Monday, 30 October 2017

The Walking Dead: 5 Spin-Off Ideas



Originally published on Set The Tape

With The Walking Dead television series entering its 8th season, and becoming more popular than ever, many fans are demanding more content.

Fear the Walking Dead explored the beginning of the zombie outbreak, but what other areas of the Walking Dead universe could be given their own spin-off?


Outbreak Elsewhere

With every story in the Walking Dead universe being set in North America, there’s potential to explore how the rest of the world would handle the zombie apocalypse. Whilst there are many different options for a spin-off set elsewhere in the world, a setting that doesn’t have the easy access to guns would make for an interesting counterpart to the main show.

Great Britain is an excellent candidate for such a setting, one that has been used successfully for zombie stories in the past. As 28 Days Later showed, there are some iconic British locations that would make for stunning visuals. A fun example of a London based zombie apocalypse, the little played Zombii U on the Wii U, shows how scary tackling undead hordes with only a cricket bat or metal pipe can be.


A Walled City

 Whilst the main series has explored this idea in some of the locations the survivors call home, such as the prison and Alexandria, a walled city is a concept that hasn’t been explored in great detail.

Instead of a small group of survivors inside a small walled location a spin-off could easily expand the concept to a walled city home to hundreds of people, such as Pittsburgh in Land of the Dead. How would such a society work? What threats would they face from both inside and out?

It could even play with the formula of the show, changing location to somewhere else in the world entirely, or jumping forward in time to create a city that has been surviving against the undead for decades.


 The Telltale Adaptation

 The Telltale Walking Dead game was amazing. The first season of the game is easily one of the most engaging, addictive, and heartbreaking games I’ve ever played. Whilst adapting the story for television wouldn’t lend itself to an ongoing series, it would easily make a great mini-series or one off season.

The adaptation could even be made to fit into the main show in the same way that the game connected with the comic series, featuring small cameo appearances from Glenn and Hershel.

The Telltale game had such a powerful and emotional story to it that many fans of The Walking Dead will have not experienced due to not being gamers, bringing this story to television would mean that everyone has a chance to experience one of the best Walking Dead stories to date.


Soldiers

One area of the zombie apocalypse that The Walking Dead has touched upon slightly in the past is the military. We’ve seen groups of survivors that have included soldiers, but these insights have often been fleeting.

A series could easily follow a group of soldiers and military personnel during the early days of the outbreak through to the time that the main series is set in. This show could be similar to the main series, with the group being survivors simply trying to stay alive, or, they could have an actual mission that they need to accomplish.

If working towards an actual goal this would also allow the opportunity to look into what remains of the government, and how they would try to function during the collapse of society.


Anthology Series

 One of the more popular spin-off ideas is an anthology series. This would allow the most creativity, and would even allow the creators to incorporate all of the other spin-off ideas. An anthology series would allow the creators to tell multiple stories, some that could be brand new to the Walking Dead universe, and others that could feature pre-established characters or plot threads that have been left dangling.

It could explore how characters such as Andrea, Dale, Glenn, Michonne, or Daryl came together as a group before they found Rick in Season One. It could show how Merle escaped the rooftop in Atlanta and ended up with the Governor. It could show the rise of Negan. It could explore what happened to Morales after leaving the group.

Having an anthology show would also allow the show to bring in other well known actors who want to be involved in the franchise for a role in an episode or two for a single story.


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Sunday, 29 October 2017

Daily Mail Uses Trans Man's Photos Without Permission To Attack Trans Community



The right wing tabloid The Daily Mail has used the photographs of a transgender man without obtaining his permission in an article aimed at attacking the transgender community and trans rights.

Alex Bertie, a rans rights activist and YouTuber shared his outrage at the incident on his social media accounts on Sunday 29th October following the discovery of the theft of his images, and their use at attacking the community that he has worked hard to help.

The article, entitled 'NHS Pressured Our Kids To Change Sex', in which the tabloid's writers claim that transgender teenagers are being 'brainwashed' by social media sites and allowed by the NHS to transition without proper vetting. The article claims that parents of trans teens are 'terrified' to complain through fear of backlash from trans activist and being labelled as bigots.

Alex's photos, showing the progression of his transition, were used alongside the first line of the article, 'Transgender backlash as desperate parents accuse overzealous therapists of 'blindly accepting' children's claims to have been born in the wrong body'.


