The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker – Throwback 20

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The Legend of Zelda is a series that has gone through some changes over the years, yet manages to stay pretty true to the feel that made the series beloved. Thanks to the cyclical nature of the series, and how most of the games put us into new incarnations of these characters and their world across their timelines (the timeline map for this series can get very complex) each game gives you a new experience, yet one that’s largely the same. You’ll play as Link, you go on a quest, you encounter Zelda, and you fight Ganondorf. Yes, there are some that don’t do this, but for the main games that’s pretty much what you get every time round.

Taking the same basic structure and overlaying it into new environments has done the series well, and it means that the creators don’t have to come up with new themes every time, and can instead focus on the world, giving players new environments and game play features in order to keep things new and interesting. After the massive success of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (largely considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time) there was a lot of pressure on Nintendo to deliver more. As such, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask was quickly produced using many of the same assets as the previous game and acted as a direct sequel in the same kind of style. A few handheld released were made after this, but fans were still eagerly awaiting a home console game.

In 2000, at the Space World exposition, Nintendo released a short video showcasing the abilities of the upcoming Nintendo Gamecube. This video featured clips of Pokemon, Metroid, and Luigi’s Mansion, but also Link fighting Ganondorf. This clip was similar in tone and style to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, though using much higher quality graphics. This demonstration led fans to believe that this would be the style of game the latest entry in the series would use. However, according to interviews made later on, the creative team felt like it had exhausted this idea, and needed something new to get excited over rather than becoming derivative. One of the designers on the team drew a picture of Link looking very cartoonish, and it quickly grabbed their attention.

The decision was made to create the next game in the series, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker in a 3D cel shaded style, giving the game the look of a playable cartoon. Some of the producers on the game were unsure about this approach, but the excitement of the creative team eventually won them over and allowed them to create the game they wanted.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is set after the events of Ocarina of Time following one of the three timelines that split off from the events of that game (complex stuff, we know). The game puts you in the role of Link once again, a young boy who has grown up on a small island where the boys of their village wear the same kind of clothing as the hero of legend. This is one of many islands that exist in a vast ocean, where ships are needed to traverse the environment. When Link’s sister is kidnapped by a giant bird, he ends up going on an adventure to get her back, an adventure that leads him to meet the pirate captain Tetra (a disguised Zelda), and eventually puts him on a path to fight against the evil Ganon.

Whilst much of the game play for The Wind Waker follows a similar system to previous entries, with Link exploring environments, delving into dungeons, collecting rupees, and fighting enemies with a sword and shield, the setting takes a huge departure from what fans knew, and introduced some new game play features. Instead of a kingdom, the game is set in a large ocean filled with islands. In order to fully explore and gather items Link needs to travel from island to island using his boat, the King of Red Lions. The boat needs wind in order to travel, and via the use of a magical item, Link is able to direct the flow of wind to travel wherever he wants. Players are also able to use the boat to search for sunken treasure, using Link’s grappling hook to pull things up from the deep.

When the first look at the game was released, just a year after the previous tech demo, fans weren’t sure what to make of things, having been expecting a game in the other style. The response to the design was pretty divided, with some enjoying the departure from what had come before; but others were left feeling somewhat cheated. Whilst excitement for the game would continue to build towards release, some animosity towards the game continued.

Upon release the game received almost universal critical acclaim from media outlets and reviewers. It was the fourth game to receive a perfect score from Japanese magazine Famitsu, and would go on to receive more perfect scores from outlets such as Planet GameCube, Nintendo Power, and Game Informer. The new visual style was praised by reviewers, who likened it to being able to play a cartoon, and said that it made the game feel unique amongst other Zelda games.

Unfortunately, general audiences were still somewhat divided. The game failed to sell to expectations, especially outside of Japan. The game did well in Japan, where animation inspired games were frequently produced, but seemed to struggle in America and Europe. Some would complain that the game looked too childish, and it further added to the narrative that Nintendo was ‘producing games for children’.

However, over the years, initial criticisms of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker would begin to be retracted. With subsequent games taking on a more realistic style, especially The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess which was almost the polar opposite of The Wind Waker, fans would begin to praise The Wind Waker for sticking out. Those that didn’t like it as much to begin with would start to thaw towards the game, and began to praise it once they gave it more of a chance. The Wind Waker has now gone on to appear on a number of top games lists, as well as regularly appearing in top ten lists for best GameCube games. The increase in popularity resulted in an HD remaster being released for the Nintendo Wii ten years later.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker remains a stand out entry in the series even to this day. Thanks to both the visually distinct style, and the unique features provided by the setting, the game has continued to stick out in people’s minds and has gathered interest. Copies of the original game regularly sell for more now than they did upon their first release, and the HD version also remains sought after. With how popular the game is, it’s a genuine surprise that a digital version hasn’t been released on the Nintendo Switch, where it would be sure to make a killing. So, if you’ve got an old copy somewhere in your home gathering dust, why not fire up that old GameCube, and give this now beloved classic another try?

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5-25-77 – Film Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Cinema: a medium that helps to bring people together with their shared love of stories. And whilst opinions on film can often divide, with personal taste often treated like objective fact, and arguments on canon or rules leading to fights, this is just because this is a medium that people care passionately about. People fall in love with films; they watch their favourites over and over again until they can recite them word for word; they’ll try to share them with the people that they care about, and they can even become inspired by film. I think most people have that one movie that they can trace this love back to, a single film that they can say ‘yes, that’s where it all began’, and that’s what 5-25-77 is all about.

There are probably some reading this who’ve already recognised that date, who are able to track their love of film back to the movie that was released on that particular date. But this story isn’t about that film: at least not entirely. 5-27-77 tells the story of Patrick Read Johnson, a kid who goes to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey when he’s eight years old, and who comes away knowing that he needs to make movies. It creates a passion in him that would go on to eventually spawn a career in Hollywood that would lead Johnson to work on films such as Baby’s Day Out, Dennis the Menace, and to eventually create Dragonheart.

