Wednesday, 20 April 2016

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 'The Team' Review


This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the episode to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.


'I thought I could resurrect a god, but instead I freed the devil.'

Things take an interesting turn this week as the Secret Warriors come together for the first time to rescue their friends from the clutches of Hive and his Hydra forces.

With Coulson and the rest of the team trapped aboard the Zephyr inside the secret Hydra base that Malick has been working out of all season, Daisy and Lincoln make the decision to call in Joey and Elena 'Yo-Yo' to form the Secret Warriors and infiltrate the base.

I was expecting the assault on the Hydra base to be the main focus of the episode, and that it would take up a big portion of the run time, so I was fairly surprised just how quickly the Secret Warriors managed to not only rescue their team, but capture Malick too.  As we find out when the team return to their base, though, the story is far from over as we discover that one of the Secret Warriors has fallen under the influence of Hive.

The attack on the facility is done well, with each member of the team getting to show off their Inhuman powers in cool ways.  The team up between Joey and Yo-Yo was particularly enjoyable to watch as the two of them have great chemistry after such a short time together.  The standout for the assault has to be Lincoln using his electricity based powers in some new and innovative ways.  Rather than just zapping everyone is sight with lightning blasts he used his electricity to form whips and lassos to toss Hydra agents across hallways.  Something that could have been quite dull to watch was given a flair that a lot of shows wouldn't have bothered to do.

As the team manage to escape on the Zephyr Hive tells Giyera that he has someone on the inside.  He doesn't say who, and we don't get to see who Hive has apparently recruited to his side, as a result this helps to up the stakes as the audience are put into the same situation as the characters of having to try to figure out which member of the Secret Warriors is under Hive's influence.


When everyone gets back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base we actually get some really good character moments to accompany the action we've already been given.  The scenes between Mack and Yo-Yo are very sweet, with the two of them building on the brief connection they made in 'Bouncing Back' and even suggested the possibility of a further relationship between the two of them.  Though that may have changed by the end of the episode.

Shippers will be pleased with Fitz and Simmons finally putting all of their baggage aside and appearing to become a couple in a moment that has been a very, very long time coming.  Whilst I don't watch the show for the romance plots, and the Daisy/Lincoln romance has been particularly dull for me, Fitz and Simmons are such sweet and likable characters that it's hard to not feel happy for them in these moments.

Some of the best scenes of the episode have got to be the interrogation between Coulson and Malick.  Whilst just a few episodes ago these scenes would have played out as very antagonistic, with each party at odds with the other, the events of 'Paradise Lost' have fundamentally changed Malick, to the point where he's willing to work with S.H.I.E.L.D. against Hive.

The emotion that Malick showed when talking about his daughter brought more depth to a character that could have been a very one dimensional villain, but here you can't help but feel a little bit of sympathy for him.  He's a man who dedicated his life to a set of beliefs and has gone on to lose not only his faith but the only person he cared about in the whole world.


The moment when Malick tells Coulson 'I thought I could resurrect a god, but instead I freed the devil' show just how broken he has become.  It's a stark contrast to the man we met at the beginning of the season, the powerful head of Hydra.  Malicks journey sadly comes to a close in this episode, and whilst it might make sense from a story point I would have enjoyed watching him work alongside the people he was once fighting against to get revenge on Hive.

The mystery over which member of the Secret Warriors has come under Hive's control is played out pretty quickly, and other than people arguing a lot there's not much that actually happens in these moments that add anything to the characters.  It's fairly standard paranoia plot TV.

Where the mystery does work well though is at the end when we discover that it is not Lincoln who is the double agent, but Daisy.  I have to be honest, and this might be because I don't think Lincoln is a very interesting character, but I was totally convinced that it was him, so I was completely surprised by the sudden reveal that it's Daisy instead.

The episode ends with Daisy stealing the Kree orb that she and Lincoln got hold of last week and leaving the base whilst using her powers to collapse the structure.  It's not clear who is injured, or if anyone may have been killed, but the mere fact that Daisy is now working for Hive puts the entire team in a terrible situation going forwards into the last episodes of the season.


