Author Archives: Doc

Man from Atlantis S1 E11

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“Crystal Water, Sudden Death”

Another weird world and the return of Mr. Schubert highlight the next episode of Man from Atlantis. Schubert has been searching for powerful crystals that will help him control the communications on the earth. and he needs Mark’s inadvertent help to get them.

It appears as if Man from Atlantis is not that concerned with continuity as Schubert, who the last time we saw him, had been struggling with finances. That does not seem to be a concern this episode.

We also got a new lackey/henchman for Schubert, played by René Auberjonois, who appeared on Benson and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Auberjonois’s character, Havergal, on Man from Atlantis was much angrier and meaner.

Mark Harris is truly unlike any character I have seen on TV. His calmness and heroic nature is always right on point. He does not respond with violence and he is constantly the diplomat. His manner with the people of Killsboro’s Deep, the underwater land found inside a bubble created by the crystals, was so different than other action/sci-fi heroes that it makes him wholly original.

I mean, Mark has super strength, as we have seen before, but he never uses the strength in opposition to others. He uses his words and his aura to create a peaceful nature that is cool to see.

This was another episode of Man from Atlantis that made me think about Land of the Lost, specifically with the crystals and the Sleestaks. This was some top notch science fiction television, a nice return after the Western parts from the previous episode.

American Horror Story: Delicate S12 E7

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“Ave Hestia”

Okay, what the hell did I just watch?

It was an episode where we saw background info on everyone but Anna, and what we saw was nonsensical and dumb.

I really have found this season, specifically since it has come back from break, to be some of my least favorite American Horror Story episodes of the entire series.

Honestly, I have a lot of things that I am watching right now and if this show does not get better in a hurry, I think it may be done.

Fallout S1 E2

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“The Target”

Look, it Benjamin Linus!

Oh…poor Ben.

Michael Emerson, who played Benjamin Linus on my all time favorite TV show LOST, made his debut and finale(?) on Fallout’s second episode in an episode that absolutely rocked hard.

Michael Emerson played a character named Dr. Siggi Wilzig, who is a scientist who goes on the run with his dog. He can’t be that bad of a guy, can he?

Well, he brings all of our main characters that we were introduced to last episode together for a big time fight over the now legless (thanks Ghoul) Wilzig.

I enjoyed the progression of the character Maximus in this episode too as he claimed this giant armor for himself. His battle with the Ghoul was rough and displayed how dangerous the Ghoul actually is.

Michael Rapaport cameoed as Knight Titus and I swear the guy trying to get the sand through the water filter sounded like Woody Harrelson, but I can not find a confirmation about that.

Lucy continues to have a great arc and is my favorite character. When she has to do what she does at the end of the episode, I felt so bad for Wilzig and laughed at the situation for Lucy.

I really enjoyed this episode all the way through. It feels as if it took a step up from a very strong premiere.

Twin Peaks S2 E22

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“Beyond Life and Death”

The ending of the second season of Twin Peaks, which was the final episode of the series (or so we thought at the time), gave us perhaps the worst ever cliffhanger heading into cancellation in TV history. I mean that in the best possible way.

When Cooper stares into the mirror in his bathroom at the Great Northern Hotel and Bob stares back and Coop drives his head into the glass and maniacally says “How’s Annie” repeatedly, the shock was traumatic. The idea that Bob had taken over the body of Agent Cooper (though we discover later that this is not Cooper, but his doppelganger) was horrific for the fans of the show. The knowledge that this would be Cooper’s fate forever was very difficult to accept.

Of course, we know that the series returned in 2017 to do another 18-episodes and helped free Cooper from the Black Lodge/Red Room.

This episode’s second part was like a dream sequence, with Cooper going through the “waiting room” in the Black Lodge as Windham Earle tried to gain its power, rather unceremoniously unsuccessfully. We get to see the midget, the giant, Leland Palmer, Laura Palmer, Maddy, Killer Bob among others in this mystical dimension.

This episode was directed once again by David Lynch and the craziness of the Black Lodge absolutely showed this in spades. The feral screams of Laura Palmer was utterly chilling, as was her comment abut seeing Cooper again in 25 years (which was how long it was between season 2 and season 3 of Twin Peaks). This fever-dream of an episode truly brought the weirdness factor to a new level, even for this classic show.