The Daily Mail has yet to respond to Alex's outrage at the theft of his images, and the anger of them being used in an article designed to attack the trans community.

Unfortunately, The Daily Mail has a long history of attacking the transgender community, and the LGBT+ community as a whole. The tabloid recently attacked the NHS for allowing trans people to freeze their sperm and eggs before transition (a service that is paid for by the patient, not the NHS), as well as complaining about the National Trust attempting to include more LGBT+ history.

The Daily Mail were also found to be responsible for the media onslaught that terrorised the transgender teacher Lucy Meadows, who took her own life following the tabloids campaign to ruin her career.


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Friday, 27 October 2017

Legends of Tomorrow ‘Aruba-Con’ Review



Originally published on Set The Tape

Legends of Tomorrow returns to answer the important question… what will the team do now that they’ve broken time and there are dinosaurs running around? The answer: have it resolved by someone else within the first five minutes of the episode, obviously.

Whilst the initial resolution to the surprise cliffhanger of Season Two might be a bit of a let down, it quickly becomes apparent that it doesn’t really matter, because that isn’t what this episode is about. Instead of having the Legends fight dinosaurs and try to fix time, we have them out of the job and trying to live normal lives because of the appearance of a five years older Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) and his new Time Bureau. This is the kind of thing that makes Legends of Tomorrow one of the most enjoyable shows in the CW DC Universe; its ability to subvert expectations, deliver wonderful character moments, and create genuinely laugh out loud funny moments.

With the team no longer playing hero to the timestream, Sara (Caity Lotz) is working in a department store with a dick boss; Ray (Brandon Routh) is working for a dating app company with a dick boss; Jax (Franz Drameh) has quit college and doesn’t know what to do with himself; and Nate (Nick Zano) is trying to be a superhero in Central City after his relationship with Amaya (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) has broken down. The only members of the team who are actually enjoying their break from being a superhero are Stein (Victor Garber), who is a grandfather to be, and Mick (Dominic Purcell), who’s enjoying a holiday in Aruba.


It’s fun to see our characters lost like this, dealing with the frustrations of the real world. It’s bad enough being stuck in a dead-end job that you don’t like, but it’d be extra frustrating after you’ve saved the world from aliens, fought dinosaurs, travelled to the distant future, and been to the court of King Arthur. Thankfully for the team, things soon kick off again when Mick’s vacation is interrupted by the sudden appearance of Julius Caesar (standard). With time needing to be fixed once again, it’s time to put the team back together, including stealing the Waverider back from the Time Bureau, who are using the ship as a training simulator for their cadets.

Legends of Tomorrow really embraces its role as an action comedy series, mixing some excellent fight scenes with ridiculous physical comedy. It may have taken time for the series to figure out the kind of show that it wanted to be, but now that it’s settled it’s easily one of the most enjoyable parts of the CW DC Universe. There’s also some great character moments in the episode, especially between Stein and Jax. With Stein about to become a grandfather he’s ready to put his superhero days behind him, but acknowledges that he owes Jax for tricking him onto the Waverider in the first place and agrees to rejoin the team in order to help make Jax happy.

The episode also sets up some elements that will be explored in the season to come; the Time Bureau and how Rip formed them, why Amaya went back to her own time, plus the mysterious threat that’s looming on the horizon. There’s a lot more to come with the third season of Legends of Tomorrow, and the first episode establishes a strong foundation.


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Thursday, 26 October 2017

Darkness Visible: Volume 1 - Book Review



Originally published on Set The Tape

‘When the demons came, humanity reluctantly learned to share the world with another sentient race. Eighty years later, this uneasy co-existence has spawned an endless terrorist conflict. Detective Daniel Ashton, charged with being the thin blue line between the two sides, is tested to the limit when a demon sets up house inside his soul. But to save his daughter, he’ll pay any price – including genocide.’

Darkness Visible: Volume 1 collects together the first six issues of the ongoing Darkness Visible series, a story that establishes the world and characters of the book, giving readers a solid basis for future issues.

When Detective Daniel Ashton and his daughter are almost killed, he unknowingly makes a deal with a demonic criminal in order to help save his daughter’s life. Whilst this in itself would be a dramatic turn of events for most stories, here it’s used not just as a story of a man fighting a corruption of his soul, but also explores racism and xenophobia, the fear of the other, and the assumption that every member of a certain group is a terrorist.

