Stargate Universe Season 2 episode 8 Malice review

Link to the Denofgeek.com article.

Preview: 'Robert Carlyle dubbed this as one of “the best things (they’ve) done so far”, and from the opening, it may well be true. The ending of The Greater Good left us with Simeon alone with Ginn, who was body-swapped with Dr Amanda Perry, and it doesn’t pan out in either of the two ladies’ favour, as both are killed in an attack by him.'

Stargate Universe Season 2 Episode 7 The Greater Good review

Link to the Denofgeek.com article.

Preview: 'I wouldn’t want to fool anyone into reading this having not seen the episode, so be fair warned that I cannot discuss this episode without going into detail. If that means that you can’t read on, just know this - it’s really quite good.'

Good news for Hulk!

Turns out that brilliant director Guillermo del Toro is exchanging an angry red beast for an angry green one, which is nothing short of great news for the new live action Hulk tv show going before cameras in the next year or so. Marvel are hoping the series will premiere in Fall 2012, which may make for a fourth Hulk actor in a decade, as the expectations for Mark Ruffalo to continue his role from 'The Avengers' film dropping the same year aren't high.

However, there is a second droplet of good news to ripple the Hulk pond. David Eick, a writer and producer on Battlestar Galactica and Caprica has become involved too, and for me that is a sign of dark time ahead for Hulk, which is of course, a brilliant idea. Although, it probably all depends on his availability as his schedule is now crammed with an adaptation of 'The Children of Men' (which was developed into a brilliant film in 2006) and an interesting sounding sci-fi show titled 'Them'. All three sound like interesting projects, so I'm hoping none of them get put on the back burner in favour of any of the others.

Of course, del Toro's plate is always completely crammed full of interesting projects so the same goes for him too. No news on who will be playing Hulk, as of yet, but in the massive amount of time before fall 2012 I'm sure we'll hear more! However, you can be sure that one of those announcements will be that Lou Ferrigno will make some kind of cameo.

Superman 3 "This time is going to be the best time of all!"

At least, that's what the trailer promised you.

That is probably the biggest lie I have ever been told by a trailer, ever. Have you seen any of the Superman films? I have! I've seen Superman, Superman 2 and Superman Returns. (And yes, just for sheer completeness, I will be watching Superman 4: The Quest for Peace as soon as I get my grubby little paws on it.) I'll have you know, that during each of those films, I had a highly fun experience. In fact, I had the best time of all during the original Superman film.

Even although Lex Luthor has a terrible plan and it's clear from the outset that Superman will prevail, the mix of characters and script was near perfect. While I haven't seen the original Superman 2, and have in fact seen the Richard Donner director's cut, I enjoyed that almost as much. Superman Returns just nudged ahead of numero dos, with Brandon Routh being a superb replacement for the late, great Christopher Reeve.

It's just a shame that with four films featuring Reeve, half of them are widely regarded as being fucking shockingly bad. I add half of myself to this list, with the other half waiting to see The Quest for Peace before commiting fully. I was perplexed that a film series with such highly regarded entries could be allowed to stoop this low, especially as 'the big title in space' sequences were dropped in favour of a rediculous domino effect sequence that had almost no bearing on the film whatsoever. It also failed to make sense why this film would go ahead without Gene Hackman getting a main part in the film. Hell, Margot Kidder excused herself from the majority of the film with ease, with barely any apperance to warrant her name on the poster.

Alright, to give the film some amount of praise, there were a few nice sequences in which Superman was given a good amount of time to save the day while the best superhero music ever played in the background, and for this simple task I give the Director one, single solitary star. Good job, you made Superman look super... for at least a few minutes.

Christopher Reeve should be given ample note here too, for his portrayal of Superman, Clark Kent and the mean Superman never waver from being brilliant. That's worthy of another star I'd say. But I think that'll do it.

Why in god's name is Richard Pryor in this film? Don't get me wrong, Blazing Saddles is one of my favourite comedies and he's fantastic in Stir Crazy too, but it just doesn't make sense. Whenever the film becomes more dull than you think a Superman film should be, Pryor turns up to entertain you a bit, just to keep you interested. Whenever something fucking dumb is happening, Pryor turns up to make an 'Oh no!' face. Whenever the most rediculous computer displays are on screen, you can be sure Pryor has something 'funny' to narrate along with it. It makes no sense to focus on this character, as the Webster character could clearly have done all interactions with him offscreen, the film would have been half an hour shorter and we could have at least spared that time not watching this film.

