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TV: Devs and Star Trek: Picard

Still under relatively lockdown, and now with the George Floyd riots, I’ve been staying mostly indoors and watching long-form television shows.

With Scott Pilgrim vs the World returning to theaters for its 10 year anniversary in August 2020… Here are two recent Sex Bob-omb’s drummer Alison Pill’s Sci-Fi shows you can watch now… although I don’t recommend one of them.

Read More Movies The British horror film 28 Days Later came out at a time (2002) that there was a dry-spell in the Zombie movie genre. This film may have inspired the term “fast zombies” (all George Romero’s zombie films have always been slow-moving zombies)… …

DEVS
fxnetworks.com

I think the show’s title, Devs, is a bad one. I didn’t know what that title would imply, and it took a lot of recommendations from friends and family, before I begrudgingly decided to check it out. Spoiler alert, I really love Devs.

Going beyond the fantastic science fiction of a computer that can map the past (and therefore apply it to see the future)… the show is really about a love story. You don’t realize it’s a love story, until it hits you, and you noticed that all the clues were there.

All the actors were amazing, particularly Sonoya Mizuno as Lily Chan and Jin Ha as Jamie. Two Asian leads and they really carry the show.

I don’t think there will be a Devs Season 2, nor do I want one, as the ending to Season 1 is so good and wraps up the show nicely. Some shows shouldn’t go on more than one season, like Watchmen.

If you don’t take my word for it, take the writer/director/show runner Alex Garland’s body of work. He wrote: The Beach, 28 Days Later, Sunshine , Never Let Me Go, and Dredd. For the most part, I have enjoyed most of his films (particularly Dredd and 28 Days Later). I also own his directorial debut for Ex Machina.

P.S. Scott Pilgrim Sex Bob-omb’s drummer Alison Pill stars in Dev.

About:

In Devs, an FX limited series, a young software engineer, Lily Chan, investigates the secret development division of her employer, a cutting-edge tech company based in Silicon Valley, which she believes is behind the murder of her boyfriend.

Devs stars Sonoya Mizuno as “Lily Chan;” Nick Offerman as “Forest,” the CEO of Amaya; Jin Ha as “Jamie,” Lily’s former boyfriend; Karl Glusman as “Sergei,” Lily’s boyfriend; Zach Grenier as “Kenton,” Amaya’s Head of Security; Stephen McKinley Henderson as “Stewart,” one of the top minds working in Amaya’s secret development division; Cailee Spaeny as the young, brilliant “Lyndon;” and Alison Pill as “Katie,” the gifted quantum physicist and second in command at Amaya.

Alex Garland writes, directs and serves as executive producer of Devs along with Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich of DNA TV, Scott Rudin, Eli Bush and Garrett Basch. The series is produced by FX Productions.

Read More Star Trek You know I love Star Trek, so it is a sad day when I saw that original Spock actor Leonard Nimoy is dead. Live long and prosper. ....

STAR TREK: PICARD
cbs.com

As many of you already know, I’m a longtime Trekker, and so, originally, I was excited about Star Trek: Discovery, you quickly realize this new Star Trek by Alex Kurtzman, is definitely not the Star Trek I wanted. It’s like whoever is making new Star Trek don’t understand the franchise creator Gene Roddenberry’s idea of a bright future.

ST:D Season 2 is one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen. You have characters saying “I like science!” to a bomb that destroys everything except for a “blast door”. It’s just stupid. Red Letter Media did a pretty good job making fun of it on their YouTube. You can tell they’re fans, who thought the new Star Trek so overdramatic and had terrible writing.

I gave Star Trek: Picard a chance, of course. ST:P is simply the worst Star Trek in my ranking… yes, even worst than Star Trek: Enterprise. Even though I didn’t love Enterprise, I still own the Bluray and DVDs, because I love Science Fiction and Star Trek. With new Star Trek, I just refuse to buy the DVDs or Blurays, because I’ve no interest in owning these depressing new Star Trek.

ST:P continues this dark universe, characters like Raffi is living as “white trash” trailer and addicted to drugs. Romulans can just teleport anywhere … why not teleport the characters out to their death prison or something? Plus, the most unforgiving thing about new Star Trek is that they say the F-word. Star Trek has always been all-ages. This new Star Trek is not for children.

Picard is just a bad show, I am not going to recommend it for Sci-Fi fans… and especially if you like Star Trek. If you like Star Trek, there is a show called The Orville, which is a Star Trek knock off… but they have an understanding of classic Star Trek. Or if you just want realistic Sci-Fi, The Expanse is an excellent show.

PS, Sex Ba-bomb’s drummer Alison Pill plays Agnes Jurati, an expert on synthetic life, is part of Picard’s crew.

About:

Star Trek: Picard features Sir Patrick Stewart reprising his iconic role as Jean-Luc Picard, which he played for seven seasons on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The new series will follow this iconic character into the next chapter of his life.

The series is produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. Alex Kurtzman, Michael Chabon, Akiva Goldsman, James Duff, Patrick Stewart, Heather Kadin, Rod Roddenberry, and Trevor Roth serve as executive producers and Aaron Baiers (Secret Hideout) serves as co-executive producer and Kirsten Beyer as supervising producer. Hanelle Culpepper will direct the first two episodes of the series.

Vuart: Sheer F*** Hubris (2020)

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TV: Penny Dreadful, Outlander, and Westworld

Read more Television.

