"Superman IV: The Quest for Peace-Deluxe Edition" DVD

posted by Tygrrius @ 6:10 AM

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace-Deluxe Edition
The Christopher Reeve Superman Collection, Disc 8
Superman: The Ultimate Collector's Edition, Disc 9

Anyone can write a bad review of 1987's Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Without a doubt, it is the worst Superman movie. It would be extraordinarily easy for me to sit here and pick the film apart.

Many of the items I would point out, though, are also observed by screenwriter Mark Rosenthal in a candid commentary track, available on this "deluxe" edition for the first time.

Rather than merely cover the same ground as Rosenthal, I want to start by mentioning two or three scenes that I personally enjoy in Superman IV. The first of these I've talked about before, in the article Superman's Top Cinematic Moments.

While wrestling with the question of whether or not to remove all nuclear weapons from the planet, Clark reveals his true identity to Lois - temporarily reversing the magic kiss.

In this continuity, with both of his adopted parents dead, no one knows Clark's secret. Except perhaps for Lana Lang from Superman III, but that character is forgotten in IV anyway. "You’re the only one I can talk to, Lois," he tells her. For a brief moment, he is able to be his one, true self with her.

The brevity of that moment reveals the inner loneliness of Superman. He is not a perfect man who leads a perfect life. People who think that have only looked at the surface of the character. Superman IV fails in many ways, but it does succeed in arguing against the perfection myth.

"'Never love one of them above the rest. Love all humanity instead.' That’s not fair," he tells her sadly before kissing away her memories once again. What this incarnation of Superman wants more than almost anything, he can never have. No matter how great his superpowers. Yet, he still wants it.

Later, there is a somewhat similar character-driven moment. After a battle with Nuclear Man, Superman is thought dead. Not coincidentally, Clark stops showing up at work. When Superman's cape, lost in the battle, turns up at the Planet, Lois immediately takes it to the absent Clark.

Hidden, not erased, by the kiss, the memories are still there. Part of her still knows that Clark and Superman are one and the same. She finds Clark ill in his apartment, seeming to have flu-like symptoms. In reality, he is near death from the battle.

She gives him the cape to give to Superman and pours her heart out to him about her feelings for Superman. She seems, perhaps, to consciously know, but never quite comes out to say it. In the wasteland of Superman IV, the scene is a little gem that can be easily overlooked.

Among the returning cast members, it is actually Margot Kidder that shines the most. Perhaps the little break offered by her cameo-only appearance in Superman III did her some good, as she seems less fatigued in her role compared to the others - even Christopher Reeve.

Though not perfect, Superman is the ultimate idealist. If there is one trait that Reeve shared with his most famous character, it was probably that idealism. Near the movie's end, Superman offers up a small speech that in many ways sums up both him and Reeve:

What a brilliant future we could have. And there will be peace. There will be peace when the people of the world want it so badly that their governments will have no choice but to give it to them.

I just wish that you could all see the Earth the way that I see it. Because when you really look at it, it's just one world.

In some ways, the above is quintessential Superman. Corny? Maybe coming from anybody else. But Superman believes it.

The Commentary

I've already mentioned screenwriter Mark Rosenthal's commentary track a bit. It's excellent and well worth a listen. Since this is Superman IV, I may very well end up being one of the few people outside of Rosenthal's friends and family to take the time to hear this.

Scene-by-scene, Rosenthal honestly takes apart the movie. He talks about what went wrong, what his hopes were for particular scenes, and what was removed. All in all, you can empathize with his sense of profound loss.

And, let's be very clear here, Superman IV was a loss for many people. Looking at Rosenthal's perspective, he started with the high of being the writer of the next Superman movie. He watched the project slowly disintegrate before his eyes, until it became the low of being the writer of Superman IV, the movie that nearly killed the Superman movie franchise.

After Superman III, the Salkinds sold their portion of the rights to Cannon films. This was a group that specialized in B-movies. Superman IV was to be their first big budget, "legitimate" picture. Then funding fell through and Superman IV essentially became a B-movie, too.

In the early stages, Reeve championed the project and contributed some of the story ideas. Rosenthal calls the events behind the scenes of Superman IV an "unfortunate and almost unethical betrayal of Chris Reeve."

The commentary is almost entirely centered on the movie itself, rather than delving into boring tangents. Rosenthal even momentarily forgets to introduce himself and never really talks about his background, how he came to be on the project, and what he has done since then. He tends to stop talking at certain dialogue scenes, which I'm betting is more the writer in him wanting to hear the words versus a lack of anything to say.

