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#477 Dec 09 2015 at 8:40 PM Rating: Good
At least Ollie lost the awful wig in the flashbacks this season!
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#478 Dec 10 2015 at 8:36 AM Rating: Good
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TirithRR wrote:
I've grown to like this Damien Darhk character.
After last night, I consider him the hero Starling City deserves.
Omegavegeta wrote:
At least Ollie lost the awful wig in the flashbacks this season!
That thing looked like it was stolen by the Wizard of Oz.

Next Spring when Flash returns they're adding comedian Tone Bell as Iris' new boss at the newspaper. The next Teenage Michael Bay Turtles has an official title, "Out of the Shadows," as well as a trailer and a couple of posters of Bebop and Rocksteady, played by Gary Anthony Williams and WWE's Sheamus. A mutant rhino with lips looks ... really freakin' weird, bordering High Octane Nightmare Fuel. Like those cartoons where they have a static face shot and then they use real lips to talk. Annoying Orange or whatever is the first example that comes to mind. At least the Turtle Van is neat, though it looks like Tyler Perry borrowed Eddie Murphy's fatsuit from the Nutty Professor for his Baxtor Stockman. Green Amell looks okay as Casey Jones, but hell how could you get that wrong? Moving along, the guy who directed Gremlins, Twilight Zone: The Movie, and Innerspace, Joe Dante, has been brought in to direct the eighth episode of Legends of Tomorrow, named "Night of the Hawk." It is unknown whether the episode title is a reference to Hawkman and Hawkgirl or to currently (allegedly) uncast Connor Hawke, who the CW says will be someone who "picks up the mantle of a fallen hero." Possibly an ancestor of Diggle and Lyla since the CW is looking for an "actor of mixed race." Just a cursory look at the lineup shows there isn't a Green Arrow-esque character, so I'd put a chip on that.

Amongst the rumors involving the future Batman movie now involves the possibility that Will Smith, the pretty much guaranteed co-survivor (along with Harley. Maybe Katana. Everyone else is pretty much cannon fodder.) of the upcoming Suicide Squad movie, will appear as Deadshot. Other rumors also include Ben Affleck directing said movie, and working on the screenplay as well. Not unlikely, since we know Smith has a multi-picture contract with WB.

Frank Miller, the Freddy Kreuger impersonator who created and later killed off Elektra Nachosfiesta, claims that the Daredevil Season 2 version of the character that will be played by Elodie Yung is not her without actually seeing the show. The quote being done in English, translated to Portuguese, back to English, something along the lines of "They can do whatever they want, it's not her." He later added that yes, he does consider himself "her father." He also says he hasn't seen Season 1 of the generally beloved Netflix show. So, you know, any complaining about my complaining about actors or representations not being character accurate can bite me. Smiley: thumbsup

Edited, Dec 10th 2015 1:31pm by lolgaxe
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#479 Dec 11 2015 at 8:57 AM Rating: Good
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Emily Vancamp, the miscast Sharon Carter / Agent 13, says that she'll certainly be part of Team Cap and says "I got to do a small fight sequence with Scarlett [Johansson] which was fun. We’re all just kind of kicking *** in those movies." To note, I'm not saying she's miscast because of her acting, but she's not Hayley Atwell. Part of Sharon's backstory is how she's a dead ringer for her aunt, Peggy Carter. In other casting news, Gotham adds Melinda Clarke while Thor: Ragnarok is trying to enlists Cate Blanchett.

X-Men: Apocalypse trailer.
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#480 Dec 14 2015 at 9:14 AM Rating: Good
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Crap, Supergirl is basically the only show left to watch until like January, isn't it? Either too much or too little. Okay, IMAX theaters are receiving individual "IMAX Trailer Packs" that contain hard drives with trailers for "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice," "Captain America: Civil War," "Deadpool," "Independence Day: Resurgence," Happy Hogan's Jon Favreau's "The Jungle Book" and "Warcraft" to show before "The Force Awakens." You know, for the people who bought tickets last month since apparently they're sold out all over the world according to rumors. Speaking of overhyped, James Cameron says he's taking another run at scripts for Blue Catbunny Sex Fiends Avatar two through four.
Tom Holland, how he found out he was Spider-Man wrote:
I was actually having a really bad day, and I found out on Instagram. I was in my bed, I was scrolling through Instagram, and Marvel had posted a photo of Spider-Man. It said 'Go to our website, and find out who it is.' I opened the screen, and then it said my name, and I went nuts!
Probably the only case of social media not ruining lives.
Mike Colter, about his Netflix show wrote:
"Luke Cage" happens over some time after the "Jessica Jones" series. He is reeling from the experience that happens in "Jessica," and he's trying to get himself back on track. His bar was blown up, and now, he has to start over again. He's just got to figure out where he is now, and what he's doing with his life because he wants to define himself as a man, define himself in society and try to deal with his own demons. Just like Jessica had to deal with her demons, he has to deal with his demons, and that's where he starts. I can't tell you much more, but it will be interesting! It will be interesting and very unique.
I don't know, I think Luke needs a little levity. But considering I have enjoyed both Netflix shows so far I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt.

