Sunday 31 January 2010

Power Rangers

Power Rangers is, like Smallville, a guilty pleasure of mine. It's crap, but reliable for early morning entertainment. Over the last, what 16 years its been going it's improved in leaps and bounds. The latest, and possibly last, version "Power Rangers RPM" took the recycled themes used from the last ten or so series and played on them. Producing a surprisingly well thought out and interesting show that proved the format, in the right hands, still has a lot of life to it.

Knowing that it was being watched by the old fans of the classic shows as much as new viewers the writers played up to all those things we expected to see. They then gave all the clichés and themes a twist. It wasn't anything new in the grand scheme of things but it was fun to see develop and grow, especially with the twists included this time. For example it's become predictable that the first few members of the team will be joined by a new rebel member who will become the focus of the series (think Green Ranger) so the writers introduced him right from the start with a knowing wink and explored the original team later with flashbacks. This made them all interesting and mysteries from the start rather than just the newcomer. A welcome change.

You could argue RPM was "inspired" by Mad Max and Terminator. I would say that the premiss was stolen straight from those films, but what they did with it was entertaining, clever and well organised. Outside of the writing the acting, always the weakest point of Power Rangers, was well above par. Same for direction and Special Effects, another two aspects that are easily ridiculed but were respectable here.

RPM was anything but the corny over the top karate showcase the original show was. As this was supposed to be the last series you can see a real care and attention was paid to the craft this time around. Developing strong characters and making them believable in an outlandish plot. Even the Scottish ranger blue (the idea of a Scotsman running around in blue spandex has me laughing every time!)

That's not to say it was perfect, once again the comic relief sucked all drama from his scenes. In attempting to chew the scenery he only demonstrated that he wasn't really funny or likeable. The flipping back and forth of the villain-to-be-redeemed in the last few episodes also dragged down the ending. Although in it's defence the actress they got pulled off the dual personality, being both ruthless while evil and unsure when innocent and it was a good arc to begin with. There were also the usual embarrassing moments that are supposed to be funny and the dramatic tension that will be undermined by the plot device of the week but that is to be expected.

RPM was one of the best Power Rangers series and as a whole the show went out on a high note. It would be a shame if it truly was the last ever, but if it is I can't think of a better way to end the show.

Edit.
Technically it was the last so far. With the original Mighty Morphin' Rangers getting the "Re-mastered" treatment. Making it more comic and "child friendly". "Child" in this case means what a group of overweight, cigar chomping, corporate executives think children want. After running about a dozen focus groups with the Pro-Christian, far right, Mary Whitehouse loving, shut in mother's board against fun and quality in Television.

I swear this body exists somewhere. Complaining about things like including the word "War" in cartoons, trying to ban loony tunes because it shows violence to animals, refusing to show blood on TV. All because their little darling children shouldn't be exposed to the real world. Grow up!

Wednesday 13 January 2010

Earth Fighter




Another sketch drawing for my novel.

Earth had the first fighter interceptors to operate in space. Over the years the basic design didn't change much. Long and thin the ship relied on four omnidirectional thrusters for manoeuvres that were mounted fore and aft on dedicated armatures , two front mounted cannons for short range and two large missile bays for long range attacks. The missile bays could be adapted for bombing runs on planetary targets.
Despite later weapons developments resulting in Pulse Plasma Turrets for capital ships and mid range space bases the power requirements made upgrading the fighters impractical. Leaving them with relatively crude but effective weapons until the end of the war.
Unfortunately while the fighter was effective in both space and atmosphere it was unable to withstand the forces of leaving or entering an atmosphere. That and other problems; including lack of FTL, limited oxygen supplies, limited (if effective) ordinance and short range sensors meant that they were forever tied to their carriers and bases.
Still the shear impact of these fighters; combined with their agility, firepower and numbers meant that Earth forces could deploy astounding amounts of destructive potential on a battlefield.

Saturday 9 January 2010

Warzone Poster,




Hot Rod again, from a better angle.

Wednesday 6 January 2010

Why?

This is a response to the strange ramble over here

As I read it I'm left alternating between asking "what the hell?' and "what is love". Now I'm not some sappy romantic, I have a cold, hard and pessimistic out look on life, but I do see love as a crowning point.

A good few years ago I knew a girl. I worked with her at a local Youth Council, it was one of those ideas the government comes up with to get people interested in local politics. After working with and knowing her for two years (teasing her about her love of Harry Potter) I realised that I liked her. A lot. She was beautiful, smart, not afraid to argue you down when she thought you were wrong and clearly crazy in her own way. Even on the rare times I hear from her these days she hasn't changed, wearing her heart on her sleeve and not caring one jot what people think.
She never found the status quo, at she wasn't with the popular "in crowd" and just did and said what she wanted. That takes a certain bravery I admire. I truly did, and in many ways still do, love her.

