Without a doubt, SPECTRE, the twenty-fourth film in the long-running 007 series, is the worst of the films featuring Daniel Craig as 007, if not the worst Bond film in recent memory. Cursed with a laden, nonsensical script, full of overwrought, listless set pieces and pedestrian action, it’s an affront to all the progress the series has made in terms of revitalizing the 007 brand since Craig’s tenure as Bond began with 2006’s Casino Royale. It’s the sort of underwhelming effort that should leave fans of the series livid, especially considering all the wasted talent assembled for the production and the potential they represent.
SPECTRE picks up some time after the end of 2012’s Skyfall, with the loss of the previous “M” (Judi Dench) still casting a shadow over MI6 and Bond in particular. After an unsanctioned mission in Mexico City during the famous “Dia de los Muertos” festival causes an international incident, 007 finds himself in hot water with the new “M” (Ralph Fiennes) and relieved of his duties. That sort of technicality, having his license to kill revoked and whatnot, has of course never stopped Bond from doing his work before, and so he sets off to follow up on the waves he made in Mexico, the trail leading him to Rome and a secret meeting of what appears to be a massively powerful international criminal syndicate. What he discovers there, and the man he sees sitting at the head of the table in that secret chamber, changes everything he and MI6 thought they knew about some of Bond’s most important and dangerous adversaries of the past: that they were all connected, all arms of this one powerful organization, simply known as “SPECTRE.”
Forced to operate with limited help from M, Q (Ben Whishaw), or Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), who all are being watched by the new Centre for National Security into which MI6’s operations are being folded into and marginalized, Bond seeks out Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), a doctor whose own mysterious past unwillingly links her to SPECTRE and makes her one of their primary targets. Together, they’ll track down and come face to face with the shadowy head of SPECTRE, who in addition to his ambitions for world domination has a long-standing personal score to settle with 007 that he plans to settle in the most painful and humiliating manner possible.
The Bond film series has enjoyed a prolonged revitalization over the past decade with Daniel Craig in the lead role primarily because the creative minds at work behind the camera kept finding new and interesting ways to tweak the 007 formula, to further distance the series from the rote cheekiness that came to define the series during the Roger Moore era, and which crept back into the films at the end of Pierce Brosnan’s tenure in the early 2000’s. While some longtime fans of the series point out that the changes made the films far too serious in tone, for the most part the grittier, more character-driven style that characterizes Casino Royale, 2008’s Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall has been readily embraced by contemporary audiences, who applaud the more realistic and hard-hitting action as well as enjoy each time the series’ writers would take a playful jab at their own creation’s well-known conventions and clichés.
So if the recipe for success was to evolve away from the elements of the series that had clearly become tired and stale by the late 1990’s, why in the name of Dame Judi Dench would the powers that be here decide to reverse course entirely with SPECTRE, and go back to utilizing those very same tired, stale elements in almost precisely the same ways as before? Oh, it all looks pretty — having Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes return for a second stint at the helm after the success of Skyfall assures audiences of at the very least a pleasant visual experience — but all the style and beautiful framing of shots and locations cannot hide the flaws in the hackneyed script churned out by seasoned Bond script writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, working alongside John Logan (The Aviator, Gladiator) and Jez Butterworth (Black Mass, Get on Up). Bond suspended and goes AWOL? Been there, done that. Bond girl doesn’t like 007 at first, but opinion absurdly changes in moments after a near-death experience? Done and done. Bond restrained to a chair and tortured as he’s taunted by the villain? Done, done, and DONE. Yawn.
To be fair, yes, all those same elements were utilized in Casino Royale, arguably Craig’s best Bond outing. But the manner in which they were executed was tweaked in such a way that their silliness in and of themselves was mitigated — they staged it all in a way that made sort-of real world sense, not just Bond-world sense. Here, in SPECTRE, we get it all back the way it was done in the campy, cartoonish era of Bond: with no sense of self-awareness, no wink and creative twist, just the same old trope, as though giving it a break for a few decades would somehow make it fresh enough again to use.