In the film, we open with the young Johnson and his family and the years they spend with him as he takes things from around the house to make his special effects movies. He steals his sister’s bike to turn the wheels into a space station, grabs the barbecue from his dad, makes masks in the kitchen oven, and even paints the horse to look like a zebra. He does all of this, in part, to deal with the mounting tension between his parents, and to deal with their divorce. Once through the opening segment we join up with a teenage Patrick, now played by John Francis Daley (the bulk of the movie having been shot between 2004 and 2006, so Daley looking young enough) as he continues with his movie making obsession.

His family have become used to his hobby, they don’t really care that the house is filled with half-created props, that the pool is filled with fake blood and a rubber shark, or that he’s spending every penny on film. His family either put up with his obsession, knowing that speaking out won’t change him, or support him in his passions. Despite working on his films, with the help of his best friend Bill (Steve Coulter), Patrick never finishes a project, with his sequel to Planet of the Apes still being worked on several years after starting. He has the passion, but no real goal in mind other than wanting to make films.

When he meets Linda (Emmi Chen) Patrick begins to find love, but not even romance can compete with his true love. Travelling up to LA to meet some special effects masters, Patrick finds himself on the set of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, where he gets to meet Spielberg, and see how the film’s effects are made. But it’s one film he visits that really sets a fire under him, one movie that he gets to see an early cut of that cements his love of movie making: Star Wars.

5-25-77 is, much like the films that Patrick Read Johnson made in his youth, a passion project. It just happens to be a passion project about passion projects. Started almost twenty years ago, 5-25-77 was filmed long enough ago that it’s almost jarring to see some of the actors in the film looking younger here than things that they’ve done in the last few years. Much of the film’s production went to addition shots and the special effects; and the special effects are one of the highlights of the film.

There are moments where old-style film making has been lovingly recreated on screen in ways that just wouldn’t be done outside of a kid in their back yard making their own film. Model shots, forced perspective shots, and props made out of household goods fill the film. But, it’s not just when Patrick is making his movies that we get these moments. There are a number of shots throughout the movie that it takes you a second to realise are models; things like cars driving from one place to another. These are shots that could easily be done normally, but they’re made in this way to give the whole film this almost unreal quality, and to act as a celebration of the art form.

Patrick’s story presented here is an interesting one, and one that feels a bit too weird and embarrassing at times to be too embellished. Patrick screws up, he makes mistakes, and he’s ultimately a very flawed person. The film could have sugar-coated things, it could have made Patrick the young genius held down by the people around him who are unable to see his vision and abilities. But it’s not that. Patrick is a normal guy, a weird guy yeah, but just a guy. This approach is kind of refreshing, especially compared to Spielberg’s own semi-autobiographical film The Fabelmans, which is a bit too polished, romantic, and sanitised to feel really true to reality in the way that 5-25-77 does.

5-25-77 is as much a story about an awkward teen trying to find a place in the world and learning to take the scary steps needed to chase his dreams as much as it is about film making. The two work well together, however, and some of the more interesting moments of the film are the ones where reality and film seem to blend together in fun ways. If you were ever one of those kids (or adults) who looked around the house at the stuff lying around, imagining how you could transform it into something fantastical with some glue, some paint, and a cool idea then 5-25-77 and Patrick’s journey will definitely appeal to you.

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Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon – Throwback 10

 

When is a DLC not a DLC? When it’s its own spin-off game perhaps. In 2012 Ubisoft released Far Cry 3, and received huge amounts of acclaim for the game that reinvigorated the series, and set the path for things to come. Less than a year later a new DLC was released for the game. Rather than adding new story, new locations, or new equipment to the base game, however, this DLC was its own entity entirely, essentially giving those who downloaded it a whole new game to play, built in the same game as Far Cry 3. Thus, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon was born.

Having been inspired to create a DLC that does things a little differently to the main game with the success of the Assassin’s Creed 3 DLC, The Tyranny of King Washington, Ubisoft decided to create something very tonally different from the base game for Blood Dragon. The decision was made to create a game set in a sci-fi future as envisioned in cheesy 80’s action movies; and it used that inspiration heavily throughout.

The game put players in control of the American cybernetic super soldier Rex ‘Power’ Colt (Michael Biehn) in the distant future setting of 2007! Rex, along with his fellow cyborg soldier TT ‘Spider’ Brown (Phil LaMarr) have been sent to a remote island to eliminate Colonel Sloan (Danny Blanco Hall), an elite agent who has gone rogue. Unfortunately, like all good action movies where two agents go in, Sloan kills Spider, and leaves Rex for dead. Trapped on the island, Rex has to slowly work his way through Sloan’s forces, and try to prevent a scheme that will result in the end of the world.

Blood Dragon is built from the ground up to make the player feel like they’re in a badly made, cheap 80s B-Movie, right down to items in the game looking like they were made of of junk found in the props room, cheesy one-liners, and the bad graphics in the cut scenes. From the opening moments of the game, where you’re treated to 16-bit style opening that depicts the end of the world, with an electronic score reminiscent of The Terminator it’s clear that the game is going for a very specific style, and that it’s going to lean into it. Heavily.

Speaking of The Terminator, some may have already spotted a familiar name mentioned already, as the lead character is voiced by 80’s sci-fi action icon Michael Biehn. According some interviews with the creators of the game, early development was considering approaching more recognisable 80’s actors for the role, but ultimately went for Biehn thanks to his involvement in both The Terminator and Aliens, and because he could bring a weary, grizzled style to the character’s voice that fitted more with that they were wanting. Biehn sounds tired for a lot of the game, but not in a way where he’s just doing the bare minimum of voice work to cash a cheque. His character sounds done with the world. He doesn’t want to be on this mission, he’s growing weary of killing, and he absolutely hates that he has to go through the training basics at the start of the game and isn’t afraid to voice that disdain.