Though he mentions none of this in the commentary, Rosenthal's previous movie credits were The Legend of Billie Jean, starring Supergirl's Helen Slater, and The Jewel of the Nile. He would later go on to obtain a writing credit on Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country along with Superman IV co-writer Lawrence Konner. The Star Trek VI writing credit arbitration is a long and convoluted story that I'll save for some other time over the next decade or two. More recently, he co-wrote the remake of Planet of the Apes.

Rosenthal contends that the primary reasons Superman IV failed are:

1.) Severe budget cuts, particularly during pre-production

2.) Ineffective casting/conceptualization of Nuclear Man

3.) The trimming of the 134 minute "director's cut" down to 89 minutes prior to the release of the film.

The impact of the low budget is certainly evident throughout the film. After three movies of spectacular effects, Superman IV is a huge let-down. Suddenly, we're back with 1950's Adventures of Superman TV series technology.

Do I think it's possible to make an effective Superman movie without big-budget effects? Sure, but it would require a very different kind of story than presented in Superman IV or any of the other movies.

Rosenthal never addresses whether any thought was given to overhauling the entire script in light of the budget crunch. Since the budget cuts came in pre-production, it would seem that the movie should have been significantly rewritten to accommodate a simpler, less-effects heavy story. However, a re-write, too, may very well have been outside of the budget.

As for Nuclear Man, Rosenthal conceived of him as a fluid character -- to be played at times by Christopher Reeve and at other times as an effect. Ideally, he is probably right. Within the confines of Superman IV's budget, though, it is actually better that such an approach wasn't taken as the result simply would have been even more bad effects.

Mark Pillow won the role of Nuclear Man, his first movie. "Once they cast a guy with teased hair . . . any tension or any danger or fear in the movie was doomed," notes Rosenthal. Nuclear Man was voiced by Gene Hackman, who also of course appears as Lex Luthor. Pillow has never appeared in another movie.

I think it's a universal law that writers don't like their stuff to be cut, edited, or otherwise changed. Rosenthal is no exception. With a full third of the movie chopped off prior to release to theaters, he claims that Superman IV "became incomprehensible."

I've heard this argument for years, that Superman IV would have been much better if presented with the 45 minutes of excised footage. For instance, the Nuclear Man we see in the released movie is actually Luthor's second version. Entire segments with the first Nuclear Man and his battle against Superman were cut.

Jumping ahead a bit to the deleted scenes, this argument quickly falls apart. In "Nuclear Man's Prototype," we see Nuclear Man #1 (Clive Mantle) for the first time.

Here's all you need to know about Nuclear Man #1: Think Dudley Moore as a mildly retarded supervillain who flaps his arms like a turkey in order to fly.

Suddenly, Mark Pillow doesn't seem so awful.

Superman is understandably reluctant to battle such a person and instead tries to find out from him who he is and where he came from. However, he is forced to make short order of Nuclear Man #1 in "Metropolis After Hours," another excised scene. The only thing really lost by these deletions is an explanation for Nuclear Man #2's fascination with Lacy Warfield (Mariel Hemingway).

Do we really need an explanation for a man's fascination with a supermodel, though? Even Rosenthal mentions that the "pleasure of watching Mariel in tights . . . was probably worth the price of admission alone."

Among other scenes cut were ones involving Lex Luthor selling nuclear weapons to the USSR (where peace is an American conspiracy) and the USA (where peace is a Communist conspiracy).

Other than more Hackman time (let's spare him from appearing in any more of this bomb than necessary), there's really no story benefits from the nuclear trading scenes. Even in the cut version, it is obvious that this is part of Luthor's plan. These heavy-handed scenes just muddy the waters even further by making one wonder how it is that the two superpowers have suddenly forgotten how to make nuclear weapons on their own and have to rely on Lex.

Anyway, Superman IV is a case where an 89 minute bad movie is probably much better than a 134 minute bad movie. The torture may be painful at times, but at least it's short.

Rosenthal mostly glosses over what I consider the most glaring problem with the movie, though, and that's the story itself.

Let's take a look at another well-intentioned but failed movie that most of us are familiar with, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The story question of that movie essentially boils down to, "Will the crew of the Enterprise find God in the center of the galaxy?" As producer Harve Bennett so rightly admitted, the audience instinctively knows that the answer to that question is "no."

The story question of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is "Will Superman permanently rid the world of nuclear weapons?" Again, we already know the answer before the movie even gets around to asking the question.

Even with top-notch effects, superior casting, perfect directing, and tight editing, the underlying premise of Superman IV would have still been flawed. That's not to say there are no good ideas in the film. I've already mentioned a number of them. And, though it lost a lot in its execution, the concept of a supervillain cloned from Superman was a great idea for the time period.