Read More Television The pilot does an incredible job of setting the tone and style of the show. This was a police procedural crime drama with two parallel storylines: Detective Bosch on trial for the murder of an alleged serial …

PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS
sho.com

We first talked about Penny Dreadful in April 2014 and was excited about the television show and its concept of fictional characters like Frankenstein and Dorian Grey being in the same universe. I liked the show enough to buy the first two seasons on Bluray.

Instead of continuing the Penny Dreadful series, the showrunner and creator John Logan decided to do a spinoff show called Penny Dreadful: City of Angels.

The new show has nothing to do with the original Penny Dreadful series, so I’m wondering why bother keeping the name in the first place. Penny Dreadful: City of Angels instead focus on Mexican folklore and based in Los Angeles during the late 1930s.

Even though critics praises the new series, I found it really hard to watch the pilot and really understand the story.

About The Series

1938 Los Angeles is a time and place deeply infused with social and political tension. When a grisly murder shocks the city, Detective Tiago Vega and his partner Lewis Michener become embroiled in an epic story that reflects the rich history of Los Angeles: from the building of the city's first freeways and its deep traditions of Mexican-American folklore, to the dangerous espionage actions of the Third Reich and the rise of radio evangelism. Before long, Tiago and his family are grappling with powerful forces that threaten to tear them apart.

On another Showtime note, their fan-favorite series Outlander concluded on Mother’s Day (May 10). The series started off incredibly strong, and deservingly-so as the concept of a woman trapped in 17th century Scotland.

As the series continues, leaving Scotland and going to France and then America… it just felt like the later seasons were a completely different show.

While I will always love the first season of Outlander, I’m afraid I can’t recommend the later Seasons to anyone else.

I did tune in to watching the series finale, despite not having watched Outlander Season 3 to 5. I think if I had watched the entire show from beginning to ending, that I would’ve felt more strongly or satisfied by some of the character’s deaths.

Read More Westworld He recently worked on HBO’s Westworld, with bits from that score heard during the countdown to the main show starting. …

WESTWORLD
hbo.com

HBO has been struggling to find its new hit show since Game of Thrones ended (and it ended badly). Westworld potentially could have been the next-Game of Thrones, but unfortunately Season 2 of Westworld was not good.

What was compelling about the first Season of Westworld was the mystery of who’s a robot and who’s human. It was fun to guess and it was fun to see if we were right. Unfortunately, Season 2 decided to set itself in Samurai World and had a complicated three timeline story that ultimately wasn’t exciting or worthwhile.

Again, Westworld returned with Season 3, and again, the story is completely different from the original show. In Season 3, some robots escaped the park and is in the human world. Despite the Cyperpunkiness of it all, I found it hard to really like the show. I think it’s just the storyline.

If you were interested in checking out Westworld, I highly recommend Season 1 and just avoid the later Seasons.

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Sci-Fi and Fantasy Television shows of 2019

Watchmen Read More Watchmen Anyway, I'll be taking it easy today, maybe re-read The Watchmen as I just saw the movie in theater over the weekend and was really impressed. As an old comic book fan (especially when it comes to the genius of Alan Moore), I loved it - …

Read more Television.

WATCHMEN
hbo.com/watchmen

HBO’s Watchmen Television show is possibly my favorite TV show of 2019.

The TV show expands on the influential Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons comic book… and it totally works. Instead of re-telling the story in a television format (like how the movie retold the graphic novel), what the show producers did was tell a different story – one set 30 years after the original event. And they honor the original work, by keep in the giant squid monster and going with that idea (in the movie, they changed the ending). It’s clear to me, based on all the homages that the writers all knew (and are fans) of the source material. It’s the love of those things that expands into their story.

One of the coolest thing they did in the show was give Hooded Justice an origin story. And you’ll never guess who and why he wears the hood! It’s unbelievable smart how they answered all the questions you may or may not have about the first “super hero”. In the comic book, they reference the original Minutemen, but you never really got much of a back story for any of those characters… so it’s very cool that the TV show explored Hooded Justice.

As a big fan of the graphic novel, I’m going to have to give it a big thumbs up. I love the comic book, and seeing that story taken to the next step, I love it. Unfortunately, I feel sometime that fans unfamiliar with the comic book (or have only seen the movie), might not fully enjoy all the little Easter “Eggs”, or somewhat complicated plot in the show. The show might be too clever for the average viewer.

I don’t think show creator, Damon Lindelof, should do a Season 2, there’s really no good reasons for them to continue this story.

Witcher Read More The Witcher I also picked up The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, at Walmart, which came with a lot of bonus items like a DVD and Soundtrack (all at the normal cost of a game product). They are on the right track, I definitely …

WITCHER
netflix.com

Critics absolutely hates Netflix’s The Witcher. The reason is that they don’t generally love the source material (a series of fantasy books) and they don’t play the video games. Since they don’t know the books or games, there’s a disconnect and they’re just lost and confused. One critic was so bored, he or she skipped a few episodes to get the plot moving. One critic just cringed at all the nudity.

Sure, there’s nudity, and actress Anya Chalotra (Yennefer) is very comfortable in her birthday suit, but who cares? I didn’t mind it and I think it’s true to the Witcher universe.

I think the biggest problem I have with the show is that I might know too much about the world of the Witcher (via the CD Projekt Red’s games) and was very disappointed to see that the actress (Anna Shaffer) that played Triss Merigold isn’t a redhead (as seen in the game).

I also have a certain vision of Ciri (from the game) that didn’t entirely matched with actress Freya Allan. I know not everyone is going look like the video game, but c’mon, Henry Cavill, is a straight match for the video game version of Geralt of Rivia, even down his “hmph” and talking to Roach, his horse.