Amy.
xx
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Black Hole Cinema Podcast Guest Appearance


I'm pleased to be able to tell you all that I've just appeared on an episode of Black Hole Cinema, an amazing podcast, and part of the Black Hole Media Network, that takes a look at film and cinema releases.

In the build up to the release of Captain America: Civil War and the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's phase three I take part in a special episode that takes a look back at the phase two films; Iron-Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man.

So, if you like the Marvel movies and don't mind hearing me ramble on about them, head over to Acast of the Black Hole Cinema website to check out the episode!





Amy.
xx
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Tuesday, 19 April 2016

Transgender Woman Keyonna Blakeney Murdered


On Saturday 16th April 22 year old Keyonna Blakeney was found dead in her room at the Red Roof Inn in Rockville Washington, DC.

Police are treating her death as a murder, stating that she suffered trauma to her upper body.  'Detectives have been working around the clock on this case,' Captain Paul Starks reported.  'We need anyone with information regarding the murder of Keyonna to contact us.'

Her death was reported on Facebook by her friend Foxx Jazell, who said; 'We have lost another trans sister after being brutally murdered in DC at a Red Roof Inn.  The word on the street is that she was the victim of 'pussy stuntin'.  I just saw her post a few days ago that she was celebrating her birthday.  This is becoming routine.  Girls please be careful out there because the same trade that will have you will the same trade that will murk you.'

It is not clear yet if Keyonna was at the Red Roof Inn to engage in sex work, but police are entertaining that possibility.

In a sad addition to her murder media outlets have been misgendering Keyonna in their reports, and some of the comments on Foxx Jazell's post have been blaming Keyonna's decision to engage in sex work as being to blame for her death.

It is important to remember that Keyonna was the victim in this horrible crime, her identity should be respected, her death should not be blamed on her.  Her decision to engage in sex work is not the reason that she is dead, it is down to the person who took her life.  Please remember that when talking about Keyonna.


Amy.
xx
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Monday, 18 April 2016

Legends of Tomorrow 'The Magnificent Eight' Review


This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the episode to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.


'The Magnificent Eight' is a prime example of Legends of Tomorrow working at it's absolute best, the episode forgets its bigger mission to stop Vandal Savage for a moment to allow its cast to have a fun adventure in an interesting location and with a great DC character cameo.  In an episode that acts as a good companion piece to 'Star City 2046' here we travel back to the old west as the team joins forces with Jonah Hex to save a frontier town from a gang of roving bandits.

Whilst there is nothing wrong with the episodes that adds to the overall mythology of the series and addresses the mission to take down Vandal Savage sometimes a show can be at it's best when it gives its cast the room to breath and take some time out.  That's what happens here, as both the characters and the actors are given the chance to have a little fun with time travel.

When the team discover that they are in the old west they immediately want to head out and experience one of the most iconic era's in American history, and despite being against the idea Rip knows he can't stop them, so allows them to head into town for a drink.  I like the idea that at this point Rip knows that even if he tells them not to or tries to make it so that they can't leave the team will just go anyway, and the way he agrees to letting them off the ship like a tired and defeated adult amongst children is a nice moment.

The team heads into town and hit the saloon, which gives us some fun character moments.  Sarah and Mick have a little drinking match and a small heart to heart, a moment that reminded me of the first episode when they and Snart went to a bar in the 70's.  These three characters more than any of the others have great chemistry, and I think it's being used to great effect here as the team is reintroducing Mick as a member after his time as Chronos.  Mick even goes as far as to opening up slightly to Sarah about his experiences as Chronos and we begin to get an idea of the sheer amount of time that has passed for him since he was last a part of the team.

We also get to see a bit more of a fun side to Stein, something which we don't get much of, as he and Snart play poker with some of the locals.  Surprised that Stein is so good at poker Snart learns that its because his father was something of a crook and a card cheat, and that Stein was frequently taken along by his father.  I thought that this was an interesting little piece of information, as whilst nothing really came from it here, it does help towards Snart becoming a hero as it shows him that other people have come from families with less desirable backgrounds and have grown into noble people.