Compounding the outright clunkiness of the script is the absolute absence of innovation and energy that characterizes the film’s many overly-long set pieces, each of which owes a debt to earlier Bond films in which they were executed to far more enjoyable effect. Whether the action takes place in the air, on a train, or in a speeding car chase through the narrow streets and alleys of Rome, it all feels obligatory and uninspired, as though the second unit director simply watched a few older Bond films the morning of the shoot and decided, “Yeah, we’ll recycle that sequence. That’ll work.” Watch for how the helicopter sequence early in the film that recalls a similar set piece in 1081’s For Your Eyes Only, or how the aforementioned car chase seems to drag on and on simply to provide an opportunity for a few ill-timed jokes regarding gadgets not working quite the way they should. And what happened to this Bond getting bloody when he gets into a fist fight? In one of several examples of wasted casting, SPECTRE features former WWE star Dave Bautista playing a henchman in the mold of Odd Job, Jaws, and Tomorrow Never Dies‘ Stamper, which you’d think would result in a fight that would leave our hero at least a little bloodied once the two throw down. But no, not even a nick or scratch. The white dinner jacket does take a beating, though.
Speaking of wasted casting, perhaps the greatest waste in SPECTRE is Christophe Waltz, who apparently Mendes and the producers felt didn’t need to do much of anything aside from recycle that soft-spoken, quietly menacing demeanor he used to such great effect in 2009’s Inglourious Basterds. He sleepwalks through his on-screen time here, playing what should be THE iconic Bond villain role with the same level of effort and energy that he played the villain in Seth Rogen’s attempted Green Hornet film back in 2011. He steals his paycheck here, and he’s not the only one, though the others one could just as easily fault the producers and casting directors for their involvement. Case in point: was it really necessary to cast Monica Bellucci, 51, for the role she’s called upon to perform, a role so woefully underwritten, forgettable, and beneath her talents that its very presence screams “obligatory for the formula”, just so that SPECTRE could claim the distinction of featuring the series’ oldest “Bond Girl”? Hopefully, there was more to it and the role was simply cut back for time, although at 2 hours and 28 minutes, the longest running time of any Bond film in the series, why not have a few more minutes to have her role be more meaningful? Or better yet, cut back on the overly-long set pieces that go nowhere in order to give the characters just a little more heft, as they did in the earlier Craig films? Mio dio!
Taken all together, SPECTRE is easily the most disappointing sequel of 2015, if not one of the year’s most disappointing films, overall. If it does turn out to be Craig’s final outing as 007 — he’s contracted for one more, but that means relatively little — it will serve as the worst possible crash-and-burn ending for a tenure as Bond that arguably soared higher and won more acclaim than any since that of Sir Sean Connery. At the very least, it’s a terrible waste. He, and everyone involved in this production, are simply capable of so much better in terms of film making than this, and his time as Bond deserves a finer coda.
SPECTRE
Starring Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista, with Monica Bellucci and Ralph Fiennes as “M.” Directed by Sam Mendes.
Running Time: 148 minutes
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, some disturbing images, sensuality and language
What is going on in Central City? The long answer, a lot. The short answer a lot more. In episode 5, called “The Darkness And The Light,” Barry and Team Flash are faced with Zoom’s next pawn in Dr. Light, while and old face returns, kind of.
It seems our questions raised about the mysterious reappearance of Harrison Wells is simply that he is Earth-2’s Harrison Wells, dubbed “Harry” by Cisco. Shown in a flashback on Earth-2, Wells is in a press conference at S.T.A.R. Labs, showing off a line of metahuman detection devices before a brief mincing of words with Jay Garrick. Also in the exchange we see an unnamed girl, who is revealed as Wells’ daughter.
Making his way through the breach beneath S.T.A.R. Labs last episode and hiding behind the scenes and saving Barry from King Shark in the process. This new Wells has thrust himself into the fold of the already crowded room in S.T.A.R.
Joining his own Flash counterpart from Earth-Two, Harry seems to have a bit of a rift with Garrick, who holds Wells accountable for the leak in dark matter that caused the metahumans in Earth-2 Central City. In a spat that is not quite over no matter the world they are in, trust is the key component in all of this. But, not all of them have that in each other, and the conflict causes more and more problems.
