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Once Upon a Time Season 3 Recap

bchapman
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Once Upon a Time Season 3 Recap

Attention, Oncers!

Do you smell that? That late-September smell that tells us, yes, our show is coming back. In just a few short days on September 28th, the show that’s had us spell-bound for three years is coming back to us after a 140 day hiatus. The first episode will be called “A Tale of Two Sisters” followed by “White Out” the very next week. Personally, I can’t wait to get back to Storybrooke and discover what chilly surprises are in store for us.

But just in case you missed a couple of episodes or don’t have the time to re-watch the entirety of season 3 before the premiere, I’ll take you through a recap of the season which introduced several new characters, new lands, about five freaking curses, and complicated Henry Mill’s family tree more than anyone in a daytime soap opera.

We left season 2 with Team Moms, Emma and Regina, heading off to Neverland along with the sinister Rumplestiltskin, the ever-lovely Charmings, and the rogue Captain Hook on his ship to find Henry who’d been captured by Tamara and Greg. In season 3A, the six misfits had to forget their rocky histories with each other and come together to brave new lands – and a new villain – all in order to save their dear Henry (who is weirdly related to each of them in some way).

Neverland being a new land meant new characters for our heroes, and who better to start off the list than the famous Peter Pan himself?Though, this version of Peter Pan wasn’t the delightful boy-who-never-grew-up you know from you childhood. The Once writers put their own spin on him, turning him into a dark villain who sends his shadow out to capture more Lost Boys. He’d tricked Tamara and Greg into kidnapping Henry and bringing him to Neverland and, with their use clearly run out, they were both killed off early in the season. Peter wanted Henry because Henry, being the product of both True Love and Darkness, has the Heart of the Truest Believer – which Pan needed to become immortal.

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Other new characters introduced in 3A included the famous fairy Tinkerbell, Pan’s right-hand-man Felix, everyone’s favorite little mermaid Ariel (and her Prince Eric), and a new face playing the role of Robin Hood along with his son Roland and his Merry Men (Hood was introduced briefly in episode 2.19 Lacey and was played by Tom Elis, but was re-casted with Sean Maguire for season 3).

3A also brought along some new romances; In Tinkerbell’s premiere episode we find out she and the Evil Queen Regina were once friends! Tinkerbell helped Regina find her soul mate, the mysterious “Man with the Lion Tattoo”. While Tink and Regina’s friendship doesn’t work out so well, we do find that the mysterious soul mate is, in fact, Robin Hood. And, in a Hook-centric episode where we discover Hook wasn’t always a pirate and once had a brother, he and our savior Emma lock-lips in a kiss that many fans had long awaited (not this fan, but that’s beside the point) after Hook valiantly saved her father, Prince Charming. There was also a moment between Mulan and Aurora that hinted at Once’s first ever homosexual relationship, but when Mulan tried to tell Aurora how she felt about her, Aurora revealed that she and Prince Phillip were expecting a baby and Mulan left broken-hearted to join Robin Hood’s Merry Men.

By the end of 3A the group had freed Henry from Pan’s grasp (after a twist that revealed Pan to be Henry’s great-grandfather), but not before the sinister boy had a chance to cast a new curse to send everyone in Storybrooke back to the Enchanted Forest with no memories and Pan himself in charge. Fortunately, Rumplestiltskin was able to kill Pan, but only by sacrificing himself in the process. Then, with Regina’s redemption arc on the rise, she is able to at least break Pan’s curse with her own by reversing the curse. Everyone would be sent back to the Enchanted Forest but at least with their memories intact. In order to do this, Regina had to sacrifice the thing she loves most, her son Henry. Before reversing her curse she sent Emma and Henry away with false memories of a good life together where Emma never gave the boy up. The last episode of 3A ended with Storybrooke winking out of existence, and Emma and Henry driving away with no memories other than Regina’s false ones. Right at the last second, however, we see a flash forward to one year later where Emma and Henry are living happily in New York. There’s a sudden knock at their door and, in a surprising twist, Hook is revealed to be standing there, telling a disbelieving Emma that her family is in danger and needs her. She slams the door in his face and we were left with that for the rest of our winter hiatus!

Cut to three grueling months later and we finally got season 3B. Hold on tight for this, because it’s wild, twisted, ride.

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It is revealed that a year has passed since Regina sent Emma and Henry away and everyone returned to the Enchanted Forest. However, our heroes are yet again back in Storybrooke with no recollection of the missing year. The only reason they even know at least a year has passed is because Snow White is sporting a very big baby bump (due to actress Ginny Goodwin’s real-life pregnancy!). Meanwhile, in New York, Emma and Henry have been living happy, normal lives together and Emma even has a new beau, Walsh (who proposes!). But Hook is quick to make an appearance, much to forgetful Emma’s dismay, and try to convince her to take a memory potion. After much convincing (and a visit to NYC jail), Hook finally gets Emma to drink the potion and her memories of her true life are restored. When she tries to tell Walsh that she can’t marry him and has to leave with Henry, he’s revealed to be…a flying monkey!