As with any good western the fun times in the saloon soon reaches the point where a confrontation breaks out as Stein gets into an argument with one of the locals over the way he's treating one of the waitresses.  Luckily for him Snart is close at hand and manages to gun down the other man a split second before he shoots Stein, but the whole event sets of a bar brawl, complete with jaunty music.

The bar fight is quick, and none of the team uses their powers or gadgets, but it's incredibly enjoyable to watch these characters engage in such an iconic style of movie/television fight scenes.  The fight comes to an end with the introduction of the legendary gunslinger Jonah Hex, who actually gets a decent live action adaptation for the very first time (what with the Josh Brolin film being absolutely terrible).

The reveal that Jonah knows that the team are time travellers and is aware of time travel is a surprise turn, but one that leads to some very interesting developments that ties the character into the greater universe continuity, something that the comics have been doing much more of since the launch of the New 52.

It turns out that Jonah is friends with Rip Hunter, and that at one point Rip spent a great deal of time in the old west, to the point that he suffered with the same compulsion to stay in that time that Ray and Sarah went through in the 1950's.  We also learn that this is where Rip's love of duster coats and revolvers comes from, and probably most surprisingly, that his son was named after Jonah Hex.

Not only do these ideas means that Jonah can instantly join up with the legends and get involved in their adventure without having to go through the trouble of explaining time travel, but it also gives us a greater look at Rip too, and gives his character a lot more depth and emotion than we've seen in a long while.  I'm also hoping that this will mean that Jonah will return in the future, either with flashbacks to Rips time living with him in the past, or preferably as a member of the team in season two.

Ray gets to live out part of his childhood fantasies this week too as he winds up getting himself made sheriff and has to deal with a gang of bandits that the team accidentally started a fight with in the bar.  The pure joy on Rays face and some of the cheesy lines he comes out with completely sell the idea of this being something that he's dreamt of since he was a little boy, and even gives him a moment of great heroics as he talks the bandits down and gets them to leave town.

Elsewhere, we also get some developments with Kendra, as she meets herself from one of her past lives.  The idea is one that I kind of suspected would happen at some point, it's one of the beauties of having a character that keeps getting reincarnated, though I did expect her to run into another version of Carter over herself.


The meeting of the two is used to add jeopardy into the Ray and Kendra romance, as the past version of her tells her that she's tried to love men other than Carter time and time again in her different lives, but none of them work out.  This adds onto the conversation that Ray and Kendra has in the last episode, where Kendra equated the two of them being together as feeling like she is cheating on Carter.  At this point I'm so disinterested in the romance story that this 'revelation' didn't really matter to me.  I think that Legends of Tomorrow is a show that has the ability to stand up on it's own as a great show without the need for a romance plot, which means that the one we have feels very unnatural and forced to me.

Despite focusing more on the Ray and Kendra relationship, meeting her past self also hinted at something that will probably come into play when the team finally goes up against Vandal Savage, another artifact from Kendra's first life.  We know that objects that were present the first time Kendra and Carter died can kill Savage, and the introduction of this lost bracelet will surely be used to help give the team an advantage over him, if they can manage to track it down that is.

The episode ends with a final fight as the team and Jonah come up against the Hunters, the trio of time travelling bounty hunters that were sent after the team in the last episode.  Despite supposedly being even better than Chronos the three of them looked like people on a paintball weekend, and were dispatched about as quickly too.

There didn't feel like there was any threat from these guys, and other than giving the team an excuse to use their powers and give the episode some flashy visual effects their presence felt weak and wasted.  As one of the Hunters died, though, he did give the team a warning that the Pilgrim had been sent after them.  Mick and Rip tell the team that the Pilgrim is one of the best killers that the Time Masters have, and that she will travel to points in the teams past and kill their younger selves to erase their future counterparts.

Now this is the kind of villain a time travel show needs, and the shot of her coming up behind a young Mick and putting a gun to his head definitely sets the scene for what might be one of the more creative and tense episodes the season has in next weeks adventure.