I guess it just comes down to if the actress is good, it shouldn’t matter what they look like.

Anyway, the wide divide of critics vs fans is obvious to me - this genre television is meant for fans and clearly not directed to “professional” critics. If you look at Rotten Tomatoes, this divide is also seen in The Orville (fans love it, critics hated it) and Batwoman (fans hated it, critics loved it). As a fan of the game and television, I would have to think that the critics just don’t understand.

Expanse Season 4 Read More The Expanse Song of the Show: "Heroes" by David Bowie BONUS: The Walking Dead: Season 6 (part one), The Expanse. …

EXPANSE
amazon.com

Possibly the best Science Fiction television show on air right now is The Expanse (no, it’s not Star Trek: Discovery). As I previously mentioned, I love this show.

In the world of the Expanse, there are three major factions: Earth, Mars, and the Belters… and the show is so smart (or rather the books it was based on is so smart), that it looks the long-term effect of living without gravity, etc.

Originally, SyFy produced the show. It was probably too expensive for the network and probably wasn’t worth what they were paying for their audience. The show looks fantastic, and the stories are amazing.

Admittedly, the show does take a little patience. The first three season of the Expanse is actually just the “setup” to what the Expanse is really about! It’s so epic, that it took that long to get to the point. Unfortunately, right when they got to the new worlds - SyFy cancelled the series!

There was a massive campaign, put on by the fans, to get another network to continue the series. Through a random chance meeting with the cast, Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos, he decided to just finance the fourth season!

The fourth season sees our favorite crew, James Holden and his crew (Naomi Nagata, Alex Kamal, and Amos Burton) investigating this new planet. There’s complications, of course, Belters vs the Earths (Royal Charter Energy), and Holden caught in the middle.

My biggest complaint about Season 4 is that it seemed like a really short story. They’re basically stuck on this planet and eventually in these ancient ruins (built by the original creators).

My other complaint is the storyline with Bobbie Draper on Mars. It just felt like it wasn’t going anywhere… I know eventually her path will lead back to Holden, but it’s not in Season 4.

I love seeing Detective Joe Miller back, and I love the new villain, head security Adolphus Murtry. Although, if you ask him, he doesn’t think he’s the bad guy, he’s only looking to protect his crew.

Anyway, give me more Expanse!

Mr Robot Season 4 Read More Mr Robot After resisting the television show Mr Robot on USA Network, I gave in and watched the first season. It was pretty good, it did remind me of plot from Fight Club... and despite figuring out the “twist” midway into the first season …

MR ROBOT
usanetwork.com

I love Mr Robot. After a long two-year break, I was ready to get back into Mr Robot on its final season.

Unfortunately, I have not been loving Season 4 at all. I feel like maybe they kept digging a hole in the story, especially since they setup one lone hacker, Elliot Alderson against the Dark Army (a cyber-terrorist organization of hardcore killers and assassins). There’s no contest… and the only reason why Elliot is alive is that BD Wong (aka Whiterose) is allowing him to live.

I understand it’s just a television show, but I’ve always thought the story and characters were grounded in reality and I can relate to the interesting hacks that Elliot was pulling off.

With Season 4, the story appears to take place in the course of a day or two days - leading up to Christmas. In those few days, you see that Elliot does sleep or eat all day! There was that getting lost in a park in the middle of nowhere, the big police chase, getting kidnapped, and then the big White Rose hack. I mean, take a break from getting hit by a car and falling down a bridge!!! It’s just hard to believe.

The show also feels very different, starting with the episode with Darlene and Dominique. That ending of will they or won’t they make it on the plane is just awful. It’s like some bad romantic comedy.

Then there’s this alternate dimension episode, which felt really out of place for Mr Robot! I couldn’t believe it, and it just didn’t make any sense.

The final two episodes will air tonight (December 22nd), and, as of this writing, I have not seen it yet… but I’m not exactly looking forward to finding out how it will end.

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The Jason Show at KMSP Fox 9, Eden Prairie (02 Oct 2019)

Segments “Dish” Gossip/News Tony Hale talks about Toy Story 4 Making gumbo with Chef Adam Randall from Caribbean Smokehouse Lori Dokken’s “Women on the Moon” Read More Twin Cities Live If you were looking for free activities in the Minneapolis area, check out Friday’s free live taping of Twin Cities Live at local ABC-affiliate station KSTP-TV. The show airs from 3-5pm weekdays, but only allow an audience on Friday. …

We attended a live taping of The Jason Show, starring Jason Matheson, with Kendall Mark. The show is now five years running on KMSP Fox 9 from 10-11am. Although the show is slated as an hour-long programming, being in the audience section and watching it filmed live - well it actually didn’t feel that long. Before we knew it, the show was over.

As for the show we attended, they were back in the Fox studio in Eden Prairie from the Minnesota Zoo. Unfortunately, co-hosts Kendall had a little chest cold and was conserving her voice. Jason would later mentioned that his regular producer and his regular cameraman, were all sick and pretty soon the rest of the staff will likely get what is going around.

Like Twin Cities Live, the Jason Show does offer free tickets to live taping, although seats are very limited. TCL will only allow guest audience to come in on Friday, while the Jason Show offers seats for any live shows. Since the TCL don’t normally allow public guests, they do offer donuts, bottle water, and prizes (promotional items)… but since the Jason show does not.

The nice thing about the Jason Show is that they make all their shows available on YouTube … however, possibly due to copyright strikes, they won’t put up the celebrity news/gossips or music portion of their show.