These problems could be temporary, or they could be around for a long time.
Still, Zoom has his agenda, and it seems as if he is not slowing down anytime soon, bringing in his new Flash foe, a formidable Dr. Light.
Cisco and his ability come to light (no pun intended) at the start, after a vision in CC Jitters brings him inside a bank where Dr. Light is holding up. Coming out of the vision, he mutters “Central City Bank” and Barry races off for his first encounter. In that encounter, Barry runs into a familiar face in Linda Park, but Earth-2 Linda Park. A small exchange ensues, and Dr. Light flashes away. The same thing happens the second time, but leaves Barry blinded. The third and final time, Barry finally discovers his “speed mirage” ability and captures Dr. Light, for use as bait in the future.
Throughout the episode, Barry’s trust for Wells goes from minimal to him developing the same trust in the doppelgänger who’s polar opposite murdered Barry’s mom.
My own two cents really don’t do this episode justice. You have conflict, love and plot twists that are really helping this series keep their feet and racing towards the end game, which is an inevitable showdown with Zoom. Given that the antagonists of the week are thwarted by Team Flash, it’s looking like Zoom will start to take matters into his own hands sooner rather than later.
I am loving the relationship that is blooming between Barry and Patty because it is growing on so many levels. It’s geeky, it’s awkward, but it shows a human side to Barry that I feel has sort of lacked up until now. A relationship with Patty is grounding the main character and also creates a future complication down the road, which is Patty’s eventual partnership with the Flash. Retracting a bit from my previous statement, I am starting to like the idea of Jay and Caitlin as well.
It was bound to happen anyways, and it’s about time that it is starting to blossom. From the “accidental” giving of numbers to a blatant blow-off at CC Jitters, it was a good feeling to see Barry stick it out and finally ask Patty out.
Among the family reunions from Hell, growing relationships and the resentment in the room. I feel that this return of Wells is multi-layered. At the end of the episode, we see Zoom in a basement-like room, with Wells’ daughter in captivity. So, bold prediction, I believe Wells’ emergence in Earth-2 is either to keep Barry alive, or find a way to get Jay’s speed back in order to rescue his daughter.
Now that Cisco is revealed as Vibe, it’s now time to set him up for more exciting plot features that will likely lead him into helping Barry and the rest of Team Flash against Zoom. With the help of Wells 2.0, I believe that we will begin to see a Vibe that will become a staple in the DC TV Universe.
I don’t think this butting heads between Wells and Garrick will go away for a long time. While one is for going after Zoom and one is for allowing Barry more time to prepare. But it ends with Jay walking off and around the corner, leaving it open for interpretation, does Jay stay? Or does he go? It’s obvious he doesn’t want Barry to suffer the same fate of losing his speed to Zoom, but we have yet to see much of him helping Barry prepare.
Also, some Easter Eggs to point out. In the conversation of what’s consistent between both worlds, Jay makes a mention of a friend of his that lives in Atlantis, a subtle nod to Aquaman. Following the Hal Jordan nod in Arrow, the DC TV Universe is quickly expanding to say that these characters are there.
My questions for next week:
Is Barry V Zoom resulting in something major or will it be a minor clash? Could we see the same thing happening to Barry that has happened to Jay?
Where is King Shark? Or Gorilla Grodd? Or even any Earth-1 metahumans?
When will Jay gain his speed?
Hopefully we get an answer to these questions and more with the Flash as it continues next week, on CW, when “Enter Zoom” airs, presumably introducing Barry and Zoom to each other.
Disney and Lucasfilm released the character posters for Star Wars: The Force Awakens Wednesday afternoon. The posters feature Finn (John Boyega), Rey (Daisy Ridley), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and Leia (Carrie Fisher).
Where is Luke?
Episode VII in the Star Wars Saga, Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in theaters December 18, 2015.
Somewhere, the late, great Charles M. Schulz is smiling, because the folks at Blue Sky Studios, with a little help from his son and grandson, got “Peanuts” right.