All in all 'The Magnificent Eight' was a great adventure of the week story that lets the team have a little fun with the notion of time travel, gave us some good character development and managed to introduce a great new character in the form of Jonah Hex.  Definitely one of the highlights of the season.


Amy.
xx
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Friday, 15 April 2016

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 'Paradise Lost' Review


This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the episode to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.


'Paradise Lost' spends some time taking a look at the villains of the series and delivers some exciting and unexpected new developments as the Inhumans take centre stage.

When Gideon Malick returns to his home following the events of the last episode he discovers that Hive is already there and waiting for him, having summoned the council of Hydra heads to meet with him.  From this first moment the episode begins to build up the idea that this would be Malicks last episode, especially as his daughter Stephanie describes Hive as being 'handsome'.

This theme continued throughout the episode, where all of the scenes involving Malick suggesting that Hive would kill him by the end.  We even get flashbacks to Malick as a young man, where we discover that he had a brother who was sent through the obelisk to the planet where Hive was trapped after Malick betrayed his trust.

As we learn that Hive retains the memories of those he has possessed in the past Malicks paranoia that Hive wants to kill him begins to grow, so by the time the two of them have their dramatic confrontation the scene is tense and full of menage.

I have to admit, at one moment I found myself expecting Hive to kill Malick and that Stephanie would step up to become his partner.  So when Hive kills Stephanie I was genuinely shocked.  Everything about this episode was built the way most shows would go when killing off a character, giving them more screen time, giving them flashbacks, it was all textbook for Malicks death.  The fact that the writers chose to subvert this expectation is a pleasant surprise.


Whilst Malick was dealing with Hive, Coulson, May, Fitz and Simmons track down Giyera and try to take him captive.  Knowing that he can use his telekinesis to move no organic material the team devise a trap that will lock him in an empty room with their secret weapon, Melinda May.

The fight between May and Giyera, or if you're an older geek Chun-Li and Kung Lao, is really, really good, as the fight doesn't rely on anything but else but the combatants to make it engaging.  With no weapons, props or scenery to add to the fight the choreography had to be top notch here, and they succeeded in spades.  I'm not sure if Ming Na performs her own stunts and fights, and it's hard to tell if it's her the whole time here, but MarK Dacascos is definitely doing his own work and he's still as good as ever.  To be honest, I've been waiting to see Giyera actually get his hands dirty since seeing Dacascos in the role, and his first foray into physical action has been worth the wait.

Unfortunately for the team Giyera escapes from captivity aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. jet and takes over the vehicle, incapacitating everyone on board as he does so.

During all of this Daisy and Lincoln have been tracking down a member of Afterlife, a potential Inhuman who never went through terrigenesis, who Lincoln believes may have information on Hive.  Despite some initial unwillingness to cooperate the two of them manage to find out that Hive was actually the first Inhuman created by the Kree thousands of years ago, and that he led the Inhuman uprising against them that drove them from Earth.


The two of them also manage to get their hands on a piece of Kree technology, a metal orb that Hive once had in his possession centuries before.  It's still not clear what's inside the orb, though it does bear a resemblance to the orb featured in Guardians of the Galaxy that contained an Infinity Stone.  Does this orb have an Infinity Stone inside it?  Probably not.  

Revealing another of the Infinity Stones on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would definitely be a big moment for the series, and would help to make the show feel a little more important in the Marvel cinematic universe and could encourage more people to watch, but I doubt that they would leave something as important to the overall plan to the series.

The episode ends with Daisy and Lincoln finding out that Giyera has the rest of the team captured and the decision to bring together the Secret Warriors to mount a rescue mission.

'Paradise Lost' brings a lot of answers and background to the series and fleshes out more of the backgrounds and overall mythology of the MCU in an entertaining and engaging way.


Amy.
xx
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Shrek Musical Changed After Using Transphobic Slur



A Canadian production of the Shrek musical has chosen to change its script following a complaint over the repeated use of the word 'tranny'.

A transgender man, Ky Greyson, told news sources that he walked out of a showing of the production when the character of the Big Bad Wolf called out the word after he puts on a dress, to the laughter of the audience.  The play continued to use the word several more times.