So Hook, Emma, and Henry (who still does not have his true memories) return to Storybrooke to help out the town who has lost a year’s worth of memories. Enter season 3B’s villain, the Wicked Witch of the West a.k.a. Zelena. It’s revealed that Zelena is Regina’s estranged half-sister, Cora’s first daughter from an affair (Henry’s poor family tree just got a whole lot more complicated). She’s jealous that Regina got everything Zelena never had. Cora sent Zelena away as a baby, but raised Regina. And Regina got to be taught magic by everyone’s favorite Dark One, Rumplestiltskin (who Zelena has a big crush on). Zelena was his student for a while but he abandoned her too because he needed a sorceress to cast the original Dark Curse which requires a sacrifice – the heart of the thing you love most. Unfortunately, Rumple was the thing Zelena loved most, so that just wouldn’t do. So he left her and chose Regina to enact the curse instead.

This all made Zelena very upset and she made it her life’s goal to get her revenge on Regina and come up with a way to travel back in time and change the past. It’s been stated before that one of the rules of magic is that you can’t change the past, but Zelena is more powerful than anyone suspects. In order to make a spell to send them back in time, she needs Charming’s Courage, Regina’s Heart, Rumplestiltksin’s Brain (who she is controlling thanks to possessing his dagger), and the unborn Charming baby. The only thing that can stop her is Emma’s light magic, which she’s been practicing with Regina and getting better. But, Zelena manages to take Emma’s magic away by cursing Captain Hook’s lips so that the next time they kiss, it will strip Emma of all her magic. Emma’s been in denial about her feelings for Hook so it’s not threat at first until Zelena almost drowns Hook and Emma gives him mouth-to-mouth to resuscitate him and it’s enough to take away Emma’s powers. Meanwhile, they find Henry’s old Once Upon a Time book to give him back his true memories, and the curse that causes the town to have no memories of the missing year in the Enchanted Forest is lifted when Regina kisses Henry with True Love’s Kiss and breaks it.

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During all of this, a few new characters are introduced including, Rapunzel, Blackbeard the pirate, Dorothy Gale, Glinda the Good Witch, and the famous Wizard of Oz himself (turns out it was Emma’s ex-flame Walsh! Zelena turned him into a flying monkey). We also, unfortunately, lose a main character. Beloved Neal Cassidy sacrifices his life to save his father, Rumple, so that Zelena won’t win. This, of course, pisses Rumplestiltskin off and he’s mad with lust for revenge, but powerless because Zelena still controls him with the dagger.

The Wicked Witch is finally taken down by, surprise surprise, Regina! Everyone’s favorite Evil Queen had been working the whole season to become a better person, for Henry and her new love Robin Hood, and was able to use light magic instead of dark to defeat Zelena and take the witch’s pendant which is the source of all her power. They lock Zelena up, save the newborn Charming baby (who they named Neal after, of course, Neal Cassidy who sacrificed himself for them, aww) and all seems well. Rumple seems to give his dagger to Belle, the only one he can trust with it, but it’s unfortunately it’s a fake. Rumple is later seen going to Zelena’s jail cell and killing the powerless woman in revenge for his son. He makes it appear that Zelena killed herself so that he seems innocent. Then, after three long seasons, he and Belle are finally wed! Which is both adorable and heartbreaking at the same time because Rumple has now based his new marriage on lies (good job, buddy).

However, all is as well as it appears. They stopped Zelena, but not before her time-travel spell was enacted. Emma and Hook go to check out where the spell is taking place and they accidentally fall into the portal, sending them back in time to around the time her parents, Snow White and Prince Charming, first met. After several mishaps, fun references to episode 3 of season 1, Hook and Emma finally manage to get back to their own time with little to no severe changes from the past. Except one. Emma, being the good-hearted person she is, saves a woman from death and brings her back to the future with them. In Storybrooke, it is revealed to Emma that this woman is Maid Marian, Robin Hood’s wife. The entire season, Robin Hood and Regina had been falling deeper in love and now his wife, the mother of his child is back, and Regina is pissed, stating that Emma is just like her mother and “never thinking of consequences”. It appears that our redeemed Evil Queen is back on a path to darkness again as she angrily tells Emma that she better hope to hell she didn’t bring anything else back. It then pans out to where the time-portal was, revealing a jar amidst the rubble that came back with them from the past. It opens and a blue ooze pours out and forms the image of a woman wearing a blue dress. She blasts some ice from her hand and there is no question that our new villain for season 4 is going to be none other than Elsa, the Snow Queen from Frozen!

We were left with that exciting image for an excruciating 140 day long hiatus and next Sunday, our patience will pay off as we watch the season 4 premiere! So I hope this article gave you the refresher you needed and remember to be in front of the TV on Sunday, September 28th on ABC at 8/7c!

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The Maze Runner is out!

Cristina Bogdan
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The Maze Runner is out!

The Maze Runner, the latest in the string of YA book adaptations, has finally hit the screens and due to unforeseen circumstances I actually got to see it twice in just as many days. Based on James Dashner’s book of the same name, the movie, starring Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Will Poulter and Aml Ameen, to name a few, tries to break out of the typical mould of YA adaptations, with varying degrees of success.

papers.co-ad35-the-maze-runner-poster-1-wallpaper-300x300For those that have never read the book, here are some (mostly non-spoilery) things that you should know about it. Thomas (Dylan O’Brien), the hero of our story wakes up with no memory, in a cage that’s delivering food and more to a bunch of teenage boys stuck in the centre of a maze. No one remembers who they were before waking up in the very same cage that dropped them inside The Glade, no one has a clear idea of how to get out, yet most of them crave the freedom they suspect they’ll find behind the tall walls of the maze. Throw in some monsters that are feared by all and you’ve got yourself a story that gets more and more convoluted with each advancing scene.

