save them). Looks like our heroes could be finding their ultimate weapon sooner than we think.

The first episode of the final season does a great job of setting up the new world and showing us what some of our characters have been doing in the gap between seasons. Hopefully the rest of the season will continue to build upon this solid foundation and will build a strong conclusion to one of the best horror series on television.

Go to Amy's Blog

Thursday, 13 July 2017

New Black Canary Costume Revealed For Arrow Season Six

Entertainment Weekly have revealed the first look at the new costume for Black Canary, debuting in season six of CWs Arrow.

Whilst Black Canary has been in the show since the second season this will be the third person to bear the mantle (fourth if you also count the one episode that Evelyn Sharp wore the costume). The current incarnation of the character, Dinah Drake, was introduced to the show during season five and has more similarities to her comic book counterpart than previous versions; Dinah actually has the metahuman ability to produce her 'Canary Cry'.

The reveal of the new costume also shows that the former police officer will be developing as a character in the upcoming season, and will be embracing her role as a hero.

Show producer Wendy Mercil also spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the new costume and it's significance for the character;

'Last season she wasn't a full fledged superhero, you could say. She was, she had this power, she had this ability, she was part of the team, but really what this costume signifies more than anything else is that she is now a full-fledged member of the team. She was before. But she's now owning it in a different way. We had a talk about having the costume at various points last season and it never felt right. It felt that we wanted to save it for a special occasion, and the premier seemed like a really good place to do it.

'She needs something tactical. She has this meta power, but she also has the bo staff, so we felt that it was right for her to have something that was definitely a nod to the DCU character, but also something that was distinctive from what we've seen before. This really fits the bill. Maya Mani, as usual did an amazing job. My favourite parts is actually the subtle hint of gold and yellow lines in it.'

Arrow will be premiering 12th October.

Go to Amy's Blog

Wednesday, 5 July 2017

Everything Left Episode 18 - Magic Money Tree

In this episode I'm joined by Hannah Simpson and Adi Anhang as we talk about Trumpcare, Mike Pence, and the fact that the Tory party managed to find their magic money tree.

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Everything Left is a Trans-Scribe Production
Hosted by Amy Walker
Theme music http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

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Saturday, 1 July 2017

Life Size Red Ranger Bust Announced

Pop Culture Shock have revealed a life sized Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Red Ranger bust, set for release late 2018.

Pop Culture Shock describe the bust on their website as;

'It’s Morphin’ Time!'

The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers burst onto television screens in 1993 and the show was an immediate cultural phenomenon.

Using footage from the popular Super Sentai series that had already been running for years in Japan, MMPR was for many American kids their first look at a group of spandex clad teenagers battling giant monsters in a sea of smoke and explosion effects.

The shows success led to the adaptation of subsequent seasons of the Sentai, which featured a new team of heroes each year. No matter the makeup of the team the show always featured a leader who was the embodiment of heroism and bravery…the Mighty Red Ranger.

PCS Collectibles pays tribute to that first noble Red Ranger, Jason Lee Scott, in our next Life-Size Bust.

Featuring a faithful recreation of the Season 1 Red Ranger helmet and a fabric costume that offers a distinct textural contrast and gives the whole piece an incredible authenticity found in few collectibles today.

The PCS Exclusive Red Ranger bust stands an impressive 25” tall and features an LED light-up Power Morpher base and signed certificate of authenticity and is limited to only 200 pieces worldwide!

Approx. Dimensions – 24″ (60.96cm) H x 17″ (43.18cm) W x 12″ (30.48cm) D
Sculpted by – Miguel Argueta, Glenn Morris & Justin McMillan
Painted by – Mike Najera
Art Director – Jerry Macaluso

The bust is available for pre-order at the price of $999.99.

Go to Amy's Blog

Friday, 30 June 2017

The Mist Episode 1 'Pilot' Review

This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.

I enjoyed the 2007 film version of Stephen King novella 'The Mist', I still think that it's got one of the bleakest endings in film history; so when it was announced that Spike would be producing a series based upon the story I was a little unsure how they would make an effective show.

The premise is a good one, a mysterious and otherworldly mist that hides monsters and horrors that you couldn't imagine, but to spin the story across a dozen or more hours of television would require a great deal of expansion upon the original story.