There rest of the Twin Peaks cast had their moments, many of which were very melodramatic and would fit right in with the soap opera concept that Lynch had originally planned for Twin Peaks.

This show, though it had some downs during the second season, is one of the most influential and epic series in television history. The Who Killed Laura Palmer arc of the show was as good as you are going to find on network television.

As I said in the last post, I plan on giving Twin Peaks a rest for awhile, perhaps jumping into season three during the summer. Until then, enjoy a damn fine cup of coffee and a slice of cherry pie.

Civil War

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This was a really well done movie with some dramatic moments.

I do not want to every see it again.

There have been several movies that I have seen that I loved, but that had such an impact on me that I would not want to watch it again.

Despite what you might think, this is not a political movie. The film does not go into specifics on how the film’s civil war started nor does it take sides. I think that was a very smart thing to do, but I do expect that some people from either side may see what they want to see in the movie even though it is not there.

The film focuses on four characters who are photo journalists in their attempt to go from New York to D.C. It is essentially a dystopian road trip movie, with a series of scenes that show the horrible events that a war brings. Innocent bystanders are caught in crossfire, lives are ruined, death surrounds them all.

The four main characters have great chemistry together and bring an energy to the darkness around them. Kirsten Dunst played a battle weary photo journalist named Lee and Wagner Moura played her partner Joel. They are joined by up and coming photo journalist Jesse, played by Cailee Spaeny. Then fourth of the group was the wonderful Stephen McKinley Henderson whose character was a grizzled veteran reporter, Sammy.

These characters interact with each other and the film is truly a character piece involving their road trip toward D.C.

The sound mixing team on this film did an amazing job as it sounded unbelievable. The gun shots would literally resonate in the audience’s gut, creating an uneasiness and an awkwardness that empowered the tone of the film.

Civil War is a violent film that does an admirable job at not taking a side in the conflict, nor does it blame either. It spends time with four characters who have to deal with the consequence of war and trying to exist in a war zone. It is a compelling movie with strong lead performances that anchor the film.

4.25 stars

The First Omen

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I caught up with this film that had been released last week, and I heard some positive reactions to the prequel. Unfortunately, I did not find these reactions matched up with my own.

This basically tells the story behind the birth of Damien from the original Omen movie, and the mythology behind it. Honestly, I found a lot of this to be shaky, as the reasoning behind it felt all over the place for me.

Nell Tiger Free starred as the main character Margaret, who had just arrived in Rome to begin her service to the church. This film was set in 1971, but did not necessarily feel that way in any other manner than the production values.

I will say that I think Nell Tiger Free did a spectacular job in this role, in particular with the physical demands of the performance. She was definitely the stand out for me, at least about two-thirds of the way into the film when things started happening.

I had a lot of trouble with what was happening in the plot. I did not understand the reasoning behind it and I wasn’t sure who I was supposed to be rooting for.

So, this was okay, but I did not enjoy it very much. I can understand why people liked it, because it was better than a lot of other horror sequels/prequels. I just did not think much about this.

2.5 stars

Man from Atlantis S1 E10

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“Shoot-Out at Land’s End”

Man from Atlantis meets the Old West.

According to IMDB, “While investigating an underwater volcano, Mark is stricken with sudden pain in the shoulder. This is not the first time he’s felt pain for no reason, and his instincts lead him to a deserted beach and, inexplicably, to a frontier town of the old west called Land’s End. There he meets his identical twin, Billy, another water-breather who washed up on a beach with no knowledge of his true identity. Billy takes Mark’s place aboard the Cetacean, leaving the Man from Atlantis to face the villains of Land’s End.”

Mark in a fish-out-of-water story that sees much of the science fiction elements replaced by those of a Western. Science fiction shows like Star Trek have done this type of episode many times, traveling to a different land, specifically a Western motif.

The twin aspect of the show was intriguing. It truly speaks to the mysterious past of Mark Harris. Billy did not have the strength of Mark, nor did Billy have the webbed-fingers. I am not sure why there were the differences. When we first met Billy, I wondered about the webbed-fingers and why people didn’t wonder about them, but the show made a point to show that Billy did not have them. Still, he was a water-breather and got strength from getting wet. I am not sure if the show has an idea of the overall story or if this is just a fun idea that they had, connecting it to a mysterious past that they never intended to flesh out.