'It was a really good production, but I remember hearing the word used and the entire crowd burst out laughing and my heart just dropped,' Greyson said, speaking about his experience with CBC News.  'There were very dehumanising jokes with regards to not conforming to gender roles and being a masculine person femininely.'

'If we're teaching kids in the audience that if this is okay to be mocked, this is to be ridiculed, we're perpetuating self-hate in people who may be trans women or trans feminine people at a young age and also continuing the myth and misunderstanding of what trans people are.'

Gay Star News claims to have contacted the PR team for the UK tour of Shrek The Musical and were told that the production has never received a complaint regarding the use of the word tranny.  They also said that there were 'no major script changes in the adaptation from the original Broadway production'.

Neptune Theatre, where the production in question was showing, have expressed their apologies for using the word and have released the following statement.

'We were upset to learn that one of our productions created feelings of distress amongst members of the LGBTQ community in Halifax and changes were made immediately to remove content once we became aware of the situation.  Neptune has spoken and met with those members of the LGBTQ community to express our apologies and to learn from this experience.'


Amy.
xx
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'Rites of Spring' Review


This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the film to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.


'Rites of Spring' is a slasher monster movie that tries to mix horror and crime drama with little actual success.  

As the film starts we learn that each spring women in this part of rural America go missing and have never been found, and we get to watch as two young women, Rachel and Alyssa, being attacked and kidnapped by an old farmer.  When the two women wake up hanging from the ceiling in a rundown old barn they discover that their captor intends to offer them as a sacrifice to some kind of creature.

In the midst of all of this we are given a second story, of a group of criminals who kidnap the young daughter of a local businessman, and intend to hold her for ransom.  As the story progresses the criminals begin to double cross each other and their plan unravels at the same time that Rachel is able to escape from the barn and is chased by Wormface, the rag covered monster that Alyssa is sacrificed to.

The two stories intersect as Rachel stumbles across the criminals hideout when trying to get away from the monstrous killer, and the criminals now find themselves being hunted down as well.


'Rites of Spring' tries to mix two completely different and separate stories together, but fails to do so in any meaningful way.  The horror story and the crime story as both very generic and use so many cliches and tropes that it becomes laughably predictable as to what will happen.

We have a criminal double cross, there's mistrust in the gang, the 'good guy' who's turn to crime because he's desperate, the brother he wants to protect but gets involved in a kidnapping scheme.  The characters have no depth or characterisation, they're stock characters that have nothing to offer.  Horror films aren't best known for giving great characterisation or back story, but most will at least attempt to build something for you to be able to identify with, otherwise you don't care when people start dying.

Here we have a group of people who have no real clear motivations, no one stands out in any particular way and you can't even remember any names whilst the film is going on.  There are never any moments of tension or fear for the characters when Wormface begins to kill them because you're never given a moment to actually care about them.  If more time was given over to the characters then perhaps the film would have had a little more depth to it, and some of its other flaws could be easier to forgive.

Whilst films that mix genre's like this can be quite effective, such as 'From Dusk Till Dawn', one of the problems with this one is that there's never a moment when it goes from a crime film into a horror.  From the very start the two stories are intermixed, cutting from the scenes of the two women tied up in the barn to the kidnappers.  If the film had simply been following the kidnappers, and used the extra time to develop their characters, and Rachel suddenly comes running into their hideout covered in blood and being chased by a maniac with a weapon it would have backed a shocking punch.

It's like the first time you watch 'Predator' or 'From Dusk Till Dawn' not knowing what they're about, one shifts from a generic action movie set up to suddenly include an alien, and in the other George Clooney is drinking in a bar when vampires begin killing everyone.  These moments throw you because they're the last thing you expect.  This film could have done that, it could have had a slasher movie crash into their crime thriller and made the project stand out.  


Unfortunately, because you are aware of both stories from the outset there's no moment of surprise, if anything you're left waiting for the two stories to meet up and actually connect, and that takes out a lot of the fun from the experience.