As such, the first episode of 'The Mist' is dedicated to set-up, to letting us get to know the inhabitants of Bridgeville before they start getting killed off.

Unfortunately, most of this episode left me feeling bored and unenthusiastic, with many of the characters actually either outright boring me or ending up with me wanting them to get killed at some point. There's only a couple of characters in this first episode that I found myself liking and one of them was one of the first to die.

Bridgeville seems to be inhabited by complete arse-holes. The main family consists of Kevin, a boring father, Eve, a flat and uninteresting angry and overprotective mother stereotype, and their daughter Alex, who is forced to go through a date-rape plot to add extra conflict between her parents; as well as having half the town turn against them and their 'whore' daughter.

Outside of the main family there's Adrian ,the 'freak' outcast who's the victim of homophobic abuse at the drop of the hat with at least three other characters attacking him for it. There's the high school quarterback/son of the sheriff rapist Jay, who is instantly unlikable even before becoming a rapist.

Connor, the town sheriff comes across as a bully and a coward. Mia's a drug addict murderer who likes to be aggressive and picks fights with people. Bryan is the amnesiac soldier who's definitely connected to whatever's behind what's happening but can't be calm enough for five minutes not to have people think he's crazy. Then there's Benedict Raven, one of the few likable characters in the show who seems to know that something is wrong before the Mist rolls into town, but after seeing her husband murdered in front of her seems to being set up as going crazy later in the series.

Whilst the majority of the pilot episode is given over to the human drama of Bridgeville, much to the detriment of the episode, when the mist finally does reach town in the last ten minutes things start to get interesting.

People get attacked by swarms of insects, others seem to go a little insane and turn on each other, whilst one particularly unpleasant woman gets her jaw ripped out before being dragged into the mist by something unseen.

Whilst the series appears to be pushing the horrors of people as one of the main points of conflict over the monsters in the mist I'm hoping that this is a focus that will begin to shift as the show goes on. As it is after the first episode 'The Mist' has managed to hold my attention on the hopes that things might get more interesting, but runs the risk of losing me.

The pilot episode probably won't be one for everyone, and whilst some may enjoy it I'm sure that it will struggle to hold other's attention. Fingers crossed that the series will soon improve in quality.

Go to Amy's Blog

Gotham Actor Donal Logue's Transgender Daughter Jade Missing

Jade Logue, the 16-year-old daughter of Gotham star Donal Logue, has been reported missing since Tuesday this week.

Logue tweeted a post on Tuesday saying that his daughter did not return home and was missing. The tweet was later deleted by Logue, who has since told the media that he is unable to comment on the situation as he is speaking to police.

The tweet has since been shared around social media, however, an NYPD spokesperson has said that as of Wednesday morning the teenager has not returned home.

Jade was last seen wearing a green jacket, lime green hoodie and a grey baseball cap.

Anyone with information that can help to locate Jade is urged to call (800) 577-TIPPS. All calls are allowed to remain anonymous.

Go to Amy's Blog

Sources:
NY Daily News People Pink News

Everything Left Episode 17 - The Stand Up Special

In this episode I'm joined by some of the team behind the exciting new publication Stand Up, a magazine aimed at giving young people in the UK a voice in politics.

Thursday, 29 June 2017

Netflix Release New Death Note Image

Adam Wingard, director of the upcoming Netflix live action Death Note series, has released a new poster for the show, revealing the first look at one of the main characters; the shinigami Ryuk. Ryuk will be voiced in the series by veteran actor Willem Dafoe.

The official synopsis for the show was recently released by Viz Media;

'Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects - and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and Light vows to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But will Light succeed in his noble goal, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against?'

What if you had the power to decide who lives and who dies? We suggest you obey the rules. Based on the famour Japanese manga written by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, Death Note follows a high school student who comes across a supernatural notebook, realising it holds within great power; if the owner inscribes someone's name into it while picturing their face, he or she will die. Intoxicated with his new godlike abilities, the young man begins to kill those he deems unworthy of life.

Fan reaction to the first trailer for the series was mixed, with many complaining that the show had failed to capture the seedy supernatural aestetic that the series is known for, and others criticising casting choices and making accusations of whitewashing.

Death Note will be released August 25.

Go to Amy's Blog