The musical guests (Lori Dokken with Patty Peterson, Joyann Parker, Katie Gearty and Anna Christy) played a cover of Jefferson Airplane “Somebody To Love” to promote their upcoming Ordway show, Lori Dokken Presents “Women On The Moon” (on October 6th).

We also got to hear a snippet of Anna Christy and Dokken covering Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s “Dream A Little Dream Of Me” as the show was running the closing credits.

The Jason Show at KMSP Fox 9, Eden Prairie (02 Oct 2019)

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The best TV crime dramas of 2019

Here are some fantastic crime drama television shows in 2019.

Read more Television.

Pennyworth Read More Batman Friday was the first full day of Wizard World Chicago Comic Con, held at the Donald J. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, just outside Chicago, and there were plenty of onsite activities to keep busy. … Morrissey This is somewhat old news, but Morrissey is working on an all-covers album called California Son (produced by Joe Chiccarelli and will be released by BMG), according to the official .… Paloma Faith As previously mentioned, we love Paloma Faith's album Fall to Grace, which I described as a retro sound like Adele and Amy Winehouse. We're super excited that she will be ...

PENNYWORTH
epix.com

It’s definitely not Gotham. Pennyworth is the new drama television series from Epix, based on Batman’s butler Alfred Pennyworth. I never thought I would ever care for a show based on a very minor character, but now I’m convinced this is the best Batman show ever.

I feel that the creators are really into pop girl singers and possibly Morrissey fans. Looking over their future episode titles, “Cilla Black”, “Sandie Shaw”, and “Marianne Faithful”, all have ties to Morrissey - particularly Sandie Shaw, whom Moz tried to resurrect her career in the 80s and 90s.

Let’s break down how these singers are related to Morrissey:

Shirley Bassey: Bassey’s songs “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, “Ave Marie”, and “This is My Life” were used as the outro songs to The Smiths (1986) and Morrissey’s concerts (1988, 1991 and 2002).

Cilla Black: The Smiths covered “Work is a Four Letter Word”. According an interview with guitarist Johnny Marr, he cited this was the song that basically broke up the Smiths: “'Work Is A Four Letter Word' I hated. That was the last straw, really. I didn't form a group to perform Cilla Black songs. That was it, really. I made a decision that I was going to get away on holiday. The only place I could think of was L.A. L.A. was the only place I knew where there'd be sunshine, so off I went. I never saw Morrissey again.”

Julie Christie: A young Julie Christie’s image was used as the backdrop to Morrissey’s concerts in 2011. Also The Smiths’ “William, It Was Really Nothing” was a song based on Billy Liar (the film starring Tom Courtney and Julie Christie).

Sandie Shaw: There’s a long history of Sandie Shaw and The Smiths/Morrissey. I don’t need to list them all, but for the record, Shaw did cover The Smiths’ “Hand in Glove”, “I Don't Owe You Anything” and the rarely heard “Jeane”.

Alma Coogan: Some people seem to think Morrissey’s song “Alma Matters” celebrates singer Alma Coogan, but I don’t believe it. The truth is probably, like “Lucky Lisp” (which is based on the popular phrase “Lucky Lips”), it’s just a playful wording of “alma mater”.

Marianne Faithful: The title (Marianne Faithful) may be a misspelling of singer Marianne Faithfull (or “Faithful” could be a character in Pennyworth). The real Marianne Faithfull covered Morrissey’s “Dear God Please Help Me”.

Speaking of girl singers, Paloma Faith plays a villain that looks a bit like Myra Hindley (of The Moor Murders). We were lucky enough to saw Faith at the Triple Rock Social Club in Oct 2014, writing: “Personally, I like it when singers talk on stage, especially if they tell some interesting stories. I felt like she was really down the earth, hearing her thoughts on things. For example, she's not going to sugarcoat why she doesn't tour America all that often - it's expensive to bring her here, and the label won't put up the money unless the album sells really well in the States.”

Elementary Read More Elementary I look forward to watching every episode of Elementary. If they had just called this show something else instead of Sherlock Holmes, I think more people would have embraced it. …

ELEMENTARY
cbs.com

Season seven of CBS’s Elementary is probably the best show on television right now. It’s a shame that no one I know is watching this amazing show. It’s currently my favorite show this year.

This wasn’t always the case with me, because when the show first started in 2012, I wasn’t exactly sure if I liked it at all. You see, I wasn’t a fan that they changed Dr Watson to a Chinese woman sidekick. Over time, the show made her into a great partner (not just a sidekick) and can hold her own toe-to-toe with Sherlock Holmes.

I also wasn’t a fan that they made Holmes into a struggling drug addict (or rather former addict), because I thought he was too smart to experiment with drugs… Again, the show, over time, did a wonderful job in convincing me why the character would do this.

If you haven’t caught up or don’t watch the show, last year saw Holmes confessing to the murder of serial killer Michael Rowan (to save the real killer from going to prison). As a result, Holmes (and Watson) fled America and we saw the duo in London at the end of Season 6! I was very much looking forward to the further of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson in London… but probably due to budgetary reasons, only one episode took place in England in the current season.

The two quickly returned back to America, investigating the shooting of NYC police Captain Thomas Gregson. Their investigations eventually led to our current main villain, Odin Reichenbach (played by the brilliant James Frain). I won’t go into details, but that last Elementary episode saw the death of a close personal relation to Holmes.

What a gut puncher of a cliffhanger, and I just can’t wait to see Holmes’ next move against Reichenbach.

