Author Archives: Doc
Daily Countdown: TV Show Themes #3
#3
The Fall Guy
Title: “Unknown Stuntman”
Written: Glen A. Larson, Gail Jensen, and David Somerville.
Performed: Lee Majors
The producers of the show used the theme song to help pitch the show to ABC. There was a new version of the song recorded by Blake Shelton for the recent Fall Guy movie.
This is the final image from the banner to arrive. If you were looking at the banner, you knew this one was coming.
Top Two remaining….
One Piece S2 E6, E7
Spoilers
“Nami Deerest”
“Reindeer Shames”
The next two episodes of season two gives us the debut and the origin of a character that I had heard about, but knew very little about him.
Chopper is a character that I heard some people wonder how they were going to adapt him. Apparently, Chopper is a reindeer who had eaten a Devil’s Fruit and turned into a being that walked on two legs and could talk. Moreso, we discover that Chopper is able to change between forms.
Katey Segal joined the list of guest stars this season as Doctor Kureha, who they took Nami to see after she fainted last episode.
The path to Dr. Kureha was one of the most tense moments of the series as Luffy and Sanji literally climbed a mountain side to reach a castle. They were told that the castle held a witch, but it is just Dr. Kureha and Chopper.
On the way up the mountain, Sanji slipped and fell. Luffy caught him by stretching his neck and catching him with his teeth. While that was all kind of bad ass, it had a weird CGI about it. Stretching can be a tough thing because it does not look natural. Still, Luffy using his teeth to save Sanji… great.
The story of Chopper’s origin is heartbreaking and is told to Luffy, Sanji and Nami by Dr. Kureha. It was after Luffy found a pirate flag in a crate and Chopper yelled at Luffy to not touch it.
The seventh episode was almost the entire story of Chopper and it goes to show you how important of a character he is.
We are introduced to the King of Drum Island, Wapol, who is just a horrendous character. Wapol also got a Devil’s Fruit at the beginning of episode 6 and he is one who really needs his comeuppance in the finale.
It really looks like there are a bunch of storylines that are not going to be wrapped up this season. The whole bit with Smokey and the Marines are not going to catch up yet. I am not even sure that Vivi is ever going to get back to Alabasta this season. Maybe as the cliffhanger. That is fine with me.
Paradise S2 E6
Spoilers
“Jane”
We got quite a cliffhanger at the end of episode six. Something that has been building since season one episode one. Xavier and Teri met eyes. Of course, it was right after Gary tried to kill Xavier by setting off the bomb early… the bomb that Xavier was setting up to blow up the people Teri was with because he was mistakenly believing that they had snatched Teri and was holding her prisoner. All because Gary had a weird fixation on Teri and he wanted Xavier out of the way.
Gary failed pretty amazingly considering. All he had to do was blow him up but he had to apologize to him first, giving Xavier the chance to get the bomb away from him so he would not be killed.
And this was not even the main focus of this episode.
This episode gave us background details on Jane and we learned how crazy she really is.
I mean… CRAZY…CRAZY….
She had a dark backstory for sure… but surely one that leads to the supervillain. Now I am not sure whether it is Sinatra that we should be worried about or Jane.
Meanwhile, Jeremy is preparing to try and escape from the camp he is being held at. Thankfully, he has Nicole Robinson to aid, despite it going against her better judgment.
Dune Part Three Teaser Trailer
Daily Countdown: TV Show Themes #4
#4
The Jeffersons
Title: “Movin’ on Up”
Written: Ja’Net DuBois and Jeff Barry.
Performed: Ja’Net DuBois with 35-member gospel choir
Considered one of the most known and influential theme songs of all-time, The theme to The Jefferson was meant to sound like a gospel song.
One Piece S2 E4, E5
Spoilers
“Big Trouble in Little Garden”
“Wax On, Wax Off”
Last season, One Piece was cruising along and then, suddenly, they had a two part episode. Season two has copied that idea as episodes four and five are a two part episode on the island in the Grand Line called Little Garden.
The Little Garden had all kinds of things we had not seen before such as dinosaurs, giants, and David Dastmalchian. Dastmalchian joined the roster of the Baroque Works as Mister 3, an assassin who can create wax.