This is perhaps one of the best things about Darkness Visible; it’s not just a story about demons living in the real world, it uses so much of what’s happening in the world today as a part of it’s universe. It addresses the fact that Shaitan are seen as an outside force that is ‘taking over’ the way of life. Even without reading the interview included at the start of the book with the writers, it’s clear that this is an allegory for the world of today, for the Trump-era and the Brexitiers, fearing anything different.

The book manages to entwine these real world fears and notions into a very fantastic tale, a world with warring demon factions that are fighting to be the first to gain control of a mystical artifact referred to as ‘the lamp’. By the end of the book we still don’t know what the lamp is, why it’s being sought out, or even where the book will head next. It manages to keep the progression a mystery by staying clear of tropes and forging its own identity instead.

Much of this first volume is about that, the world building. Two of the six issues within the book are actually flashback issues, one which shows the origin of the alliance between the human and the Shaitan during World War Two, and the other exploring how one of the characters joined with a Shaitan during the 1970’s (though I’m not mentioning which character as it’s a twist you won’t want spoiling).

These two flashback issues are the two standouts of the book for myself. They have a different art style to the rest of the book, and act as a refreshing break to the main story. Most importantly, however, they manage to show you a lot of the important details and history of this bizarre world we’re reading about, which is much more preferable to simply having a character just tell us it instead.

By the end of Darkness Visible I found myself not only invested in the characters, but genuinely intrigued by the world being created. I wanted to know more, not just about what would be happening next, but also more about the history of the world and how the presence of the Shaitan altered their historical events.

With snappy dialogue and some incredible artwork, the book will be a quick read for most, with the story and development driving you forward, eager to experience more. Having now completed Volume 1, I’m eagerly awaiting the next chapter of this universe.


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Legends of Tomorrow – Who’s Who in Season 3?




It’s a hell of a week for the Arrowverse! First Supergirl returns, then The Flash, followed by Arrow, and now arguably for its third season, the most complicated of all the tie-in shows, Legends of Tomorrow.

Balancing superheroics with blockbuster action (for television, anyway) and more than a liberal splashing of time travel, it’s one of the shows where a primer is pretty handy, so here’s a reminder of who’s who on Legends of Tomorrow…


Sara Lance/White Canary (Caity Lotz)

 Sara Lance is the daughter of Quentin Lance, younger sister of Laurel Lance (Black Canary), and former lover of Oliver Queen (the Green Arrow). After appearing to die on the island of Lian Yu, Sara was taken in by the League of Assassins and trained to become a killer.

After her death and revival she felt lost and unsure of what her role in the world should be. Joining Rip Hunter and the Legends on their quest through time, she went on to prove that she was a strong and competent leader, becoming the captain of the Waverider and head of the team.


Ray Palmer/The Atom (Brandon Routh)

 The former CEO of Palmer Tech, Ray is a genius engineer and inventor, managing to create the Atom Suit, a set of high tech armour that is capable of flight, energy blasts, and size alteration; enabling him to shrink or grow to whatever size he wants.

Ever positive and eager to do the right thing, Ray is often the first member of the Legends to put himself forward to protect the innocent and out himself in harm’s way to restore history.


Mick Rory/Heatwave (Dominic Purcell)

 A pyromaniac and former criminal, Mick became part of the Legends team when Rip Hunter recruited his partner Leonard Snart (Captain Cold). When Mick and Snart fell out over their role on the team, Snart having come to want to be a hero and Mick still wishing to remain a criminal, Snart marooned him in a distant time period.

After being captured by the Time Masters and brainwashed into becoming the temporal bounty hunter Chronos, Mick fought free of his programming and rejoined the team. Following the death of Snart, Mick came to genuinely care about his teammates and their mission, honouring his friends desire to do the right thing.

Though he is often moody and quick to violence, Mick has proved that he has become a true hero, even fighting alongside such heroes as Supergirl and The Flash to save Earth from an alien invasion.


Martin Stein/Firestorm (Victor Garber)

A physicist who created the F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. matrix, Martin was hit with the energy released by the particle accelerator explosion in Central City and became one half of the nuclear fueled hero Firestorm. When his original Firestorm partner Ronnie Raymond died saving the world, Stein would go on to merge with Jefferson ‘Jax’ Jackson.