Production designer Patrick Tatopoulos told the French magazine "Premiere" that Doomsday won't be the final act in the upcoming Batman v Superman and that the Trinity will face an even greater threat than a rage monster that evolves to be immune to the last enemy that defeated him. Guess that makes sense considering how easily they show him off in the trailers.

Marvel Studios co-president Louis D'Esposito, Doctor Strange's director Scott Derrickson and executive producer Stephen Broussard on one of the sets. Also the Seal of the Vishanti and possibly an Eye of Agamotto prop.

Edited, Dec 14th 2015 2:25pm by lolgaxe
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#481 Dec 14 2015 at 4:58 PM Rating: Decent
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Well, this dirth of new episodes should give you the time to go get caught up on Into the Badlands, which is a lot better than I thought it would be.
#482 Dec 14 2015 at 5:04 PM Rating: Decent
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Also, SyFy is airing both Childhood's End and The Expanse tonight. Both look to be interesting at least.
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#483 Dec 14 2015 at 5:10 PM Rating: Decent
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Meh, I read the book. The story really isn't that great, so I'm not really looking forward to Childhood's End. I know next to nothing about The Expanse, so I'll at least give it a shot.

Edited, Dec 14th 2015 6:11pm by Turin
#484 Dec 14 2015 at 5:16 PM Rating: Good
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I watched the first episode of The Expanse on demand, it wasn't bad. We'll see where it goes.

I think Childhood's End is just a short mini-series. I haven't read the book, but I can pretty much guess where it will go. I only hope it does it well.
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#485 Dec 14 2015 at 5:56 PM Rating: Decent
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Actually, if they follow the book, it's not going to end the way you probably think it will.
#486 Dec 15 2015 at 9:59 AM Rating: Good
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I may check out Childhood. That the one where someone shines a floodlight at a kid in a wheelchair and he can suddenly walk? And yeah, Badlands has been exactly what I expected it to be, and I'm for one happy about that.
lolgaxe wrote:
Kara wrote:
Superman doesn't kill!
Smiley: laugh
Kara screaming, crying and eye laser blasting a hologram that looks like her mother over not getting some information she wants is probably a step backwards in a show trying to hammer progressive messages weekly. Overall, Clark should have taught Kara the secret to secret identities. It seems to be kind of an issue.

In a move that seems almost a decade late, Paramount and Hasbro to create a interconnected movieverse of their own. Presumably involving GI Joe, Rom the Space Knight, and My Little Pony. And here we have Ryan Reynolds in a not so PG rated and even less well animated GIF. I'll keep saying it, the guy is on Cloud 9 over this project.
Oscar Isaac, not answering the question about his portrayal of Apocalypse wrote:
Depends which comic you are talking about. There’s 'X-Factor,' there’s 'X-Men,' there’s the 'Age of Apocalypse,' there’s the animated series, there’s 'X-Men: Evolution,' so when someone says Apocalypse without referring a comic book, it’s a very general question. They may want to state which is their Apocalypse first. He’s definitely not going to be everyone’s favorite version of Apocalypse, but he’s my favorite version of Apocalypse. It’s something from the '80s mixed in with something new. They either create a backstory that he was this mutant from Ancient Egypt that found this technology and they explore that story or they send him to another universe where he’s more powerful than he’s ever been. He’s turned all these other X-Men into villains. There are different ways that artists and creative people get the chance to explore his story on a massive scale if they do. In this one, Bryan Singer and Simon Kinberg took the inspiration from many different sources, many different versions of Apocalypse throughout the ages and found the one that we thought was the most interesting.
Jennifer Lawrence, about Mystique wrote:
I am blue in it, a little bit. I put my foot down as much as I could. [But] they were very, very nice to me.
"Doctor Strange" director Scott Derrickson's "Sinister" collaborator, writer C. Robert Cargill, announced on Twitter that he's spent the "better part of the last year" working on the screenplay for the mystical Marvel movie. Also Iron Fist is getting closer to starting, as it now has both a production name ("Kick") and showrunner in Scott Buck. Just like the production name, the character names are also coded:
Iron Fist Characters wrote:
DYLAN KENDALL

25 – 28 yrs old Handsome and sophisticated, independent and a loner.

SERIES REGULAR

HARRY MARSHALL

45 – 50 yrs old Caucasian, highly intelligent, merciless, confident and arrogant, physically active.

SERIES REGULAR
The first is obviously Danny, but if I had to venture a guess I'd say the second is Orson Randall, one of the previous Iron Fists and a totally awesome Gun-Fu fighter which would be totally awesome to see in action.

In a slight reversal, Chris King, Krysty Wilson-Cairns and Andrew Hinderaker, the scriptwriters for the third season of the Showtime ... show ... "Penny Dreadful" are working on a comic book based on the show, with artwork from Louie De Martinis.

Edited, Dec 15th 2015 2:05pm by lolgaxe
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#488 Dec 16 2015 at 11:53 PM Rating: Decent
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Well, Childhood's End wasn't bad. Though there were some fairly massive changes made. The beginning and the end were more or less accurate, but pretty much the entire middle section was completely different. It did make for a slightly more dramatic story, the book is fairly flat, but I think they definitely spent too much time on Ricky. He was only important to the first third of the original story line and I think he should have stayed that way.