The premise is actually quite interesting and I would recommend the book to everyone that’s interested in a suspenseful story, however some elements that work fine in print don’t translate quite well on the big screen. For those that have never touched the book (and for those that have) the movie is quite an interesting, fun experience. All actors put their best game on, the sets look fantastic, however not all is perfect since the movie does suffer due to its uneven pacing.

While you will not be spending the first hour of the film constantly checking your watch, you will still feel like they’re dragging their feet in anticipation of something big. However that something only takes places in the last twenty-thirty minutes of the film, leaving room for a lot of idle time, that unfortunately doesn’t do anything to help us connect  with the characters. It’s hard to feel bad for them if you’re mostly indifferent to their plight. The lime-light falls on a handful of characters, letting the others be used as canon fodder, which, while not uncommon, makes it difficult to care about anyone but the lucky few that get more than a throwaway line here and there.

I will say that it’s perhaps better than some of the most recent book adaptations, if only because I personally feel like some of the things that take place, at least inside the Glade – the way they create a social structure, the way they react to the dangers that surround them and the curve balls that are constantly thrown at them – are inherently human. No one is quite a hero and no one is quite a villain. Everyone is scared, angry, prone to cruelty or aggression, but they’re not cardboard figures either, being capable of self-sacrifice and kindness as well.

59ace10cf70fb9606243aa83001d8873_541af7d7_640x360-300x300Dylan O’Brien is successful in conveying the emotions his character feels when he’s suddenly thrown inside a new world, with odd rules and even a bizarre language of its own, the slang incomprehensible by anyone outside the group of Gladers. He manages to make his character sympathetic and you can’t help but root for him, however some of the on-screen camaraderie with the others stuck in the same situation as he was, seemed forced, if only because very little attention was given to the relationships he’s established with the glades, except for Chuck (played by Blake Cooper). Perhaps more suspension of disbelief than I was willing to give was needed to accept the bonds of friendship forged over three days.

Kaya Scodelario, the only female character we see for the better part of the film is given very little too do, seeming more of a plot advancing device than a character in her own right (her role was much expanded in the book, something we didn’t quite get to see here), which is a shame, because she does have the acting chops to make Teresa a more interesting character than what we’ve seen on screen.

A special mention goes to Ki Hong Lee, who as Minho steals the show quite a lot of the time and to Will Poulter (Gally) who is believable in his role as an antagonist. Every hero needs a foil, after all.

The twists and turns of the movie, the mystery that surrounds everything is revealed at the very end, though by then it’s too late for our characters to do anything with the new informations they’ve been given. (They needed to leave something off for part two, right?) It still gave me a certain sense of closure. I suppose for those that never intend to see its sequel it can be taken as a stand alone movie, with an ambiguous ending.

All in all, it’s a decent film, highly entertaining for those that haven’t read the book, mildly frustrating for those that had, but I don’t think even they will be extremely disappointed, despite the glaring omissions and differences between book and movie. Given that The Scorch Trials (part two of the series) is already green-lit and that the movie opened up at number 1, at least in the US, I’d say this series has every chance at reaching the same success as some of its predecessors, though only time will tell if that particular prediction is correct or not.

 

 

Manifest

Bevan Clatworthy
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Manifest

Designed by Amanda Milne and Julia Schiller, the game of Manifest sees players traversing the trade routes of the world in the 1920’s. Players use their fleet of two ships to move goods and passengers from port to port, scoring points based on the difficulty of the route. So how is this done? Read on, Dappers and Flappers!

So the chief mechanic of the game is the Action cards. Manifest actually has two versions of the Action cards, effectively giving you two different games. The ‘standard’ version uses a communal deck from which each player draws 4 cards each turn. In the ‘expert’ version, players have their own deck of 6 cards from which they draw 3 each turn, recycling the discard pile as they exhaust the small deck. In the expert version, players also have the option to buy more Action cards to add to their deck (more on this later), and works in the same way as a deck building game such as Ascension or DC Deckbuilder.

Plenty to see in the well designed box
Plenty to see in the well designed box

This is all dandy, but what are Action cards for? Well, each card has three stats: Money, Movement and a Special Ability. Each card can be played for one of these stats only, so a card used to move can’t also be used to earn money. A hand of 3 cards could therefore potentially have 27 different ways it could be played out. This may seem like an almost paralysing number of options, but fortunately it becomes pretty clear early on which options are best for you.

A note here on the standard game versus the expert game: because the standard game is a hand of random cards, I often found turns where the cards were actually useless. You can discard cards or save them for later turns, but I really dislike losing a turn whilst waiting for something better. In the expert game, you have far more control over your hand, and I found no turn was wasted. If you’re even semi-proficient with board games, I recommend skipping the standard game and going straight to the expert version.

Money is used to buy goods at ports, Contracts and in the expert version of the game to also buy more Action cards and upgrade your Starter decks. Any goods you buy are stored on your ship, which has space for 4 pieces of cargo. Contracts show what goods/passengers are needed where, and cost more depending on how difficult the route is (on the flip side, harder routes earn more victory points). Bought Action cards help improve your deck in the expert game, as well as the Upgrade cards which replace the Starter cards, meaning you’ll be able to do more in later turns.

Loading ships with goods and passengers!

Movement is used to move your ships along the routes on the board; cards can be combined to travel more or longer routes, but any excess movement points are lost; unlike money, movement can’t be split between ships or used for more than one purpose.