Originally forcing Jax onto the Waverider in order to travel through time, Martin and Jax have gone on to become as close as family, enjoying their time together as a superhero. During their adventures through time Stein has interacted with his younger self on more than one occasion, resulting in him having a daughter, Lilly, that didn’t exist before he became a Legend.


Jefferson ‘Jax’ Jackson/Firestorm (Franz Drameh)

 Following the death of Ronnie Raymond, Jax was approached by The Flash to merge with Professor Stein to become half of the superhero Firestorm. After joining with Stein in order to save his life he became a reluctant hero, even going on to being tricked onto the Waverider by Stein, who wanted to travel through time.

During his time on the ship Jax discovered his love of being a hero, as well as becoming the ship’s mechanic. Learning much about himself during his exploits through time, Jax and Stein have become as close as family, and has come to care for the rest of the team very deeply.


Nate Heywood/Steel (Nick Zemo)

 A historian specialising in deductive historical reconstruction, Nate came to the rescue of the Legends when they were lost throughout the timestream. After saving the Legends, Nate joined the team to help them track down their latest foe.

The grandson of Henry Haywood, Citizen Steel of the Justice Society of America, Nate wanted desperately to become a hero, but was unable to due to his hemphillia putting his life at risk. After being exposed to a serum that unlocked his meta-gene, however, Nate gained the ability to turn into living metal and took on the identity of Steel.

Whilst on board the Waverider, Nate eventually entered into a relationship with Amaya Jiwe, Vixen.


 Amaya Jiwe/Vixen (Maisie Richardson-Sellers)

 A former member of the Justice Society of America, and grandmother to the modern day Vixen, Amaya joined the Legends on their mission following the death of Hourman, the leader of the Justice Society. Utilising a mystical necklace that grants her the abilities of any animal, Vixen proved to be an invaluable member of the group.

After helping to track down Hourman’s killer and saving the timeline, Amaya chose to stay on with the Legends, despite learning that she would eventually have to return to her own time to die protecting her village.


Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill)

 A former member of the Time Masters, Rip brought the Legends together to help stop the immortal tyrant Vandal Savage, the man responsible for the death of Rip’s family. After defeating Savage, Rip was lost in the timestream before being brainwashed into joining the Legion of Doom.

Eventually saved by his former team, Rip helped to stop the Legion of Doom before handing the leadership of the team, and the Waverider, over to Sara Lance.


Gideon (Amy Pemberton)

 The artificial consciousness that controls the Waverider, Gideon was Rips only companion until the Legends came aboard.

Gideon has proven time and again that she is more human than would first be thought, and is an invaluable member of the team, caring for each of the Legends.


Leonard Snart/Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller)

 Originally a criminal, Snart joined the Legends when he was recruited by Rip for his abilities as a thief. Eventually coming to care for the team, and wanting to be a true hero, Snart sacrificed his life to stop the Time Masters and save his friends.

When a version of Snart from before he joined the Legends was recruited into the Legion of Doom by the Reverse Flash, Snart fought against his future teammates. Once the Legends stopped the Legion’s plans they were able to erase Snart’s memories of the events and return him to his proper place in time, allowing him to fulfill his destiny to become a hero.


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Arrow ‘Fallout’ Review



Originally published on Set The Tape

The season six premiere of Arrow is possibly the most disappointing of all of the CW DC Universe shows for failing to live up to the previous season’s finale. With the whole of Team Arrow on Lian Yu as it exploded it put the characters in very real jeopardy. Who would be returning for the new season?

It’s very quickly revealed that the answer is… everyone. Whilst I do like all of the new members of the team and am glad that they’re still around, I can’t help but feel it’s a bit of a shame that the show didn’t have the nerve to actually kill off any of it’s characters. Yes, Samantha died, but she was a character that we didn’t really know or care about.

Whilst the characters did survive the explosion, some of them came out of the events of the season finale very different. Diggle (David Ramsey) has been injured and possibly has some kind of mental scarring that has affected his aim to the point where he can’t even shoot someone four feet in front of him. For a character that has been defined as the gunman for five years it’s going to be interesting to see how the show explores this storyline over the coming weeks. Hopefully it’s not just going to be the events of Lian Yu that have led to this post traumatic stress for Diggle, but will be a culmination of his experiences as a soldier and vigilante that have finally caught up with him.