The Peanuts Movie, the new 3D animated feature that brings Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Woodstock, Lucy, Linus, and the whole gang to life on the big screen as never before, is a loving celebration of all that’s charming, inspiring, and heart-warming about the “Peanuts” characters and their world as a whole. Though the only “new ground” it breaks is in its visual presentation, the notes it hits in its storytelling, as well as its overall tone and elegant simplicity, are all that any fan of this material could ask for in a modern feature-length version.
The story here is as “Peanuts” as it gets: Poor Charlie Brown (voiced by Noah Schnapp) finds himself flustered as never before when someone new moves into the neighborhood, right across the street: the prettiest, most amazing Little Red-Haired Girl he’s ever seen. Hopelessly smitten, he finds himself paralyzed with terror at the prospect of actually talking to her, and seemingly no amount of “Psychiatric Help” from Lucy (Hadley Belle Miller), gentle wisdom from Linus (Alex Garfin) or outright pushing and prodding from Snoopy can get him over his fear. What will it take, he wonders, for the Little Red-Haired Girl to notice him, if anything? After all, why on Earth would someone like her ever notice a blockhead like him?
Snoopy, meanwhile, inspired by his master’s sudden romantic affliction, undertakes to hash away on an old typewriter the greatest love story of them all, a passion borne in the skies over France during the Great War between the World War I Flying Ace and Fifi (Kristin Chenowith), a female poodle pilot of equal skill and daring, as they face off with and endeavor to defeat the infamous Red Baron once and for all.
So while Charlie Brown muddles and bumbles his way through school talent shows, dance contests, standardized tests, and daunting book reports, all the while agonizing over how to catch the Little Red-Haired Girl’s eye without making a further fool of himself, Snoopy the Flying Ace duels his nemesis and chases after his one true love once she falls into the Baron’s clutches, leading to a last epic showdown from which only one of them can return. A boy and his very imaginative dog, both chasing true love as only they each can, surrounded by family and friends either cheering them on or shaking their heads in absolute bewilderment. How absolutely, perfectly “Peanuts” is that?
The script for The Peanuts Movie comes from Craig and Bryan Schulz, Charles’ son and grandson, respectively, along with Bryan Schulz’s writing partner Cornelius Uliano, and draws inspiration from just about every well-known “Peanuts” storyline from the comic strips and the animated specials of the 60’s through to the 80’s. There are nods throughout the film’s 88 minutes to everything from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown to A Charlie Brown Christmas, and appearances and contributions made by all of the Peanuts gang, including several of Snoopy’s more famous alter egos in addition to “The World War I Flying Ace.” Again, while the overarching stories told here have never quite been organized and told this way, they are not new, per se, and in all honesty, that doesn’t matter one little bit. The fact is that this is the first “Peanuts” feature film in 35 years — even if it is classic Schulz material reworked and freshened up, it will still feel new to fans, and of course it will be brand new to kids who weren’t alive the last time Charlie Brown and co. took a bow in theaters.
As for the visuals here, and the reverent treatment with which director Steve Martino (Ice Age: Continental Drift, Horton Hears a Who!) and the animators at Blue Sky Studios handle Schulz’s characters and their world, there’s simply no other word to describe it except “perfect.” There’s no effort to “modernize” or “stylize” the characters — rather, the animators here give their all to add texture and detail what had previously been flat and featureless. The shine and individual strands of hair in Lucy’s black hair, the down of Snoopy fur, the thick cotton of Charlie Brown’s many yellow sweaters, all of these add a richness to surround the expressive lines of the character’s eyes and mouths, which still are crafted as though line-drawn. Backgrounds are given further depth and detail while still retaining the Schulzian simplicity and sense of space. Snoopy’s fantasy World War I sequences, during which he romances Fifi and duels with the Red Baron, are particularly gorgeous in terms of sweeping, breathtaking motion and bold color — rendered as they are here, it’s quite easy to see how the intrepid beagle might get lost in his Walter Mitty-esque flights of fancy.
