Author Archives: Doc
Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #76
#76
Wall-E
Released: June 27, 2008
Runtime: 98 minutes
Rating: G
Animation Style: computer-generated imagery (CGI) with practical, handheld camera techniques
Studio: Pixar/Disney
Some consider Wall-E a classic. I did not like the movie on my first viewing, and listening to all of the people calling it a masterpiece made me want to give it a second watch. I gave a rewatch in 2022 and I found it much better than I remembered when I saw it at first. There are others who are still much higher on this than me, but it will still make my top 100.
Voice cast: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, and Sigourney Weaver. Fred Willard had a live-action role.
EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week
July 22
Welcome back to the EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week. We have another very strong week of covers with some real winners.
Three variant covers this week in the medalists.
Also-Rans: Amazing Spider-Man #33, Wonder Man #5, Sicko #1 (A and B), Dog Tag #3, Terminal #1 (Die Cut cover), Terminal #1 (Arthur Adams variant blind bag cover), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #20 (aka #300) Variant Laird & Eastman virgin cover, Gambit Wanted #1 (F cover), and Bad Thoughts #2.
Bronze Medalist
Amazing Spider-Man #33
Variant Cover C
Cover art by David Nakayama
I absolutely loved this moment in Spider-Man’s career, where he was forced into wearing an old FF costume with a paper bag on his head. The “Unknown Superhero!” This cover brought the nostalgia for me and one of my favorite moments of my childhood, which is why it gets the bronze medal this week.
Silver Medalist
Hello Darkness #23
Variant Cover B
Cover art by Jenny Frison
Hello Darkness continues to have some of the best covers. In fact, I believe I picked up three total covers for this book this week. Jenny Frison has had a great career making these kind of horror covers. The red is really a great standout cover.
Gold Medalist
Gambit: Wanted #1
Variant Cover B Foil
Cover art by Kris Anka
This is just gorgeous. The beautiful foil cover with the cards and the staff all charged up complements the dark background and the smile on everyone’s favorite Cajun. This new mini series had several awesome covers, with this being the top.
X-Men ’97 S2 E6
Spoilers
“Danger.exe”
Polaris comes front and center as she was tossed out of X-Factor after a brutal encounter with Stryker. That led her to return to Xavier’s reformed school.
Polaris returned in a dangerous time, as the Danger Room began changing, becoming more inspired to make training all the more difficult.
That led to the creation of Danger. Danger was created by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday in the comics and she became big during a Grant Morrison run.
The episode concentrated on Polaris and her acceptance of Magneto as her father. Her connection with him, through Charles Xavier, helped end the threat of Danger in the ruins of Genosha. It was a powerful moment for the character of Polaris. Honestly, I am not as big of a fan of Polaris, but she worked well in this episode.
This episode had a bunch of more in the episode, specifically at the very end. X-Corp is brought into the series with the X-Men behind it, and we get Apocalypse’s Death created for his new Horsemen, and it is Gambit.
I do think that there are some hints of Onslaught dropped in this season. I am not sure if we are going to get Onslaught or not because I think this is one of Beau DeMayo plans before he was let go from the show.
We are two-thirds through the season with just three more to go. Clearly, Apocalypse is our big bad for the remainder of the season. Could Onslaught happen in season three?
Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #77
#77
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Released: 2009
Runtime: 87 minutes
Rating: PG
Animation Style: Stop Motion Animation
Studio: 20th Century Fox/3 Mills Studios
This is a film based on a book by Roald Dahl and is an Academy Award nominated movie.
Voice Cast: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Wes Anderson, Brian Cox, Adrien Brody, Michael Gambon, and Owen Wilson
WWE Unreal Season 3
Spoilers
I binged the third season of the WWE Unreal program on Netflix today. Five episodes that follow the WWE storylines behind the scenes, providing the viewer with a different look at their favorite WWE superstars.
The third season started off with the John Cena retirement tour, where Cena had announced he would have so many more dates with the WWE and then he would be retired, over the entire calendar year of 2025. It looked at many of the matches that Cena had during this run, specifically his match with CM Punk, AJ Styles and Logan Paul.
The five episodes featured several of the main wrestlers in background detail and stories that led them to where they were. The main superstars, besides John Cena, that had time allotted to them were CM Punk & AJ Lee, Liv Morgan, Oba Femi, Trick Williams, Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, and Stephanie Vaquer.