We also learn over the course of the episode that Thea (Willa Holland) is now in a coma following the explosion on the island. For the last season or more it feels like the show doesn’t really know what to do with Thea since she hung up her costume, having removed her from the show for half a season last year. Putting her in a coma feels like a cheap way of keeping her out of the picture and not having to figure out storylines for her without having to kill her off. Whilst the show has a poor reputation for putting female characters through horrible things for the sake of Oliver’s story, it does feel like they took an easy way out of just killing her off. Hopefully the writers will figure out a way to make the character interesting by the time she eventually wakes up.


The most interesting developments from the end of last season is the relationship between Quentin (Paul Blackhorne) and Dinah (Juliana Harkavy). Having been together to fight the villainous Earth-2 version of Laurel (Katie Cassidy) following the explosion they’ve formed something of a strong relationship. We learn that this is because Quentin shot Laurel in order to save Dinah, something he believed killed her, and it really cements the two of them as being something of surrogate father and daughter.

This is possibly one of the best developments that has come out of the last season, and with Laurel back in town it means that the two of them will undoubtedly have many more scenes together; the two of them having the strongest connection to this other worlds Laurel. Bringing Laurel back as the first villain of the new season, and one that looks like they’re going to be sticking around for a long while, is a good choice. It connects to past events and draws upon the history of not just the show but the characters too; something that definitely benefits a show in its sixth season. It remains to be seen who the mysterious figure rescuing her from Lian Yu is, though it’s sure to be a mystery that will play a part in the larger season long narrative.

The scenes with Oliver (Stephen Amell) and his son William (Jack Moore) are easily some of the weakest moments of the episode, possibly due to some less than stellar child acting. With William having nightmares most nights and unable to see his father as anything other than ‘the bad man’, it does raise the question of whether or not he’s had any therapy following the season finale. Bearing in mind that he was kidnapped by a crazed assassin, saw a man shoot himself in the head three feet from him, learned who his father is, and lost his mother all on the same day – this kid needs some professional help.

With the episode ending on a surprise reveal of Oliver’s identity as the Green Arrow being made public (I honestly didn’t see that coming) it sets up for some potentially exciting developments for upcoming episodes. However, with the characters having found a way out of similar spots in the past, hopefully this will be a big development and won’t be quickly swept under the rug.


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Deviations: Beta Review



Originally published on Set The Tape

As with the previous volume of Deviations, this latest release from IDW takes a look at some key moments from a number of their comic universes and reimagines them. What happens to some of your best loved franchises when things take a very different path?


Deviations: Judge Dredd

 In the original story ‘Cry of the Werewolf’ a flesheating werewolf made it’s way out of the Under-City and into the streets of Mega-City One. Attacking citizens and turning them into werewolves, Judge Dredd made it his mission to stop the monsters.

After being bitten by one of the werewolves and became one of the monsters. Judge Prager, a Judge on the long walk, managed to capture Dredd, who was returned to normal thanks to a cure developed by Judge Cassidy.

In Deviations: Judge Dredd, however, we find ourselves in a world where Judge Cassidy was killed before he was able to perfect his cure, leaving Dredd Stuck in his new, monstrous form. When the crazed composer Karl Heinz-Pilchards-In-Tomato-Sauce Clayderman causes destruction that puts citizens of Mega-City One in jeopardy, and accidentally frees Wolf Dredd from his confinement, the other Judges discover that Dredd has managed to regain control of his mind.

With Dredd now in control of his new form he stops Clayderman and saves dozens of citizens, leading to him becoming beloved by the city. Unable to allow Dredd to remain in the city he is allowed to take the long walk into the wilderness, where he can continue on as a Judge.

The artwork and story in Deviations: Judge Dredd captures the look and feel of a classic Judge Dredd story, and manages to be a worthy follow-up story to the original. Less intense than a lot of Judge Dredd stories, it does manage to incorporate a strong level of humour and charm to proceedings.

Whether a fan of Judge Dredd, or completely new to the franchise, ‘Howl of the Wolf’ is certain to entertain readers.


Deviations: My Little Pony

 The My Little Pony segment of Deviations tells a very different story to the one that fans will know, retelling the very first episode of the series, but with a different hero in place of Twilight Sparkle.

In this new world, Princess Celestia did not choose Twilight Sparkle to be her student, instead choosing Prince Blueblood due to him needing more help with his studies. With Prince Blueblood proving to be self-centred, Celestia sends him to Ponyville in order to make friends in the lead up to the Summer Sun Celebration.