Deleted Scenes

15 deleted scenes are included on the DVD. Their total running time is about thirty minutes, so obviously there's at least 15 more minutes of footage out there. Though Rosenthal contends that 45 minutes were cut from a finished, director's cut, the deleted scenes presented here are very much rough edits. They contain temporary music tracks, temporary effects, and rough audio and video.

Still, we get most of the scenes mentioned by Rosenthal, as well as several others, albeit in a rough form. Missing is a scene of Clark visiting the graves of the Kents, which I would have liked to see.

The deleted scenes show us what I mentioned above: the movie would not have been better with the additional scenes. It just would have been longer.

"Battle in Smallville" presents an interesting concept. Superman flies into the heart of a tornado to rescue a little girl. With modern effects and a decent budget, a scene like this could be fantastic. With the effects of Superman IV, it's probably better it didn't make the final cut.

In "No Borders," we get an extension of Superman's speech that I mentioned above. In this one, after stating that he wishes everyone could see the world like him, he notes that perhaps they can and then carries young Jeremy (the kid who wrote the letter asking Superman to rid the world of nukes and started this whole mess) into space where, somehow, Jeremy doesn't die, the live broadcast continues, and the kid tells the world that he sees no borders.

It's enough to make high school physics teachers cry.

* * *

Perhaps Christopher Reeve wasn't as sentimental about it all as us fans, but one of the saddest parts for me about Superman IV was that such a terrible movie would serve as Reeve's last appearance as the Man of Steel.

In some sense, 2006's Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut has now become Reeve's "last" Superman movie. Richard Donner and Michael Thau brought some justice to the world of Superman by allowing Reeve and the other key cast members a more graceful exit in an encore performance.

Superman's final words in Superman IV are "See you in twenty," to Lex Luthor. They would prove prophetic, for it would be nearly twenty years before Superman would return to the big screen after this disaster.

Movie: 3 (out of 10)
Video Quality: 10
Audio Quality: 9
Bonus Features: 8
Overall Experience: 5
Recommended: Only if you are interested in the bonus features, or if you are purchasing as part of a set

Mar 21st Comic RoundUp

posted by JediSheltie @ 11:31 AM

Wow, good week.

Justice Society of America #4

Well, comparisons between the opening JSA arc and the opening JLA arc are inevitable, and I'm all for following the herd. I wasn't a real JSA fan prior to giving this a shot. I did it because I've been liking Johns' work on other titles, and because of the strange, hypnotic effect of Power Girl's anatomy. After an opening arc that was mostly bereft of one of those reasons, I can say I'm now pretty much a 'fan'.

Yes, Power Girl didn't figure much here, but what did was a good story that laid out what the JSA was, why it was still around, and how its role is different from that other well known super team. So far, it seems one of the primary differences is they get into fights a lot more often. Hmmm, can't remember if I've made that joke before or not.

Johns delivered a well-paced story that covers the particulars on most of the newer members without getting trapped in deep backstory. This brisk backstory is painted against the sometimes bloody backdrop of a Nazi hit squad eliminating the families of current and former JSA members, and the JSA's efforts to stop it. Vandal Savage, a literally “old” enemy of the JSA is the mastermind of the effort, as he noticed along about the time the JSA turned up, his ability to shape the course of human events stopped.

Savage's plan to prune the JSA and their family trees from history is part of his long term goal to get back into the world-running saddle. The immortal Neanderthal goes head to head with the very mortal Wildcat and his meta-son in a well orchestrated fist fight brought to life nicely by Dave Eggalsham's art.

The broad strokes of the story flow well, as do the little character points, like the slightly sanity-challenged Starman's reaction to the White Dragon: “You see that too? I thought it was just me.”

This was a great start and I look forward to the upcoming JSA/JLA crossover. Johns should be able to provide a good counter-point to Meltzer's pacing handicap.

Supergirl #15

The pace picks up, and for those wishing Kara would pound on things more often, she does so here, namely would-be boyfriend “Power Boy.” It's kind of ironic this hits just a week after Pfeifer's message-heavy fill-in on Wonder Woman #5, as this issue brushes just a little close to be “very special” itself. I think the overall tone manages to remain above the “preachy” fray, but, well, remember kids, “Don't hit your girlfriend.”

Especially if she's as strong as Superman. Things fall on you... Big things.

We're getting closer to “the truth.” It's next issue, or so we're told. Number Fifteen serves as as a good, action-packed lead in. We discover where Power Boy comes from, and that's he's got a few emotional issues himself. Kara isn't much for a co-dependent relationship, and after that first punch, she's ready to move on. Power Boy proves to be a bit “clingy,” and his powers seem to be able to channel that rage Kara has built up inside her. This leads to a little rage-feedback smackdown on a level Power Boy turns out unprepared to deal with.