This was an excellent pair of episodes that featured some awesome things:
- One of the key storylines over theses two episodes includes trying to give Usopp an arc. He came through big time in these episodes.
- The two giants and their century long duel was great and I loved how these giants were not the stereotypical giants one would come to expect.
- The big fight with Miss Valentine and Mr. 5 at the giant wax cake was awesome, and, as I said, Usopp came through like a boss.
- I love how the giants survived, even after it seemed as if they were dead.
- Miss Goldenweek was perhaps the scariest of the Baroque Works assassins we’ve met so far. She caused a lot of suffering to Luffy.
- We get our first interaction with the mysterious Mr. Zero, via a phone conversation between Mr. Zero and Sanji (who was pretending to be Mr. 3). I think he was being played by Joe Manganiello.
- The two giants work together to help Luffy’s ship to get past a giant goldfish.
Three episodes remain in season two and I expect it to be awesome.
The Wrecking Crew
This one has been on my list on Amazon Prime for some time now. The snow day has given me the opportunity to give this a watch.
According to IMDB, “Estranged half-brothers Jonny and James reunite after their father’s mysterious death. As they search for the truth, buried secrets reveal a conspiracy threatening to tear their family apart.“
Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista played Jonny and James and they were the strength of this movie. Both of these giant men brought a humor, sensitivity and charisma with each other that carried a typical action film script on their hulking backs.
The story of this film is a generic action movie. The fact that this is a solid movie is because Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa are awesome. The action was really pretty decent and the stunt work was very good. There were some scenes that were excellent, including one scene with a car-helicopter chase.
Are the villains one note? Sure are. They are there as nothing more than to be killed off in cool action scenes.
I really enjoyed this film because of how great Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa are as half-brothers. I believed their relationship. I understood their anger. They did a great job and carried this movie to being a great streaming film.
4 stars
Cold Storage
With a no school day because of a March blizzard, I got a chance to watch a couple of streaming movies that I have been wanting to see. The first one was recommended by my friend Chris. I had never heard of it before, but it looked interesting.
Cold Storage had a late eighties, early nineties action flick feel to it, as had some fun characters dealing with a bizarre fungus that was turning people and animals into infected, spreading around.
According to IMDB, “When a highly dangerous fungus escapes from a secret laboratory, a former bioterrorism agent is called back into action. Alongside two young employees, he must confront an invisible and out-of-control threat.”
Joe Keery starred as Teacake, a guard at a storage facility, and Georgina Campbell starred as Naomi, a new worker at the facility. They discovered this fungus and how it has multiplied, calling in help from the army.
That help was Robert Quinn (Liam Neeson) who had interacted with the fungus in the past and was one of the few people remaining who had any expertise on this topic at all.
Keery and Campbell worked together extremely well. You immediately buy the chemistry between them and want them to survive the experience. You can feel for these characters. They are just deep enough to keep you interested in their well-being.
Liam Neeson brings the perfect energy for the grizzled, injured former military man with his first hand knowledge. Neeson handled the slightly comedic tone to the movie as well. Neeson has always had a strong sense of comedic timing and he gets a chance to show it here.
The overall story is fairly limited, but it works well as a monster movie. We get a bunch of secondary characters who we don’t mind seeing blow up from the fungus (though the vomiting green goo is unnecessary). While this story is simple, it is just about the right amount of combination of action/horror/comedy to pull off the film.
This was a fun film to watch and I had a great time rooting for these characters to survive the fungus.
4 stars
Daily Countdown: TV Show Themes #5
#5
Hardcastle and McCormick
Title: “Drive”
Composed: Mike Post and Stephen Geyer
Performed: David Morgan
The theme featured the real star of the show… the car. The opening credits has the Coyote X flying all over the place and “Drive” is that high-energy, high-speed electric guitar power that worked so well. The show changed themes songs in the second season, but the fan base revolted and “Drive” returned.