Of course I'm about as repugnant as a elephants anus and when I tried to tell her how I felt I got the old one two sucker punch to my emotional gut. First she already knew, I wasn't that subtle after all and secondly one of my Judas inspired friends also figured it out and told her. So there I was, hoping I'd at least have surprise on my side and it turns out she had been looking for a chance to let me down easy.

Needless to say that was that as far as she was concerned. I tried to accept it and move on. As you can guess that failed. The worst thing is what happened after. She was uncomfortable to be around me, often just dashing off. Oh she was polite and friendly but there was a wall between us that's just gotten bigger.

Since then she's had two long term boyfriends the first broke her heart to the point where I could have killed him (no really I practically sharpened knives for the act) and the one she has now. The one she has now I wouldn't be surprised if I find an engagement notice in the paper tomorrow. At least that's the last I've heard of her, we've drifted apart and I still cry thinking about her.

As for love I don't know who or what I'd be if I didn't love at least something or someone. I believe love is a corner stone in a persons life. It holds your life together, but at the same time you need more than just one corner. You need to be loved and feel it. You need to know happiness. You need to know despair and loneliness. You need all of these look into the future and build your life higher.

I can feel glad that I've loved someone, in that shining moment I could split mountains with a glance. The stars were mine to marvel at and they have never been so bright. Life was so much sweeter for a fleeting second and that alone was worth the heartbreak.

That's love my friends, i hope everyone finds it sooner or later.

Monday 4 January 2010

Triffids

Alight in the last week of 2009 the BBC broadcast its remake of a classic novel adaptation, and with that phrase fear was born. It was a remake of Day of the Triffids, a harmless little story with a strong environmental message about how disrespecting nature will be mankind's downfall. Let's face facts; it wasn't good, putting it nicely. It was, in fact, bloody awful. At the time it was corny, now it's just plain ludicrous.

Here's a review I posed on SFX.co.uk in response to their blog article:-

It threw every kind of disaster there was into the mix, mass panic, chaos, the planet blinded, plane crashes, selfish people, murder and then included, as an after thought, the Triffids. As impressive as multiple Armageddon is it made no sense. It was like watching a badly made 70's disaster movie, that had gotten mistakenly edited with three others and given modern effects on a budget of three pound fifty, a mars bar and some lint found down the back of the BBC couch.

Now I admit I never had a chance to watch the original adaptation, and I'm too busy with Lensman at the moment to open the book but I'm sure at least one of these elements could have been dropped. Giving more time to the Triffids and maybe the characters. Giving us something to care about, or indeed accept. That was another problem.

I can suspend my disbelief that there is a poisonous, man eating, plant that can shoot a stinger out that kills and drags the victim to the root core. Now I can also buy into the idea that electricity stuns it. My problem comes when it can "walk", hunt and even communicate with other plants and then saying it was all thanks to genetic engineering. Nope, sorry, not accepting that.

Then, as if just to make us not care in slightest about the "sighted people", every group of them can't give a crap about the MAN EATING PLANTS and are far too busy acting like total prats!

I shouldn't have been surprised. I mean we had evidence everyone in this world were idiots in the first two minutes. First we have the Greenpeace activist who knows that Triffids are alive but somehow doesn't know that they are going to eat him! How about the solar flare or whatever, did no one stop and think? No seriously, how the flying hell did no one worry about it. First of all it would knock our satellite communication network into a cocked hat. Second I don't care how much better for the environment triffoil was. There are great gaping holes and weak points in the Ozone layer that a solar flair would cut through like a knife through hot butter and we'd get roasted.

Finally as if that wasn't enough a Solar emission on this scale could only mean one thing, that our sun was becoming unstable.
Nothing to worry about? The freaking SUN is going to collapse, turning this world into an ice ball and people were having a party?

I've gone on for too long but the Triffids remake was, I'm sorry to say, a disappointment.

Friday 1 January 2010

The tenth Doctor's final hour (and twelve minutes)

Doctor Who, The End of Time. Let's be honest I was going to review it. I'm also going to take this chance to review one of the more controversial Dr Who head writers, Russell T. Davis

Alright then, onwards and upwards. Reviewing RTD's stories is difficult because on some levels it works and on others they... don't. As an action adventure story it's brilliant; laser fights, drama, spaceships, the whole universe in danger. It all coming down to a personal sacrifice only a true hero can make.

However on the other hand, just like every epic there is a great big fat reset button hovering there. This time, with twice the number of enemies we have twice the number of buttons. Still, while irritating, at least the Reset only solves the problem and leaves the emotional resonance, but there are other problems. When all the Doctor has to do is find the button (IE Christmas Invasion) it's not that difficult. That means that, especially in two part episodes, the second half is mostly padding.

The whole spaceship missile sequence, Donna, the last half hour, all that with the "Mysterious woman" All of it padding simply stuck on to make the whole thing more EPIC. That is my first problem with this Grand Final, too much padding and practically everything else comes from that.