Special abilities are used for a range of effects, from setting pirates on other players, gaining new contacts more cheaply, to using a tail wind to really get your fleet moving.

The Special abilities add the majority of the player interaction to the game. Unfortunately, these interactions tend to be attempts to screw over other players which then makes the screwer a target of the screwee and indeed all the other players at the table. Also, the interaction cards don’t necessarily confer a benefit; the Pirate Attack card for example can gain the attacker resources from another player’s ship, but only if the resources are useful to attacker AND if the pirate dice roll the right result. At one point I was concerned I was playing too nice and not fully experiencing the game, so during a game I deliberately started using the attack cards. This rapidly devolved into either being countered by an opponent’s defensive Action card, or not having any detrimental effect to my opponent as the pirates missed the cargo hold that actually had anything in it. Overall, it tended to be more consistently beneficial to not attack the other players, which was a shame as it turned the game into a kind of solitaire affair, with players racing to complete their contracts first without needing any communication with the other players.

The component quality is excellent. The card stock is robust, the board feels solid and hard wearing, and the use of wooden resource tokens and ship meeples lends that little touch of tactility that speaks of designing with the player experience in mind. The rule book is well set out and straightforward, meaning learning the game took less than twenty minutes. The majority of the artwork is also spot on, helping to bring the 1920’s theme to life.

A game in progress

However, the use of black and white photographs of the Kickstarter backers creates a jarring incongruity with the illustrations, detracting from the polish of the artwork; it’s a minor gripe but I can’t help but think it could have been better done.

One final comment on the board design is that I found it a bit busy and cramped. During a five player game, we often had to shuffle boats around to check the names of ports . I’m not sure how this could be resolved, as removing ports would probably detract from the gameplay, plus lose some of the historical accuracy the designers have lovingly applied to the design.

In summary, Manifest is a decent game with a clever mix of mechanics. However, the design is marred by the poorly rewarded player interaction which turns the game into a race to finish Contracts in a solitaire fashion. The game also definitely has a sweet spot at the the 3 and 4 player mark, as a 5 player game left far too much player down time.

Images taken from www.manifestgame.com

Destiny – Xbox One -Video / Written review

Matt Geary
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Destiny – Xbox One -Video / Written review

 

 

Video review of Destiny 

Transcription of Review

As you will know from my last review I’m a big halo fan boy and therefore it would be understandable that anything made by the creators of one of the greatest Franchises on the Xbox , if not cross platforms,would be something I would totally and blindly get behind… in Bungie we trust… in Bungie we trust.

I wanted to LIIIKKKKE this game I wanted it, with a bit of trepidation, to even rival its forbearer, but as much as I did ‘like’ it I came away slightly underwhelmed and I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was.

First impressions; as I watched the camera pan over an Old Russia landscape, replete with rusted cars and strange, but slightly familiar, aliens I thought; these graphics look a bit weak…. this is meant to be next Gen right?

Now I would like to point out at this juncture that I am not a Graphics nazi, in fact I don’t care about graphics very much, as long as the gaming experience is a good one and I’m happy if graphics are sacrificed for a more expanded game it self; but the issue is I don’t know if I got that.

Don’t get me wrong they weren’t ‘bad.’ Background graphics especially, at times, were exquisite. I also liked the fact that when you panned the camera you got a nice Bokeh, showing a shallow depth of field but I don’t know it just seems slightly unpolished, especially in the cut scenes. Something I will bring up later.

As the game play itself is concerned again I had mixed emotions about and I found myself torn about my experience.

As Sci Fi FPS go, there isn’t a huge change from similar titles and if you have played halo then you will be very familiar with the set up. Though Destiny is very reliant, if not solely reliant on Hoard fights, which are very challenging and intense and I love that but it feels like every time you ghost goes near a console, you know what’s going to happen and it takes away from the game slightly… Don’t you do it, step away from the console… Ah crap!

Only major difference from destiny and similar FPS is that this is not just an FPS it is also an MMORPG or an MMORPG lite (as you cant get as many people on the servers)

Enemies have a level and their weapons / armour correspond with that level. They have power bars so when you shoot at them you know their health, and like most RPGs, you get a damage count , including bonus/ crit if you hit them in the head.

There are also Elite units, that represent a the same level as their underlings but with better armour and weapons. These are represented by yellow instead of red power bars and, if you are of a similar, or lower level than them, nails to defeat.

To expand on the RPG / MMO theme you yourself level up, gaining more abilities, health and damage (standard) and acquire different gear, as time goes on, from normal to epic loot, all giving you better abilities and most that will upgrade with use, giving you certain bonuses like; better reload speeds, carrying more ammo, better shots etc.

Where I do think Destiny stands apart from other MMOs / RPGs is the fact that you can switch between subclasses and benefits without having to pay for it and so, you could be a damage dealing titan one game and then a Tanking Titan the next, obviously you have to have the corresponding gear to go with that and have bevelled up the abilities.

Another nice touch is that you don’t have to fight over loot, because when there is a drop and you are in a group, everyone gets it and this includes ammo as well, so there is no ‘rolling’ for loot or fighting over ammo, which is very important.

Coupled with this, you all get a speeder (a sparrow) to fly around the map on which is good though despite bungie’s affinity towards vehicle use in its games there is a distinct lack of vehicles and vehicle types in Destiny. Think I used 2 other types of speeders and thats about it.