Jett

JETT
cinemax.com

One of the best crime drama in 2019 is Cinemax’s Jett. It might start off a little slow… and you may be confused by the many characters in the drama, but once you get past the first few episodes, you’ll really love this smartly-written show.

The show is about an ex-thief (well, not really “ex”) called Jett (played by Carla Gugino). There’s a large cast of characters and the show does a good job in introducing each character, such as the ruthless crime boss Charlie Baudelaire (played by Giancarlo Esposito from Breaking Bad) and his brutal son Junior.

This show is very adult, it has plenty of sex and violence (thanks to being on Cinemax) and it’s generally just a dark show. However, there are some silly moments (any scenes with Jett’s young daughter), which I’m not a fan of. I understand why the producers wanted a little sunlight in this dark world, but those scenes just feel like they belong in another show.

So far, Jett is in deep trouble, but I just know that she has a plan to dig herself out… and based on what I’ve seen, the writers will do an amazing job in satisfying and tying up all the loose ends.

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Best horror television shows of 2018

Read More Television Originally meant to air in 2019, SyFy released their pilot episode of Deadly Class early on their website (December 20). The show is based on the 2014 Image Comics book the same name by Rick Remender and Wesley Craig. …

Here are the best horror television shows of 2018.

Read more: Comic book-related television shows (2018), Comic book-related television shows (2017), and DC Comics to Films (and TV) in 2016.




CHANNEL ZERO
syfy.com

If you like horror, you really need to check out SyFy’s Channel Zero. This is, by far, my favorite horror show. Each season is a new storyline, so you don’t have to watch them from the first season to the latest. In fact, as much as the man made of tooth is super scary, I would recommend starting with No-End House (Season 2), as that is just a wonderful story.

There’s really not a bad season, although I do admit sometime pacing of the show may be slow, but they all work out in the end.

Since I recently saw The Dream Door (Season 4), that’s still fresh in my mind. It’s about a girl who can bring her imagination to life, by creating these odd “dream doors”. The imaginary creatures in the show is frightening.

What I didn’t know is that these shows are based on something called “creepypastas”, a term that I’ve never heard of before. The word describes “horror-related legends or images that have been copied and pasted around the Internet.” If you’ve heard of Slenderman, he’s actually one of the more famous creepypasta creation.

Nightflyers

NIGHTFLYERS
syfy.com/nightflyers

Also, on SyFy, is Nightflyers, the new television series based on George R.R. Martin’s book and short stories. If you think this is “Game of Thrones in Space”, it is not. This is basically a horror show, set in space.

Since I haven’t read the books, going in on the pilot was very confusing. The filmmaker decided to show us the ending of Nightflyers in the pilot, and for the remainder of the series, it’s building up to that endpoint. I did not love that, considering that I now have knowledge of who is a psycho and who will die.

The show is about the spaceship Nightflyer, flying to make contact with this alien species. They think their best chance of communicating with the aliens is to bring on a telepath (they’re called “L1” in this world). Unfortunately, the show decided to bring on a crazy, mentally unstable (even dangerous) L1.

Watching the show, and watching every character being tortured in some ways, made me think: why can’t they

Anyway, it’s a weird GRRM future, with computerized human, bee lady, laser spiders, etc. The ending of the first season kind of leaves it open for season 2... which I am assuming will continue the story (but I think it should’ve ended with Season 1).

Nightflyers

INTO THE DARK
hulu.com/into-the-dark

Airing once a month, each episode of Into the Dark’s theme is about the month’s holiday. For example, the first episode, “The Body” took place on Halloween night. Since each episode is self-contained, it can be really long (some running over 90 minutes).

So far, all of the episodes are pretty quirky and interesting and worth checking out, if you have a Hulu subscription.

My least favorite episode is probably “New Year, New You”, simply because it’s about these girl internet celebrities, which I can’t really relate to at all.

With Valentine’s Day coming up, I’ll be very interested in seeing how the show deal with that holiday.

The Terror

THE TERROR
amc.com/shows/the-terror

Although the ending to AMC’s The Terror wasn’t at all what I had expected, the lead up to the show is actually very horrifying. It’s a very slow burn, but definitely worth checking out if you like horror/drama shows.

I actually thought the show was interesting enough to buy on Digital, but probably won’t bother with the discs.

The first season is based on Dan Simmons’ 2007 best-selling novel, about Captain Sir John Franklin's lost expedition to the Arctic in 1845–1848. Since the show ended definitively, so I’m not exactly sure how AMC is bringing the show back with another season in 2019.

Haunting of Hill House

THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE
netflix.com

The Haunting of Hill House is a long, re-imagining of the Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel of the same name. It’s a haunted house show, but actually the majority of the show is in flashback. The family all moved out of the haunted house years later... but events all lead them back to Hill House.

The show is recommended if you enjoy ghost stories, but sometime the whole supernatural-thing doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me. Everything ties up neatly at the end, where you get the whole explanation.

Even though the horror elements are truly terrifying, the heart of the show is the family.




WORST HORROR SHOWS OF 2018: I won’t go too deeply into it, but I really, really hated the last Fear the Walking Dead and latest The Walking Dead series. It’s a huge fall from grace, as these shows were, at one time, very good. So what happened? Since the showrunning brought over Morgan to Fear, they killed off the entire original cast and made Fear into Walking Dead. Meanwhile, Walking Dead continues its terrible Negan storyline. I’ve been sick of Negan, and it’s all we got for the past three years: Negan, Negan, Negan. Unfortunately, with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) leaving the show (to star in his own Walking Dead movies), I “fear” that the Walking Dead will now become the Negan show. Yuck.