Kelly isn't shy about Kara's power. This is full on Kryptonian might as channeled by a pissed off 17 year old girl. There's apparently some “controversy” (when isn't there in comic power bragging matches) about the suggestions that Kara is stronger than Clark.

Warning, standard “pure comic speculation” disclaimer applies: I think they've addressed this issue pretty clearly. Clark is accustomed to his strength and consciously holds back, whereas Kara is not quite so “delicate and refined” with her abilities. Clark chooses to reign it in and only pour it on when absolutely necessary, Kara hasn't figured that out yet. Clark's subconscious ability to “turn it off” was the explanation for his depowering during the year after Infinite Crisis, after all.

Clark doesn't have a crystalline skeletal structure modification either.

Bonus quickie Supergirl review: Brave and the Bold #2. Though I had thought the series was going to follow the same team during its arcs, it seems to be changing up each issue. Scribe Mark Waid is apparently bringing us a tale from the (perhaps close) future where Kara is, if not “well adjusted”, a bit closer to his rendering in Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes than in the main title at the moment. After all, no one is going to believe Clark would actually suggest she go with GL on the mission in his place with her current state of mind in the main Supergirl comic.

Yes, I chose a bit of a positive spin on this little issue other than just coming out and calling “continuity conflict.”

Besides, look on the bright side, George Pérez was on art duties for this book, so Kara was lucky to make it out alive.

Birds of Prey #104

Fair waining, this is less of a “review” as just an open “thank you” letter to Gail Simone. And, you know, Spoiler Warning. I'm usually pretty ambivalent about that sort of thing, (ask Tygrrius about Star Trek VI sometime) but I have to admit, the sheer enjoyment in discovering the last page out of the blue was a truly memorable experience. Granted, due to the nature of the revelation and the character it concerns, sadly few readers might be so moved.

I really “got into” comics with the Death of Superman event in the early 90's. I had always been a Superman fan, but that fandom was fueled almost exclusively by the film and television incarnations. Brief flirtations with the comics never hooked me until that point. I could turn up the “cynicism” dial and say I was hooked by the marketing blitz, you bet.

The event crossed over into the current Justice League comic, the one populated by a cast of characters I'd certainly not seen on the Superfriends. Since Superman was the prime mover for me, it didn't concern me much. Yet, even though they were basically background characters to the main story, one immediately caught my eye. One who would stand, weeping, over Clark's body while Lois held him when he died.

I kept buying the Justice League title simply to keep up with Ice. I'm desperately trying not avoid making a “crush” pun, but I guess I just failed.

Tora was simply “nice.” All the complaints leveled at Clark by the “we-demand-dark-and-edgy superheroes” crowd for the “lilly white” nature of his character went even deeper for Tora. She combined an innocence and naiveté with a strong sense of right and wrong, which played off well against her friend and far more “worldly” teammate Fire.

While Fire lived on to immolate people for shadowy UN organizations, Ice was not so fortunate, having died fighting “the Overmaster,” a villain so forgettable his Wikipedia entry is only five short paragraphs. The only thing I remember about that arc, other than, of course, Tora's death, was the constant “where's Superman” feeling I had all the time. It seemed to me he'd notice a massive alien satellite parking itself in orbit.

I also remember thinking that was pretty much the end of Ice. Characters like her don't come back from the dead, after all. They're the under-card, the support that gets sent to the gallows to up the narrative ante. They don't get to come back because they're just replaced by others of a similar ilk, ready to lay down their lives to make a story “matter.”

I'm rather happy it's 13 years later and I'm getting my comeuppance. Couldn't have happened to a better character. I realize it's probably a bit premature to completely discount any kind of horrible, horrible tease, wherein the status quo will come crashing back down in the end. The Newsarama interview did allude to that possibility, but it was one line in an interview positively teeming with positivity about Tora, her legacy, and her place in the DCU.

Let's just hope Tora isn't back to be set adrift in the DCU, that she'll have a new permanent home with the Birds.

Mar 14th Comic RoundUp

posted by JediSheltie @ 7:07 PM

Alright, so I took a snooze too. I was just suffering from a minor bout of depression over the rather distressing revelation that Stephen Colbert is probably a Marvel fan. So disappointing in my little zero-sum fanboy world. DC needs to do something to get a little mainstream press love. Hmmm....

Quick! Kill Captain Marvel!

Uh... Not that I think it would garner any press for DC, I just don't like the character, that's all.