There were other WWE stars appearing, but these are the ones that stood out as characters they were following. One exception was when they went to Chelsea Green’s fully build house, which they had shown in process of being build in season two. We got to see Matt Cardona (her husband) and his toy collection.
There are a lot of good moments that the docuseries provided. Probably the most impactful was the relationship with CM Punk and his wife AJ Lee (aka April), and the dog Larry that was their longtime pet. Larry passed away during this time frame and the pain and grief were so apparent on CM Punk’s face and in his words that it was truly the deepest and most emotional moment of the entire five episodes.
I do think that there are things that could have been covered more that were either brushed over or ignored. John Cena’s heel turn was addressed, but I do not think that they went into a lot of specifics about how it did not work. They touched on it, but it was otherwise ignored.
Another one was Brock Lesnar’s retirement after the Wrestlemania match with Oba Femi. That was something that was not even mentioned, and I would have liked to have seen how the backstage reaction was to that. I understand that Lesnar was not one of the focused characters for the series, but I can’t believe that that incredible moment was not covered.
There was a fascinating section dealing with injuries and how they can blow up creative plans. Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, and Bronson Reed were all injured within a short time span of each other and seeing how that caused creative to flip around was interesting. My favorite moments were still going inside the writers’ room, and I would have like more of that.
The whole Pat McAfee controversy with the Cody Rhodes-Randy Orton title match at Wrestlemania was skirted around and it sure seemed like everyone involved was happy about it, but that clearly was not the case. There should have been a deep dive into this.
Still, I enjoyed the docuseries quite a bit, and every time the show focused on CM Punk, the show really soared.
The Muppet Show S2 E1, E2, E3
Spoilers
Guest: Don Knotts
Guest: Zero Mostel
Guest: Milton Berle
Season two of the Muppet Show kicked off with some changes.
The opening theme came closer to what I remembered as the iconic theme. They removed Fozzie’s joke from the opening and added in Statler and Waldorf. However, my memory of Statler and Waldorf was them singing the next verse which started “Why do we always come here…” which was not what was in this season’s beginning. Kermit’s intro of the guest star is now at the very beginning of the song instead of the middle. It ends with Gonzo, no longer with a club, but with a trumpet. The opening had a much bigger feel to it.
It also featured the “cold open” where Scooter sticks his head into the guest star’s dressing room and gives them an update on how long until the show starts. This pre-theme gag would go for the rest of the series, if I remember correctly.
There were some weird things in these episodes as well. In episode one with Don Knotts, the Disney + version of the show was chopped up with things removed. Don Knotts’s finale, which was Knotts playing a bass with the Electric Mayhem on a song called “Lullaby of Birdland” was removed completely. I never figured out the reasoning behind the editing (sounds like it had something to do with copyright). They also chopped up the backstage segments between Fozzie and Floyd where Floyd gave Fozzie some sunglasses and proclaimed him a hip dude.
Episode two featured Zero Mostel, who actually died not too long after the show was recorded. This was a great episode with things such as Chopin’s Polonaise in A-flat major as performed by Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem (I loved Animal screaming “Chopin” as he drummed), “Smoke Gets in your Eyes” by Rowlf and Zoot, and Mostel dressed as Henry the VIII performing “What Do the Simple Folds Do?” It also ended with some Lady Wrestling, as per request from Scooter’s uncle J.P. Grosse. Kermit couldn’t find anyone to participate (the scene where he asked Piggy to do it was hilarious), so he donned a wig and took on Granny the Gouger. Kermit got his butt kicked and tossed into Statler and Waldorf’s box. Miss Piggy did not like that and showed up and did the “hi-yaaaah” to Granny. As a wrestling fan, I remember loving this skit when I was younger.
Episode three featured Milton Berle in several tremendous skits. The standout of the whole episode (and perhaps the season so far) was Milton Berle vs. Statler and Waldorf. I was so impressed with him since he allowed the two old hecklers to get the best of him the entire routine. Uncle Miltie, a literal comedic legend, was willing to play straight man to a couple of Muppets and let them make him look the fool. It was really one of the funniest skits I have seen on the Muppet Show so far. Milton Berle also did a fantastic rendition of “The Entertainer” (which the show strangely followed up with Miss Piggy singing the same song too) and a great comedy-duet with Fozzie called “Top Banana.” Milton Berle worked beautifully with the Muppets here.
There were some classic debuts during these three episodes. This was the first time we have seen Beaker in the Muppet Labs sequence. Beaker would go on to become on of the most iconic Muppets of all time. We saw the first episode of Pigs in Space with Link, Dr. Strangepork and Miss Piggy.