Rex’s bad one-liners aren’t the only thing that makes this feel like an old movie though, as the game takes the somewhat realistic violence of Far Cry 3 and throws it out of the window for over the top flair instead. As a cyborg Rex is able to move at super-human speeds, and he wields a variety of weapons that just wouldn’t exist in the real world. Quadruple barrel shotguns that fire flaming bullets, laser machine guns, and a minigun that will make you feel like Blain from Predator are all fun to use to mow down enemies, and cause massive destruction. The most over the top and enjoyable weapon in the game, however, is the Battle Armored Dragon Assault Strike System (the B.A.D.A.S.S.), one of the island’s massive laser shooting dragons that has been turned into a cybernetic, armoured creature of mass destruction.

There are times when things do feel a bit forced, such as the same one-liners or bad jokes being used more than once. which leads to a bit of boredom through repetition; that and the fact that there are times the game is designed to feel intentionally bad. An hour and a half movie in this style doesn’t tend to overstay its welcome, but a multi-hour game might begin to here and there. That being said, it isn’t too long a game, and doesn’t try to pad things out with fetch quests or collectables, and sticks to the basics. A few of the systems from the main game have been removed to make it more streamlined and quicker too, such as a very simple skill tree compared to the more extensive one in the regular game.

Upon release Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon received favourable reviews from a lot of outlets, who praised the game for its new direction, score, and enjoyable sense of weirdness. It was praised for its clever writing, and walking the fine line between enjoyable and cheesy. Ultimately, most reviewers agreed that the game was pretty charming overall, and that it would definitely appeal to those who grew up watching old VHS copies of low budget action flicks. It was reported that the game sold more than 500,000 copies within two months, exceeding initial expectations, and that it would go on to sell over 1 million copies by the end of 2013. As a result, it also boosted the sale of the base game, and raised interest in Far Cry 3.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon almost feels like an experiment, a test to see if a second game can be made out of the assets that have already been created, and released for a lower price to existing fans. Whilst that does seem to be the case, and the DLC did extremely well, the level of success would also lead to this not happening again in the Far Cry franchise. Instead of being released as cheaper, shorter games via DLC, spin-offs such as Far Cry Primal, and Far Cry New Dawn would be treated like main games, and would be sold on disc, at full price.

For what it is, however, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a ridiculous and enjoyable experience. It’s the kind of game that rarely comes along anymore, and is often executed so poorly that it bypasses enjoyable and becomes awful (Duke Nukem Forever and High on Life being prime examples of this). Whilst it might not be for everyone, for those that grew up with over the top action movies, cheesy one liners, and ridiculous sci-fi stories this game will probably be quite enjoyable.

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Straight Expectations by Calum McSwiggan - Blog Tour

 

'Seventeen-year-old Max has always been out, proud and just a little spoiled. Frustrated by the lack of romantic options in his small-town high school, during an argument with his lifelong best friend Dean, Max lashes out and says he wishes he had never been born gay.

'Max gets more than he bargained for when he wakes up to find his wish has come true - not only have his feelings for boys vanished, but so has Dean.

'With his school life turned upside down and his relationship with his family in tatters, Max sets out on a journey of rediscovery to find a way back to the life he took for granted, and the romance he thought he'd never have.'

I think that there will be quite a few queer people who read Straight Expectations who've had a similar thought to the book's lead character, that they wish they could lead an easy, regular, heterosexual life. I think that having that thought is fairly normal for anyone in a marginalised group, the desire to have it easier, to not be targeted because of your identity. I also think that it's a thought that is probably going to be shared more with older queer readers, those who grew up during Section 28 when even the very whispers of someone being gay in school was the potential to destroy your life. Whilst things are very far from perfect now, with more and more homophobic and transphobic bills and legislation being passed, the general perception and acceptance of queer people has improved a lot; especially amongst younger generations. As such, the central conflict of this book, of wishing away your homosexuality, will probably feel more shocking to the books intended younger readers.

Straight Expectations tells the story of Max, a young 17-year-old gay boy living in a small English village. Max came out at age twelve, and his best friend, Dean, has always stood beside him; largely because Dean is the only other gay person Max has known most of his life. The two of them are also friends with Alicia, a queer ally who supports the two boys at school and in their personal lives. Max seemingly has a pretty decent life, his parents are divorced, but they're happier for it and he has good relationships with them. Dean is the big star in the school drama department, and Alicia is their top artist, and Max loves helping them out and spending time with them. They're running a school LGBTQ+ club that's helping other students. Compared to a lot of young queer people Max has it good.

However, there's something that's been gnawing at Max for a long while now. He's single. There are pretty much no options for his dating circle in their small community, and whilst there is another gay boy in their school other than him and Dean, Oliver Cheng, and Max does have a massive crush on him, he's yet to work up the nerve to even talk to him. When Dean and Alicia try to engineer a meet-cute for the two of them it fails to result in a date; so they push Max into sending Oliver a message instead. But when Max is left on read and doesn't get a response his feelings finally bubble over. He snaps at his friends, he doesn't listen to them when they tell him how good his life is, he disregards their point that their lives aren't easy and great due to having to deal with racism (something Max never has to worry about). He refuses to focus on anything but his lack of a love life. 

It's then that Max makes a wish, a wish that he could have a 'normal' life, an easy life. He wishes that he could be straight instead, so that he can date and have fun. And worse of all, he wishes he and Dean had never become friends. The next day Max wakes up and finds his whole world has changed. The posters of boys on his bedroom walls have been replaced by bikini babes, the clothing in his wardrobe is different, and his parents are married. Heading to school, Max finds that his friend circle is different, that he's friends with Oliver, and that he's dating Alicia. Even weirder, the guys do nothing for him, and he's noticing every pretty girl around him. It's then that he realises what he's done, that he's changed the world around him. Thinking that making friends with Dean again will be the way to set things right he sets out to do so; but when no one knows who Dean is Max has to face the idea that he might be stuck in this new, twisted version of his life.