Short Version of Last Week-

Justice League of America #6

It's over, there was a fight, and it was... okay.

Overall, I'm not opposed to seeing more character driven, lower-key, long build-up stories featuring the JLA. It's just I think they'd work better in something other than the main JLA comic, especially the first 6 issues of a much-heralded relaunch. The main title needs to be the world shattering, epic stories of the JLA, consisting of the most powerful heroes in the DCU, banding together to meet threats only they can meet.

Meltzer got there, eventually, with Amazo, whose new power this time around was schizophrenia. Newbie Arsenal narrated the fight, while not contributing much against an android with all the powers of the Justice League. It was finally explained what Vixen was there for, namely Amazo had her power totem so he could swipe other heroes' powers. There's a brief kind of "gangs all here" implication at the end, promising we're done with the preliminaries. But there were vague promises of many more fights than one in the last six episodes.

I believe the JLA/JSA crossover is up next. With Johns on the other end of the line, I think we're at least assured there will be a more healthy helping of epic smackdowns in store.

This story was still good, the art was great, and it's just that it wasn't really the best way to lead off. I think this would, and will, no doubt, end up being a pretty good trade. You could tackle it in a single sitting, and appreciate the "slow boil" a little better because you get the bubbles in 60 minutes instead of 6 months.

Meltzer's a novelist by trade, where you don't really have to worry about the reader not having the next chapter for over a month. I think that might have something to do with the miss-steps in pacing in this initial story.

This Week-

Superman #660

Not much to say here, actually. This was a Prankster story. Not really a bad effort, overall, but you did kind of come away with the idea that this title is kind of "on hold" until the rest of the DCU (I'm looking at you, Action) sorts itself out. We learn the Prankster has his own bevy of 60's Batman TV show beauties/hench-chicks, and why he does what he does. Superman gets a few frames here and there as well.

The story paints the Prankster as a "distraction for hire", someone who will take the Super-heat for you while you go off and rob the bank, or snatch the odd purse or two. It's an interesting premise. I don't really think it calls into question Clark's intelligence, as the pattern is, no doubt, obvious. That doesn't make the distractions any less dangerous to people and property. He has to deal with them, even if he knows it's only a distraction. The Prankster knows he has to, and he knows he knows, and... You know... Ad infinitum.

Guest artists didn't do much for me. Serviceable, at best, but nothing like the top notch work seen in recent episodes. Granted, we all know by now that “top notch work” can be a bit time consuming, and I'm on the record as saying I'll take “okay” if keeps the presses running on time.

Wonder Woman #5

Who's Wonder Woman? We'll apparently find out at some indeterminate point in the future. For now it seems we all have to just "assume" this Diana chick is the real thing.

This rescheduled "fill-in" episode is written by Will Pfeifer, who's on the upcoming "Amazon's Attack" mini, which sounds pretty good. It's got Pete Woods doing art, who did most of the "Up, Up, and Away" arc post-IC on Superman and Action, so that's another strong vote in its favor.

Here we have a bit of a prologue to those events and more that noted bestselling novelist (oh no!) Jodi Picoult will be exploring in the next four issues, most of which are, from what's been said, in the can (oh yes!).

Pfeifer's fill-in is the "very special episode" kind of issue. It comes out strongly in favor of not beating women. Not that I disagree, but in terms of bold moral stances, that one is about as 'edgy' as being anti-Nazi.

Agent Diana Prince is sent to the "Athenian Women's Shelter" to determine if it has any connection to Wonder Woman. Sarge Steele doesn't have much reason to just "take her word for it" when Agent Prince reasons it's probably not. After all, she hadn't heard of it before.

That's pretty much the story in a nutshell. The window dressing is the stories of battered women who thank the Shelter for their help, and the people who run the shelter explaining to Agent Prince how Wonder Woman was an inspiration for them not to feel helpless. For one, it was the truly uplifting moment when Wonder Woman turned Max Lord's vertebrae into a pretzel on national TV.

I thought the solicitation indicated Diana would have a little trepidation about what her actions wrought. There's none of that here, just some tepid "right ons" as she listens to stories of battered women solving their problems with an equal helping of violence against their oppressors. I'm not saying there was not justification here, as any good Jennifer Lopez movie would have us believe, but I was expecting some reflection on the obvious cycle of violence these "inspired women" were creating.

The issue ends... Oddly. After saving a woman who married some nameless, retired meta-jerk from being pulped, giving him a good talking-to, and turning him in, Wonder Woman flies off into the sunset, confident of another inspirational job done. The guy then turns up dead in the last panel, but it is rather unclear as to whether he committed suicide or was murdered. If he committed suicide, then, wow, he did one hell of a messy job.