Pernell Roberts from Bonanza appeared as the villainous Clint Hollister, the man who hired Billy as a hired gun.

It did seem that Billy made a turn from the bad guy to the heroic character quickly, but there was only a limited amount of time in the episode. This would have been a better story with a two-parter or if this were like one of the TV movies that started the show.

The show did a decent j0b of shooting the two Patrick Duffys during the scenes that Billy and Mark were together. Most of the shots looked really good, but there was one at the sheriff station that was not as strong.

They never even tried to figure out how Mark wound up in the Old West. I can only assume it was the same type of manner in which happened in “Giant.”

Twin Peaks S2 E21

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“Miss Twin Peaks”

The penultimate episode of season two of Twin Peaks came hard to the Miss Twin Peaks contest as Windham Earle, dressed as the Log Lady, kidnapped Annie after her victory in the contest.

The entire moment felt so chaotic, bringing back the moments of the flashing strobe lights when Bob or the Giant would show up.

After Annie and Cooper got busy in his Great Northern room, she was clearly the target that would make the most sense for the revenge-minded Earle.

Andy comes through big time too, with an explanation of the mysterious cave drawing actually being a map!

You could tell that this episode was ramping back up into a more intense level. Much of the series had wandered since the reveal of the killer of Laura Palmer. Some parts had been good, some were bad. It felt unrefined and inconsistent. This had a much better feel to it. Even the Miss Twin Peaks contest, which was one of the areas of the recent weeks that were not the strongest, created some serious moments.

This sets up the finale of season two, which, it seemed, would be the finale of the series. However, a surprise season three came back on Showtime. When I finish the next episode, I plan on taking a time out before the season three rewatch (probably in the summer).

Fallout S1 E1

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“The End”

I think the TV shows that are based on video games have been doing great recently. There was The Last of Us, and now we have a new video game series on Amazon Prime called Fallout.

I have not played the Fallout video game so I have no predetermined expectations for the corresponding show.

However I do have a love for the actor Kyle MacLachlan, who was Agent Cooper in Twin Peaks. I know that Michael Emerson, who played Ben on LOST, is coming next episode. Love these actors and it gives me an inspiration to watch the show.

The opening scene of the bombs being dropped on LA was devastating and kind of difficult to watch. It reminded me of the dark beginning of The Last of Us, which saw the death of Joel’s daughter Sarah.

We focus in on two main characters for most of the episode: Lucy and Maximus. Then, we end the episode meeting The Ghoul.

Lucy is played by Ella Purnell. Lucy is Kyle MacLachlan’s Hank’s daughter. Maximus is played by Aaron Clifton Moten. The Ghoul is played by the exquisite Walter Goggins.

Hank is taken from the bomb shelter by people from the surface world. This sends Lucy after him. I would expect her to come into contact with our other protagonists. Her story, for me, was more compelling than Maximus’s so the show does have some work to do for me to engage with his character. The Ghoul is just a cool cowboy and I want more from him.

All eight episodes have dropped on Amazon Prime and I will be working to watch the rest of these over the next few weeks. I do not expect a binge as the episodes are all around (or surpassing) the hour runtime.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #91

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April 11, 2024

Well, yesterday was NEW COMIC BOOK DAY…sort of.

If you saw the EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week post on Wednesday, you know what happened. The new comics shipment to Comic World was lost in the mail. Last I heard they had no idea what had happened to the shipment and they were waiting on a replacement order. The only books that arrived were the DC and Image books. There are a very limited number of DC books that I get, so this week was going to be a down week for comic issues.

I did get a few Image books and so the 91st edition of the Comic Cavalcade will press on.

This actually worked out pretty well for me as Todd had picked up a bunch of Amazing Spider-Man back issues for me. I had told him that I was going to start filling out my ASM collection with issues that I was missing since I had gone through my Amazing Spider-Man box , reboarding and re-bagging them. This allowed me to see the issues that I already had, which had always been the hold back for me buying back issues. There was a time that Todd had thought that I did not like back issues, but that was never the case. I just was never sure what I had already owned. As my project to re-box, re-bag and re-board all the older comics, while inventorying the books on CLZ has been moving forward slowly, I knew what was missing in the ASM camp.

