To start a note. I don't really want this blog to turn into a list of reviews of tv episodes. Yes I watch a lot of tv, this is because I love long stores. My favourites are always going to be television, comics and long book series over something shorter. But it's hard to tell whether a television show is worth your time. Especially in these days when most of them barely last five minutes. So here is a brief discussion of the television show Intelligence which started last week:
Cast: Josh Holloway as Gabriel Vaughn
Meghan Ory as Riley Neal
Premise In One Sentence: Intelligence operative has computer chip installed in his brain.
Intelligence is probably the least original tv series I have ever seen. It's part Chuck, part Six Million Dollar Man and part every spy show ever on television. The premise is simple, that Gabriel Vaughn has a computer chip installed in his brain that allows him to connect directly to the internet. I'm guessing it'll do more than that but that's the basics. The opening sequence sees him visualizing a crime scene using this ability and is exceptionally well visualised. It looks suspiciously like the trailer for Quantum Break at times though that could just be the individual walking through a freeze frame involving broken glass. It does look like a television equivalent of the bomb investigation scene from Iron Man 3. This then follows up later on with an great sequence in a UV paintball arena where Gabriel uses satellite footage to pinpoint enemies. This looked really cool considering how little budget it actually took to produce. The action sequences themselves are all too brief but show the potential to be Arrow levels of good. And more of John Billingsley, Phlox in Star Trek: Enterprise, is always good.
But not all is well. Some of the direction in the opening pilot is amateurish at best. There are some really strange shot choices and the cuts are a little erratic at first, though it does seem to settle as the episode goes on. But this is a minor problem. Intelligence is an ironic title coz this show kinda treats you like an idiot. It's plot is riddled with every cliche in the book: Secret Service agent gets job she didn't want, Hairy/Beardy tech nerd assistant, Handler & Asset not getting along, an ex going bad, a girl killing her abusive step father. These are all things we've seen before. There's very little that is new in the pilot. There's also an annoying habit of having to spell everything out in words of one syllable or explain things twice. Hopefully this is just some heavy handed introducing in the pilot and it doesn't continue into the series.
Recommending Intelligence isn't an easy ask. Is it terrible? No it's not. Is it the amazing pilot that 2014 needed to start with? No. But it has a premise that could work really well in long running television. Is made reasonably well and makes a good counterpoint to Person of Interest. Speaking of PoI, with both shows being on the same US television network does anyone else see the two shows crossing over at some point? Personally I think this would be great. The show started to great numbers last week but I expect a very drastic drop for episode 2. It has a good premise that needs to be exploited a little more. I'd like it to go in a more Cyberpunk direction than a 24 direction but I'm not sure that will happen. For now Intelligence is worth a watch. It's not great but it could become great. One to keep an eye on for now.
I read a lot, or at least I used to. Real life very frequently gets in the way but here is a photo of my current reading pile:
If last year is anything to go by this will take me all year. It's one of my New Years Resolutions that it does not. The series that I am currently reading "The Sentients Of Orion" by Marianne De Pierres I am halfway through so there will be no mention of that besides it starts slow but the second book is really good. Kinda too soon to tell on the third. Beyond that I'll probably post reviews of all my books on here. Starting with the next Star Trek: Voyager novel (warning there will be lots of Star Trek mentions on here) and then continuing with Peter F. Hamilton's Great North Road which I have been meaning to read for a year. Annoying as he's one of my favourite authors.
So yeah, books. Books are cool. Better than Fez's by far...
Here are ten things that are going to be great in 2014. In no particular order:
1. XBOX ONE
I don't have an XBOX One yet, booo but am planning on picking one up in March. I'm not going to start a Sony Vs Microsoft debate here. I'm historically an XBOX owner just because the exclusives on the console suit my taste more than Playstations. But just take a look at some of the things being released for this beast in 2014 (probably).
Tom Clancy's The Division
Destiny
The Witcher 3 - Wild Hunt
Titanfall
Quantum Break
Alien Isolation
Of course there are many, many more but the gaming year ahead looks like great fun.
2. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
If you don't know who the Guardians are just think The Avengers in space. There's a little more to it but thats all you need to know to start with. Their comic year starts off with a crossover with the X-Men as Jean Grey (don't ask) is put on trial for the actions of the Phoenix, which this version of Jean hasn't encountered yet. Told you not to ask.