In any case, I've taken my moral lesson home for the week with this issue.

"Wolf In The Fold" ("Star Trek: Remastered" edition)

posted by Tygrrius @ 5:20 AM

Star Trek (Remastered): "Wolf In The Fold"
Remastered Episode #23 (3/10/2007)
Original Episode #36 (12/22/1967)

"Wolf In The Fold" offers up a second-season murder mystery from writer Robert Bloch. Bloch is best known, perhaps, for writing a little novel called Psycho. It was later adapted into the screenplay of the Alfred Hitchcock film. Bloch also wrote the Trek episodes "Catspaw" and "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"

After suffering a blow to his skull due to an explosion caused by a woman, Scotty is brought to a night club on a pleasure planet by prescription of Dr. McCoy.

You see, there's a concern that Scotty might subconsciously harbor resentment towards women due to the accident. McCoy's thinking is that watching women dance seductively would ease any such resentment from Scotty's mind. Taking one for the team, Kirk accompanies the two.

Though not an Orion slavegirl, the dancer Kara certainly evokes the style of one. You can almost imagine the shadow of Gene Roddenberry as he watches off-camera.

Scotty sweet-talks Kara and she leaves with him. Unfortunately for the chief engineer, the dancer soon turns up dead - a victim of multiple stabbings. Scott is found holding the weapon. The rest of the episode is spent trying to explain how Scotty could not have committed the murder, or two subsequent ones in which he manages to implicate himself.

"Wolf In The Fold" offers the Star Trek: Remastered team a bit of a breather, as it contains nearly no effects beyond standard Enterprise in orbit shots. The computer-generated Enterprise continues to look beautiful. She looks real.

Forget the effects, though, what really needs replacing in "Wolf In The Fold" is James Doohan's fake Scottish accent. As a featured background player, Scotty is usually acceptable. In the forefront, as he is in this episode, he often becomes annoying. The character is just too much of a caricature to bear the spotlight for long.

Speaking of characters more suited to the background, Doohan looks like an acting genius compared to George Takei in a thankfully brief appearance near the episode's end. He stinks up the place as a tranquilized/drunk Lieutenant Sulu.

This episode marks the first (and, as far as I know, only) appearance of the "psycho-tricorder," probably a nod to Bloch's novel. The psycho-tricorder looks amazingly like a standard tricorder, the major difference being that it is held by the exquisite Lieutenant Karen Tracy rather than somebody boring like Spock. Tracy is left alone with Scotty, though, so her Trek career is short-lived.

All-in-all not a bad episode, but not one of the great ones. The nice thing about the original Star Trek is that it could feature a murder mystery without having an android play dress-up as Sherlock Holmes.

A couple of good companion movies to "Wolf In The Fold" would be Time After Time (written and directed by a pre-Star Trek Nicholas Meyer and starring a pre-Star Trek Malcolm McDowell and a pre-Star Trek David Warner) and Fallen (starring a pre-Star Trek Denzel Washington - who is technically still pre-Star Trek and, thus, still has a career).

Dramatic Content: 7 (out of 10)
Effects Upgrades: 7
Overall Experience: 7

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Feb 28th Comic RoundUp

posted by JediSheltie @ 11:22 PM

Good week. The new team on Flash is looking good, though they have a really low standard to live up to this point. Geoff Johns continues to churn out great comics at an amazing rate. All this and I still haven't reviewed a single issue of 52, including the last one with the giant hungry crocodile. Personally, I still prefer the one where Renee Montoya hit on Wonder Woman.

Flash #9

This snuck into the box and took me a bit by surprise, which is disappointing, as I wonder if DC kind of forgot to promote the fact that their TV dream-team was finally shown the door. It's annoying, really, as this minor “reboot” after the major “reboot” is definitely a case of second-times a charm.

As an introduction to the character, it works well. Wisely, new scribe Marc Guggenheim simply acknowledges Bart Allen's complex backstory without actually going into any detail. In one of the best moments, Bart simply sums things up thusly:

“End of the day, you only need to know two things about me. I can run real fast and I help people.”

Since that backstory is generally enough to send anyone unprepared running for the hills, starting up by simply putting the Flash and his powers on display is the right way to go. We see a bit more of Bart's humor here as well. The rather flat, one note, “introspective” Flash Bilson and DeMeo provided is put on the shelf, pretty much where he belongs. Bart isn't perfectly adjusted by any means, but Guggenheim strikes a wise balance between the upbeat Bart we expect and the young man who grew up a lot faster than he planned.