When he arrives in Ponyville he finds that Nightmare Moon has already escaped from the moon, and is terrorising the town. Encountering the ponies that would go on to be Twilight Sparkle’s friends, Prince Blueblood manages to alienate all of them with his selfish and self-centred ways.

Deviations: My Little Pony tells a fun and interesting reimagining of the first My Little Pony episodes, subverting expectations. Instead of having Prince Blueblood replace Twilight Sparkle and replicate her journey, things play out completely differently, with it eventually being Princess Luna who goes on to make friends with the characters of Ponyville.

The book manages to capture the look and feel of the show, keeping the charm that makes the show such a success. A very lighthearted adventure, Deviations: My Little Pony will definitely interest pony fans.


Deviations: Star Trek

 Deviations: Star Trek tells a much darker story than most Star Trek fans will be used to, set in a world where the Romulan Empire has captured Earth and enslaved humanity, forcing them into penal colonies.

Over the course of the story we learn that at some point following the first contact with the Vulcans, and the formation of the Federation, the Romulans took over, and that they have since repressed all knowledge of this history from the people of Earth, having them believe that the Romulans found them as a young, savage race.

In this dark and brutal world we discover William Riker and his group of freedom fighters trying to break into a Romulan prison in order to rescue a man who can lead them to a secret federation base. He’s accompanied by Worf, the former prison security officer turned pacific; Geordi La Forge, who can see by having wired himself into the head of the android Data; and Deanna Troi, who was forced to use her empathic power to torture people in the camps. Together the group manage to rescue Jean-Luc Picard, who can help them with their fight for freedom.

Whilst Deviations: Star Trek is a one-shot comic, it feels very much like the beginning issue of it’s own series, more so than any other story in this collection. It ends having completed its story, but ready to take events further, ready to set our heroes off on their own brand new adventure.

The universe that it has created is an interesting one, one in which we don’t know what happened (or when) to change events, but offers a number of hints at some disaster befalling a young Federation. The tone of this universe very much feels like the mirror universe that was visited in Deep Space Nine, and takes a lot of inspiration from this, even down to the look of Deanna Troi being very similar to the mirror universe Kira.

Deviations: Star Trek works well as its own single issue story, but could also act as a great starting point to a new ongoing series. Hopefully this will be a world that IDW will be interested in exploring in the future.



Deviations: X-Files

 Deviations: X-Files is a brave comic. With dozens of monster of the week stories that could have been altered, a parts of the overall mythology that could have been explored in a what if style, there were so many options this book could have taken. Instead, it throws the entire X-Files universe that we know on it’s head by simply saying, ‘what if Mulder got abducted instead of Samantha?’

Set in a world where Samantha Mulder went on to be the conspiracy theory believing, alien hunting FBI agent, this story sees her and her partner, Dana Scully, investigate a case of murders where all of the victims are identical looking Park Rangers. When a shapeshifting adversary kills another Park Ranger, and steals all evidence of the case, Sam and Scully must team up with the Lone Gunmen to delve deeper into the mysterious Syndicate and their far reaching conspiracy.

Taking characters and stories from the series and flipping things on their head works incredibly well for this story. We know everything that’s happening, we’ve seen it all before on the show, but the subtle differences make it all new and exciting. The moment when Sam tells Scully of the identical men I knew what story the book was telling. I knew we’d get the alien bounty hunter, and a clone of Mulder, but this pre-existing knowledge of what story beats would be explored didn’t ruin anything; instead it just made me more excited to see what was coming next.

Fans of The X-Files will get a lot of joy out of Deviations: X-Files, in getting to see the X-Files universe shifted so dramatically, yet following a similar path. A brilliant use of the Deviations premise.

Deviations: Beta collects together four amazing stories that explore their respective franchises in new and exciting ways, and would all make great limited or ongoing series in their own right. IDW have managed to deliver amazing content, and I can’t wait to see what ideas they can explore with future Deviations books.


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Wednesday, 25 October 2017

B&B Review



Originally published on Set The Tape

STARRING: Paul McGann, Sean Teale, Tom Bateman, Callum Woodhouse, James Tratas

WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Joe Ahearne

‘Marc and Fred went to war when they were refused a double bed at a remote Christian Guest house. They won in court and now they’re back to claim their conjugal rights. Triumph turns to terror when another guest arrives, who they think may have something sinister in mind. Their weekend of fun turns into a bloody battle for survival in this smart, brutally funny and dark thriller.’