If there’s any reason at all to be concerned that The Peanuts Movie won’t be a universal crowd-pleaser, it is perhaps that the story and characters here lack the maniac energy and “edge” that characterizes today’s entertainment geared towards young children, but really, that’s exactly the way it should be. Though its characters and stories did evolve in the course of its decades in syndication, “Peanuts” always held on to its tone and essential themes: the value of friendship and kindness, and the power of the imagination, each exemplified by its main characters: the hapless, hopeless, yet still beloved boy and his creative and courageous dog. The Peanuts Movie honors that commitment to those themes and gives them life in a timeless way, for a whole new generation of children to enjoy, and for those of us who loved the original to enjoy all over again.
The Peanuts Movie
Starring the voices of Noah Schnapp, Hadley Belle Miller, A.J. Tecce, Noah Johnston, Venus Omega Schultheis, Alex Garfin, Francesca Angelucci Capaldi, Marleik “Mar Mar” Walker, Mariel Sheets, Rebecca Bloom, William “Alex” Wunsch, Anastasia Bredikhina, Madisyn Shipman, with Kristin Chenowith and Bill Melendez. Directed by Steve Martino.
Running Time: 88 minutes
Rated G
The anime community that has developed here in the western world has a couple of quirks. The largest of which being its insistence on a ‘savior of anime’ coming every few years. This usually happens when a particular show is popular both in Japan and the West, a mostly uncommon occurrence. It is during the airing of shows that have this quality that people will go about the internet and spread the word about that show that is ‘saving anime.’
We are in one such time now, thanks to Madhouse’s anime adaptation of Murata’s manga adaptation of ONE’s webcomic, One Punch Man. Now, we here at Monkeys Fighting Robots love One Punch Manas well, it’s an entertaining, beautiful, and hilarious show that hasn’t even gotten to the good stuff yet, but it’s more than that, because it might actually save anime.
When One Punch Man was initially announced to be Madhouse’s project, many assumed that Madhouse would dump as much money into the project possible in order to achieve the best animation possible. After all, the general anime fan is of the opinion that a bigger budget creates better animation. After all, that’s how Ufotable does it right? Though this have been proven false for the most part.
But Madhouse delivered, the episodes are gorgeous and wonderful. The animation has a flexible feel, with art style willing to change at a moment’s notice to enhance whatever happens to be displayed before our eyeballs. The One Punch Man fanbase collectively chalked up the beauty to budget. ‘Just Madhouse dumping endless amounts of money to give us the best possible product.’ But, this was false. One Punch Man doesn’t have the infinite budget we thought, nor does it have an above average budget, yeah, One Punch Man has a normal, average animation budget. As tweeted by this animator.
Google Translation: “One Punch Man is tend to have the image that the budget is abundant, but it is never such a thing is not, strictly average level. Good for the passion of the animator that I am participating, one punch man there perseverance of each section has been made. Thank you the support of the anime One Punch Man in the future!”
Yep, Madhouse made One Punch Man these mind blowingly amazing looking episodes without the large money associated with good animation. But how could Madhouse pull this off? Don’t they need to give something of equal value in return for the end product? Does Madhouse have a Philosopher’s Stone? Well, no. Simply put, Madhouse bet on it’s animators.
Madhouse got together basically the entirety of the animation industry, a collection of the best. When first beginning the long yet rewarding process of producing One Punch Man, Madhouse had to pick one of two methods to achieve amazing animation, money, or passion. And Madhouse chose passion. These amazing set pieces, the fights, and overall polish, all of which contribute to the visual style of One Punch Man, that was not developed due to money given for quality, but from the passion of each individual animator.
We’ve all heard the horror stories about how terribly treated animators are. Horribly paid, with miserable hours, and way too little recognition. But this show has a chance to change that. This show is as good as we get it solely due to the passion by these animators, they aren’t getting extra money out of it, they won’t have their name associated with the anime, they get practically nothing, yet these animators are still putting their best work into this show. One Punch Man is a passion project, a love letter from the animators to us, the anime fans.