Todd did go a bit in depth with his search for these back issues and came back from Des Moines with a pile of books (41 in all) for me to buy over the next several months. Since I did not have much in the pull list this week with the great comic box disappearance (was this worse than the truck/fire thing from last year… probably not because no one died in this. More inconvenient than anything else), I intended on buying the whole lot. Todd wouldn’t let me.

I am not sure why, but he held back most of the higher priced ASM books he had and even went a far as to keep the books with him to prevent me from circling back and buying them from one of the others at Comic World. I guess I appreciate Todd’s zeal to protect my bank account.

Anyway, I have a large group of Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 issues mostly in the four hundreds, but a few lower. I do love Spider-Man and having these are really cool. I’ll get those other ASM books one day, though next week looks to be a double week, with the books from this week and the books from next week. Oy.

Here are the few sparse books this week:

The Last Mermaid #1-2. Written and drawn by Derek Kirk Kim. I actually got The Last Mermaid #2 last week, but I could not read it because I was waiting for #1 to come in. I had missed it and Todd picked it up for me in Des Moines, so I got the chance to read them this week and I loved these two books. Absolutely gorgeous art on the interior of the book. I loved the different shape of the book. I would not want every comic to be this size, but this make this series feel different and original. It was a fun little story of a wasteland future time with a mermaid in a mech-suit in search of usable water. This was some beautiful visual storytelling and I just loved what has been given to us so far. I actually gasped at the end of issue two. I am surprised how connected I am to this mermaid and her little axolotl companion after just a couple of issues. This is wonderful so far.

Rat City #1. Written by Erica Schultz and drawn by Ze Carlos. Cover art by Ze Carlos (Bronze Medalist). This is a book taking place in the future with a character that has lost his legs in his military service and has been given state-of-the-art prosthetics. This is connected to the multitude of new Spawn books coming too. Honestly, this was okay, but it did not grab me enough to want to continue to follow this story.

Napalm Lullaby #2. Written by Rick Remender and art by Bengal, who also did the cover art (Silver medalist). Unlike the previous book, I found this to be an awesome issue. In fact, this really picked up from an okay issue #1. I really dug the story of Sam and Sarah and their father and their beginning of a trek to kill the Magnificent leader.. which led them into…Heaven? I am in.

Phantom Road #10. “Billy Bear One” Written by Jeff Lemire and art by Gabriel H. Walta, who also did the cover art (Gold Medalist). This is the end of Book Two, but it was clearly not a end of this series. Very compelling books, kind of a mix between The Walking Dead and The Langoliers. Jeff Lemire is one of my favorite writers currently working today and I will read most everything that he writes.

Transformers #7. Written by Daniel Warren Johnson and art by Jorge Corona. Soundwave vs. Starscream. Oofta! Who is the leader of the Decepticons? And what is going on with Optimus Prime? This issue brings several questions to the front and keeps the momentum of this series moving on.

That’s it for new books this week. Next week is a huge week with the Marvel/Boom! Studios/Etc. from this week and everything from next. More Amazing Spider-Man? Who knows.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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Week of April 8

So we have a strange week this week. My comic shop had their new comics lost in the mail. No one knows what happened to it. The only books that came out this week were Image/DC. I had nothing from DC which meant this week’s comic cover medalists are out of five Image Comics. Next week will be a large one.

Bronze Medalist

Rat City #1

Cover art by Zé Carlos

I don’t know anything about this issue except that sure looks like Spawn on the cover. I picked it up as a curiosity and because I liked the cover. I am interested to see what it is about.

Silver Medalist

Napalm Lullaby #2

Cover art by Bengal

I like this cover quite a bit with this new title from Image. Love the background on this cover as our main protagonists stand in front. I love how everything around them seem to leap off the cover. The title stands out beautifully too.

Gold Medalist

Phantom Road #10

Cover art by Gabriel H. Walta

I love this cover. Truthfully, it is not as much the art of the cover that stands out, but the coloring. This green makes this such a compelling cover. You remember the color because you do not typically see something like this.

Congrats to the all-Image week.

X-Men ’97 S1 E5

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“Remember It”

Wow, what an episode.

So much happened. There are so many things occurred in this episode, and had one of the most dramatic and emotional ends to an episode that I have ever seen.

The first half of this episode was beautiful X-soap opera and the second half was full action spectacle.