The current lineup of Starlord, Drax The Destroyer, Gamora, Groot and Rocket Raccoon have been joined recently by Angela (who I'll be honest I know very little about) but with a new Thanos graphic novel coming this year I'm hoping that some of the wider Marvel Cosmic characters are going to start to make a few more appearances. Where the hell is Adam Warlock? or Quasar? The Marvel Cosmic universe is a little lost without them. Of and of course in August there's a small matter of Marvel's riskiest movie to date. Guardians could flop. I don't think it will and I REALLY hope it doesn't but it could. So all I'll say is go see it, I'll be in line at midnight.
3. Sin City
Sin City isn't new but it is probably my favourite non-Big 2 comic of all time. Great art, superb characters and probably one of the best movie adaptions comics have ever seen. Why is it on my list for 2014. Well first there's this:
That's the entire run of Sin City in one massive ass Hardcover. I'm drooling just thinking about the thing. To go with it there's this:
The Art Of Sin City has been published before but man is it hard to get a hold of. To top it all off in August we get the sequel (although part of it is prequel) to the 2005 movie.
Sin City is awesome, Robert Rodriguez is awesome when he isn't making Spy Kids movies. I may have to see this twice at the cinema, per day, for a week.
4. FILM 2014
2014 MOVIE TRAILER SPLURGE. First the ones you probably know:
The Lego Movie
Robocop
300: Rise Of An Empire
Journey To The West (Foreign Language Warning)
Captain America - The Winter Soldier
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Godzilla
X-Men: Days Of Future Past
Edge Of Tomorrow
Transformers: Age Of Extinction
Jupiter Ascending
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) (fake poster)
Interstellar
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I
The Hobbit: There & Back Again
The Monkey King (Foreign Language Warning)
And just a tad more on some of the films that you might not have heard of but will likely be better than the spectacle in the list above.
Snowpiercer (Foreign Language Warning)
Partly Korean film about the world in an ice age where the survivors live on a permanently moving train
Knights Of Badassdom
Comedy movie about LARPING starring Abed from Community, Tyrion from Game of Thrones & River Tam from Firefly. Has been sat on a shelf for years
Veronica Mars
Kickstarter funded film based on the TV series of the same name. Probably the most sarcastic character ever written
Welcome To Yesterday
Found footage movie based around time travel. Blame Chronicle
Under The Skin
Scarlett Johansson plays an alien sent to Earth to prey on men, or something along those lines anyway. Has done well at award shows so that tells you what to expect.
Transcendence
Johnny Depp turns himself into an AI. MUST WATCH will likely be this years Gravity/Looper/Inception
Earth To Echo
Alien contacts kids by mobile phone. Think along the lines of ET or Super 8
Lucy
Scarlett Johansson takes a drug that turns her into a Superhero (that's her third entry on this list, two superheroes and an alien). Best thing about this is it's being made by Luc Besson, the genius behind Fifth Element and Leon
Space Station 76
1970s style film about a bunch of people on a space station. Know very little about this.
Monsters - The Dark Continent
Sequel to one of my favourite films that you probably haven't watched (Monsters) this is properly exciting.
This is by no means every film coming out this year. I have purposely left out some, like Muppets: Most Wanted & yet another Planet Of The Apes because I either really don't care or just think they will be a bit rubbish really.
5. NEW MUSIC
I'm not going to list every band releasing an album in 2014 because odds are the one that will turn out to be my favourite this time next year won't have been announced yet or will be by a band that doesn't yet exist. I will post about a few favourites as the year goes by, post some youtube links to things I like but this one is obvious really. There's good new music every year
6. NEW COMICS
Marvel & DC have got some great series going at the moment and both are launching more all the time. In fact the speed by which comics are rebooted now kinda gives you whiplast. But Harley Quinn at DC has barely started and looks to have a strong year in 2014.
Over at Marvel there's more going on than I'll ever have time or money for. But Wolverine looks like he's going to have a big year, that he may or may not survive. Nova is going reasonably well and Wolverine & The X-Men is being relaunched soon. Iron Patriot, Moon Knight & The Silver Surfer are also getting new ongoing series in the first half of the year, though don't expect any of them to last 50 issues.