I have to be honest, when I first heard of the idea of Straight Expectations I wasn't sure what to think. In a world that's still incredibly hostile to queer people, where conversion therapy still happens, and people are 'cured' of their homophobia, here's a book where the lead character is able to wish away their gayness. I was worried that this book could be sending the wrong message, or that it could be promoting something less than ideal. However, my fears couldn't have been more misplaced. Yes, the book has a magical circumstance that turns a gay boy straight and changes the world around him, but it's not making that out to be a good thing. If anything, Straight Expectations is a celebration of queer identity, and of being yourself. 

One of the things that the book does that I appreciated, is that it very quickly establishes that the new reality Max finds himself in isn't better. There are parts of it that initially seem good to him, Oliver is his friend, his parents are still together, but the vast majority of things are a less enjoyable, less hopeful version of his life. Alicia's father isn't a fun loving guy who treats him like a son, but an angry father who dislikes him. His parents might still be together, but their arguing, their relationship is on the rocks, and none of them are happy. He even notices that there are less openly queer kids at school, that without the presence of Dean and the LGBTQ+ club some students haven't found the community and the support to come out. One of the saddest moments in this new reality is when he comes across one of his friends from his normal life, a trans girl who was in a loving relationship with another girl; but in this new world she hasn't come out, she's still living under her dead name, and he can see how much she's suffering because of it.

A central message of the book is that a world without the queer community is one that's lesser. Yes, there's still Oliver, who's now the only openly queer kid in school, but all of the others are gone. People feel like they can't be themselves, they don't have a community, homophobia is a little more open, and people just seem to lack the spark that made them happier in the other world. A lot of this seems to be down to the lack of Dean, a person so happy and confident in their identity that they refuse to back down or hide who they are. Dean pushed people around him to be better, to do better, and without that things are just worse. Yes, this could just be a story about how one person being missing from your life can put you on a completely different path that isn't as good, but it can also be a commentary on how if we continue to allow the erasure of the queer community we're going to make the world a much worse place.

Max's journey through this alternate world is the main focus of the book, but it's not the only thing that Straight Expectations does. Max does end up figuring out a way to go home, though he doesn't realise it. Most stories would end soon after this, they'd show the lead getting back to their own life, repairing their bridges, and moving forward in some nebulous way. But in Straight Expectations there's still a good twenty percent of the book left. We actually get to see Max taking the lessons he learned in that other timeline and applying them to his life. He makes up with his friends, he finds a new path in his own life, and he finally plucks up the courage to talk to Oliver now that he's experienced being friends with him without the nervous tension of having a crush on him. We actually get to see how this experience makes him a better person over a number of days, if not weeks, and it makes the book feel a bit more special.

Straight Expectations is billed as being a queer romance, and whilst it's definitely that it's also something a bit more special. It's a book about identity. Max's story is about learning to accept who he is, to see that the things that are issues for him aren't really that big; especially compared to some of the things that others are going through. The book asks the readers to take a think about what one simple change might actually do in the long run, how one tiny thing can have huge ripple effects, and why perhaps changing those tiny things isn't worth obsessing over.Be happy with the life you have, do what you can to change things going forward, and try to embrace the good you already have.

I had a lot more fun with Straight Expectations than I was expecting, and it ended up being a book that I struggled to put down, finishing it in just two sessions. This isn't a genre that I normally go for, and the initial description made me unsure about it, but it ended up being a hugely enjoyable experience, and one that I'm so glad I took a chance on.

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Spirit World #1 - Comic Review

 

Once a decade or so DC will do an event that tries to introduce a number of new characters into the universe with their own series, hoping that the characters will take off. We've seen it done before with things like Millenium, Bloodlines, and Dark Matter. Invariably, most of the characters introduced in these events end up vanishing withing a year or two at the most as people just fail to gravitate towards them, preferring the staples of the DC universe. There have been exceptions, however, such as Hitman and Sideways; and it feels like out of all of the new characters introduced in Lazarus Planet Xanthe might be the one that will end up clicking with the most people.

Originally introduced in the Lazarus Planet: We Are Legends issue, Xanthe begins their own series with the first issue of Spirit World. The book picks up soon after the events of the one-shot, and benefits from having a couple of established DC characters join our new spirit envoy on their adventure. In the one shot Xanthe, Constantine, and Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) were fighting Jiangshi (Chinese hopping vampires) when Cassandra was sucked into the spirit world. Now, Xanthe and Constantine are trying to find a way to access the spirit world and save her, whilst Cass has to deal with the various spirits and creatures that are hunting her.

The concept is nice and simple to get your head around, which is handy as the book will be throwing some new stuff at the readers; so the simple plot helps. Xanthe is Asian, and their magic and the creatures that they interact with are very much inspired by Asian culture; as such, the book will land differently with different readers. For some, the concepts that are introduced in this book, such as burning paper offerings to make things appear in the spirit world, will be familiar, but for others they'll be brand new. As such, writer Alyssa Wong has a tricky balancing act to do, as she has to write a story that doesn't feel like it's slowing down every five minutes to explain things, whilst also keeping those new to these ideas up to speed.

Thankfully, Wong does a fantastic job at this, and the story balances out story, exposition, and character moments really well. Even by the end of the first issue it feels like we've got a pretty solid foundation for the kind of person that Xanthe is, and that we're going to be able to build upon this in any direction that Wong wants to take them. The very first scene of the book where Xanthe uses their magic to help out a little girl in the rain will instantly win people over to them.

Xanthe is also a queer character, and is a non-binary hero who uses they/them pronouns. One of two new trans heroes who was introduced in Lazarus Planet, Xanthe hasn't received as much attention as Circuit Breaker, who featured in the new DC Book of Pride whilst Xanthe didn't, but seems to be the more interesting of the two so far. The book doesn't make a big thing out of Xanthe's identity, and if you weren't really paying attention, or unaware of some things, you could easily miss the fact that they're referred to with they/them pronouns exclusively. There's a cute moment when the kid they help in the first scene thanks them and calls them older brother/older sister. The fact that it's just a part of Xanthe's world, that there isn't a big moment that needs to explain things, but it's just there, makes it feel a lot more natural and casual.