Where Destiny falls down though is its adherence to the age old MMO/ RPG grind fest, instead of using this as a template to do something different. Granted it is tried and tested and you would really need to think out side of the box to get something else BUT for me i just hate grinding, like HATE IT! So many hours of my life in WoW, LOTRO and SWTOR Grinding for Mats, Grinding for Armour, grinding, always grinding. And because there are only limited areas where you can go, the repetition is all the more tedious.

This is where the Multiplayer games come in I guess so if you are tired of the day to day grind of the open world, why not try your hand at the MP and earn points and bounties for better armour…which is a good idea if it weren’t for the fact that there are no level caps on the MPs and so it doesn’t matter how apt you are shooting people in the face if they have better weapons and armour, you are boned and will spend most of your time watching the respawn count down…DAG NAM IT!!!

This I found a bit off putting, At least in Halo, when you got ganked time and again you felt you would get better, you’d learn the maps, where all the good weapons are and soon you would be tea bagging the corpses of your foes like the rest of them.. in Destiny i just felt frustrated and because I HATE the grind just haven’t wanted to play MP much more; I like to have at least a small chance of success.

For those not familiar with said grind ( NOOOOBS) It wont be as big an issue because it sucks you in and you feel like you are enjoying it but for a recovering WoW addict… I’m Matt Geary and I’m a WoWaholic, it has been 6 years since my last game. Its just more of the same and even the ‘events’ that happen as you travel around aren’t enough (as enjoyable as they can be) to push it above the rest.

My final issue with Destiny is nothing to do with the game play, its the lack of any gripping story line, Even Peter Dinklage cant save it. You don’t know what you are really, where you came from, what you are doing there, why the world is as it is and why there are a bunch of warring factions in your solar system.

Now granted Halo was a bit vague to start with but what it had, that Destiny lacks, was a partnership of characters that you could get behind.

Master Chief and Cortana were protagonists you cared about, who had a relationship. Even Nobel team were a group of guys you felt strongly for and the end scene, when you are fighting off the elite and noble 6 takes off his helmet to fight the onslaught… fist biting stuff and Bungies finest hour.

Sadly my guardian I didn’t overly care about and it seems all you are is the brawn to your ghost’s brain. Or the Groot to your ghosts Rocket… So I mean.. I am Groot. The banter between the two characters is minimal and there is nothing that really warms you to either. Yes The ghost (Dinklage) is amusing but there is no depth because there is no real connection so when the game ends you are like… Meh…. On with the grind!

Finally, I am mindful that this review has been slightly negative and I must make the point that its not a bad game its just not what I think it should have been and sadly it didnt live up to the hype. The concept of taking the best bits from a lot of other games was bold and a good idea but I think it has fallen short off all the games it has tried to mimic. I can only hope that the new expansions add a bit more depth and change up the game play some what… On the plus side Halo is still the best FPS out there, SUCK ON IT COD NERDS!

The problem with adaptations – Adaptation Ad Nauseam

Andy Haigh
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The problem with adaptations – Adaptation Ad Nauseam

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It wasn’t that long ago that the idea of a TV series based on a comic would have just been the idle fantasy of fans and fodder for Tumblr casting posts. Now we’re in an era where producers and networks are tripping over themselves to adapt a comic for a TV series. Recent months have seen the following mentioned with regard to adaptations – Preacher, iZombie, Powers, Marvel’s Agent Carter, DMZ, Scalped and The Sandman; this along with the series being produced as part of Marvel’s deal with Netflix, which is set to include Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist leading into The Defenders.

Let’s not forget TV series already in production that are based on comics or in some cases characters from comics which include10622863_458787004259337_2490169871924924637_n: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Arrow, the upcoming Constantine, Flash and Gotham and of course The Walking Dead. Then there’s others, like Joe Hill’s excellent Locke & Key which Fox shot a pilot for, before changing their minds and in the process complicating a proposed film, which has now become a mooted film trilogy or Revival the creators of which were in talks regarding a possible adaptation, only for the network to turn it down and then promptly produce Resurrection, a TV series based on The Returned – a book by Jason Mott with an eerily similar premise – which was published sometime after Tim Seeley’s Revival first appeared.

The latest of these adaptations is the just announced Lucifer from Fox. Of course the first problem it will have to contend with is Fox’s notorious habit of cancelling series after one season, regardless of whether they have been well received or not, like Firefly or more recently Almost Human .

The proposed Lucifer TV series brings to light a problem which is set to befall several of the previously mentioned series and is a major hurdle for any adaptation – the only limitations on a comic are the imagination and talent of the creative team. The limitations on a TV series are myriad, the main ones being budget and network interference. Not enough of the former or too much of the latter can sink any adaptation before it even sets sail.

Lucifer, written by Mike Carey, is pretty epic in scope and features a whole host of otherworldy aspects. The character of Lucifer Morningstar, who has the look of a young David Bowie, was spun out from Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, where the Lord of Hell grows 612017weary and bored of his role in Hell and ventures to the mortal realm with his accomplice Mazikeen. There he runs the piano bar Lux, whilst pontificating on life, fate and various other existential musings. Lucifer  spends a lot of time venturing in other realms, with Hell being just one of them, whilst dealing with a whole host of characters. It’s this that will be the downfall of any TV series.