The Expanse just hasn't grabbed me. I don't really care about any of the characters and so far there really isn't much story line to judge. I might give it another couple of episodes, but so far I'm not impressed.

I did rather like the preview episode they showed of the The Magicians. I've always been a fan of urban fantasy, so I'll be keeping an eye on that one. It's too bad that there won't be premier for another month though.
#489 Dec 17 2015 at 9:16 AM Rating: Good
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Space Satans were such gentlemen about causing the Rapture and destroying the world.

Most "news" has been sidelined by Star Wars the last few weeks, so let's just do that. Since Wednesday it has made $14m, and it hasn't even opened in the major markets yet. I imagine it'll hit top five All Time World Box Office Grosses, but as it stands I still don't understand how Avatar is the top of that list. It's an okay movie, but come on ... Anyway, I'm not even a fan of space sci fi flicks and I'm kind of curious. Of course, I could just turn to social media, as apparently a ton of people are Harry Pottering it (SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE), and admittedly I'm on the fence on that.

Edited, Dec 17th 2015 1:11pm by lolgaxe
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#490 Dec 17 2015 at 6:18 PM Rating: Good
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I enjoyed Childhood's End. It seemed to go all "Knowing" on us. It wasn't where I expected it to go when it was announced.

Magicians seems like some sort of combination of Harry Potter and Cirque Du Freak. I enjoyed the last part of the sneak peak episode. I'll tune into it.

The Expanse seemed to kick it up a bit in episode 4 I enjoyed pretty much everything on the Mars ship. I don't care much for what's happening on the Belt.. Seems SciFi is pushing this one on Demand a lot. They have up to episode 4 available there right now. So far it's an OK space drama. I hope it becomes a bit more clear as to what's happening and not just the "complicated makes it cool" route.

Edited, Dec 17th 2015 7:22pm by TirithRR
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#491 Dec 17 2015 at 6:23 PM Rating: Decent
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Turin wrote:
Well, Childhood's End wasn't bad. Though there were some fairly massive changes made. The beginning and the end were more or less accurate, but pretty much the entire middle section was completely different. It did make for a slightly more dramatic story, the book is fairly flat, but I think they definitely spent too much time on Ricky. He was only important to the first third of the original story line and I think he should have stayed that way.


Yeah. It looked to me like they really really wanted to be able to use the same actors through the whole series (if you're paying them, you may as well use them). The unfortunate side effects of this choice were that we got:

1. A lot of extra filler that didn't really add to the story at all. And frankly, the entire bit with Ricky having to chose to use the suspiciously "rare" healing item from a race that has shown the ability to instantly heal a gunshot wound through the chest (and cure paralyzed legs) remotely using some kind of beam, to save one of said aliens who has been shot in the chest instead of on himself to heal some illness that frankly also made zero sense and added nothing to the story. When that scene ended, I had hoped that the writers were going to have the whole thing be a test Karellan made up to see if Rickey was worthy of healing or something (perhaps to see if humanity was sufficiently past their selfish stage maybe?), but I had a sad feeling it was just writers artificially and stupidly putting in extra drama for the sake of drama. Sadly, my lack of faith in sci-fi writers has once again been held to be true.

2. A compressed timeline for the story, which made it far far less believable. In the book, 50- years passes between the Overlords arrival and Karellan revealing his appearance. This is actually kind of an important thing because it means that most people have lived their entire lives with the Overlords present and the benefits their presence has caused, and explains why their appearance as traditional devil figures causes more of an intellectual curiosity rather than panic and fear. But more on how they muffed/ignored that entire part of the story later.

lolgaxe wrote:
Space Satans were such gentlemen about causing the Rapture and destroying the world.


I'm actually a bit curious about something. Having read the book, I went into the series already knowing what it was about, and what the big "reveal" was, so it's hard for me to judge what someone who didn't know how the story ends already would come away with. It seemed to me that they didn't really explain the connection between the Overmind and the human race, and what humanity was evolving into at all. And unless I totally missed it (which apparently is quite possible), they never explained why the Overlords look like devils. Which is a huge part of the story itself (and again, ties into the purpose meaning and relationship between the Overmind and humanity).

Is there anyone here who never read the book, or heard about what it was about, who saw the series and could write about what they think it all meant? I'm really curious if their alterations to the story resulted in the main concept actually being missed. Again, it's hard for me to tell, because I was waiting for a clear bit of explanation of what I knew it to be about, and then the show ended without what I thought was enough explanation. But maybe there were sufficient subtle hints that someone who didn't already know the story would get it. Hence why I'd love to hear from someone who only saw the series to see what they took away from it.
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#492 Dec 17 2015 at 6:34 PM Rating: Good
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gbaji wrote:
I'm actually a bit curious about something. Having read the book, I went into the series already knowing what it was about, and what the big "reveal" was, so it's hard for me to judge what someone who didn't know how the story ends already would come away with. It seemed to me that they didn't really explain the connection between the Overmind and the human race, and what humanity was evolving into at all. And unless I totally missed it (which apparently is quite possible), they never explained why the Overlords look like devils. Which is a huge part of the story itself (and again, ties into the purpose meaning and relationship between the Overmind and humanity).