The book does some fun things with Batgirl too, who's trapped in the spirit world. Being stuck in a world filled with ghosts and monsters would be issue enough for most people, but it's made tougher for Cass as the denizens of that plain are drawn to the life force of living beings. Luckily, she runs across some allies of Xanthe who help her out. Granny Po Po comes across as a delightful old lady who is as worried about getting Cassandra warm and fed as she is keeping the spirits away from her, and oozes grandmotherly energy. Her assistant, Bowen, neatly falls into that stereotype of kind, kind of bumbling, sort of put upon, assistant who's definitely got a of potential hidden inside them. Both characters seem to be really nice, and the outfit that they give Cass to help hide her living aura is absolutely fantastic, and I really hope we get to see a lot of Cassandra in that costume in upcoming issues.

DC, as a whole, are getting better and better with representation and inclusion. There are more and more characters, and series starring characters, who don't fall into the category of straight white cisgender men; and it's great to see. We're getting more queer stories, more trans characters, more Black leads, and more Asian inspired magical characters. I love that DC is expanding and embracing new ideas and new identities like this, and it looks like Xanthe and Spirit World are going to be bringing not just some fun and engaging new stories, but a whole new side to the magic part of DC's universe. I can't wait to see what else it does.

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Green Lantern #1 - Comic Review

 

The Earth, and it's sector of space, have been quarantined by The United Planets, who no control the Green Lantern Corps. Never one to follow orders well, Hal Jordan has quit the Corps, and returned to Earth. The first issue of Green Lantern opens with Hal saving a group of trapped minders, using his power ring to drill down to save them. After years of adventures following Hal in space, of seeing him combat things like the various other Corps, the Blackest Night, the Third Army, the various Earth ending threats he's faced in the Justice League, it's really rather delightful to see Hal doing something rather mundane and normal like saving some people trapped in a bad situation.

But then this feels like the start of a rather mundane story for Hal (and I don't mean any insult by that). Hal has returned to Earth and is trying to make a life for himself. The biggest issue with that is that whilst Hal is a great Green Lantern, he's always been a bit of a fuck up when it comes to having a normal life. If Hal didn't have the ring he'd end up being one of those guys who tries to come across as cool, but everyone kind of pities because he can never get his life together. And I really like that about Hal. He's flawed.

We see some of this in this first issue as he comes to Carol Ferris to try his charms on her to get a job. It's pretty clear that Carol is kind of done with him at this point, and all of Hal's bluster and bravado are falling on deaf ears as Carol just wants to get away from him. However, she does give him the chance to prove himself, and offers him an opportunity. An opportunity that Hal ruins the first chance he gets. Taking control of a drone fighter Hal immediately showboats, resulting in the loss of the aircraft. The scene that follows shows how out of touch with life on Earth Hal is, not understanding that the old ways of flying are gone, and that he's not really going to be getting into a real cockpit again anytime soon. It also makes him look like a bit of a dick, as he doesn't care about the huge financial loss he's just made for Carol, treating it like a game because he was sitting in a remote control simulator. You can easily see why Carol has had enough of him.

The issue is also dotted with scenes set a month in the past, with Hal living in a small trailer outside of Coast City, where he spends his evenings drinking and staring up at the stars. I like that the art is clearly him drinking a beer, but the narration says it's a soda to help dispel the 'drunken bum' look that might form otherwise, and to excuse Hal speeding off in his pickup truck as he hears a news report of an attack in the city.

We get a nice scene with a villain that feels like something from a bygone era, some punk in armour made from Manhunter tech, who's causing chaos and destruction for their own amusement. The only issue with Manhunter tech, is that it's powered by Lantern energy, and so Hal is able to draw it out and power up. This does raise a question for me though, as it appears before this moment like Hal doesn't have his GL ring. When he goes in to fight this guy he's doing it as a civilian, and when he powers up it looks like the ring forms on his finger. The end of the last Green Lantern series was one that left a lot of questions unanswered, and mysteries hanging, to the point where it feels a little confusing going into this series now. However, I'm sure that Adams has a plan for things, and that we'll be finding out a lot of new stuff as the series goes on.

The book also features a back-up story, one that's setting up for the upcoming John Stewart series. The back up is kind of confusing too. At the end of the last GL run John was in space as the Emerald Warrior, saving some of his lost friends. He then turned up in Dark Crisis, where he got put into a pocket universe where he had turned everyone into a Lantern. Now he's back home, helping out his mother whilst he figures out what his next move is. It's obvious that we've missed a few parts of his story, and that itself isn't too bad. However, the stuff that comes next is the more confusing. We jump forward in time (possibly another universe?) where an older Guy Gardner is leading what seems to be the last squad of Lanterns in a desperate fight against some evil force.

That's about all we really get from the back-up feature, as it doesn't have a huge amount of pages to really delve into things here. It's clear, though, that this story is going to be going big. Whilst Hal's story seems like its going to be more grounded, and will focus on him putting his life together on Earth, Johns story seems to be dealing in big, confusing, galactic stuff. Hopefully as more of this is featured in upcoming issues it starts to become clearer what's going on.

Overall, this was a decent start to the new series. I've been a big fan of Green Lantern since I began reading comics, and I loved he Johns era and all of the extra titles we got for it, and the Rebirth era under Venditti. But since then it feels like the characters and their universe has been kind of floundering a bit. Far Sector was great, but was it's own thing. The Morrison run was very divisive, and very Morrison. and the last twelve issue story has made some big changes and left a ton of unanswered questions and unknown fates for a lot of fan favourite characters. It feels about time for Green Lantern to be given the care and attention it deserves.