Lucifer (and its parent comic The Sandman) whilst in essence set in the “real world” feature lead characters that spend most of their time journeying in other fantastical realms. This is a big problem for a TV series, due to budget constraints and the FX necessary to portray these aspects. Further problems arise in the characters featured. Mazikeen is essential to Lucifer’s story, but as anyone familiar with the character knows half of her face has the appearance of a beautiful woman, but the other half is horribly misshapen and skeletal, hidden behind a mask, causing her speech to be nearly unintelligible. This is a core element of the character, a character who is one of the most integral to the story alongside Lucifer himself, but would hardly be viable for a TV series.

Imagine network suits discussing Mazikeen, “What’s with the face? Can’t she just be hot?” “So she’s the love interest right?”, “She can’t speak? What are you nuts?”, “Do we really need her anyway?”etc ,etc.

This leads to another problem. When adaptations change so much from the source material that they may as well be called something else to avoid the ire of fans of said material. The upcoming adaptation of iZombie is a prime example. The comic by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred is the quirky tale of Gwen, a twenty something revenant gravedigger in Eugene, Oregon who has to eat brains (but doesn’t enjoy it) and her friends Ellie, a ghost fromiZombiePreviews.indd the 1960’s and Scott a wereterrier. Amongst other things the trio become unwittingly entangled in a plot by an elder god to devour the Earth after meeting the enigmatic John Amon.

Reading the synopsis for the TV series you’d be hard pushed to see any of that, besides the lead character having the same name and being one of the undead. In fact it actually seems more like a half arsed adaptation of Diana Rowlands excellent White Trash Zombie novels.

The Walking Dead is a smash hit for AMC, but whether it’s a good adaptation is a different matter entirely. The series has become notorious for being what is generally perceived by fans as a poor adaptation of the immensely popular comic about Rick Grimes and his fellow survivors struggling to live in a zombie infested world. The series has been distinctly hit and miss from day one, beset with poor characterisation and becoming known for its showrunners departing including Frank Darabont and Glen Mazzara.

Much has been said about the unlikeliness of Constantine actually living up to the source material – Hellblazer. The critically acclaimed home of John Constantine for over two decades was notorious for adult themes with profanity, sex, violence, ritual magic, anti-authoritarian social commentary and more the norm not to mention Constantine’s chain smoking, an iconic character trait which has famously caused problems for the series already with the network ruling out any shots of Matt Ryan’s Constantine smoking.

The proposed Preacher series coming from AMC will struggle as the story by Garth Ennis centres around former preacher Jesse Custer, now imbued with the voice of God after a freak accident, alongside his gun slinging on/off girlfriend Tulip and Irish friend Cassidy (who happens to be a vampire), tracking down God who has abandoned his creation to ask him why. It’s a twisted Kentucky fried road trip love story, with plenty of fucked-up-ness including Jesse’s redneck family and a clandestine organisation built around hiding the inbred descendants of Jesus.

preacher-collection1It’s a great story and has great characters, but whether they will survive the adaptation process remains to be seen.

On the other side of the coin though away from the more gritty material there’s superheroes and superheroes have superpowers and superpowers means special FX, which are hard to pull off convincingly and expensive which means money. And there’s that problematic budget again. One of the things that makes Arrow work so well is the series main protagonist doesn’t have “powers”, but rather relies on athletic ability, skills and equipment, much like Gotham’s Dark Knight, to vanquish his foes. This makes a big difference, as budget limitations can be sidestepped much easier and good action choreography by a talented team always looks better than poor quality computer generated FX. The upcoming spin off series Flash looks set to feature more of the latter and less of the former so it will be interesting to see how it fares.

Whilst casting and direction are an integral part of making any series good, it’s the writing and the adaptation process that could make or break any of these series. This is especially true as networks are seemingly throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Whilst there’s plenty of variety to be had in this glut of adaptations there’s a risk that some of them will fall foul of people becoming sick of the saturation of superheroes in TV.

Firefly RPG Review

Andrew Corban
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Firefly RPG Review

The Hardback rulebook is yet to be released for this game, so I am reviewing the early PDF release that was sold to everyone that ordered the GenCon preview.

Let me throw this out there to start with. I love Firefly. 14 Episodes of Firefly delivered more than some shows can in 6 seasons. I don’t know if it was this love for the show which built my hopes up or something else, but I had unreasonably high expectations for this game considering it was coming from the same company that brought us the wildly unbalanced Serenity Roleplay game back in 2005. That game couldn’t use anything from the TV show due to licensing issues, so it was very focused in the Serenity timeline which didn’t do it any favours. Margaret Weiss Productions now has full reign over the television material for Firefly, and a fully formed system in their Cortex Plus ruleset. Shiny!

Firefly-RPG-Front-Cover
Core Rules

Out in the Black…

This is a good looking rulebook. I’m only looking at a PDF, but the formatting is great and the language and colours used are spot on to the Firefly universe. The book comes in at 367 pages which includes around 30 pre-generated characters including the Serenity crew, as well as two dozen pre-generated ships. The book also includes a map of Serenity (or any other 03-K64 Firefly vessel) and five system maps which are bland compared to the design of everything else.

Layout wise, the book is a mess. After the Contents and obligatory ‘What is a Roleplay Game’ section, there is 124 pages of episode guides from the TV series. These tell you all you need to know to recreate those heroic moments from the TV show (I have no idea who would want to do this) but to this point there has been no explanation on how the actual system works. You are then presented with character creations rules, ship creation rules, and then on page 260 you are finally presented with how to play the game. This just feels all manner of wrong for a core rulebook. If you are picking up this book, it’s a fair bet that you are a fan of the series so putting the episode breakdowns first just feels silly. Especially when there is a section towards the end of the book on how to structure your adventures.