The line Rogue says at the end of the episode as it went to black, “I can’t feel you” which was a call back to earlier in the episode, was heartbreaking as she held the dead body of Gambit.

The dialogue was so fantastic in this episode, taking a brilliant step up from the great dialogue from previous weeks’ shows. It is so well written and impactful. This is so much better writing than most animated shows you are going to find.

We got Cable. We got Tri-Sentinel. We got a story kind of like the Mutant Massacre. We had progression on the Scott/Jean/Madeline storyline. Nightcrawler was here along with a ton of cameos. Was there a secret cameo with the Watcher?

Gambit is such a kick ass stud during this episode. His ending battle with the Tri-Sentinel where he sacrifices himself to save Rogue is some of the best action storytelling that you are ever going to see.

Magneto and Rogue background comes out to Gambit.

This was unbelievable. There was so much in this episode. I absolutely loved this. It was one of the best episodes of animation on TV I have seen. What are they going to do after the tragic events of this ending? It is so fantastic. Next Wednesday can not get here quick enough.

American Horror Story: Delicate S12 E6

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“Opening Night”

Okay, I saw that American Horror Story: Delicate returned for the second half of its season. I was not overly inspired to watch it.

I was interested in Delicate when it first aired back in 2023, for the first five episodes. However, it was not the best AHS I had ever seen. Then, it went away for months.

Whatever momentum this series may have had, this long of a break really killed it. I was not anxiously waiting to see this episode and I only watched it tonight because it fit into the schedule.

The episode was really good, but I had a very challenging time trying to recall what was going on. It was weird and bloody. Things started to come back to me as I watched the episode, but there were still parts that I did not recall.

This long of a break can really sap a show. I feel the same way about Invincible on Amazon Prime which I have not yet watched, and I liked that show more than the current AHS. I am not sure about the choice to wait so long before the second part of the season dropped.

The show was really creepy though and hopefully I will continue to be intrigued moving forward.

Shogun S1 E8

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“The Abyss of Life”

Whoa.

The scene near the end of this episode was unbelievably powerful and tense. The confrontation between Toranaga and Hiromatsu, which led to Hiromatsu committing seppuku. Man, what a moment among a pretty solid episode filled with moments.

It seemed as if Toranaga has more planned than what it appeared. He claimed that Osaka must believe he has given everything up. The loss of his son last episode and Hiromatsu’s death in this one has given Toranaga, who appeared very sick and frail from the trip, time.

John faced a member of his crew finally after months and it did not go well either. John had attempted to sway Yabushige to forming an alliance. Yabushige rejects the offer in name of loyalty to Toranaga. However, the death of Hiromatsu changed his opinion, saying that he did not want to die for the crazy old man.

There was a powerful scene over some tea between Mariko and her husband Buntaro. Buntaro wished to have them both commit suicide as a protest to Toranaga’s decision, but Mariko came out and specifically said that she did not want to follow him into death and that she would rather live a thousand years because of the way he had treated her.

Two more episodes remaining in this series and who knows where it is heading. This one left that knot in my stomach as I watched the pain involved in the machinations of Taranaga.

Moonlighting S5 E12, E13

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“Einme Kleine Nacht Murder”

“Lunar Eclipse”

This is the final two episodes of Moonlighting. They wrapped up the series finishing off the storyline with David and Maddie’s cousin, Annie.

They still have David and Maddie having repressed anger with each other. Even Annie called David out on his anger, which, of course, he denied. However, it is fairly obvious. It is the same anger that has poisoned the series and brought about the end of the show.

These final two episodes included all of the reasons why Moonlighting lost its way. The anger between Dave and Maddie. The overuse of Herbert Viola, in over the top comedy. The cases taking back seat and being tossed aside.

Dave and Maddie end up two of the most depressing characters in TV history.

Even their giant meta ending to the show fell flat. Denis Dugan appearing as Cy the big time producer did give the final repose on the show.

The final clip montage was more sad than anything else. And I do not mean sad in the good way. The last two seasons of Moonlighting really miscalculated what made this show so classic that it wound up in the EYG Hall of Fame. The last two seasons had so much bad in it, but there still had some great moments too. And very few shows can provide three seasons like the first three did.

The rewatch of Moonlighting has now come to an end. I am very happy that Hulu gave me a chance to see the show once again for EYG.

The Anselmo case was never solved.