April 25, 2015

[Short-Lived Showcase] Captain Power: Final Thoughts

"Might as well just rip the bandaid off fast... Captain Power is not a great show. It is not a lost masterpiece. It is not a show that the networks did wrong by us in cancelling too soon. It's just not."

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April 18, 2015

[Short-Lived Showcase] Captain Power: The Original Bible

"And that's the end of the Bible. It sets up a potentially good show, and the foundation of much of what we ultimately got. It's interesting to see what Straczynski and DiTillio changed and what they didn't, bringing some more depth to the characters and richer story arcs, and what was shifted or discarded in the compression from a 65 episode season to just 22. Ultimately, I think the finished version is the better of the shows, and while this certainly would have been enjoyable, Zicree largely lost me with his Story Springboards, which aren't all that interesting for the most part, and I'm not surprised none of them made it into the show."

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April 15, 2015

[Masters of Carpentry] Monthly Feature #14: Halloween 3 - Season of the Witch (1982)

"It's an interesting movie, and I can see why it has the cult following it has. Even from when I first saw it, I did kinda appreciate the idea of stepping away from Michael Myers and just doing something a little different... But it doesn't work. It's a neat idea, it's a neat concept, they did not implement it very well."

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April 13, 2015

[Short-Lived Showcase] Captain Power: Toys, Merchandise, and Training Videos

"This is where things catch me by surprise. I figured the rail might be a compilation of footage from the show, or a model set like what we see in the closing credits. Instead, this is full on cell animation straight from Japan, and it is exquisitely detailed and fluid, with fully animated background rushing past and enemies zipping about, kicking in afterburners with great kicks of smoke. This is amazing stuff and instantly glued me to the screen."

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April 6, 2015

Castle Rock Companion - Rose Red

"Once we get to the second half, that’s where it spirals out of control. Even during the early tour of the house, things begin to feel scattershot and random as we’ll jump between disconnected scenes or characters are acting contradictory to how they just were in scenes prior, with powers and dynamics flopping around inconsistently. This feels harried and rushed, like King wasn’t fully paying attention as he just burned through the rest of the script in fits and starts. There’s no flow to any of it, many builds lack payoffs, scares are random instead of, as I usually expect from King, rooted in the actual characters."

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April 5, 2015

[Short-Lived Showcase] Captain Power: The Comic

"Here's where I make a confession I know a few people will find shocking: I'm not a fan of Neal Adams. He seems like an okay dude, certainly makes for a lively interview, but I just don't get into his comics all that much. I don't hate them, there's just a certain hamminess and clunkiness to them which keeps me from being all that interested in what's going on from page to page. He's a magnificent illustrator, certainly, and his individual panels are gorgeous, but his layouts lack any flow or momentum, and the constant over-wrought emotions strung throughout leaves those emotions, which he's working so hard to convey, feeling forced and insincere. And then there's his writing. He's a freakin' mess as a writer, with choppy dialogue, poor motivations, and scattershot plotting."

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