The characters have three attributes: Mental, Physical, and Social and skills from d4 (untrained) to d12. You put together a dice pool of applicable attributes, distinctions and skills, plus other dice with use of distinctions and plot points, etc. The mechanic is a player dice pool vs a GM dice pool which is rolled against the same difficulty. It’s easy enough to grasp, but plot points add the wrinkle. Plot Points are gained when you set off a character trigger(play your character well) and you can spend these to negate/explain away situations by creating ‘Assets’ which, depending on how many points you have, add an extra dice to your roll (the book gives you examples on how to spend these points before telling you what they actually are). These assets are either throw away ‘Episodic’ assets or a ‘Signature asset’ which will carry on throughout the series. The GM also has plot points to create ‘Complications’, which are things to get in your way. Tracking all of these spends is laborious and, to be honest, totally unnecessary. Other games handle these types of things a lot better (GUMSHOE and their preparedness for example) and it just gets in the way.

Other than the amount of moving parts that these assets and complications can create, the system isn’t all that hard to pick up and run with, and this can easily be home brewed away.

To help you role-play, there is Chinese phrase translators galore spread throughout the book, as well as a brilliant ‘Talkin’ Like Kaylee’ section so your Engineer character can communicate what’s wrong with your boat. I like this bit so much I have stolen it for some of my other Sci-fi games.

firefly-cast
Damn you, Fox!

Here’s how it is…

I wanted to love the book and I wanted to love the system, but I don’t. The book looks great, but it’s a pain to navigate. Having to go back and forth to the contents page would be tiresome with the hard back version. It’s not ideal with a PDF either. The system is solid with a few nagging narrative devices that must have sounded shiny when putting the book together but just don’t play very well.

Having bought the PDF for £15, I don’t see myself buying the Hardback anytime soon, and I think that I would only recommend doing so if you know you will be playing it for a good long while. If not, I think the PDF version is worth the money.

DC Target End of Watch Director for Suicide Squad

jesshealy24
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DC Target End of Watch Director for Suicide Squad

 

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DC‘s villain-esque operations team Suicide Squad has been receiving a lot of coverage in different media recently, having appeared in the last season of the CW series Arrow (which included the lineup of DC favourites Deadshot, Shrapnel, Tiger Bronze and Lyla Michaels) and Warner Bros announcing a film in development along with several other unknown projects to be released through to 2020. It looks as though the team will become a house-hold name in the coming years, no longer solely being known among comic-book fans.

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Adding slight momentum to the cinematic adaptation, Variety has recently reported that Warner Bros. has eyed up David Ayer (pictured) to helm the project. Although the specifics of this negotiation and its stage are relatively unknown, Ayer of End of Watch, Sabotage and the upcoming Fury fame has expressed great interest in the comic-book project. Along with Ayer who has reportedly been in talks to direct, others attached to the cinematic rendition include Justin Marks who has written a script and Dan Lin, whose previous work includes the Lego Movie and Sherlock Holmes, who is set to produce.

As the history of Suicide Squad dates back to 1959 within the printed DC universe, it feels as though it is high time it landed itself in the slowly progressing cinematic world of DC comics, particularly since the team frequently consists of characters such as Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Bronze Tiger and, more recently in New Suicide Squad (featured), villains from the New 52 universe villains like Harley Quinn and Deathstroke. Obviously as it is still in its very early stages of development, it is unclear who the lineup will consist of as of yet, however in the same article Variety has also pondered the idea that “all the characters included in the film will most likely have an opportunity to cross-over between other DC properties and vice-versa for non-Suicide Squad members appearing in this film.”, which is bound to whet any die-hard DC fan’s appetite.

Last month, Warner Bros. announced a grand total of nine release dates that stretch from 2016-2020 for DC comics projects with hopes that Suicide Squad will be among them.

 

Chimichanga Time! Deadpool Movie Officially Confirmed

James Buckingham
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Chimichanga Time! Deadpool Movie Officially Confirmed

This is not a joke. I repeat. This is not a joke. Fox have finally come to their senses, and realised that they need to listen to their target audience… and as a result, we finally have a Deadpool movie in production.

Deadpool

When the official test footage made by Tim Miller was leaked a few months ago, the internet went mental… and rightly so. The general consensus was “Why is this movie not in production?!”, but then we were asking 20th Century Fox, who aren’t exactly renowned for their good decision making.

Thankfully this isn’t just a “we’re looking into it” kind of decision – Fox have actually provided a date, which will be February 12, 2016. This places it a couple of months before Fox’s other major release that year – X-Men: Apocalypse, and it’ll be the first time they’ve taken on two Marvel releases in the same year.

Tim Miller is already signed on to direct, though Ryan Reynolds doesn’t have a deal in place though I (and probably the rest of fandom) would be incredibly surprised, and probably quite pissed off if he doesn’t get the role. At the moment we’re assuming it’s just working out the scheduling that may be delaying the official announcement of his involvement.

Fabian Nicieza (Writer & co-creator) said he’d had what he’d describe as “an interesting Deadpool day for me already” on twitter. Nicieza told Newsarama, “If the movie happens with the creative people previously attached as a part of it, I think it will be a very enjoyable ride!”