I loved in episode one where Rowlf sings “What a Wonderful World” to a real living puppy. I love the Louis Armstrong song and Rowlf does it very well.
The second and third episodes of this season have to be considered some of the best of the series and it was a shame that the Don Knotts episode got as chopped up as it did, because it had the potential to be just as great.
Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #78
#78
Rango
Released 2011
Runtime: 107 minutes
Rating: PG
Animation Style: hyper-realistic, surrealist Western
Studio: Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, and Industrial Light & Magic
Rango is a fun animated movie featuring a chameleon in a Western-type film.
Voice cast: Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina, Ned Beatty, Stephen Root, Bill Nighy, Harry Dean Stanton, Ray Winstone and Timothy Olyphant.
Rick and Morty Season 3
Spoilers
I watched season three of Rick and Morty on HBO Max throughout the day today. I have not watched many episodes of Rick and Morty over the years, but I have seen some. This season included a few of the episodes that I had seen before.
Specifically, I have seen “Pickle Rick,” “Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender,” and, I believe, the season premiere “The Rickshank Rickdemption.” These were very strong episodes, but I remember the reason I did not consistently watch the show when it was originally on was because of the time it was on TV (Late night Sunday night).
The season long storyline of Jerry and Beth’s marriage falling apart saw the two of them planning a divorce, though they wind up back together at the end of the season. The last couple of episodes questioned whether or not Rick had cloned Beth and let her wander the universe to find herself. At the end of the finale, Rick claimed that Beth was not a clone. I am not sure I believe him. It feels like a storyline that could carry over the next several seasons even.
In “The Ricklantis Mixup” starts with Rick and Morty heading to Atlantis, but the episode did not follow them there as the show went to the new Citadel of Ricks and saw the struggles and conflicts between the Ricks and the Mortys. We see a new Morty elected president. It is another potential future arc for the show.
The “Morty’s Mind Blowers” episode was batshit crazy, using some old memories that Morty had erased from his mind. It was done as a replacement for the typically annual Interdimensional Cable episode that they had in both of the first two seasons.
One of the most iconic episode was “Pickle Rick.” I did not think that this episode, the one where Rick turned himself into a pickle in order to avoid family therapy, was this early in the overall series. I love this episode.
I did enjoy the battle between Rick and the President of the USA in “The Rickchurian Mortydate.” It was also funny how the conflict was resolved.
Overall, season three was tremendous. My favorite episode is “Pickle Rick” and my least favorite was “The ABC’s of Beth.”
Avengers: Doomsday /Official Trailer
Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #79
#79
Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs
Released: 2009
Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes
Rating: PG
Animation Style: highly stylized CG
Studio: Sony Pictures Animation
This is a movie I never saw until it came out on DVD and I was surprised how this was as entertaining as I found it.
Voice cast: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, Mr. T, Benjamin Bratt, Al Roker, Will Forte, and Neil Patrick Harris.
Silo S3 E3
Spoilers
“A Dark Web”
Juliette is becoming a bigger problem than The Algorithm wants and it has made a suggestion to Camille that it has gotten to a moment where she can kill Juliette and make her into a hero.
And make her dead.
This Algorithm was nasty and dangerous. It kept making threats about purging the whole silo to get Camille to do what it wanted.
It was nice to see that Lukas Kyle was alive, though I always expected him to be that way. He was able to avoid capture still thanks to some of the Outsiders.
We get to see Camille in a bit of different light in this episode as she pushed back against the Algorithm, and we learn motives for her. Of course, she also ordered the gas bombing to get rid of “rats” without letting the people know.
In the past, Daniel and Helen are in search of a supposed recording of the last few minutes of the flight Daniel’s sister was involved in during the Iraq mission. Helen had been fired from her job because she was digging too deeply. When they went back to try and get the tape from the hacker, they found the warehouse is ransacked.
The story is starting to pick up. I am curious to see more of the back story and how it plays into the present day.
Sunday Morning Sidewalk #78
Spoilers
The Boroughs
“The Grey Rebellion”
Hello, Mother.
Episode six of The Boroughs gave us a bunch of info on what was going on in this place.
Last episode, the whole crew of Sam, Art, Judy, Wally and Renee are captured by Blaine and given an ultimatum. Wally has to go to work for Blaine while the others are basically on house arrest. Can’t leave the Boroughs, ankle monitors, cameras in their houses, the full nine yards.