EYG Comic Cavalcade #195
March 15
I went to the bi-yearly sale at In This Issue Comics this weekend and stuffed three bags full of a bunch of comics. It was such fun going through the boxes, looking for those gems of back issues. I got a bunch of Thor books, Ultimate Spider-Man Vol 1s, a run of Incredible Hulk with amazing covers that I had never seen before as well as a bunch of independent books. I wound up with over 250 books in those three bags. Great deal!
Comic of the Week
Alias: Red Band #1
This week’s Comic of the Week reminded me how much I enjoyed Jessica Jones as a character. The hard-drinking, rough housing, foul-mouthed character was having a difficult time fitting in as the First Lady of New York and the stress is causing some tension with her husband, Mayor Luke Cage. Not only that, but the murder in her old building that she has been forbidden to investigate is building that tension as well. I do love this noir style as Jessica Jones narrates the comic, giving you insights into her character.
Excited to continue this series moving forward.
Books this week:
The Exorcism at Buckingham Palace #1. Written by Hannah Rose May and art by Kelsey Ramsay. Cover art was done by Kelsey Ramsay & Heather Breckel. It was not that long ago when we had an exorcism story set in the White House. Now we take the idea across the pond to Britain and Buckingham Palace as the soon-to-be King of England has his own demons to deal with. But are they just found in a bottle or is there more to this story. Great first issue and I am excited this concept is back.
Ordained #2. Written by Robert Venditti with art by Trevor Hairsine. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes (Silver Medalist). It has been several months since Ordained #1 came out and was one of the hottest books at the time. This issue picked up right away from the long break back into the action and it is clear that Father Roy is not one to mess with.
Mark Spears Monster #9. “The Tell-Tale Heart… but why will you say that I am mad?” Written by Mark Spears and Lucas Spears with art and cover art by Mark Spears. Cover C (Bronze Medalist), Cover D (Gold Medalist). The Mad Hatter is being interrogated at the police station and that sounds like it is not going to go smoothly.
Crownsville #5. Writtenby Rodney Barnes and illustrated by Elia Bonetti. Cover art was done by Jason Shawn Alexander. The mini-series closes with a cool wrap up. The killer kids are unstoppable, but, apparently not. I enjoyed how Crownsville finished up and left it open for a potential future.
X-Men United #1. “Welcome to Graymatter Lane” Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Tiago Palma. Cover art was done by Stefano Caselli & Federico Blee. The White Queen is trying to reunite the X-Men. Cyclops ain’t happy about it. I’m not sure how this series affects Uncanny X-Men and X-Men, but it is intriguing to see these characters back together again. Even whiny Cyclops.
D’Orc #2. “Time to Die!” Written, art and cover art by Brett Bean. I was excited to see if D’Orc #2 would be able to maintain the huge momentum that the first issue. I am pleased to say that it absolutely continued its strength and thoroughly entertaining storytelling. This still reminds me of a combination of Eight Billion Genies and Groo.
Magik & Colossus #2. “Sisyphean” Written by Ashley Allen and art by German Peralta. Cover art was done by David Nakayama. It has been too long since we had interactions between Illyana and Piotr Rasputin. The brother-sister vibe of this book makes it intriguing.
Tigress Island #1. Written Patrick Kindlon and art and cover art by Ephk. This was an intriguing new book. I am not sure what is going on with this book. It was not anywhere what I expected to be. I will be continuing to look at it, but I am not sure what this is about.
Comic: The Magazine #1. The next attempt and putting out a comic magazine came out this weekend. After the Zdarsky newsletter went away, this stepped up and I liked the first issue. I think there are a lot of different ideas that could wind up in this magazine.
Black Cat #8. “Fortress of Magnitude” Written by G. Willow Wilson with art by Gleb Melnikov. Adam Hughes did the cover art. Felicia and Mary Jane are inside the Negative Zone in search of a video tape. The pairing of MJ and Black Cat has always been fun, and with MJ now as Venom, it makes things all the more weird.
A Quiet Place: Storm Warnings #1. Written by Phil Hester with pencils and cover art by Ryan Kelly. This is a new story with the creatures from A Quiet Place and this is an interesting story. I liked the time they spent this issue building our human characters because they are a vital part of the tale.