Is there anyone here who never read the book, or heard about what it was about, who saw the series and could write about what they think it all meant? I'm really curious if their alterations to the story resulted in the main concept actually being missed. Again, it's hard for me to tell, because I was waiting for a clear bit of explanation of what I knew it to be about, and then the show ended without what I thought was enough explanation. But maybe there were sufficient subtle hints that someone who didn't already know the story would get it. Hence why I'd love to hear from someone who only saw the series to see what they took away from it.


I never read the book. And watched the series.

I think everything about the Overmind and Overlords explained in the series was done through Milo. From what I understood, as explained by Milo:

Overlords looked like the Humans' idea of a Devil because Humans had the knowledge of what was going to happen hard coded into their DNA. That something was going to happen, and "destroy" humanity as they knew it. Overtime they grew to fear that change, and by extension, what the Overlords were. Milo discusses this when he's talking with his girlfriend.

As for the Overmind, its meeting with Milo just touches on the Overmind being the collective consciousness of all, of it being what humanity would evolve into and become part of. Kind of "God" but not in the sense of an omnipotent single being, but instead, as "everything". The consciousness of the Universe.

Milo asks Karellan what would he do when this happened to his race, and Karellan's only answer was that his race has reached the end of their changes, something about going no further. Not 100% what the Overmind/Overlord relationship is beyond them being tasked to take care of various species' "transitions".


Edited, Dec 17th 2015 7:35pm by TirithRR
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#493 Dec 17 2015 at 8:52 PM Rating: Decent
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TirithRR wrote:
I never read the book. And watched the series.

I think everything about the Overmind and Overlords explained in the series was done through Milo. From what I understood, as explained by Milo:

Overlords looked like the Humans' idea of a Devil because Humans had the knowledge of what was going to happen hard coded into their DNA. That something was going to happen, and "destroy" humanity as they knew it. Overtime they grew to fear that change, and by extension, what the Overlords were. Milo discusses this when he's talking with his girlfriend.


Oh, yeah. I did kinda miss it because it was just him speculating (just as the religious chick was speculating all sorts of stuff and came up with a very different assumption). He also took a very scientific approach, when the reality was somewhere in between. I guess I was waiting for the scene where this is actually explained in full, and it wasn't there. I'll explain below.

Quote:
As for the Overmind, its meeting with Milo just touches on the Overmind being the collective consciousness of all, of it being what humanity would evolve into and become part of. Kind of "God" but not in the sense of an omnipotent single being, but instead, as "everything". The consciousness of the Universe.

Milo asks Karellan what would he do when this happened to his race, and Karellan's only answer was that his race has reached the end of their changes, something about going no further. Not 100% what the Overmind/Overlord relationship is beyond them being tasked to take care of various species' "transitions".


This is kind of what got glossed over in the series, but it's pretty significant to the work. The concept isn't just that humanity is evolving into a form that can meld with the Overmind, but that it actually kinda always was a part, just not a complete part yet. The Overmind is the sentient consciousness of the cosmos, and parts of itself are still developing in the form of various species evolving at different times and places. The key point is that we were always part of the Overmind, just not yet capable of individual conscious awareness of our "greater whole", if you will. As a race, we're still a child (hence the title of the book). And just as a child, we may be aware of that future change into an adult, even if we don't understand it. The Overmind is described as transcending space and time, thus our future connection to it causes imperfect premonitions to occur in our less evolved selves. Individual humans have over time interpreted that knowledge in various forms, resulting in the formation of a belief in a higher power (cause it's us really, or our future selves as a species), complete with imagery associated with it. And, much like a child we might fear that eventual change to an adult, thus associating fear to those we knew would be involved (the Overlords).

The Overlords are actually a separate species (not speaking physically here, but in terms of connection with the Overmind). They can't evolve that way. They are not children of the Overmind, and can never "grow up". But they are aware of the Overmind, and have chosen to assist it in helping its children/parts/whatever find their way (and presumably help them not wipe themselves out before they can do so). In particular to the story, and humans, they still hold out hope that maybe someday they can find a way to evolve, so they take every opportunity to learn all they can of the process. This is their motivation for doing this, and it's why they help Milo. It's also why Milo chooses to stay on Earth and die witnessing the transformation. So he can maybe help the Overlords learn a bit more about it.

This information/explanation makes the whole thing much more clear and less ambiguous. I'm glad at least that you got that humanity did actually ascend and not just die meaninglessly. The lack of any sort of obvious "look at us ascending!" scene had me a bit concerned (and based on some comments on review sites, it looks like some people didn't get that). In the book, Milo (different name for the character IIRC) could feel the minds of the children as they joyfully ascended, first merging into a single consciousness (actually, they were already in this state when he arrived IIRC), and then merging with the Overmind. I can only assume that the writers felt that this might be seen as too religious or something. They certainly went out of their way to say that the Overmind isn't god (it's not, but it also kinda is), and that there's no afterlife. So I suppose showing humanity ascending and merging into a big white ball of energy or something might have stepped on the message.

