[Short-Lived Showcase] Cybersix, episode 8 "Gone with the Wings"

"We never find out a point for Von Reichter's own people being surprised to learn of the goblins, with no reveal or explanation within those ranks. There's no real motive for what the goblins are there to do beyond somehow conquering the city through their breeding. There's a string of bizarre structuring where Julian stumbles across their lair randomly, doesn't notice massive creatures hanging literally in front of his face in a fully lit room until he bumps into them, then when he's trapped, Data 7 goes for help, then goes off with Cybersix for a different action scene, then returns on his own to save the boy, then Cybersix decides to go find the boy herself right in the middle of her action, but by then her friends are already gone. The script feels very sloppily organized, like they were rushing some sequences together in a story they hadn't fully figured out."

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[Short-Lived Showcase] Cybersix, episode 7 "Brainwashed"

"By removing all of Henrique's agency, there's no drama to the choices he's been manipulated into making, no actual struggle between he and Julian as the boy struggles to defend Cybersix. This could have been a great character piece that boldly dropped Henrique into the scenario, but as it is, he's little more than just a cool mustache dude with nothing explored beneath a nice surface design, and no sense of victory when he ultimately sides with Cybersix, due to it being the result of a removed helmet instead of an actual choice on his part. And back to the Techno, the cartooniness of the scenario even strips out the reveal that José's mission to conquer Meridiana has reached a point where the CHIEF OF FREAKIN' POLICE is under his control."

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[Masters of Carpentry] Monthly Feature #16: Starman (1984)

"I've been saying for a long time that I thought The Thing is where he peaked. I actually think this is as good for me as The Thing was. I find the film beautifully shot, I think the script is great for the most part, I love the actors, I love the characters, I love the journey. It is a very by-the-numbers story, it is, so yeah, it's a very familiar story, a very predictable story, but I thought the actual execution of it and exploration of it really pulled me in. And it made me happy at the end."

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[Masters of Carpentry] Monthly Feature #15: Christine (1983)

"I find it a nice mix of the strong King plot and the strong King characters, that even he didn't handle very well, mixed with the style of Carpenter, and I love the mood of this movie, I love the pace of the movie, I love the way the movie is shot, the editing, the music. I really like this one. This one just really works for me, and it has a little more depth and meat to it than a lot of Carpenter's films, but it's also a lot leaner and tighter than the King book. So for me it's a nice, perfect fusion of these two styles."

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[Short-Lived Showcase] Cybersix, episode 6 "Blue Birds of Horror"

"There's very little actual violence, but the overwhelming flurry of the attacks really sells the danger, and even the growing flocks at rest on the rooftops has a skilled layer of tension to it. I especially like that we get outside of our main cast, finding random people around Meridiana who are falling victim in nicely staged ways. The couple who both delight in feeding the birds on their sill who suddenly find their home invaded and trashed. The guy who takes shelter in a phone booth only for the birds, instead of smashing into the windows like they did with Hitchcock, work up under the open ventilation gap near the ground, sealing him in with horror. The dude who loses a hairpiece he still has two payment on."

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[Short-Lived Showcase] Cybersix, episode 5 "Lori is Missing"

"José continues to be completely unthreatening as a villain, but he's still a hell of a lot of fun. I love how ridiculously simple yet ridiculously complicated his plot is, to dig through the basement of a bank vault, all hinging on a completely off scale 8-bit program. There's really no reason he couldn't just manually do the dig given how much control he had over the vehicle in the climactic battle, but that he's put so much reliance on his pre-programming, it speaks to how stubborn and immature he is."

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[Short-Lived Showcase] Cybersix, episode 4 "Yashimoto, Private Eye"

"I will say, stripping away the animation, it is a very well written episode. Yashimoto hunting down clues, finding the clothing shop where Cyber may have assembled her costume, making the connection to Adrian. Julian and Ikiko making various attempts to escape, most of which blow up in José's face, even as they still end up recaptured. My favorite is them bursting out of the grate right onto José's couch where he's playing video games. My first hard laugh of the series! The confrontation in Cyber/Adrian's apartment. The big climax. The story intercuts well, the characters are nicely explored as things unfold, the staging of the big battle at the end progresses nicely from stage to stage before slamming to its finish. Even the dialogue is sharper and cleaner than what we're used to."

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[Short-Lived Showcase] Cybersix, episode 3 "Terra"

"You can definitely tell the people working on this show came out of the animation department of Batman: The Animated Series, because here they've built an entire episode around how much fun they had animating Clayface. As with so many things on this show, Terra is gorgeous to behold as its mud body flows in and out of various shapes and tendrils, using the ability to splat and pour as a part of its basic walking. Adding the face, the basic clown mask with either a smile or a frown, just kind of lumped onto the clay, is a really nice touch and really boosts Terra up as an interesting character to watch."

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[Short-Lived Showcase] Cybersix, episode 2 "Data 7 & Julian"

"Data 7 feels like it shouldn't work. Cyber's brother is suddenly a panther, with a backstory straight out of a swingin' 60 Shotaro Ishinomori manga, and this should completely clash against the Julian/José plot. It doesn't. It's beautifully executed as they play Data dead straight, having him be the fantastical overseer of José for the as yet unnamed mad scientist behind everything, and use elements of the Julian plot to tie into Data's backstory with Cyber. Those flashes, of him falling from a cliff, Cyber failing to reach him in time, of flowers falling apart. The slash he makes on the photo to explain the scar over his left eye. These are beautiful narrative stings, on top of some absolutely spectacular animation of a panther in repose and action. Seriously, the fight between Data and Cyber is jawdropping and exquisitely well put together."

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[Short-Lived Showcase] Cybersix, episode 1 "Mysterious Shadow"

"Shockingly, unlike many other shows, the animation quality doesn't suddenly take a nosedive once we get into the episode proper. No, there isn't the same level of gloss and detail all the time, and a couple of shots are a bit more basic, but there's still a beautiful fluidity to the animation, with sharply composed shots, pounding, whipping action sequences, and so many little moments of character business which give things life. One of my favorites is the scene where Adrian storms out of the cafe and Lucas shoots up to follow. Instead of just sailing out the door or the directors cutting there, Lucas fumbles for his jacket, digs around until he comes up with a couple of bucks, plops them on the table, then can't resist grabbing one more slice of pizza before then making his way out, all while juggling the glowing green vile. If nothing else, this level of animation is the highlight of the episode, to the point where it's mesmerizing at times. I'm really curious if this is a standard they'll be able to maintain over the whole run."

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