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The Mandalorian (Season 3) – TV Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The first season of The Mandalorian came at an important time for live action Star Wars. Star Wars: The Last Jedi had been out for a while and had divided audiences, Solo: A Star Wars Story had a troubled production and failed to perform as well as it should have, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was just a few weeks away.

People felt a little unsure about live action Star Wars, and then this feeling wasn’t helped when the final film in the Skywalker Saga was released and divided fans all over again. But The Mandalorian seemed to be a glimmer of hope for a lot of fans, a jump backwards in time away from the sequel trilogy, with a whole host of new characters in some fantastically made episodes. It made a lot of people see that perhaps TV was the answer for Star Wars.

Now the fandom seems to have shifted once again. With Star Wars Celebration having just happened, we’ve received more information on the upcoming Ahsoka show, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Star Wars: Visions, and The Acolyte, as well as having had three new films announced, including a continuation of Rey Skywalker’s story. People are excited for what is coming, and The Mandalorian seems to be falling out of favour with some.

The second season of The Mandalorian ended with the capture of the evil Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito), and Grogu leaving Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) to go train with the legendary Luke Skywalker (a combo of actor Max Lloyd-Jones and CGI Mark Hamill). If you’d also watched The Book of Boba Fett (and why wouldn’t you?) you’d know that Grogu left the Jedi temple to return to Din’s side, and that Din needed to redeem himself in the eyes of his people to be considered Mandalorian again.

For those who watch The Mandalorian and no other Star Wars shows, the sudden return of Grogu, Din having a new ship, and the new mission, would have been jarring in the first episode, but Star Wars has been a shared universe for a long while now, and criticisms of that kind do feel a little bit forced. The shows set during this time period (The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka) are all building towards a combined movie, so watching only one piece of that and not understanding the entire story is kind of on you.

But, that aside, the show begins strong, with Din and Grogu off to discover the Sacred Waters of Mandalore. Having to return to the ruins of Mandalore was something that fans speculated would be the focus of the season, the arc that Din would be going through. But by the end of the second episode Din had bathed in the waters and become a Mandalorian once again; so what was the show about now? The Mandalorian shifted from a story about bounty hunter Din Djarin, and became one about Mandalorians as a whole. The show had already shifted previous guest character Bo Katan (Katee Sackhoff) to co-lead, and the story became about what it means to be a Mandalorian.

The show began to further explore the different factions that we’d been introduced to in the past, such as the animosity between regular Mandalorians and The Children of the Watch, and asked if there was any common ground for them. Since the Empire, the Mandalorian people had become divided, scattered, and leaderless. They had lost their home, and their culture was the only thing that they had left to them. Now was the time to try to correct the damage of the past, and to return Mandalore to glory. Some fans seemed to dislike this shift, upset that the show seemed to be ‘sidelining’ Din in order to give Bo some moments to shine. Ironic considering people seemed to love the episodes of The Book of Boba Fett that shifted focus from Boba (Temuera Morrison) to Din.

Despite the criticisms from some fans, the shift from one individual to Mandalorians as a whole helped to expand this season of the show. Whilst there is still time for Din to go off on adventures, the series became about his people and their place in the galaxy, and led to some fantastic moments. I’d struggle to understand people criticising the expansion of Mandalorians when it gives us the final two episodes of the season, which are some of the best Mandalorian-centred episodes in Star Wars. The fight to give the Mandalorians an actual home tied back to things that the show had done before, as well as including some small nods and winks to Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels. It also continued to pave the way towards the sequel trilogy, and expanded upon the return of the Emperor.

The series still makes time to include some adventure of the week style things too, and this season also sees Din and his allies fighting against pirate raiders, as well as having to investigate a potential droid uprising on a peaceful world. Both of these episodes bring different things to the table, with the latter managing to capture the feel of some of the odd adventures that you’d often get to see in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Whilst these episodes don’t always move the main story forward in huge ways, they do offer our characters the chance to do new things, and to show off some fun action moments for the audience.

This season also manages to further explore and expand upon Grogu, the biggest break-out character of the series. Having spent some time training with Luke Skywalker, Grogu is less the vulnerable baby this season, and has begun to showcase more powerful Force powers and combat abilities. We also learn more about how he survived Order-66, in a flashback that brought back a Star Wars actor who received some incredibly unfair treatment at the hands of the fans, in a role that seems to have been universally accepted. Despite the big focus on the Mandalorians, the show manages to find time for Grogu, and cements him as being a Mandalorian himself, as well as furthering his relationship with his surrogate father figure. Plus, who doesn’t love seeing them throw that puppet around whenever the little guy does a Force jump?

This season features some amazing moments thanks to the amazing team of directors involved. Rick Famuyiwa opens and closes the season in three of the best looking episodes this year, whilst award winning and nominated directors like Rachel Morrison and Lee Isaac Chung join returning director Bryce Dallas Howard, and series guest star Carl Weather to fill out the rest of the season. The shows continues to look good, and it seems like more effort has been made this year to move away from the Volume, and to use other filming techniques. As such, this season does look a bit different to the first season in sense of tone and style, yet still manages to have some incredibly impressive moments.

There will be some who will complain about this season of The Mandalorian, who don’t like the direction the show took, or choices made with the story and characters. But as a fan of Star Wars as a whole, who’s watched everything and who’s looking forward to the things to come, I had a lot of fun with this season. The moments that leaned into the legacy of the franchise were great, the stuff that was setting up things we already know was appreciated, and the expansion of the show to be about more than just one man and his son was needed in order to keep things fresh, and to make The Mandalorian a part of the wider Star Wars universe. With big things on the horizon we’re sure to be seeing Din Djarin again, and I’m eagerly awaiting his return.