Which I found somewhat annoying. Part of the story was to basically integrate religious belief into a more scientific format. So not a bearded guy in heaven, but a cosmic mind with vast power and knowledge instead. And not individuals going to heaven based on arbitrary ethical alignment, but all of humanity going there once sufficiently advanced, with the remainder (and the earth itself) just cast aside as part of the process of getting there. You really can't tell the story properly without more or less saying "religion got the details wrong, but the base concept right, and that's not a surprise because religion was created out of a need for less evolved humans to explain a future they can't currently understand". I can understand why they might want to shy away from this, but it still disappointed me a bit.


Oh. Which brings me to one thing that really bugged me (and doesn't need to be spoilered since it's right out of the series). Karellen preventing Ricky and his wife from having children. Ignoring that this was all made up by the series writers in the first place (for "DRAMA"), it also makes zero sense. Karellen tells Milo that there's no afterlife, but that we all live on in the memory of others. His species (for obvious reasons) would hold to this concept, since they themselves have no hope of anything "higher" than their physical lives. So it would be really odd for him to prevent Ricky from having children, doubly so since these children are going to evolve and exist forever. He basically just ensured that his friends memory would be lost because he would have no children to remember him. No one with a close connection to him would remain.

Which makes no sense. He says he did it to spare him the pain, but again, given his own later stated views on living on through the memories of others, and his role in helping humanity ascend, he would not logically make such a choice. He's literally there to cause massive pain for all the humans of the last generations prior to ascension, knowing that the resulting ascension more than makes up for it. We can presume that he and his species can justify doing this precisely because they know those who die out physically will live on forever in the Overmind via their children. Why deny that to Ricky? What possible purpose could sparing pain accomplish in the context of the work he's doing? And would he even see it as pain? For someone like the Overlords, it would seem that the worse pain would be dying without ever having any children. Dying knowing your children will move on would be the greatest joy they could experience. And it is, in fact, the one thing they are most jealous of humans over.

Dunno. Just seemed like the writers didn't actually understand the source material. Or at least didn't think it through. Then again, that whole character was pure fluff after the first part, so it's not much surprise that it's inconsistent with the rest of the story. I just really really wish they'd cut his entire presence out of the second and third parts, and spent more time showing the audience what the Overlords were doing and why. IIRC, in the book there were parts told from the pov of Karellen, where he's basically explaining what's going on, what he feels, etc. I could be remembering wrong though. It's been like 25+ years since I read it. I just think you get a much broader sense of the story from the book than from the series. The series seemed to focus far far too much on things that ultimately don't matter (everyone dies, right?), and skimmed over the parts that do. Then again, Clarke is not known as a great character author, so maybe the series writers felt that was a problem and tried to spend more time on that. Um... I honestly think this is the wrong story to do that in though, but I can see why they might try anyway. Formulas exist for a reason.
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#494 Dec 17 2015 at 9:19 PM Rating: Good
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gbaji wrote:
I'm glad at least that you got that humanity did actually ascend and not just die meaninglessly. The lack of any sort of obvious "look at us ascending!" scene had me a bit concerned (and based on some comments on review sites, it looks like some people didn't get that).


Well, they literally had every child in the world ascend and Jennifer take all the energy of the matter left behind on Earth with her as she became one with the Overmind as MIlo watched.

Quote:
This is kind of what got glossed over in the series, but it's pretty significant to the work. The concept isn't just that humanity is evolving into a form that can meld with the Overmind, but that it actually kinda always was a part, just not a complete part yet. The Overmind is the sentient consciousness of the cosmos, and parts of itself are still developing in the form of various species evolving at different times and places. The key point is that we were always part of the Overmind, just not yet capable of individual conscious awareness of our "greater whole", if you will. As a race, we're still a child (hence the title of the book). And just as a child, we may be aware of that future change into an adult, even if we don't understand it. The Overmind is described as transcending space and time, thus our future connection to it causes imperfect premonitions to occur in our less evolved selves. Individual humans have over time interpreted that knowledge in various forms, resulting in the formation of a belief in a higher power (cause it's us really, or our future selves as a species), complete with imagery associated with it. And, much like a child we might fear that eventual change to an adult, thus associating fear to those we knew would be involved (the Overlords).


This part was explained, or very heavily hinted at through Milo's dialog, even the humanity was always part of the overmind, the "child", the single vs collective consciousness, the imagery of the Overlords being interpreted as frightening to the under developed humanity, etc. It's just explained during the usual boring parts of the movies/series that people don't like paying attention to.


Quote:
The Overlords are actually a separate species (not speaking physically here, but in terms of connection with the Overmind). They can't evolve that way. They are not children of the Overmind, and can never "grow up". But they are aware of the Overmind, and have chosen to assist it in helping its children/parts/whatever find their way (and presumably help them not wipe themselves out before they can do so). In particular to the story, and humans, they still hold out hope that maybe someday they can find a way to evolve, so they take every opportunity to learn all they can of the process. This is their motivation for doing this, and it's why they help Milo. It's also why Milo chooses to stay on Earth and die witnessing the transformation. So he can maybe help the Overlords learn a bit more about it.