That’s the amount passion pouring out of the animators
We need to retaliate in kind, a show with this much passion does not come around often, we need to show Madhouse, we need to show the animators, that their passion and effort did not go unnoticed. Please, if you in any way enjoy this show, please support it financially. As western fans, us just watching has no effect, it does not impact the studio in any way, they don’t know we are watching and loving One Punch Man, so we need to buy the manga, Blu-ray, Oppai hoodies, anything that will go directly to Madhouse, to the animators.
Yes, I’ll take twenty of those please
Madhouse bet on talent and passion, and it paid off immensely, we need to show them that we love and appreciate their effort, their passion, their love for the industry. If everyone does this, if One Punch Man is truly successful, who knows, maybe it will save anime.
AMC Theaters announced their costume policy for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and cosplayers are not going to be too happy.
AMC does not permit weapons or items that would make other guests feel uncomfortable or detract from the movie-going experience. Guests are welcome to come dressed in costume, but we do not permit masks. In short, bring your lightsaber, turn it off during the movie, and leave the blaster and Darth Vader mask at home.
The Cinemark theater chain has also posted their guidelines for cosplayers.
Star Wars costumes are welcome. However, no face coverings, face paint, or simulated weapons (including lightsabers/blasters) will be allowed in the building.
We have reached out to Regal Cinemas, IMAX, and Carmike Cinemas and are awaiting a response about their costume policy. If you are a theater owner or manager that would like to list your costume policy please email matt@popaxiom.com.
Back in 2005, the best part of the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith premiere in Chicago at the AMC River East was the giant crowd of cosplayers as every theater was screening the film at midnight. AMC even let everyone go in two hours early and had dollar hot dogs and sodas. The event was such a great party with tons of photo ops with Darth Vader and crew. It’s the sad state of society today that 10-years later theater chains have to worry about a mass shooting instead of planning a great party like AMC held just a short time ago.
Do you agree with the ban of masks, face paint, and simulated weapons at theaters for #StarWars: #TheForceAwakens?
I’m ready to see Shane Carruth’s The Modern Ocean right now. The mind-bending writer/director has added Keanu Reeves, Anne Hathaway, and Daniel Radcliffe to his next project, the biggest money project of his career to this point. And it can’t get here quick enough.
Carruth’s gear-grinding time-travel drama Primer is required viewing almost annually, if for no other reason than to try and piece it all together. Primer works like a complex dream, one that comes in vividly during viewing and immediately after, but the mechanics of the plot and the way things work out begin to fade the more you try and work them out. Try watching it and explaining the plot to someone an hour later, it’s impossible, and that’s what makes the picture so fascinating.
His follow up film (nine years later), Upstream Color, struck a nerve with me. I watched it over and over to the point of exhaustion, working through the imagery and the metaphors, becoming a student of every scene and shot and narrative thread. Carruth laid out the plot of Upstream Color, a mixture of thriller and romance and science fiction, though I wish he would have left it ambiguous. That isn’t to say it’s entirely ambiguous – there is a clear thread pushing through the center of the story – but the unexplained elements surrounding the core are hypnotizing at times.
And now comes The Modern Ocean:
The competition for valuable shipping routes, the search for the hidden cache of priceless material and the powerful need for vengeance will converge in a spectacular battle on the rolling decks of behemoth cargo ships. This epic tale, fraught with danger and intrigue, takes us from the ancient trading houses of Algeria to the darkest depths of the ocean floor.Enormously inventive, but grounded in arcane reality, THE MODERN OCEAN will draw audiences in to a secretive world filled with mysterious technologies and bitter rivalries.
Carruth has been working on the film for some time now, and it appears to be coming together with a powerful ensemble. Along with Reeves, Hathaway, and Radcliffe is Jeff Goldblum, Chloë Grace Moretz, Tom Holland, Asa Butterfield, and Abraham Attah from Beast of No Nation. This is far and away the biggest star power Carruth has had at his disposal, but thankfully his main intention here is to keep his labyrinthine storytelling style in tact. Carruth said as much to The Playlist:
I’m constantly interested in the politics, interactions between different personalities, different characters. That’s what this boils down to: it erupts into a big action film, essentially, but the reasons why it does are the reasons the story exists…That characters are unable to get aligned is because they’re all pointed in different directions, they all have slightly different motives. And that’s not always known to the group.