Also, Hulu’s Castle Rock is just not very good. The concept is pretty cool, especially because it’s based on the characters and stories of Stephen King... but the execution is just not that great. The same can be said for all of Stephen King’s TV adaptions (The Mist television show in 2017 or Under The Dome in 2015). King’s stories just don’t translate well to television, I guess.

NOT HORROR SHOWS OF 2018: This isn’t really a horror show, but everyone is saying that Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is “horror”. There may be elements of spirits and demons, but I think it’s just too cute to classify it as horror. The other “horror” show that everyone loves is Ash vs Evil Dead. While I am a fan of the movies, I think the show is just too goofy and funny to be horror. Maybe more comedy than horror. It’s not a great show, and I’m kind of glad that they have canceled the series (even though I own all three seasons on Bluray and digital!)

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Comic book-related television shows (2018)

Read More Television I did enjoy The Punisher quite a bit, which was a win, considering that I thought Iron Fist and The Defenders were lackluster. Ever since The Punisher appeared on Daredevil, I knew he would spin off in his own series… …

As you may have noticed, I’m still in hibernation mode. Not going on and going on “staycation” have left me plenty of time for some gaming and watching plenty of television.

If you were interested in checking out Comic Book shows (2017), where we mentioned: The Punisher, Happy!, The Gifted, The Runaways, and the really disappointing The Inhumans.

Below are some recent 2018 comic book-based television shows.



DEADLY CLASS
syfy.com/deadlyclass

Originally meant to air in 2019, SyFy released their pilot episode of Deadly Class early on their website (December 20). The show is based on the 2014 Image Comics book the same name by Rick Remender and Wesley Craig.

I haven’t read the comic book, but watching the show sounds like “The Breakfast Club” for Assassin School. It’s based in the 80s, so there’s plenty of great 80s alternative songs on the soundtrack, including The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen.

Perhaps the reason why SyFy is airing Deadly Class early, is to distance themselves from the upcoming Netflix’s Umbrella Academy (another school show - for Superheroes).

A couple of things worth noting: (1) former Black Flag singer Henry Rollins is the Science teacher and (2) a character referenced Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s classic X-Men run.

So far: I’m hooked! I can’t wait to see the second episode in 2019.

Sabrina

THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA
netflix.com

Not the first television show based on Archie Comics’ favorite witch Sabrina. This new Netflix show The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is actually pretty good, thanks to its excellent writing team and lead actress Kiernan Shipka. The first season ended well and the special Christmas show A Midwinter's Tale arrived just before Christmas.

The show is not exactly horror, but is a cross between Harry Potter and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Think of it as part of the Riverdale universe, only I don’t think we’re going to see a crossover anytime soon.

You can’t take show too seriously, but it isn’t exactly comedy either.

Titans

TITANS
dcuniverse.com

Titans was originally meant to air when DC Comics’ DC Universe launched in September, but instead was delayed a month because DC wanted to premiere it at New York Comic Con. I think it was a bad mistake, because the service launched with basically no original content, other than the 20-30 minute daily news show called DC Daily (which actually was put online for free).

Before finding its home on DC’s streaming service, the show was in development for TNT. Ultimately, TNT turned down the show... and based on the episodes I did watch, I can see why. It’s slow, and it’s unnecessary violent.

According to the showrunners, the show is based on Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s New Teen Titans, but with a much, much darker tone. The problem is that the Teen Titans have never been this super violent before (we’re talking about Robin stabbing a guy’s penis with a hedge trimmers or scrapping a guy’s face across a wall). Needless to say, I am a fan of the source material, but this TV show isn’t really a faithful adaption at all.

While there are fans of this new Titans show, I found it really disappointing. On top of that, the show ended an episode early (originally 12 episodes, but cut down to 11). There’s no real resolve, and fans will have to wait a full year to find out what happened next.

Fans outside of the USA, International Netflix is premiering the show on January 11, 2019.

Black Lightning

BLACK LIGHTNING
cwtv.com

I actually forgotten about this CW’s show Black Lightning, which debut in January 2018 to strong interests. The show is predominately a black cast (with plenty of hip-hop and modern black culture), definitely a first to stand out against the rest of CW’s shows: Arrow, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash, etc.

My favorite thing about Black Lightning are the villains: Tobias Whale (an albino black character who hates/looks down on his fellow black gangbangers) and Syonide a mysterious assassin (originally male in the comics!).

Unfortunately the villains couldn’t save the show for me, I just stopped watching it, because the storyline felt somewhat boring to me. I would have really love a show about a black man struggling in a white man world, but instead, it’s typical CW super heroes stories. When they planted the seed that his daughters would become Thunder and Lightning, it’s almost too cheesy, and I just dropped out.

Again, I love the villains, but the standard super-hero stuff was just a little predictable to me and I just stopped watching it.

Cloak & Dagger

CLOAK & DAGGER
freeform.go.com

Originally, I was really excited to check out Cloak & Dagger, available on Freeform. However, after watching the first few episodes, it just didn’t reel me in. Maybe it’s because I couldn’t relate to either characters (a rich girl or an athlete).

Also, the pacing seems really slow to me, but critics loved it and Freeform has already renewed the show for a second season - to air in July 2019.

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Minnesota Fan Fusion returns August 3-5, 2018

MN Fan Fusion Read More Minnesota Fan Fest Vu and John on W♥M Radio, talking about Minnesota Fan Fest (19-20 Aug 2017). The event at Rivercentre in St Paul will feature celebrity guests Jason David Frank from Power ...