This connection between the Overmind/Overlord is not explored well during the series. It's all of 1 or 2 minutes near the end. But given the other information, one could stumble upon it. The hints are there. The overlords being truly curious when Milo says he will describe the events to them. They not being able to ascend. But they could have done a better job on the Overmind/Overlord relationship.


And I'm pretty sure the extra Ricky stuff was there just to keep most people interested by having an actual person to be the protagonist, rather than just humanity.
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#495 Dec 18 2015 at 8:41 AM Rating: Good
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gbaji wrote:
The lack of any sort of obvious "look at us ascending!" scene had me a bit concerned
The kids floating up into space seemed about as painfully obvious as the rest of the Rapture signs. All I got out of it was the writer trying to connect science and religion, specifically Rapture and Evolution, together. But the minute Space Satan showed up my attention drifted so I probably missed the vast majority of the subtlety. I did see a commercial for the Fantastic Four blurays and immediately knew what my white elephant gift this year was going to be.

Lawrence Fishburne was spotted on the set of John Wick 2, so expect tons of Matrix references in the near future. In Star Trek news, Simon Pegg doesn't like the Star Trek Beyond trailer and is telling people to "hang in there," while George Takei and Wil Wheaton both feel the trailer doesn't "feel" like Star Trek, which only half of their opinions really matter on the subject. I challenge anyone to find a single redeeming factor in Weasley Crusher. Challenge.




And finally for now: The Force Awakens Wednesday/Thursday take passes $50m domestically ($130m worldwide), breaking the domestic record set by Harry Potter Deathly Hallow 2.
Studio Cine Live Interview with Cavill & Affleck wrote:
Henry Cavill, about his Clark Kent wrote:
Comparisons with Christopher Reeve’s clumsy Clark Kent are inevitable. My Clark Kent is trying to be as small and invisible as possible. If you’re awkward and spilling things constantly, people are going to notice you, and that’s not the best way to go unseen. You have to admit, it’s not a remarkable disguise, just a pair of glasses. He’d like to think that no one will believe he could be Superman. How could such a delicate flower be a living god? Preposterous.
Ben Affleck, about his and Bale's Batman wrote:
I don’t want to compete with other incarnations, nor do I want to emulate them. Those versions belong in another universe. Christopher Nolan used his Batman to tell a finite story. My version is different, but remains faithful to the Batman mythology and all the themes associated with it. The other difference is that Nolan’s Batman isn’t part of a universe where other superheroes exist as well. Here -- because we’re working towards the Justice League -- there’s Superman, and it’s a world populated with super beings. This situation generates an altogether new reality.
Megalyn Echikunwoke will be playing Vixen the next season of Arrow. She is also Vixen's voice from the animated Vixen show on CW Seed, which I'm assuming no one saw. I know I didn't.

Matt Nable, Arrow's Ra's al Ghul version 1.0, will be reprising his role as Batman's displaced villain in Legends of Tomorrow ... still not fighting Batman.

Edited, Dec 18th 2015 3:19pm by lolgaxe
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#496 Dec 18 2015 at 4:17 PM Rating: Decent
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lolgaxe wrote:
gbaji wrote:
The lack of any sort of obvious "look at us ascending!" scene had me a bit concerned
The kids floating up into space seemed about as painfully obvious as the rest of the Rapture signs.


Except that wasn't them ascending (assuming you're talking about the scene where they float up into the sky). That was them using their telepathic/telekinetic abilities collectively to separate themselves from the rest of humanity so they could continue to grow and develop (in the book, this was someplace in Eastern Russia I think? In the series, it's some big mesa thing out in the desert). They don't ascend until 80 years later (After Milo's complete round trip to the Overlord home world). But in the series, it just looks like they blow up the planet. The scene where Milo is on the Earth reporting back to the Overlords is when the children ascend. Again, maybe I just missed it, but all I saw was the planet blow up and turn into a giant cloud of debris. I knew what was happening from reading the book, but it wasn't clear to me if others would get it, since it could just as easily have been humanity's children "ending" by committing mass suicide or something. Certainly, the tone of the scene in the series was more about sadness and loss than the joyful celebration of mankind's successful transition to a higher level that was portrayed in the book.

Yes, there were sufficient clues that there was more to the story, but the book was much much more clear about what was happening and why, while the series seemed somewhat vague.


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#497 Dec 18 2015 at 4:41 PM Rating: Good
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gbaji wrote:
lolgaxe wrote:
gbaji wrote:
The lack of any sort of obvious "look at us ascending!" scene had me a bit concerned
The kids floating up into space seemed about as painfully obvious as the rest of the Rapture signs.


Except that wasn't them ascending (assuming you're talking about the scene where they float up into the sky). That was them using their telepathic/telekinetic abilities collectively to separate themselves from the rest of humanity so they could continue to grow and develop (in the book, this was someplace in Eastern Russia I think? In the series, it's some big mesa thing out in the desert). They don't ascend until 80 years later (After Milo's complete round trip to the Overlord home world). But in the series, it just looks like they blow up the planet. The scene where Milo is on the Earth reporting back to the Overlords is when the children ascend. Again, maybe I just missed it, but all I saw was the planet blow up and turn into a giant cloud of debris. I knew what was happening from reading the book, but it wasn't clear to me if others would get it, since it could just as easily have been humanity's children "ending" by committing mass suicide or something. Certainly, the tone of the scene in the series was more about sadness and loss than the joyful celebration of mankind's successful transition to a higher level that was portrayed in the book.