B&B was not the film that I was expecting. I’d read they films description, watched the trailer, but when it actually came to watching the film it completely subverted my expectations as to what was going to happen.

I believed that the film would be a simple and straightforward thriller, in which Marc (Tom Bateman) and Fred (Sean Teale) would have to fight against the Russian gay basher Alexie (James Tratas) in some desperate struggle for survival. Instead, what B&B delivers is a much more layered and nuanced film that puts human relationships first, and focuses on how far people are willing to go for those that they love.

I don’t want to talk too much about the story, I think it’s much better to see it unfold as you’re watching it, so that none of the twists and turns in the narrative are spoilt. What I can talk about, however, are the phenomenal performances from the films cast.

Tom Bateman and Sean Teale are very believable as they gay husbands Marc and Fred. Having previously taken the B&B to court for not allowing them to have a double bed they’ve come back a year later to stay there again. Throughout the course of the film we learn that this decision was Marc’s, and comes from him being ‘a sore winner’.

A lot of films would go out of their way to paint Marc and Fred as the poor downtrodden victims in such a scenario, and would have them return to the B&B in some kind of act of catharsis, or some way of putting their past trauma to bed. Here, however, it’s because Marc is a bit of a dick and just wants to piss off the owner, Josh (Paul McGann).

It’s a nice change to see a character that could very easily be played simply as a victim as a real person, and even pushing it into unpleasant at times. It plays wonderfully well against McGann’s Josh, who should be the villain of the film, a man who goes out of his way to discriminate against people because of his religious views, but instead he actually comes across as very likeable at times.


This may have been a bigger shock for me than the subversion of expectations for the plot, the fact that I didn’t just hate Josh. As a member of the LGBT+ community, and someone who has faced discrimination on more than one occasion, I was prepared to hate McGann’s character. When I ended up caring for him, even sympathising in some scenes I was honestly shocked with myself.

It’s a testament to how well the script is written, and how good an actor McGann is, but by the end of the film I couldn’t even decide how I thought about Josh. I disliked him, and even wanted to hate him, but I also cared about him, and in some ways respected him. I felt conflicted and disturbed by the developments his character took, and in the way the film ended, that I wasn’t prepared for.

In a world where the LGBT+ community faces discrimination, where gay men are regularly attacked in Russia by characters such as Alexie, and where they’re even put to death in some countries, stories that show the very real fears and dangers that the community faces, even in as tolerant a country as England, is important.

Whilst the fear of being attacked by a gay basher leads to a much more complex and disturbing set of events in this film, and hopefully something that people will never have to experience, that fear of abuse, the fear of an attack, is a very real reality for a lot of people; and this film captures that well in the early parts of the story.

A subject that a lot of people wouldn’t think about, believing that the advancements of LGBT+ rights will have eliminated much of it, focusing on these issues is important in film; not just because it lends itself well to telling a good thriller story, but because film can often find ways to have its audience think about subjects it wouldn’t normally.

B&B is a very well crafted film, well written, and with a level of acting that elevates the story and characters. It addresses difficult to talk about subjects, and manages to create three-dimensional characters rather than stock caricatures. Whether a member of the LGBT+ community or not, this film will be sure to entertain, thrill, and terrify throughout.


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Looking back at… In The Loop



Originally published on Set The Tape

In The Loop is the big screen version of Armando Iannucci’s popular television series The Thick of It, and sees the return of Peter Capaldi’s Malcolm Tucker, the spin doctor from hell, as he tries to steer a bumbling minister away from disaster during the buildup to war.

The story follows Minister for International Development, Simon Foster (played by Tom Hollander) after he makes a comment during a radio interview that he felt the looming war in the Middle-East was “unforeseeable”. As this goes against the government’s official neutral line he tries to correct his mistake by then stating that Britain may have to “climb the mountain of conflict”.

“You sound like a Nazi Julie Andrews!” Tucker screams at him as demands start to come in from America for Foster to take part in their war planning committee, with both those for and against the war trying to claim him as their own. What follows is a series of events where the British ministers are dragged into a round of talks in Washington and New York, whilst Foster tries to keep his career in one piece and Malcolm attempts to turn events to the government’s favour.