Fox also moved the release date for the Fantastic Four to August 2015… we did wonder if the leaked Dr Doom photos we posted had something to do with it, but it looks like they’re just filling the void left by the Assassin’s Creed movie.

Needless to say, I’m very very chuffed that the Merc With A Mouth is finally going to get the big screen treatment he so rightly deserves demands.

http://youtu.be/LoXGsv9nsNs

The Evil Within Gameplay Trailer

TheWookie
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The Evil Within Gameplay Trailer

The-Evil-Within-logo

 

In celebration of Tokyo Game Show, Vault Communications has released a new gameplay trailer for The Evil Within.

Developed by Shinji Mikami of Resident Evil 4 and Devil May Cry and the talented people at his studio, Tango Gameworks, The Evil Within takes us on a journey of survival.

While investigating the scene of a gruesome mass murder, Detective Sebastian Castellanos and his partners encounter a mysterious and powerful force. After seeing the slaughter of fellow officers, Sebastian is ambushed and knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he finds himself in a deranged world where hideous creatures roam among the dead. Facing unimaginable horror, and fighting for survival, Sebastian embarks on a frightening journey to unravel what is behind this evil force.

It Looks beautiful. I find the voice over captivating and alluring. It has a feel all of its own but at the same time gives off an aura reminiscent of Resident Evil meets Silent Hill. I’m looking forward to this game. It looks like Mikami has done it again. It does say it’s a gameplay trailer and I really do hope that it delivers as it appears. The graphics appear smooth and flow quite nicely. I haven’t had the opportunity to try a demo but it looks as if the controls will be responsive and fluid as well.

The enemy backstory sounds interesting. If he created that place then wouldn’t it make sense that he wouldn’t want to leave? What god has ever really wanted to leave their creation behind unless drastically disappointed with it? Does the evil spread throughout the world or is it just that one area our detective is in? These are all questions that will be answered in the game hopefully. The monsters very well could be something straight from a drug induced nightmare. Where do these people come up with ideas this freaky? I’m not complaining at all, horror is my favorite genre, but holy cow does this game already scare me.

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I hope you all will join me in playing this new game and welcoming it into our world. It looks and sounds worthy of our love.

The Evil Within launches on October 14th in the USA and Europe. It will be available on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PC.

One Man Star Wars Trilogy Comes to The UK With a Photocall

TheWookie
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One Man Star Wars Trilogy Comes to The UK With a Photocall

OneManStarWars         OnemanLOTR

The UK is getting a treat over the next couple months. Charlie Ross will be touring The UK with his one man Lord of The Rings and Star Wars Trilogy shows beginning on 26 September through 17 October. He is inviting fandoms to join him in costume for Photo Call.

Come to the shows’ London venue, Leicester Square Theatre, on Sunday 28 September at 12:45 pm for 1:00 photographs with Charlie. The shoot will go no later than 1:30 pm. You can find the nearest changing facilities at the public restroom in Leicester Square or a nearby pub/cafe.

Travel expenses will not be reimbursed, but if you attend you will receive a promotional code for discounted tickets to see the shows on tour.

Charlie Ross is an actor who hails from Canada. After spending his childhood in a galaxy far, far away watching the original trilogy of Star Wars over, and over again, he took to penning his hilarious thoughts that come from a nerd’s arguably misspent youth. This resulted in the recreation of the 1977-82 films as he single handedly plays all character, sings all music, flies the ships, fights the battles, and condenses the plots into just 60 minutes. He has received permission from the franchises to perform the shows.

Charlie has been touring One Man Star Wars Trilogy since 2002. Boasting an amazing 1200 shows in over 230 cities spanning across four continents. From New York to London, from Dubai’s resorts to the Glastonbury Music Festival, with stops in USA, UK, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Ireland, Singapore and New Zealand, the show has spread far and wide. In 2009, Ross was granted permission to perform One Man Lord of The Rings and has been touring this show as extensively as its older sibling.

Running Time: 60 Minutes

Listing Information:

26 September Wycombe Swan, High Wycombe 7:30pm 01494 512 000

27 September Mumford Theatre, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge (SW) 7:30pm 0845 196

2320

29 September G Live, Guildford 7:30pm 0844 7701 797

30 September Leicester Square Theatre, London 8:45pm 08448 733433

1 October Palace Theatre, Westcliff-on-Sea 8.00pm 01702 351135

2 October Camberley Theatre 8.00pm 01276 707600

4 October Tyne Theatre, Newcastle 7:30pm 0844 493 9999

5 October Leicester Square Theatre, London (SW) 7.00pm 08448 733433

6 October Leicester Curve 7:45pm 0116 242 3595

8 October Civic Theatre, Darlington 7:30pm 01325 486555

9 October Opera House, Buxton 7.30pm 0845 127 2190

10 October Theatre Royal, Norwich 7:30pm 01603 63 00 00

11 October Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke 7:30pm 01256 844244

13 October Playhouse, Whitley Bay (SW) 7:30pm 0844 248 1588

14 October Concert Hall, Reading 7:30pm 0118 960 6060

15 October Mumford Theatre, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge 7:30pm 0845 196 2320

16 October Churchill Theatre, Bromley 7:45pm 0844 871 7620

17 October The Radlett Centre, Radlett 8.00pm 01923 859291

SW = One Man Star WarsTM Trilogy

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