Yes, there were sufficient clues that there was more to the story, but the book was much much more clear about what was happening and why, while the series seemed somewhat vague.




The end of Earth was more of an implosion/disintegration. I believe Milo mentions Jennifer turning it into Energy, with the Blue/White light she began when she first arrived (which was very similar to the light of the Overmind, showing the connection there). The Earth begins to break apart, but not really splintering as much as actually turning into Energy. I believe once the Overlords left, there was nothing at all where Earth used to be. Well, nothing physical. Somehow they do leave the song, at least in the emotional sense for some being to hear (or feel) later.

I think if you really didn't pay attention, you would think it was nothing more than an Alien species arriving at Earth to transform the children and have them destroy the planet. But you'd have to ignore a lot of stuff to think it was only that. I think that while a book spelling it out may work, for a visual depiction, having the characters just come out and say things would kind of take away from the experience.



Who knows, maybe this series is one of those things that you watch a second time and you'll pick up on some more subtle hints before Milo and the Overlord explain things during his 90 day / 80 year hiatus.


Edited, Dec 18th 2015 5:47pm by TirithRR
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#498 Dec 28 2015 at 6:58 PM Rating: Decent
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So, not related whatsoever to the MCU or comic book content at all, but I'm putting it here anyway. Somehow, I've managed to completely miss the fact that MTV has been working on a series based on the Shannara books called Chronicles of Shannara. The first season is going to based on a the second book in the series The Elfstones of Shannara. It's a bit odd that they've decided to skip over the first book, but since each of the first three books is stand alone story, it shouldn't cause too much confusion for those that haven't read the books. It's been years since I've read the books, but I did enjoy them quite a bit, so I'm going to give this one a chance. I'm not going to have long to wait either, as it premiers next month. My only real concern at this point is that it's being made by MTV, they're hardly known for their quality programming.

Anyway, obligatory youtube videos to follow.




#499 Dec 28 2015 at 9:26 PM Rating: Good
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I think the Shannara series were probably my favorite fantasy novels growing up.

I preferred the Heritage books myself. Walker Boh and the Shadowen who took on the form of the Four Horsemen sealed that one as my favorite.

Out of the original Trilogy, I seem to recall Wishsong being my favorite. Elfstones is probably #2. I've only read The First King, the original Trilogy, and the Heritage books. I didn't read anything beyond that. And it was back probably 20+ years ago, so I am not too fresh on which events happened in which. Other than Walker Boh. I think he was my favorite character from the Heritage stuff, and his ordeals there really stuck with me over the years.

I am a bit iffy about MTV... even if they do a good job I just don't think that channel gets enough viewership from the audience that should be targeted by a series like this. I mean, this series really wouldn't appeal to the type of audience that is going to be watching a show about the jersey shore or one about people explaining the man code or what ever crap MTV is airing these days.

Edit:
Thinking about it. It is a single book, and a single story that is resolved. So if MTV doesn't succeed in making it popular and ongoing, at least the story can be resolved and not left hanging. Though I would like to see the other books made.

Edit2:
I was grabbing the remote off my window sill last night and saw sitting under it "Angel Fire East". And remembered a whole portion of the Shannara world that I really enjoyed. The whole world being a distant future, one where technology had lead to ruin and was abandoned. Angel Fire East being I think the 3rd book of what ended up being a prequel to the Shannara books set in a modern time, where magic was hidden.

I did see a few relics of modern times in the trailer. A piece of a truck frame I think. I always thought that the time between modern days and Jerle and his descendants was huge though. I don't recall any set time lines in what I read, but felt it was long enough that everyone except the Druids had completely forgot about the ancient world, and most relics of the modern times would be long gone, definitely not sitting out in a forest lightly covered by plant growth.

Edited, Dec 30th 2015 6:21pm by TirithRR
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#500 Jan 04 2016 at 9:06 AM Rating: Good
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Feige wrote:
He (Dr Strange) does cast spells, which in the comics have very sort of tongue-twisty fun names. We don’t want to shy away from that, because that’s what makes Doctor Strange Doctor Strange. He has a Cloak of Levitation that allows him to fly, but he doesn’t fly like Superman or like Thor. It’s almost got a consciousness of its own, this cloak, which, again, gives us a superhero with a red cape -- which we’ve seen a few times -- but allows us to do it in a wholly unique and wholly original way. He can create these mandalas of light that he can use as shields and he can use as sort of weapons. He can create portals that will open before your eyes that he can step through and go to other places around the world. And frankly, even in this film, we’ll only touch upon what a lot of his powers are.

[...]