On the independent side of things expect The Walking Dead to keep dominating everything, Saga to continue to be completely insane and completely awesome and Mark Miller to keep coming up with great ideas. Image Comics have announced more new series than anyone knows what to do with. Rogue Trooper is returning from IDW, the X-Files is crossing over with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Ghostbusters and expect me to post a lot about this girl in 2014:
7. LONDON FILM & COMIC CON 2014
'NUFF SAID
8. MARVELOUS GIRLS (yeah I know that was terrible)
Captain Marvel is returning in a new ongoing series from Kelly Sue Deconnick and I still have absolutely no idea why they bothered rebooting this one. The last series went 17 issues, didn't sell spectacularly (because books with female leads traditionally don't (facepalm)) but had a massive cult following, myself included. Hoping this one keeps going a little longer but it isn't the biggest news:
With Carol Danvers off being Captain Marvel the Ms. Marvel mantle is being taken over by another. Kamala Khan, a 16 year old Muslim girl.
Apparently this is a scary thing. Thor is a god, Tony Stark's an alcoholic, Superman's an alien but apparently praying to a different god is terrifying. Though being afraid of a 16 year old I totally get. The world is full of idiots and if this guy can get his own series who are any of us to judge:
9: OVERPRICE COLLECTABLES
Here are some new figures coming out in 2014:
Kotobukiya Mara Jade
Kotobukiya Art FX Batgirl
Play Arts Kai Xenomorph
Play Arts Kai Spock
OK yeah I could only come up with nine.
10. NEW TV
New tv in 2013 was really disppointing with Agents of Shield and Defiance not quite living up to their potential yet. 2014 promises more. Here are some suggestions:
Helix
Show about an Arctic Research base doing something they probably shouldn't from the guy who bought back Battlestar Galactica and wrote most of the best episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Started on Friday so look out for a review from me this week
Star-Crossed
Sci-fi romance where a bunch of aliens move into a normal high school. Yeah it's Roswell on the CW. Put down as possible guilty pleasure (starts Spring)
The 100
Bunch of teenage delinquents are sent back to Earth to see if the planet is safe. This could be awesome if done well, also based on a book. (starts Spring)
Believe
Potential failure as guy is asked to protect some girl for some reason. Could go absolutely nowhere but being made by the guy who did Gravity and J.J. Abrams so could also be the biggest thing on tv this year. (Starts Spring TBA)
The Strain
TV adaption of Guillermo Del Toro's book about a virus that turns people into Vampires. This will be huge and pretty much guaranteed to be great (Starts Summer)
Extant
Halle Berry plays an astronaut returning to Earth. Don't really know much else. (Starts Summer)
Outlander
Fantasy Romance as WWII nurse is sent back in time to 18th Century Scotland. Again made by the guy who bought back BSG (Starts Autumn TBA)
The Leftovers
HBO series by one of the guys who did Lost about people left behind after The Rapture (Starts Autumn TBA)
Star Wars - Rebels
This one is scary/exciting. Disney's first production since purchasing Lucasfilm. A sign of things to come... (Starts Autumn TBA)
The Flash
Spinoff of Arrow starring the fastest man alive. Almost guaranteed to happen. (Starts Autumn TBA)
The Last Ship
Pandemic has taken over the Earth as Naval vessel returns from Radio Silence. Great premise (Starts Summer)
Crossbones
Pirate series starring John Malkovich as Blackbeart (Starts Autumn TBA)
Gotham
Prequel to Batman starring 10 year old Bruce Wayne and Detective Gordon. Not yet picked up but 90% likely for Autumn
Black Sails
Another pirate series from Starz. Think Pirates of The Caribbean with likely a lot of nudity knowing that channel. (Starts January)
24 - Live Another Day
The biggest TV event of the year as the world's second least plausible spy returns to television (Bond obvs). Jack Bauer returns to television in an "Event Series" that starts in April. Action on TV has been lacking since 24 was cancelled (not counting Person Of Interest) so the return of 24 is a huge deal.
The purpose of this blog is, well actually it doesn't really have much of a purpose. It's not going to cure cancer, it won't land on the moon and it isn't going to make me any money. But it might make you laugh, might introduce you to something you may love in the future. Or it may make you want to punch me in the face, though I'd rather you didn't...
The words, and probably pictures, that are going to be posted in here will likely be exceptionally nerdy in nature. To those who know me, you have no idea... There may also be the occasional musical post (don't worry I will not be singing or playing an instrument) and there may also just be just me ranting about stuff, or laughing at stuff. Or even posting the dreaded amusing cat video, or worse A MEME!
But first I need a title. I'm not happy with the name of my blog. Yes it is factually accurate, though not grammatically so.
So here's the thing, come up with a name you may win a prize, it won't be an impressive prize, it may be a doughnut, it may be a peanut, hell it might even be something that isn't a nut!
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