Bart defeats the rather ironically named villain “Impulse” while chatting with Tim Drake about his possibly rejoining the Titans. Then heads back to police training, gets dumped by his girlfriend, and does battle with a recently returned illegitimate off-spring of Darksied. The last part promises the Flash will be playing a role in the upcoming DC events. A final page gives us a look into Bart's team “aspirations”, which are more appropriately aligned for “The Flash” than for Bart's previous heroic alter-egos.

This is definitely the reboot that Flash 1 should have been. An action heavy showcase for the Flash that manages to work in his current situation in broad strokes without drowning the reader in thick layers of backstory. The promise of having Flash involved in coming “big events” is a bonus, and well worthy of one of DC's most recognizable properties.

Green Lantern #17

Johns hasn't stumbled yet for this title, and the hits keep on coming. It's almost a cheat that one of the best moments in the comic comes in the first three pages, though necessary in terms of the overall plot. The threat of the Sinestro Corps, which has been bubbling in the background over the past few issues, is about to accept center stage. The Sinestro Corps ring is on the lookout for someone from Hal's sector that is known for instilling great fear.

It ends up with Amon Sur, but the first choice is quite logical, if sadly “misinformed.”

Before Sur gets his yellow ring, he's primarily busy whining about his dead father and “monologuing” over the powerless Hal Jordan, whom he plans to finally kill in order to accept his dad's ring. Two men, each lacking fatherly guidance as they grew up, coming to very different ends. While Sur uses it as an excuse to preform any kind of misdeed that suits him, Hal draws strength from his distant memories of his father and refuses to use his loss as a moral crutch.

Hal's rather pale skin is eventually saved by a fellow undercover Lantern, the identity of whom should come as little surprise if I tell you it's not Guy Gardner. Yep, that Lantern from the cartoon Justice League is back. I know, I know, John Stewart has a far richer history in the DCU than the recent toon appearance. Since I wasn't around to read any of it, I didn't find his appearance all that inspiring.

Art is still top notch. Reis seems to be getting out issues on a reasonably timely basis, bucking recent trends in other top tier books. Considering the quality, it's great to see it arrive every month.

Action #846

That last sentence was in no way a “segue”. That being said, it's nice to get the next installment, and even the months of waiting didn't dampen the end result. Johns and Donner move the story along while providing a bit of a recap for those whose memories may have grown dim with age. Much like the films from which they came, Zod and company find their way to the Fortress to have Jor-El recite their history.

Naturally, Zod feels the account is a mite biased. It is interesting to note that Zod is revealed to have been a supporter of Jor-El's “Krypton is doomed” theory, obviously one of the few. It's easy to conjure Terence Stamp's voice for Zod's lines. You'll find a few lines of dialog “lifted” directly from the films in other contexts, but they work well.

The character work when Clark and Lois bring the boy to the office for the first time sparkles. We discover Lois' opinion of the “age appropriateness” of Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince's alter egos. This short preliminary moves quickly to the meat of the title, action, as Zod and company arrive at the Daily Planet in a manner a bit more spectacular than they did back Superman II. Granted, it's a bit unfair to compare the two, but it's nice to see the ideas writ large here, without being confined by an effects budget.

Clark and Zod and Non proceed to “catch up” over the next few pages. If I had to nitpick one point, I'm not sure there's any logical reason Lois should be alive right now, other than the fact that, you know, they can't actually kill her. At least, not in a “non-event” comic. She encounters Ursa alone while trying to escape with the boy. Spunky girl reporter or no, Ursa appropriates the boy with ease, but simply knocks Lois unconscious in the end. Maybe she only kills guys. She and Circe from Wonder Woman would get along... assuming they exist in the same universe, of course.

One of the minor details we learn as Zod and company listen to Jor-El early on is that they were merely some of the last criminals to find their way into the Zone. This little piece of information becomes important at the end of the issue. Suffice to say, if anyone was ever worried what happens when “Superman goes bad,” well, they have some test cases to try out all their contingencies on.

I'd complain about the art, but I've already gone on record as saying I liked it. It's true, I still do, but in light of general revelations that it is the fine art that's taking so damn long, I'd certainly accept a downgrade. Johns and, to whatever extent, Donner, are doing a great job with the story. I'd argue the story itself could certainly outshine any reduction in art quality. It's only a comfort new art teams are on the way, so the stories Johns and Donner put out will reach us with a little more rapidity than they have of late.

"Fire Serpent" TV movie

posted by JediSheltie @ 7:15 PM

Apparently, William Shatner isn't all that concerned about what he lends his name to... Gee, when did that start happening?