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Lovers Lane (1999) – Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Lovers Lane is an odd piece of cinema. The slasher movie was at its height in the 1980s, a time where you couldn’t walk through a video store without tripping over a stack of slasher VHS tapes. After vanishing into obscurity for a few years, the genre made a resurgence in the late 90s thanks to Scream bringing fresh life and interest to things. the success of Scream would lead to movies like I Know What You Did Last Summer and Halloween: H20 as other studios tried to jump on the trend. Lovers Lane was released just a couple of years after Scream, and feels like it should be primed to cash in on this, yet somehow manages to feel out of time and out of place.

Lovers Lane begins with a flashback sequence to thirteen years in the past, where a young couple are making out in a parked car at the local lovers lane. They’re disturbed by a hook-handed maniac, who tries to kill them both. The couple manage to escape, but find another car with a man and woman murdered in it. When police arrive on the scene one of the officers, Tom (Matt Riedy), who has his young daughter in the car with him, is distraught to learn that the murdered woman is his wife, who was having an affair. The hook-handed man is arrested, and placed in a psychiatric hospital.

Thirteen years later, in the present day (1999) the local teens are gearing up for parties and shenanigans for Valentine’s Day. The film spends some time introducing us to a number of characters, such as Chloe (Sarah Lancaster), the school bitch, cheerleader Janelle (Anna Faris), and the prankster Doug (Billy O’Sullivan). We also get to see Tom’s daughter Mandy (Erin J. Dean), who has become a bit of a lonely teen, and Michael (Riley Smith), the son of the principal, and the son of the man Mandy’s mother was having an affair with. As the teens plan their parties and prepare for a night of fun, the hook-handed man breaks out of hospital, ready to continue his swathe of killings.

Despite being released towards the end of the 90s, Lovers Lane feels like a movie from an earlier time – but it’s hard to pin down what time. Much of the film has the feel of a story from the 1950s thanks to the use of the Hook Man urban legend that was popularised at that time, whilst the quality of the slasher horror feels more at home in a cheap movie from the 80s. There are no scenes in the film that really impress. The film feels kind of flat, like it’s going through the motions and ticking the boxes for what’s needed for the story to happen, without giving any of it any flair.

We spend time with the teens at the start of the movie because it needed to establish characters that are going to be killed. But none of the teens really feel like characters. Some of them are stereotypes, like the bitchy popular and pretty girl who hates everyone she sees as beneath her, and the guy in the bright shirt who’s always cracking jokes and acting like a smart-ass because he thinks it will somehow get him laid. But outside of that none of the teens are really much of anything. Mandy is bookish and shy, and seems to be disliked or outright hated by the other teens, but the film doesn’t explain why. Other characters just kind of exist, and other than being there to fill the room or get killed off they don’t really contribute anything to proceedings.

This flatness translates to visuals as well. Most of the scenes are shot in the most expected ways possible, and there are no stand out moments or things that happen that you’ll not have seen done better in other movies. None of the scenes are badly shot, but there’s nothing about them that makes them feel special. Locations and sets look kind of bland and flat, and the characters’ costumes feel plain and un-noteworthy. Compared to some of the visual flair of other teen slasher movies of the time it feels like little effort was made to be seen as anything other than a cheap cash-in.

The film tries to do something different with the ending at least, something that does set it apart from the older slasher movies that it seems to have drawn a lot of inspiration from, but once again, compared to something like Scream, which was already two films deep at this point, it still fails to make it interesting enough to compete with those twist endings.

The Blu-ray version comes with two versions of the film, one in widescreen and one in full frame, but neither differs from the other in any real way other than the presentation. There’s an audio commentary from the film’s writers and producers, Geof Miller and Rory Veal, who go into some details about the making of the movie that ends up being more interesting than the film itself, just as a way of seeing how films were made. There’s also a new behind the scenes featurette, ‘Screaming Teens: The Legacy of Lovers Lane’ which features some of the cast and crew.

Overall, Lovers Lane feels like an odd relic of a movie. It doesn’t really fit in with the other films of its type at the time, but neither does it really fit with the eras that it has drawn inspiration from. There’s an attempt to make a half decent movie here, but it often feels like the effort and skill didn’t meet the hopes. For those who have an interest in this genre, and film history, it might be of note, but for the casual horror fan there are much better releases from Arrow that are worth your time and money.

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Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent #3 - Comic Review

 

Jon Kent is lost in the multiverse, stuck on another world where he's just witnessed that universe's version of his father murder Ultraman. Following the events of the last issue, Jon has fallen unscious and has has been taken to the Hall of Justice. The book begins with Diana and Clark having a discussion about Jon. It seems like this Superman is ready to trust Jon, and is willing to do whatever it takes to help the son he never had. Diana is the main voice of reason here, pointing out that he's not this Clark's son, and that he might not be able to be trusted.

Jon awakes in the medical bay, where he finds Luthor as his doctor. Luthor explains how Jon expelled all of his energy at once, and that that's why he's so weak now. It's also a way of explaining away Jon's ability to turn electric blue, because he's using up more energy than he should be. There might be more of an explanation for it than that, but if not you can kind of shrug it off as being the reason why. There's also a moment where you can see Luthor trying to brace Jon for learning what this world is like, and what this version of Superman is like, which is a fun nod to his being a traitor in the Injustice series. The fact that Luthor is also alive here places this somewhere in the five years that take place before the events of the game.

The Clark of this universe seems to try his best to come across as good and decent towards Jon, treating him well, and even promising to help him rescue Val and Lois from the Phantom Zone. The way that Clark is written in this issue is really interesting, as its showing that he still thinks of himself as a decent man, and that a lot of the things he does comes from a place of what he sees as kindness. It adds a layer of creepiness to the dictator. 

When there's a break in at one of the Regime's compounds in Gotham, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Flash head off to try and help, and don't allow Jon to go with them. However, the mention of Damian grabs his attention, and Jon heads off to Gotham anyway. In Gotham, Damian is fighting Bruce, and Jon rushes into the middle of things to try and stop his best friend. However, this is a version of Damian who has no idea who Jon is, so he proceeds to use his super strength against him. Eventually Batman manages to get away, and Damian blames it all on Jon. Clark arrives and fills Jon in on the reason for the rift between Bruce and Damian, the death of Dick, but leaves out a lot of the story so as not to give it context, or reveal the kind of man Superman has become.