My next problem was sort of fixed, but only if, like me, you know Who lore backwards. Evil Time Lords. Why? seriously. Before the Time Lords were adversaries not villains. It made them opponents, but philosophically. Making almost the whole race go power mad misses the whole point of the Time Lords. They are beyond good and evil, beyond power. An important foot note to the phase "power corrupts" is that "those who seek power do not deserve it". Time Lords don't seek power because they don't need to. They have all the power they need with practically total mastery over time itself. As such making the Time Lords evil simply because they had power and knowledge is a massive failure to understand just who and what they are.
Luckily this is solved by one word. "Rassilon". Filling in the gaps the Time Lords called on some of the greatest figures in their history to help lead them during the time war (hence the Masters resurrection mentioned in "Last of the Time Lords"). Rassilon, founder of Time Lord society, would be a logical choice to lead them through the war. Rassilon, however, was not quite the hero he was reported to be. He was ruthless with his enemies, heartless, cruel, even when it wasn't necessary. It's entirely possible that this dictator, who murdered his rivals and friends with equal abandon, twisted that which he created. If Dalton's character was indeed Rassilon you can ignore this problem. Only IF he was supposed to be Rassilon. The end credits list him as Lord President

Speaking of why did we need to name check President Obama in the first part. If Davis had just used the double and given him a name like Brian Rhamer I think the idea of a black President would have been close enough to get the point across without the viewer rolling his eyes at the obvious fake.

Davis also has a habit of including pointless humour, like the restraint chair down the stairs. He claims (in an interview immediately after the show) it was because of his need to interject humour into his last story. This is about as jarring as panning down during Grand Moff Tarkin's speech about destroying Alderran and seeing that Peter Cushing is wearing slippers. We want drama, acting and story. Not cheap jokes to plump up the story.

Problem five, Donna was sorely under used. I made a few predictions when Waters of Mars broadcast about how Donna would be an important part. She wasn't, just padding. I don't want to say it but if she had more to do, been more involved in the resurrection of the Master it would have had a lot more impact. She could have been searching for just what had happened during the months she forgot, leading her to the homeless resurrected Master who recognised what happened and used her as a weapon against the Doctor. It would have helped the actions have consequences theme that RTD has kept running through the show.

Out right ripping off other Sci-Fi shows is not called paying homage. Wilf in a laser gun turret is lifted straight from Star Wars, which belongs to a different branch of science fiction. Doctor Who is intelligent Sci-Fi, using brains and wits over brute force. It's not an action series, or a soppy soap opera, but a horror based drama. out right stealing from other shows (that see Doctor Who as an influence) is a bad idea. Not least taking from Stargate, a show so steeped in it's own mythology that it's tying itself in knots.
Ascension, as described in Stargate, is transcending the physical form and becoming pure energy. It's supposed to be the end goal of Evolution. Existing as pure thought, without needing a body to sustain it. Now this idea, while it's become popular in the last few years, has been there since Darwin and before. As ghost stories, heaven, life after death. Because it's not a new idea someone has thought about why Time Lords don't, or can't. The reason given, mostly in fan circles at least, that Time Lords haven't Ascended is that they, as a people, are far more intertwined with time and space than we are. They need their physical bodies and because of that can't ascend. Admittedly this is once again totally fan based, but it makes sense. Unlike Rassilon's plan which, to be honest, was totally crazy.

The "Mysterious Woman" was one hell of a wasted opportunity. Even if it was a late addition to the script something more could have been made of her. Making it a Time Lady who voted against Rassilon was pointless. It should have been either the Visionary (the mad old bat who scribbled on paper), which would have made the most sense, or the White Guardian. A representation of balance in the universe that foresaw the damage that unlocking the Time War would do, but as it has to work though a medium chose Wilf to prod the Doctor in the right direction.

Finally, in the end as he's saying goodbye, there is one thing missing. A single shot in between each scene of the Doctor's hand, white knuckled and shaking on a rail in the TARDIS. Clawing himself up, forcing himself to keep going just that moment more. To close every door behind him, to say those goodbyes, no matter the pain. Just something to show it was killing him by degrees not all in one at the end.

The End of Time is great though. It is fun, an action adventure with character moments that wrench your heart out. Stunning set pieces and ideas that really need to be explored somehow. I would love to know more about the Time War. Every crumb of information (or the banquet we get here) has imagery that has my mind spinning. The acting here blows anything else out of the water, the resonance with the audience is beautiful.

Crimmins puts on a performance that should win him some sort of award, I don't care if I have to go out there and make it myself, he should get some sort of recognition.

Tennent leaves the TARDIS as he came to it, a glorious chorus of madness and energy. Out acting everyone else out there with style. He really is one of the best Doctors. Thanks to him I can ignore the faults I see with RTD's writing. I can be amazed, entertained, enthralled, amused, saddened, gut-punched and even still cry inside.

Goodbye David, I'll miss you and so will a lot of people. Matt Smith, you have a big pair of shoes to fill, but I think you can do it. With Steven Moffet, the best writer of the new era, behind you I'm sure you'll win a place in the Doctor hall of fame soon. Just remember David's there already.