This obtuse approach to his work is what makes it so fascinating, and the themes he touches on in this interview echo in both Primer and Upstream Color. This is easily my most anticipated film of whatever year it comes out. Let’s hope it’s next year, and not 2017.
In the latest episode of Agents of SHIELD entitled “Among Us Hide”, some story lines finally get answers, such as the identity of Lash and what exactly the ATCU is doing with Inhumans. However, some things are still left lingering, such as Fitz and Simmons attempts to rescue Will and Ward’s goals with HYDRA, with no real expansion as far as these side stories go.
At this point, SHIELD has stretched their plots from focusing on the team as a whole, to something more of individual stories involving one or two characters, leaving the “team” element on the back burner, at least for now.
There are several major plots currently being explored on SHIELD. The least explored as far as “Among Us Hide” went, was Fitz and Simmons looking for some way to return to the alien planet or moon, in which Will is still currently trapped. The only way they expanded upon this was Fitz’s inability to find a solution at this time and reassuring Simmons, that no matter what he will find a way to save Will. Even after Hunter made reluctance comments, about him bringing the man Simmons had been with the last six months and a direct way to bring him back to her.
“Among Us Hide” also focused on the budding personal relationship between Coulson and Rosalind Price, as well as their professional one. After what Coulson believes to be another ruse or avoidance tactic to keep SHIELD away from their base again, he is finally given access to the ATCU base directly. It is here that he learns that the ATCU has been putting these Inhumans in a form a stasis, in order to find a cure, rather than the SHIELD philosophy of simply allowing them to find uses for their abilities.
This discovery of what happens to the Inhumans when captured by the ATCU runs directly parallel to a mission that Daisy, Hunter, and Mac are currently executing in trying to find the identity of Lash. Daisy and Mac believe that Lash has to be a member of the ATCU, with Hunter tagging along after being sidelined by Coulson, after his mistake in last week’s episode and endangering Dr. Gardner. While the agent that they suspect has been found not to be an Inhuman and just a regular human, it does lead them to discovery the ATCU base and witnessing Coulson there with Rosalind Price. Bringing Daisy to now question Coulson’s loyalties, after seeing their treatment of Inhumans and what he will do about it.
Finally, the last plot thread that to be expanded upon was May’s return to SHIELD, after Ward’s attempt to have her ex-husband killed. May then recruits Bobbi to go back to the field, with both women searching for Werner von Strucker, who has gone on the run after failing Ward and fearing for his life. May and Bobbi are eventually able to track down von Strucker, where May questions him on what exactly happened with Dr. Gardner at the convenience store. This scene is where we finally get the answer to who is Lash. The reason von Strucker and the HYDRA agents failed in killing him was because Gardner is an Inhuman and Lash. With “Among Us Hide” closing with an ominous conversation between Gardner and Daisy, after Gardner begins questioning the whereabouts of Lincoln and no one besides May aware of this new information.
Overall, while “Among Us Hide” was a solid episode, it was pretty uneventful besides the revelation of Dr. Garner being an Inhuman and specifically Lash. There are so many major plot points, that week to week one could get lost or feel unfulfilled, because of so much is happening. In the era of streaming TV and watching series in bulk, slow-burning episodes can sometimes feel like filler
With series like Flash and Arrow bringing some new each week, especially in their newest seasons, the speed at which Agents of SHIELD is currently moving is a bit disappointing. Between Ward and HYDRA, the Inhumans, the inklings of building up and setting the tone for Captain America: Civil War, Simmons and Fitz trying to cross space, with several mini plots in between those, it’s a lot to follow, pay attention and cover. SHIELD needs to buckle down and focus in on the story they want to tell, which was advertised as this season focusing on creating the Secret Warriors. While this is only episode 6, it doesn’t feel like we’ve moved much farther since episode one. There is just too much happening.