Wormface is a strange monster too, as we're left to figure out what he is through watching events, rather than actually being told.  The man who takes Rachel and Alyssa clearly believes that some kind of bizarre ceremony has to be performed on the first day of spring in order to keep Wormface happy, and so it's kind of implied that he might be some kind of deity or nature monster.

However, Wormface himself doesn't appear to be anything other than a man covered in rags.  Yes, his face is messed up, but he's not monstrous in the traditional sense.  He moves like a human, he doesn't appear to have any supernatural abilities or powers, and uses a weapon to kill.  So reaches a point where you have to ask exactly what he is.  Is he some kind of supernatural being, or is he just a man?

'Rites of Spring' doesn't give us any answers to this, it leaves it down to the person watching it to make up their own mind about what they've just seen and to reach their own decision.  That I actually like.  I like that face that to some Wormface will be some kind of monster that needs to receive sacrifices, but to others he's some horrible human who just enjoys killing people.  It's a kind of decision that most films wouldn't take, most films would try to give you a definitive answer one way or the other.

Despite having some new ideas of it's own 'Rites of Spring' fails to impress thanks to a cliched and poorly written script, bad pacing, lifeless characters and shoddy monster design.  It might be worth the watch for hardcore horror fans who want to see as many films as they can, but don't expect anything of real note here.


Amy.
xx
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Thursday, 14 April 2016

100,000 Visitors!



Wow!  100,000 visitors!  Today is a big day!  In the last hour the site has exceeded 100,000 hits and I wanted to take the opportunity to thank each and every person who has taken the time to visit the site and continues to come back time after time.

None of this would be possible without your continued support and your positive feedback.

I'm hoping to be able to continue to provide you all with more great content going forward and hope to be able to bring new and exciting announcements to celebrate this milestone very soon.

Thank you one and all for everything that you have done for me and this site.


Amy.
xx
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'The Thaw' Review


This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the film to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.


'The Thaw' has a look and a feel that's very reminiscent of a classic X-Files episode, and tells a story that would have very much felt at home in the show, albeit with much more gore and brutality than would have been allowed.

'The Thaw' tells the story of a group of researchers in the Arctic, who are studying the effects of global warming on the surrounding countryside and ecosystem.  When the group tranquilise a polar bear they discover that the animal had unearthed part of a frozen woolly mammoth thanks to the receding ice levels and had been eating the ancient remains.  The team transport the polar bear to their facility for further study.

When a group of students and the lead scientist's daughter arrive at the facility a few days later they discover that the polar bear, along with some members of the research team, have become infected with an ancient parasite from inside the remains of the mammoth.

What follows next is a series of events as some members of the group try desperately to return to civilisation before they become infected, whilst other members of the party sabotage their escape to prevent the parasites from spreading.

With several members of the group infected with the creatures that are eating them from the inside out, they discover that the lead scientist has a plot to return to civilisation with the parasites and allow them to spread in an attempt to lower the human population in order to reduce the global warming that is destroying the planet.


'The Thaw' is a fairly competent body horror film, one that easily plays on the fears of infection and parasites and the notion of insects growing inside the human body.  We've all heard stories about bot fly larvae being found inside of people, or stories of fish that swim inside bodies through the urethra, and I doubt that there's a person who isn't at least a little disturbed by the thought of such an invasion.  This film thrives on that disgust and fear, and uses it to good effect.

The isolation of the surroundings adds to the fear of infection, with nowhere to go the people are stuck with those who are or may be infected.  Thankfully the locations have a look that is completely different to that of The Thing, which follows a similar theme.  Instead of being surrounded by the snow and ice there is a lot of vast greenery and wilderness, that gives the film a very different feel.

The film is shot well enough, with a nice clean look to it that can at times make the scenes feel fairly cold and clinical, but I think this adds to the general aesthetic of the piece, especially when inside the research station itself.

Val Kilmer headlines the cast, though only has limited scenes in the film, though with it being Val Kilmer that might not be such a bad thing.  The most notable cast member beside Kilmer is Aaron Ashmore, who's instantly recognisable, though I'm sure some of that will come from people mistaking him for his brother.  