Minnesota Fan Fusion (previously known as Minnesota Fan Fest) is coming up on August 3-5, 2018. The event is, once again, held at the Rivercentre in downtown St. Paul. Everything is an upgrade from last year, including adding another day (Friday), and doubling all their guests.

The main attractions are the film & television celebrities, but, personally speaking, we really enjoy sitting and listening to fans talk about their passion on these panels-heavy shows. In fact, they’ve double-down and the panels have expanded to four times from last year!

For Deathstroke, the Terminator fans, you’ll be pleased to know that Manu Bennett (who plays Deathstroke in Arrow), Summer Glau (who plays Deathstroke’s daughter Ravager) and Christopher Priest (who wrote Deathstroke vol 4) will be appearing together.

For comic book television fans, they should be happy to see The Walking Dead’s Laurie Holden and Flash’s Danielle Panabaker. Although people will know Panabaker as Killer Frost, she was brilliant in the Sci-Fi Time Lapse 2014 film. Lord of the Rings (and video game fans) should be happy to see that John Rhys-Davies will also be here.

There are also plenty of comic book artists and writers in attendance. Too many to mention, but just quickly looking over the list, we see a few favorites: Howard Chaykin (Blackhawks and American Flagg), Greg Land (Sojourn and The Ultimate Fantastic Four), Jae Lee (Hellshock and The Inhumans), Kevin Nowlan (a unique style on Tomorrow Stories with the great Alan Moore), and Rick Leonardi (Cloak & Dagger). Please note that cheesecake artist Frank Cho has cancelled his appearance.

Tickets available at minnesotafanfusion.com

TV & FILM Dan Fogler Danielle Panabaker John Rhys-Davies Laurie Holden Manu Bennett Ray Park Summer Glau AUTHORS Andrew DeYoung Brian Farrey H.M. Bouwman J.M. Lee S.A. Bodeen Sarah Ahiers COSPLAYERS AvantGeek Kristen Lanae

COMICS & ARTISTS Andy Kuhn Barbara Schulz Barry Kitson Bill Willingham Brian & Kristy Miller Chris Allo Christopher Priest Dan Jurgens Dave Wheeler Don Rosa Gordon Purcell Greg Land Howard Chaykin J.N. Monk Jae Lee Kevin Nowlan Lee and Ty Blauersouth Megan Sloane Peter David Rick Leonardi Theo Nicole Lorenz Z. Akhmetova

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X-Files: Mulder & Scully

Read More The X-Files Talking to people, I get the impression that no one is really all that excited about the new X-Files movie that was just released on Friday. Admittedly, since I'm an old-school X-Philer …

X-FILES SEASON 11
fox.com/the-x-files

I’ve been a fan of the X-Files since it originally aired in 1993. I remember watching it the night before and talking about it with my school friends in Junior High School. At that time, we didn’t have anything quite like the X-Files and it became a big hit.

I was a fan, and watched it even after Agent Mulder (David Duchovny) left the series. I collected the Topps’ X-Files comics for many years, various books & magazines, the original VHS 12 episodes and bought the original DVD boxsets.

The series remained dead until 2016, when Fox resurrected the series with Season X (10). I was excited, but quickly realized it wasn’t very good after watching the first two episodes. I haven’t written after Season X ended, but I can tell you that I hated it.

It was so bad, that I was in the middle of upgrading all my X-Files DVD to Bluray, but I had to stop because Season X left such a sour taste in my mouth.

Now that the first two episodes of Season 11 have aired, I can tell you that it’s truly terrible. It kills me, because I’m such a fan and I want it to be good.

Season 11:

Episode	Title	Date
1	My Struggle III	01/03/18
2	This	01/10/18
3	Plus One	01/17/18
4	The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat	01/24/18
5	Ghouli	01/31/18

Read More David Duchovny Bree Sharp's "David Duchovny" was a big hit for her, possibly a one-hit wonder if you ask me. She's released one additional album since her 1999 debut, A Cheap and Evil Girl. ...

DAVID DUCHOVNY
davidduchovnymusic.com

Fox Mulder himself, David Duchovny will be releasing his second album Every Third Thought on February 9th via King Baby/GMG. There is no album artwork at the moment, but the record is done with complete track listing below.

You can currently pre-order the album with extra bonuses, like signed test pressing on Pledgemusic.com.

Be sure to catch Duchovny live on tour in Australia and New Zealand this February. Be on the lookout for a U.S. tour, to be announced soon.

Every Third Thought Tracklisting:

1. Half Life
2. Every Third Thought
3. Maybe I Can’t
4. Stranger in the Sacred Heart
5. Mo’
6. Someone Else’s Girl
7. When the Whistle Blows
8. Spiral
9. Roman Coin
10. Jericho
11. Last First Time
12. Marble Sun

Tour Dates:

Feb 20 - Auckland, NZ
Feb 21 - Wellington, NZ
Feb 23 - Melbourne, AU
Feb 24 - Sydney, AU
Feb 25 - Wollongong, AU
Feb 28 - Newcastle, AU
March 1 - Brisbane, AU

Read More Sharkmuffin Brooklyn's trio Sharkmuffin (Tarra Thiessen, Natalie Kirch, and Sharif Mekawy) will be at the Triple Rock next Sunday, August 16, in support of their debut full-length ....