The 'Oh No!' face at work. The wind may have changed during filming...

Speaking of Webster, is it just me or is he a poor man's Lex Luthor? Of course he is! And why did they do that? Because Gene Hackman buggered off because he knew this film would be terrible, and they needed a character people would feel comfortable beleiveing as the baddy without any introduction. Check the Wikipedia page for Superman and you'll find refrence to a whole lot of baddies Supes has faced off against in comics and television; Brainiac, Darkseid, Ultraman, Solomon Grundy and Parasite were all well established villains in the comics be the time Superman 3 was even a glint in the eyes of the studios, and could easily have been the villains. Yet again, however, they picked a mediocre story for a mediocre villain, who was not in the slightest menacing.

I won't even mention the terrible 'video game' style fight sequence (Hmmm... I kinda just did...) toward the end of the film that, if handled properly, could have looked spectacular. Think about it, Superman punching away missile after missile (being Super, might I add) and just when you thought the going got a little too rough, he triumphs over adversity and becomes a hero once more. It could have been at least an entertaining finish to a bad film.

And just a few little tidbits. Lana Lang? Who gives a shit, get back with Lois you tit. Clearly, that's meant to be. The Clark Kent vs evil Superman fight? I get the metaphor guys, you don't need to fight for five minutes to hammer it into me. Oh wait, apparently you do. Bad times. Just one more thing. Compare this to Spider-Man 3. Precisely. Don't worry Raimi, it could have been so much worse.

Oh, and don't even get me started on that whole 'Kryptonite' bit. Fucking rediculous.

"What a pretty green rock, let's take it! Nothing bad can happen surely! OH FUUUCK. TOBACCO!"

Hornberger: The best possible spin-off of 30 Rock?

The olympic champion himself

When you think of 30 Rock, you probably think of Tina Fey, Tracy Jordan and Alec Baldwin. If you were to think about it a little bit more, you'd probably think of Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer and Judah Friedlander. Even if you kept thinking about it, I'm sure you'd think of Kevin Brown, Grizz Chapman and Maulik Pancholy before you remembered that Scott Adsit was higher in the pecking order.

The DVD cover's don't help you remember him either

And that's just one of the reasons that he'd make the perfect spin-off character to flesh out his own show. Think about the most sucessful spin-off in television history to date, Frasier, and remember where it all began. Back on Cheers, Kelsey Grammer didn't even join the cast until the third season, and at that, was one of the least focused on characters in the show at the time. Through storylines that involved him with Shelly Long's Diane Chambers he began to come more forward into the limelight, and earned a spin-off which was just as sucessful as it's parent show, if not more so.

The problem with this scenario however, is that Pete Hornberger has rarely had any plotlines follow him for more than one episode, and his apperances in other characters stories are actually much rarer than that of recurring characters Grizz, Dot Com or Johnathan. However, he is the most consistantly funny character on the show and his character has an established story with wife and kids in tow. With just a little more focus on the character in coming seasons, Hornberger could become primed for a spin-off when 30 Rock draws to a close.

So I stake my claim here and now, that 'Hornberger' will start airing within one year of '30 Rock' shutting down production. Hopefully it will follow in the footsteps of 'Frasier' and not 'The Tortellis'.

And if you weren't convinced by that? This video of his catchphrase turned into a metal song won't help...

Bitching and Moaning about things that came out 10 years ago is fun...

An artist's rendering of the author

Welcome, dear friend, to a place where you can read all my wisdom at it's finest, on all the most random things you thought you'd never read anyone talking about ever. Whether it's my thoughts on a random old episode of 30 Rock or Spaced, a viewing of Star Trek: Nemesis or THE FILM THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED*, or the latest game I fail to complete because I'm terrible at video games. I hope you enjoy my exploits, and would like to thank you for stopping by.

The legenedary,
Carl England

*A clue: It stars a man, played by David McCallum, who seems to spend the majority of his time in a hot tub.