Whilst many television series struggle to make the leap to the big screen, In The Loop really stands out as a great example of a show managing to do it well. Part of this success may be down to the fact that the film doesn’t tie itself down to everything established in The Thick of It. Several cast members return for the film, though Tucker, his psychotic enforcer Jamie Macdonald, and Malcolm’s PA Sam, are the only characters to appear in both, with the other returning actors cast in new roles.


This may initially seem jarring for some, but it means that the film is able to tell its own story, in a way built for the big screen, without having to explain away certain characters, events, or connections to the series, making it much more accessible for new audiences. Whilst this does separate the film from its parent show, it does feel like it fits naturally enough into the world that they’d already established.

The move to the big screen also opens up the story to include bigger cast and locations than the series was able to do so, with a large portion of the story taking place in America. The American cast work seamlessly with their British counterparts, and add a sense of conflict that was missing from the parent series, with great performances from David Rasche (who would go on to appear in Veep, the American version of The Thick of It), and the late, great James Gandolfini.

In The Loop is funny, and at times ridiculous, look into the world of politics, one that’s full of spin, half-truths and outright lies as politicians and civil servants spend more time trying to keep their jobs than doing the right thing. There are no real heroes or villains in the film, only people with different agendas. Malcolm Tucker isn’t a nice person, but he’s not a monster, and there are moments where you feel genuinely sorry for the man. Simon Foster is someone in over his head having said the wrong thing, but wanting to do the right thing.

This may not be a film for everyone, it looks at people in government and paints them as idiots and fools; it makes the argument that you can’t trust information as it will be based on an agenda, spun and doctored to fit a specific narrative or viewpoint; and there’s a lot of swearing (the film uses the word fuck 135 times, with 86 of them being just Peter Capaldi!). However, if you find politics interesting, if you like ridiculous satire, or you just like seeing angry people screaming lines of obscenities at people this film will definitely appeal.

In The Loop is not only a great jump to film for a brilliant television series, it’s a great film in its own regards. The story is engaging and amusing, the characters feel very real, and the humour can go from incredibly subtle to ridiculous in the same scene. With Peter Capaldi stepping down from his role in Doctor Who and real world politics being in the state they are at the moment, I can only hope that we get to see more Malcolm Tucker in the future.


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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe #15 - Comic Review



Originally published on Set The Tape

The fourth and final issue of the Karai’s Path story sees the ninja Karai returning to Tokyo, after finding a mystical ancient sword and new ally Yokai, in order to take over the criminal underworld.

Most of the focus of the issue follows Karai and her mutant allies attacking the Tokyo headquarters of the Yakuza crime lord Hayashi Toru, leaving only death and carnage in their wake.

The assault on the Yakuza building is an entertaining cross of traditional crime story, mythical ninja story elements, and huge mutant creatures tearing people apart. The scenes where we see Koya and Bludgeon working alongside their new ally Yokai to kill Hayashi Toru’s guards are brutal, and go a long way to showing the sheer ferocity that Karai’s mutant allies possess.

Korai herself has started to lose herself to the cursed sword that she worked so hard to acquire, with Hayashi Toru telling her that it will eventually consume her soul. Though only touched on slightly in this issue this is a very interesting story point that is being laid for future exploration, and is sure to be something that will appear to haunt the Turtles at a later date.

The scenes where Korai kills Hayashi Toru, and then goes on to take over the rest of the underworld when meeting with the heads of the other Yakuza families are straight out of Japanese crime dramas. They’re scenes that we’ve all seen before, but they work really well, and have the added impact of a humanoid hammerhead shark being around for proceedings.

The book manages to bring the Korai story to a satisfying conclusion, one that sets her up to return to New York as a force to be reckonned with at a later time, and also leaves enough plot threads open that there is a lot that can be explored at a later date; such as the effects that her new sword will have on her.

The artwork and colours are also stunning, with rough linework helping to sell the grittiness of certain scenes, helping to ground what we’re seeing in a more real world. It also makes some very good stylistic choices, such as draining all colour from the panel where the three mutants tear apart Yakuza henchmen apart from red, which not only makes the panel pop, but emphasised the brutality of what we’re seeing.

The removal of any background elements in the panels where Korai faces off against Hayashi Toru is also a great decision as it focuses attention solely on the two characters, heightening the drama of the moment. With Korai’s Path finally at it’s conclusion the final chapter brings the story to a stunning and strong finish.


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