In this film, the Eye is a very important relic that can be quite dangerous if used in the wrong hands, because it has the ability to do any number of things, the most dangerous of which is, it can sort of manipulate probabilities. Which is also another way of saying, ‘screw around with time’ -- which is part of our story.
So far so good for the "magic" scene. Tired of all the Marvel Super Science. Though I'm a bit wary at the rumorhint that the Eye of Agamotto is the Time Stone. Also, apparently we've finally found a role that Tiddleywomp Chickenbroth actually looks acceptable in. I mean he's no Vincent Price, but it's not like Price auditioned for the role anyway. I'm probably setting myself up for disappointment, but I hope this is the "generally serious but often goofy" Steven Strange. The one that spends the day fighting unseen demons of the Nth dimension, and then spends the afternoon at a Mets game yelling at umpires.
Feige about Tilda Swinton wrote:
"I think if you look at some of the early incarnations of the Ancient One in the comics, they are what we would consider today to be quite, sort of, stereotypical. They don't hold up to what would work today. Also, within the storyline of the comics, and our movie, 'the Ancient One' is a title that many people have had. We hit very early on on, What if the Ancient One was a woman? What if the title had been passed and the current Ancient One is a woman? Oh, that's an interesting idea. (Clicks fingers). Tilda Swinton! Whoa! And it just hit.
Nothing against Swinton but I still contend James Hong was the only best choice, but we'll see.
Feige about Black Panther Movie wrote:
Not only do you get an unbelievable lead character, but you also get all of Wakanda which is a whole new setting and culture to explore. [...] A big geo-political action adventure that focuses on the family and royal struggle of T'Challa in Wakanda, and what is means to be a king. T'Challa's story is very important to us as it links to the next Avengers films, which is why we brought it forward.
All I'm saying here is that Wakanda better be highly advanced technologically and highly xenophobic or I'm calling foul. That's pretty much my line.

Netflix seems to have brought back the biggest gripe of Daredevil S1 into the next batch. Cowls just don't look good live actioned. Also not being red, or yellow. I wish he'd grow his hair out, but otherwise I can no longer think of anyone that looks more like (Dillon) Punisher than Jon. Also have some Elodie Yung Elektra. Little difficult to tell, without the red costume and sai sticking out of her chest. The showrunners describe her as "She's (Matt Murdock's) id; The wild side. Matt is always taming his wild side, Elektra just lets it out." Show should hit Netflix sometime in March.

Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie to star together in a new AMC short series "The Night Manager," based on a spy novel by John le Carre. They had me with Hiddleston and Laurie.

Something about Star Wars making lots of dosh.
Feige, on some random stuff wrote:
I don't think people will read into that title alone (Thor: Ragnarok) what the movie's going to be. It's going to be, perhaps, as totally different from the two prior 'Thor' movies as 'Winter Soldier' was from the first Captain America. We want to take it to new places, we've got new characters that will show how big we're swinging on this. And we have a Hulk.

The film takes place within the cosmos primarily which is to say, frankly, very little Earth.

[...]

I wouldn't look too hard in that movie (Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2) for Thanos. The next time we see Thanos, he will not be messing around. It was be, 'Oh, that's why they've been teasing this villain for five years!'

[...]

It's (Spider-Man) smaller scale is all relative ... It's going to be as big and spectacular a Spider-Man film as has ever been made. But it's a Peter Parker story and has more opportunity to be focused on the story of a 15-year-old kid going to high school.


Edited, Jan 4th 2016 10:09am by lolgaxe
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#501 Jan 07 2016 at 8:53 AM Rating: Good
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Feige, More Words About Doctor Strange wrote:
We see glimpses of something called the Dark Dimension. If you were to open a 'Doctor Strange' comic drawn by Steve Ditko, you would see the Dark Dimension is, in fact, very colorful in an extremely psychedelic way. Those are the things we're not shying away from.
The Dark Dimension is where Dormammu resides. His sister, Umar, also resides in the Dark Dimension. Umar has a daughter named Clea, who was both a student and occasional lover of our esteemed doctor. Just the whole hippy dippy Dark Dimension is good news, but the possibilities this bit of information can lead to are astronomically more, as it were, far out. He also said that the movie "couldn't be any more different than any of the films that have come before it ... There are more things that lurk in shadows in this movie, perhaps, than our other movies."

In show news, Diggle will be showing up in an episode of "The Flash," to help combat King Shark (who we briefly saw earlier this half-season). Episode 15, to be exact. I'm not particularly sure what he brings to the fight other than being chum, but there you have it. iZombie drags another Veronica Mars star, Enrico Colantoni for a recurring role. Jeremy Renner, who apparently does absolutely everything, will be an executive producer and guest star in a History Channel drama called "Knightfall," which apparently has nothing to do with Frenchy eXtreme '90s Batman but the Knights Templar during the Crusades. Jewel Staite, best known to geeks as Kaylee Frye from Firefly/Serenity, to join the cast as Rachel Turner, described as a "tech genius/roboticist who exists in a future in which technology has an even firmer grip on our lives than it does today" in the better-be-soon Legends of Tomorrow.

Daredevil Season 2 hits Netflix March 18th.

M Night Shamalamayamadingdongbingbang to bring back "Tales From The Crypt" to TNT as a two hour horror block this Fall, which should be a real scream.


Edited, Jan 7th 2016 3:51pm by lolgaxe
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George Carlin wrote:
I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.
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