Yes, the latest affront to film-making and CGI from the Sci-Fi Channel was billed as "From the Mind of William Shatner." Crass marketing gimmick? You betcha. Do I feel particularly bad for having "fell for it"? Not really. Here's why: I would have watched it anyway. The generally pathetic manner in which my Saturday nights proceed usually includes watching the Sci-Fi Saturday Original movie.

I think it's Sci-Fi's way of adding insult to injury. Yeah, you're a loser at home on Saturday night, here's a really crappy movie to keep you company.

So, why ever did Bill Shatner add his name to the promo in roughly the exact same manner as "Quentin Tarantino Presents A Film I Have Nothing To Do With Except This Tagline"? My bet, his ole buddy Gordon Wang, Location Manager extraordinaire for TekWar, called him up and begged him to do it. Bill is that kind of guy.

I'm sure the fact the other producers and writers of Fire Serpent are the Reeves-Stevens had nothing to do with it at all.

The Plot

Fire Serpent is the story of a CGI model with procedural flame shaders and particle effects alternately moving on its own and possessing people in order to move. Since the film doesn't set any ground rules for the monster, it's not really clear why it has to do the odd possession, except to further the plot at convenient points and allow one shot of literal "heat vision."

Fire Serpent is also the story of Randolph Mantooth, who encountered the titular monster as a young fire firefighter, when it possessed his would-be girlfriend and tried to toast him. Now he travels the world, trying to stop the beasts from... setting things on fire, presumably.

Fire Serpent is the story of a young firefighter played by Nicholas Brendon, who loses his partner to the creature in "the present", and whom no one believes when he says the fire is alive. Except the conveniently placed Mantooth.

Fire Serpent is the story of Sandrine Holt, whose career was probably on the uptick after a guest shot on last season's 24, but has hit the skids once more as a government investigator seeking to determine the cause of a rash of recent fires.

Fire Serpent is the story of Robert Beltran, who probably would have been subject of the Sci-Fi channel promos if Bill hadn't stolen his thunder. "Robert Beltran of Star Trek: Voyager, in Fire Serpent!" Manitorce worked out so well for him, after all. Robert plays a shady fed from The Agency We Made Up For This Film, who is hunting the fire serpents. But it's all just a ruse, he really wants to capture one so he can unleash it on the world and start the Apocalypse. His motivations for this aren't entirely spelled out, other than, you know, seemed like it was a good idea at the time.

Yeah, Fire Serpent is all of the stories, with a little early subplot about a couple female reporters thrown in at the beginning to add some additional T&A. None of these stories are even vaguely compelling, and because these "finely woven threads" don't weave together much at all until somewhere around the last half hour mark, it's easy to forget about people you had just spent 15 minutes with because you don't see them for the next half hour.

Eventually we get to the whole, good vs. evil, avert the Apocalypse showdown at the end, where the age old F/X adage about flame and water not scaling well is on brilliant display. This is perhaps even more pathetic, since the creature's flames are CGI. Perhaps the old Mac they rendered this on didn't have the horsepower to scale up the effects.

Writing / Acting / & The Rest

Though I've found the Reeves-Stevens Trek books to be passable, the writing here isn't exactly "sharp". When character A says "I'll take the creature to Los Alamos", and I stand there repeating the line "We're not going to Los Alamos" over and over for a full 10 seconds before character B says "I'm not going to Los Alamos", you realize it's not the kind of taut, suspense-filled dialogue provided by the average episode of Two And A Half Men.

Oddly enough, the poor souls unfortunate enough to be caught in this trap are a (small) cut above the usual crop of D-listers Sci-Fi scrapes together for these projects. It's not like they're given much to work with here, and most of them choose to merely glide to the occasion. Beltran doesn't do much to make me believe his character was completely "into" the Apocalypse. I think if someone offered him a gift certificate to Fuddruckers, he'd probably just grab the burger instead.

Sadly, no one stepped up to the plate with the gift certificate, and the world was nearly destroyed.

The effects... Well, the effects were on a Sci-Fi Original Movie, so they were about what you expect. Granted, they were slightly better than the recent Gryphon entry, which set new, sad lows in CGI effects. If you're looking for cheap splatter, look elsewhere, as most of the deaths are (shockingly, I know) flame-related and thus very clean and crispy. Don't let the "sliced in two" tag on the IMDb fool you.

Geeze, when the IMDb go all Web 2.0 on me?

In any case, this flick wasn't even fun in a "bad movie" way. So that means it's not worth your time. I hope Sci-Fi gets back to doing more sequels to Pumpkinhead. God knows watching inbred rednecks get decapitated is a much better way to spend a Saturday night than this crap.