The rest of the cast being relative unknowns actually works to the films benefit, as you don't expect certain people to survive simply because they're more well known than others, which in turn adds to the question of who is or isn't infected.


The films monsters, which never get given a name, are well executed and never too over the top.  Where some films would opt for larger and more visually creative creatures 'The Thaw' keeps things simple, and fairly realistic.  The parasites are more like Silverfish in their execution, and this closeness to something that many of us will be familiar with makes the parasites more frightening and believable.

The effects are well made and the visuals are gory and gross enough to convey the horror of creatures inside your own body without going too far into being a splatter fest.  The scenes where you can see the parasites crawling inside people's wounds before burrowing deeper inside the body are particularly unsettling and probably some of the more memorable moments.

The plot line of Val Kilmer's Dr. Kruipen wanting to infect the whole world in order to combat global warming is fairly ridiculous, and it's a huge jump to believe that a man of that kind of intellect would resort to genocide just in order to try and stop damage to the environment.

The idea of global warming leading to the discovery of ancient parasites is one that actually exists within the modern scientific community, especially with numerous ancient super vira having already been unearthed by scientists in the Siberian permafrost.  Whilst it's hard to believe that parasites such as the ones in the film could actually exist, the fact that it is in some way grounded in actual scientific reality does make the film slightly more disturbing.

'The Thaw' is not an amazing piece of cinema, it will never be remembered as an all time great and it probably won't stick around in people's memories for long after watching it, but it manages to stay entertaining and engaging enough through the run time to not overstay it's welcome.  It might not be the most original story in the world, but it's pulled off with competency and style.


Amy.
xx
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Wednesday, 13 April 2016

Retro Review: Doctor Who 'Inferno'



Plot Summary:  Still stranded on Earth by the Time Lords, the Doctor is working with U.N.I.T. at a project nicknamed 'Inferno', where a group of scientists are working towards penetrating the Earth's crust in order to tap into pockets of Stahlman's Gas, which they believe can provide boundless cheap energy,

Whilst the Doctor is not an active participant on the project, partly due to his confrontational interactions with Professor Stahlman the project director, he is using the surplus power from the project's nuclear reactor to work on the Tardis console, trying to repair it and allow himself to travel through space and time once again.

Whilst repairing a part of the drilling equipment one of the workers comes into contact with a strange green ooze that goes on to mutate him into a subhuman primordial creature who attacks several other members of the project.  Unbeknownst to anyone else, Professor Stahlman is also infected.

Soon after they subdue the mutated workman the Doctor is working on the Tardis when a power surge activates the console and he vanishes in front of Liz and the Brigadier.  Instead of travelling through time or space the Doctor finds himself transported to a parallel universe.

The Doctor discovers that this new Earth is a much darker counterpart of the one he knows, where Great Britain is a Republic fascist regime, the Royal Family having been executed years before.  On this new Earth the Inferno project is still ongoing, though is much further along than the one on his Earth.

When he is captured by this universe's version of U.N.I.T., the British Republican Security Forces, he discovers the alternate versions of his friends.  In this universe the Brigadier is the vicious one eyed 'Brigade Leader', Liz Shaw is a member of the military and is a 'Section Leader' along with 'Platoon Under Leader' Benton.

The Doctor finds out that this universe, whilst very different from his own, has had several of the same events happen, including the mutated worker.  In this universe Professor Stahlman has also been infected and is beginning to act bizarrely as the effects begin to take hold.  Convinced that something bad will happen he breaks out of his cell and attempts to sabotage the drilling.  Unfortunately he is too late and the drill breaches the Earth's crust.

The whole facility is rocked by massive tremors and many of the scientists and staff flee.  Stahlman locks himself and several scientists in the drilling room and begins to expose them to the green slime.  Because of the intense heat he and all of the others mutate into Primords, bestial creatures that are more monster than man.