Clark agrees to let Jon fly around on his own, to see the world that Clark has built in the wake of the tragedy he experienced. Jon at first seems to think things seem good, and even talks about how his father often wanted to be this proactive. However, when he helps save someone, who then runs in fear because of the symbol on his chest, Jon realises that there's something rotten on this world; and Superman is at the core of it.

This issue feels like it's doing a lot of set-up. Despite being the third issue of a six issue series, it's got the feel of a first issue because it's having to introduce Jon to a lot of stuff. The readers might be familiar with the Injustice comics, but Jon isn't, as such we need context for everything that he's coming across. This means that a lot of the issue is dealing with backstory, with world building, and with catching up with the status quo. The result is an issue that feels kind of slow; though it still manages to be interesting and engaging, and keeps your attention. I think those who've read the Injustice comics will also find it interesting.

With Jon now apparently realising that there's some bad stuff happening on this world, and with the shady conversations that Clark has had with his allies, it looks like things might be descending into violence pretty quickly. There's no way that Jon is going to side with this version of Superman, so he's going to have to fight him. But, would he perhaps pretend to be okay with things until Superman helps him to free Val and Lois so that he can go home? Maybe, though I can also see this version of Superman refusing to actually free them, because if Red Tornado gets out it means that Jon can leave their universe; and I don't see Clark wanting to lose his son again. 

We've reached the halfway point of the series, and it looks like things are going to get pretty interesting with the next issue.

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Living With Chucky – Documentary Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The Child’s Play franchise is one that will be well known to many a horror fan, and its main character is one of the most well known and instantly recognisable figures in horror (sorry Anabelle, Chucky’s the number one doll). Living With Chucky is a new documentary film that takes a look at the entire scope of the franchise, and one that has something a little different and special up its sleeve to make it stand out from other horror retrospectives.

The film begins simply enough, as we slowly go through each film in the series, getting to learn about the evolution of the franchise. We get to meet Don Mancini, the original writer and creator of Chucky (Brad Dourif), who tells us about the origins of the script, the process of shopping it around Hollywood, hoping to see it picked up. Luckily, producer David Kirschner just happened to be into haunted dolls at the time, and was looking for a script to scratch that itch. The two met, and Child’s Play began. From here we get some insight into how the film was made, the process of creating the first Chucky puppets, and what it was like for Alex Vincent to work on the film at such a young age as Andy, the boy Chucky was determined to take over.

From here we jump into the second film, then the more maligned third movie, as the creators talk about the quick demand for sequels, and how they ultimately took the series in the direction they did. Whilst the first two films get some decent attention, the third is covered relatively quickly; perhaps the creators knowing that it’s still considered to be the least favourite of the series by fans. Then, however, we enter a new era for the series, with The Bride of Chucky. Embracing a more comedic angle, the series introduced Jennifer Tilly into the mix as Tiffany, who would ultimately become a doll just as iconic as Chucky. You can see the joy on Dourif’s face when talking about this movie, of how happy he was to go from working alone in a sound booth for the movie to being able to act with Tilly and bounce off her energy, quick wits and ability to improvise.

We then cover Seed of Chucky, which brought actor Billy Boyd on board to play Chucky’s gender fluid child Glen/Glenda in a film that got a little bit meta. What comes next is another shift in the series, as we cover Curse of Chucky and Cult of Chucky, both of which go back to the horror roots of the franchise, and introduced a new protagonist in the form of Dourif’s own daughter, Fiona. By the time each of the films have been covered it’s become clear that, unlike some horror franchises, the Child’s Play series has embraced change, has tried new things, and has surprisingly kept most of the same cast and crew across seven films. But with a big section of the film left, what is the rest of the documentary about?

This is where Living With Chucky sets itself apart from other documentaries, as the director introduces herself, Kyra Elise Gardner, daughter of special effects creator Tony Gardner, who worked on the series since Seed of Chucky. Kyra grew up with Chucky, Tiffany, and Glen/Glenda in the house, and has come to see Chucky as something of a younger brother, and the franchise as part of her family. And this film has been her chance to finally meet a lot of the people who made that a part of her life. She connects with actor Alex Vincent over what it was like having Chucky around as a kid, and she and Fiona Dourif joke about what it’s like watching your father killed on film, and childhood experiences with the franchise.

The documentary goes from being a brief overview on the franchise, and instead starts to look at the family that formed behind the camera. Whether it’s the writer who’s been involved with each instalment, the producer who’s been there since the beginning, the actors who made the roles iconic, or the special effects team who brought the puppets to life, you can see the bonds that these people developed over the three decades that Chucky has been around. The genuine joy they have when swapping stories, or the affection that comes through when they talk about their co-workers, makes this more than a bunch of talking heads. Brad and Fiona Dourif are together each time either one of them is talking, and you can see the pride that the elder Dourif has for his daughter becoming part of the franchise that made him an icon, and how much he cares about the franchise passing into her hands.

The documentary also talks about the fans that have fallen in love with the series, and how they’ve become part of that extended family. The fans who have the dolls, who have the characters tattooed on them, and who dress up as Chucky and Tiffany. You can see the appreciation that the cast and crew have for them, and how grateful they are for the support that the series has been given over the years. It becomes a celebration of the franchise and all those who’ve come to love it, rather than a simple breakdown of the films and how they were made

The film isn’t your average horror documentary, though it does do some of the expected. It has a host of talking heads that aren’t really connected to the film, but come from the wider horror genre; such as Lin Shaye and Abigail Breslin. It looks at each of the films and gives brief glimpses into the behind the scenes that are interesting, and I’m sure that there will be some criticism that these parts were glossed over pretty quickly, and it would have been nice to see more about their making, but that’s not what this film is ultimately about. It’s like the title says, it’s about growing up Living With Chucky.

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