Sometimes less is more and SHIELD needs to follow this, unless it wants to fall behind other superhero shows.
That all being said, the big reveal of Lash, which was huge and saved the episode in a lot of ways. It will also be interesting in how the Inhumans will also play into the bigger MCU world, with slight parallels being created in the way the ATCU and SHIELD are handling them, with Captain America: Civil War on the horizon.
To conclude, other than the exceptional actions scenes and strong characters we’ve come to love, SHIELD needs to do less and focus more. Otherwise, this will be an extremely long season. And if it continues, they might even fall behind the CW’s superhero universe, Supergirl and Gotham, as well as the MCU’s own Jessica Jones. SHIELD is great at what it does and knows how to be unique and entertaining in its own right, at the moment they are trying to handle too much.
With official word from CBS that a new Star Trek series is slated to premiere January 2017, Trekkies everywhere are asking the logical question: what will this new series be about? With six television series, twelve films, and a myriad of books and comics, Star Trek boasts one of the most expansive fictional universes in pop culture, and no matter what path this latest Trek takes, it will have more than enough fascinating material to draw upon. Looking through the possibilities, here are five ideas for a new Star Trek television series.
Captain Worf
One of Star Trek’s most iconic characters, Worf has appeared in more episodes of the franchise than any other series regular. Throughout both The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, the Son of Mogh provided audiences with an operatic personal journey worthy of Kahless himself. With his understated humor and unshakeable sense of honor, Worf remains one of the strongest supporting characters in the history of Star Trek, and some of the most powerful storylines of both TNG and DS9 were those which followed him in his struggle to remain loyal to both the Klingon Empire and the Federation. A Captain Worf series would also allow other great characters from the Prime Reality to return – from TNG luminaries such as Picard and Riker to captivating supporting characters from DS9 like Martok and Garak. Actor Michael Dorn himself has expressed interest in reprising the role.
The Far Future of the Prime Reality
When Star Trek successfully returned to television in 1987, it returned as a new series set one hundred years after the original show. This gave the creators of TNG a wonderfully developed backdrop of established history and ideas to play with, while also allowing them enough room to develop brand new concepts and characters. What worked once could very well work again, and with a past already richly defined by its previous television incarnations, a new series set a century after the exploits of Picard, Sisko, and Janeway could breathe fresh air into the Prime Reality, that is the prime universe in which all of Star Trek prior to the 2009 film was set.
Vanguard
The greatest of all original Trek book series, Star Trek: Vanguard was created by writer David Mack and editor Marco Palmieri back in 2005. This series followed the harrowing adventures of the crew and residents of Starbase 47, also known as Vanguard. Set during the time period of the original series, Vanguard weaved the political and military events of Kirk’s time with an intergalactic mystery that the Vanguard crew were tasked with solving. Mack and fellow series writers Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore created an assortment of characters more nuanced and complex than those found in any other Trek series outside of DS9. Their brilliant character work and engrossing storylines could easily sustain seven seasons of successful television.
Department of Temporal Investigations
Another interesting series from Trek literature is Christopher L. Bennett’sDepartment of Temporal Investigations, which takes a closer look at time travel in the Star Trek universe. Agents Lucsly and Dulmer and their fellow investigators at DTI are tasked with protecting the space-time continuum from threats past, present, and future. Together they must face devastating temporal incursions, ancient alien technology gone wrong, and the recklessness of Starfleet captains, in what amounts to Star Trek’s version ofDr. Who.
The Mirror Universe
The most iconic of all of Star Trek’s alternate timelines, the Mirror Universe presents not an optimistic future of human courage and cooperation, but rather a universe ruled by the savagery and destructive passions lurking within humankind. Introduced in the original series and expanded upon in DS9, this grim world has yet to be introduced in the New Reality, the timeline in which the new Star Trek film series takes place. A show set in the Mirror Universe of the New Reality could provide Star Trek’s rebooted franchise with an unique television counterpart, and perhaps lay the groundwork for a crossover film set in this dark corner of the Star Trek multiverse.