Discovering that the tremors are not just isolated to the facility, but are tearing the whole planet apart, the Doctor manages to convince the others to help him return to his world in order to prevent the same thing from happening there, promising to take them all with him.  The group fight their way across the facility to where the Tardis is located, keeping the Primords at bay with fire extinguishers, having discovered that the cold CO2 inside them makes the creatures vulnerable.


Massive explosions hit the facility as the Doctor is readying the Tardis to travel back to his own world and the Brigade Leader pulls a gun on the Doctor, demanding that he save them all.  The Doctor tries to tell him that despite his earlier promise he can't bring any of them to his dimension.  The Brigade Leader goes to shoot the Doctor, but is killed by Section Leader Shaw.  The Doctor activates the Tardis and disappears as a wall of lava envelops the building and the others.

Arriving back in his own dimension the Doctor falls into a coma.  Awakening hours later the Doctor rushes to the drill and begins to destroy equipment in an attempt to stop them from breaching the Earth's crust.  The Doctor is detained by U.N.I.T. soldier, who believe he has lost his mind.

Inside the drill Stahlman exposes himself to the green ooze and mutates fully into a Primord.  The Doctor manages to kill the Primord Stahlman with a fire extinguisher and shuts down the drill before they breach the Earth's crust and cause complete global destruction.


Analysis:  'Inferno' is the final episode of Jon Pertwee's first season as the Doctor, and the first year where the show was located purely on Earth.  Being limited to only telling stories in one place and time meant that the writers had to get increasingly creative when it came to coming up with new scenarios to put the Doctor in.  'Inferno' marks possibly the best attempt at this in one of the best episodes of the Classic Doctor Who era.

At the time 'Inferno' was one of the darkest episodes the series had produced, featuring a bleak story that allowed them to kill several of their main characters, albeit in the form of their parallel world counterparts.

The idea to create a story around a parallel Earth came from the series having ran out of budget at the latter half of the season, and as such the writers came up with the idea so that they could use the same sets and characters in more than one way.  It might have been a decision based purely on a production and cost level, but the writers managed to craft a story that worked incredibly well, and one that never felt cheap or easy.

Subtle differences to the second Earth, such as a slight difference in fashion and the Republic propaganda posters meant that very little effort was needed to create the new Earth, yet kept the two distinct and different enough in their looks that you're never confused as to which Earth we are watching.

One of the best things about the story, though, is getting to see some of our familiar and beloved characters playing 'evil' versions of themselves.  Despite being a military woman Liz is not too far removed from her other Earth self, and even saves the Doctor at the end knowing that she had no hope of living herself.  The Brigadier and Benton are a completely different matter though, as the two of them are just thoroughly nasty pieces of work.

Benton becomes a Primord, so we never get a chance to see how this version of his character would play out in the final scenario, but much like the Brigade Leader he seems completely set in his devotion to the Republic and even enjoys his role.


The evil counterpart to the Brigadier is by far the best of the three of them though, with the Doctor's best friend transformed into a fascist military leader who gives orders to murder people without a second thought a stark contrast to one of the series' most beloved characters.  He's visually stunning too, with the massive facial scar and eye patch means that he will certainly stick in the mind long after the episode has finished.  It's a shame that he didn't somehow manage to come across to the main universe as it would have been great to have him in more than one story.

Despite a heavy presence in the story the Primords are not really the main villains or even the biggest threat, but more of an obstacle for the characters to deal with.  Instead it's time that proves to be the biggest enemy here, with the countdown to the destruction of both Earths being the biggest threat.  This is another factor that gives the story a unique feel, as the big monster is reduced to a minor part of the story rather than being the main focus.

The only downside of the story is that it marked the final appearance of Caroline John as Liz Shaw, who left the show before it returned for season 8 to have her child.  As it is Liz never gets a goodbye scene with the Doctor, and despite only being in the show for one season she deserved more than that.  As someone who is closer to be an equal to the Doctor than many of his other companions over the years her departure is definitely something that should have been given some thought and screen time.

'Inferno' has a look and a feel totally unique to itself that makes it one of the more entertaining, effective and engaging stories in the classic era of Doctor Who and a story that is still fresh and enjoyable to watch 46 years later.


Amy.
xx
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