The Other/Half #1. “Dinner and a Diamond.” Written by Jim McCann and art by Joe Eisma. Cover art was done by Joe Eisma. Henry is a private investigator and Ethan is a socialite and they are married. However, there is a mystery that is going to require them to get into roles that they are not used to. Interesting new book from Ignition Press. The key is the relationship between Henry and Ethan.
Venom #255. Written by Al Ewing with art by Carlos Gomez. Cover art was done by Carlos Gomez & Frank Martin. I usually do not buy the Venom series (which is up to #255…wow, I did not think Marvel let books get that high any more). However, this is part three of the Death Spiral story where Venom and Spider-Man team up so I had to pick it up.
51 #1. Written by Curt Pires with art and cover art by Jok. Another book that was hot this weekend was 51 from Mad Cave. I like this one more than the Tigress Island book. This sends a group of individuals into Area 51 to try and maintain the secrets and clean up after they lose those secrets into the world. And what if it was the president’s son? This was fun.
Bleeding Hearts #2. Written by Deniz Camp with art and cover art by Stipan Morian. The first issue of this new Vertigo book did not win me over. It was fine, but I did not think it was great. However, you can throw that all out the window because I thought issue two of this series was fantastic. It was a real turn around for me and that made me very happy.
Absolute Batman #18. “The Seventh Kingdom-Part 2” Written by Scott Snyder with art by guest artist Eric Canete. Cover art was done by Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin. Batman’s conflict with Poison Ivy comes to a dramatic close and Batman does something that no one expects. It is taking this Absolute Batman on a distinctly different path. I am not sure how to feel about it, but it absolutely is a shocking step.
Transformers #30. Written by Robert Kirkman and art by Dan Mora. Cover art was done by David Nakayama. Speaking of shocking moments, there is one in the Transformers book too. The Transformers get themselves a brand new Prime! It is not Optimus any more.
Planet of the Apes Versus Fantastic Four #2. Written by Josh Trujillo with art by Andrea Di Vito. Cover art was done by Greg Land & Rachelle Rosenberg. I am surprised how well the Apes from Planet of the Apes and the FF mix together. This has been very entertaining so far in the first two issues.
Imperial Guardians #1. Written by Dan Abnett with pencils by Marcelo Ferreira. Cover art is done by Sean Izaakse & Nolan Woodard. A group of space heroes reform the Guardians, through the Imperial banner with Marvel. We get Gamora, Captain Marvel, Darkhawk, Cosmic Ghost Rider and Brawn.
Other books this week: Godzilla vs. Portland #1, Harley Quinn X Elvira #5, Masterminds #4, Sonja Reborn #6, The Seasons #9, Spider-Man: Meals to Astonish #1, Marian Heretic #5, Absolute Green Lantern #12, and Blood & Thunder #12.
Quick Hits: Space Ghost #9 is the first book this week in Quick Hits. This is a consistently good series from Dynamite. Another Dynamite book this week is Archie X The Army of Darkness #2. The book is able to get Archie and his friends into a cabin in the woods. The final issue of High Strangeness #5 is full of weirdness. No Place #4 continues its Oz based story. Storm: Earth’s Mightiest Mutant #2 has been a bit over my head so far. I love Storm so I will be sticking to it moving ahead, but it is not the most interesting storyline so far. Another series that has come to an end as 1776 #5 is finished. It was a strange book with the Revolutionary War, but I like big swings. Escape from Skull Island #2 keeps the Kong action going. Doctor Strange #4 keeps up with the Asgard storyline. It is another one that I have not loved, but I think it is okay. I missed Where Does the Rainbow End? #2 when it came out so I picked it up this week with Where Does the Rainbow End ?#3 was released.
One Piece S2 E3
Spoilers
“Whiskey Business”
Booger Bombs!
Yes, there were booger bombs. It was epic.
Another great episode of One Piece. Here we get to see Zoro and his new swords get in some action on the new island where they stopped. It seemed as if the island loved pirates and we so friendly. Of course, things are too good to be true.
The two assassins, Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9, were freed by Luffy… or at least Miss Wednesday was freed because Luffy’s gut told him to do it. They escaped and became a major problem during this episode.