SHARKMUFFIN
sharkmuffin.com

Brooklyn duo Sharkmuffin (Tarra Thiessen and Natalie Kirch) released their song “Scully is a Sharkmuffin” earlier this Summer.

The band explained the title:

“’Scully is a Sharkmuffin’ is our ode to The X-Files. It’s the only track on Tsuki that is mostly improvised and was recorded live. The lyrics are taken from The X-Files opening theme: ‘The truth is out there. I want to believe. The government lies.’”

Tsuki came out May 5, 2017, via Little Dickman Records.

We caught the group in March 2017 and noted:

“As expected with a band with a debut record, the band played plenty of tracks from Chartreuse (State Capital/Little Dickman Records)... including ‘First Date’, which Tarra described as a song written about Tinder.”

THE X-FILES VOL. 4: RESISTANCE
idwpublishing.com

The new X-Files Comics collected trade called The X-Files Vol. 4: Resistance is out now (released January 10th) via IDW Publishing.

IDW got the rights to the X-Files after Topps exited the comic publishing business. In 2013, IDW started publishing The X-Files’ “Season 10”. The series ended with #25 in 2015. The recently-released trade collects issues #14-17.

Details:

The mystery and intrigue continue with the latest from the comic series! Scully receives an invitation from Firas Ben-Brahim after months of silence, and she soon discovers the dark secrets he's been keeping from her. Once the final piece of the puzzle falls into place, it threatens to send Mulder over the line, just as shadowy forces are revealed to have compromised the upper echelons of government. Collects issues #14–17

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Comic book-related television shows (2017)

Read More Marvel Comics The ever-growing Marvel Comics Universe comes to life in the form of Feld Entertainment’s production of Marvel Universe LIVE! Age of Heroes and we were there to ...

Here is a breakdown of some recent comic book-related debut television shows. While DC has a strong lineup with their CW shows (Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow), it looks like Marvel is hitting back strong with a ton of Marvel-related shows (with the exception of Happy!).

THE PUNISHER
netflix.com

I did enjoy The Punisher quite a bit, which was a win, considering that I thought Iron Fist and The Defenders were lackluster. Ever since The Punisher appeared on Daredevil, I knew he would spin off in his own series… and I was right.

I’ve always liked the Punisher, ever since that amazing limited Steven Grant and Mike Zeck mini-series in 1986 (can it really be over 30 years old?) and followed his stories in his ongoing series, plus his War Journal and War Zone, I ate all of it up. I love it so much, that even though I own all these books on the original single issues (and some collected books), I still bought some Punisher books on the recent Comixology year-end sale.

Since I feel like I know The Punisher really well, I had a very hard time accepting Jon Bernthal’s southern accent as part of this TV Punisher. It just sound wrong, and it would automatically rule out any storyline where the Punisher had to go undercover as an Italian mobster. I guess I must be the only person in the world that didn’t really like Bernthal’s portrayal of the Punisher.

If you were to ask me, I really love Ray Stevenson’s The Punisher, but unfortunately, I don’t think anyone remotely liked Punisher: War Zone (my favorite of the three Punisher films).

Despite my not liking Bernthal, the Netflix show was actually really engaging. It kept me interested, but there were a few episodes that I thought could have been shortened, and like all the Neflix shows, maybe 13 episodes were just too long.

HAPPY!
syfy.com

I love Grant Morrison (I am a huge fan of Doom Patrol, Invisibles, and JLA), but kind of gave up on him after his Batman R.I.P. series, which I did think I lost the plot after a few issues. This television show is based on Morrison and Darick Robertson’s graphic novel of the same name.

So watching the show is really the first time I’m experiencing the story, which, at the moment, is really fun. The problem in all the silliness of Happy is that, at any given point, do I feel like our character is in mortal danger.

So I’m on board, I hope he finds and saves his daughter!

P.S., I’m probably going to try and find the Happy! comic book now.

THE GIFTED
fox.com

I actually got really confused with The Gifted vs The Runaways. I think both shows had super powered kids running away… but between the two shows, I’m more keen on The Gifted.

The show started off strong, with The Sentinels, and featured genre actors like Stephen Moyer and Amy Acker. These parents are doing everything in their power (excuse the pun) to save their mutant children.

Bonus appearances of familiar X-Mutants like Sunspot and Polaris help sells the show to me.

Admittedly, the show has not kept my interest, and I may be a few episodes behind.

THE RUNAWAYS
hulu.com

I never read the comic book series, but I’ve always thought the kids in The Runaways were mutants. I guess I am wrong, they’re just kids with superpowers. I tried out a few episodes, it’s really not my thing. I guess I’m just too old to understand these group of kids. Unlike The Gifted, you never get to see the parents in the Runaways (at least in the first few episodes).

I really wanted to like it, but unfortunately, I just didn’t like any of the kids… well, maybe except for the girl with the pet dinosaur.

So far, 8 out of 10 episodes just aired, but I stopped watching the show with episode 5. Maybe next Saturday I will try and catch up.

Also, the other problem is that you pay $7.99 a month, but you still get advertisements.

THE INHUMANS
abc.go.com

I had really high hopes for the live The Inhumans, but the series turned out to be a dud. I did not love the over-acting of Anson Mount as Black Bolt… but it’s understandable since his character cannot (or should not) speak.

The most striking thing about the Inhumans would be Medusa’s animated hair… yet the series cut it off at the beginning. Karnak, possibly the most dangerous inhuman weapon (he can see the weakness in everything) is taken out easily.

After giving three episodes, I gave up on the television show. It wasn’t the Inhumans that I wanted.

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