They have to accept this situation or they would be sent to the Manor. The whole situation has become quite sinister.
Blaine takes Wally to meet the whole crew behind the scenes of the Boroughs and want him to help save a patient… the person they call Mother, who was supposedly hatched out of an alien egg found decades before. This is the being who the monsters (they call The kids) who suck “brain juice” from the residents came from.
Sam can’t take the way things were so he decided to walk through the desert to the diner and call his daughter, Claire. He cuts off the ankle monitor and heads out.
Meanwhile, Paz and Renee plan up an escape attempt to correspond to the 75th anniversary celebration coming up. They are able to recruit Judy to the fold, but Art did not want to be part of it.
However, when Art discovered from Claire that she had committed Sam to the Manor after she picked him up at the diner, he changed his mind and joined the “Grey Rebellion.”
Renee, though, has altered the plan. She does not want to just run away, she wanted to fight. She had been told everything by Wally and she said that she wanted to get into the offices at the manor and kill Mother, to take it away from Blaine and his cronies.
Of course there would be more to this. At the end of the episode, we see Mother, and she appears to be human-ish. She was not a monster like the “Kids.”
You knew where Claire was taking Sam after she picked him up. I was disappointed that she did not believe her father and allowed Blaine’s manipulations to work in her mind from a few episodes ago. Clearly, Mother’s appearance will make it more difficult to kill as Renee wants to do. Mother also makes me feel as if she is less sinister than Blaine and his cronies. Has she been held captive all these years?
There is something more to Sam’s wife too. This is an arc that remains unanswered.
Next week is the penultimate episode of the series and things are really setting up to be a massive final two episodes.
Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #80
#80
Rio
Released: April 15, 2011
Runtime: 96 minutes
Rating: G
Animation Style: hyper-realistic 3D computer animation
Studio: Blue Sky Studios
Voice cast: Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg, Jemaine Clement, Leslie Mann, Carlos Ponce, Jake T. Austin, George Lopez, Wanda Sykes, Jane Lynch, Will.i.am, and Jamie Foxx.
The Muppet Show S1 E20, E21, E22, E23, E24
Spoilers
Guest: Valerie Harper
Guest: Twiggy
Guest: Ethel Merman
Guest: Kaye Ballard
Guest: The Mummenschanz
I finished the first season of The Muppet Show with the final five episodes. It was an interesting group of guest stars including Valerie Harper, Twiggy, Kay Ballard, The Mummenschanz and EYG Hall of Famer Ethel Merman.
There was an extra guest star on the Ethel Merman episode. Richard Bradshaw, who did not appear on the actual show, was a puppeteer who worked with shadows. That was fun as it was kind of Muppet-ish.
My memory was that the Phantom of the Muppet Show came with Alice Cooper, but that was not the case. He was on the Twiggy episode. By the way, the Twiggy episode had a classic moment with the AA Milne poem “The King’s Breakfast” where the king just wanted some butter for his bread. It also had Twiggy singing a Beatles song. Really? She sang “My Life” which filled me with surprise and hatred at the same time.
Another classic was “Tit-willow” from the Gilbert and Sullivan’s show The Mikado, as done by Rowlf and Sam the Eagle (who did the “tit-willow” line). It’s another example of how the show took non-kids songs and such and made them for the Muppet Show. The show did Broadway show songs such as “Broadway Baby” done by Valerie Harper and a medley of Ethel Merman’s songs such as “Friendship,” “Anything You Can Do,” and “You’re the Top”, all with other Muppets.
The Kaye Ballard episode was fun as Floyd Pepper and the rest of the band wanted to quit because they were tired of playing the theme song (BLASPHEMY!). It was such a running gag that at the end of the episode, only Rowlf was playing the theme on the piano. How awesome that gag was.
Another running joke that was a hoot was Statler wanting to meet Valerie Harper, and brought her a special plant that, when watered, grew uncontrollably. Obviously that happened.
Gonzo the Great tried to get it on with Miss Piggy. That was kind of weird, and Kermit’s non-reaction was quite funny.
The Mummenschanz were awesome too as they have a lot in common with the Muppets. They way this group of theater performers who perform in a surreal mask- and prop-oriented style. I remember them clearly from the first time I saw them on the show. They were so memorable even though I do not think I have seen them in anything since.
The first season is now down and I will be heading to season two soon. I think that it is in season two when the opening theme song changed a bit. I think it was when Fozzie was removed and they went to Statler and Waldorf.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 