However, Miss Wednesday turned out to be someone that we did not expect… a missing princess, undercover inside the assassins.
One of the best parts of the episode was the swordfighting of Zoro as he is seeing visions of Dracule Mihawk, the world’s greatest swordsman who left Zoro defeated and near death last season. Zoro counting off the number of agents of the Baroque Works he took out was awesome and showed some amazing fight choreography.
Back to booger bombs. Mr. 5 showed up with Miss Valentine as they chased Miss Wednesday. Apparently, Miss Wednesday has found the info on the identity of the leader of the assassins, Mr. Zero.
The show has done a tremendous job of building up a group of antagonists for our crew in the first few episodes that feel more than just the bad-guy-of-the-week. From Smokey to Mr. Zero and the assassins in-between, this has a good group of characters with mysteries abounding.
Favorite Comic Covers of the Week
March 15
It’s the Ides of March and I forgot to do this column this week. I had parent/teacher conferences on Thursday so it changed up when I picked up my books. I never even thought about it until about five minutes ago.
So here are this week’s belated Favorite covers of the week.
Also-Rans: Crownville #5, X-Men United #1, The Exorcism at Buckingham Palacce #1, Alias: Red Band #1, Space Ghost #9, Bleeding Hearts #2, and Transformers #30.
Bronze Medalist
Mark Spears Monsters #9
Variant Cover C
Cover art by Mark Spears
I do love evil clowns, especially those drawn by Mark Spears. There is a rolling pin in the middle of the page.
Silver Medalist
Ordained #2
Cover art by Jorge Fornes
We have been waiting for Ordained #2 for a long time. It was worth the wait. The bloody gun in the hand of Father Craig as he peaks around the corner of the brick wall really gives a strong story about what this issue is about. I love the darkness and how Craig’s clothes blend into it.
Gold Medalist
Mark Spears Monsters #9
Variant Cover D
Cover art by Mark Spears
Mark Spears art with 3D. Is it a little gimmicky? Sure. However, how can you turn down out favorite monsters with 3D glasses on their faces? This is a lot of fun and grabs mark Spears another gold medal.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S2 E3
Spoilers
“Secrets”
Another week… another week where I can’t stand Cate.
She ended the episode looking at the broken Golden Gate Bridge and feeling all kinds of guilt over her releasing the Titan X that the world now knows about. Maybe she is planning on jumping off the bridge. It is terrible to say, but I think the show would benefit from it.
We get the scene we have been expecting in one of the flashbacks where Keiko and Lee made love after escaping from the natives on the island. Keiko felt guilty here too, but I think it probably will lead to Lee being the actual father of Hiroshi instead of Bill Randa.
Bill found a letter from Keiko to Lee at the end of this week’s episode which tells me that things are about to happen.
Lots of melodrama this week, which is the weakest part of this show. The flashbacks are still the strongest part of the show while the present day is just hardly interesting. Even now with a new Titan swimming around, the present day is not that good. Monarch sure feels like an incapable organization.
This show needed some more Titan action as the human drama is not cutting it.
Sunday Morning Sidewalk #60
Spoilers
His & Hers
“Episode Four”
More drama is brought up between out two main characters and we get what we have needed… some face to face with two of the top actors around. Jon Bernthal and Tessa Thompson are both powerhouse actors and this gives us the first, real, face to face engagement between them.
I mean, they have had scenes together int he previous three episodes of Him & Hers on Netflix, but none of them were as powerful as this one at the end of episode 4.
It focused around the loss of their child and how they were tearing each other apart, even when they did not want to be doing that. It was painful and real, but it seemed as if they may have taken a step in their relationship… as the truck sex may indicate.
Both swear that they had not part in hurting Rachel and the second victim Helen, but I am still not sure I believe them.
The killings are certainly connected as the presence of a friendship bracelet at both scenes implied. It also pointed toward Jack’s sister, who also has one of the bracelets. The cameraman is looking a little sus too.
The city is flipping out and the mayor showed what a dumb ass he was by making Jack do a press conference. The city town hall turned into a chaotic mess and winds up getting broadcast on the news… thanks Anna, who stirred the pot big time.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 