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Superhero TV, Part V: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow

Superhero TV, Part V: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow

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dc legendsheaderIn the finest tradition of superhero cross-overs, Black Gate is doing a blog cross-over (collect them all, including the foil cover variants!). In Part I, I talked about Supergirl.

In Part II, Marie Bilodeau waxed eloquent about The Flash. Our cross-over continued with Part III by John O’Neill talking about Gotham, which led to an exciting cliffhanger in Part IV when Violette Malan covered Agent Carter and then made a daring escape by flying off to Spain!

Some of these blog posts are sure to become collector’s items, so check them out now!

Welcome to Part V of this Black Gate blog cross-over, where I take a weird look at DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.  I say weird because I have two strong feelings about this show, and I’ll use those feelings to structure this post.

The first feeling is, I wouldn’t watch this show on my own. The second feeling is that my 11-year old son and I never miss an episode.

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Superhero TV: That’s Agent Carter To You

Superhero TV: That’s Agent Carter To You

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Carter 1I don’t know how I forgot “superhero” when I wrote about characters and their jobs a couple of weeks ago, but I was powerfully reminded of my lapse – and inspired – by two excellent posts from my friends and fellow BG bloggers, Derek Kunsken (Supergirl) and Marie Bilodeau (The Flash). Today I’d like to put in a word for the Marvel TV universe, where there’s at least one heroine that’s neither an alien, nor a human with superpowers: Peggy Carter of the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) is 100% human.

A number of factors make this show stand out for me. For one, the creators have managed to pull off a series that is a little bit prequel, a tad bit sequel, as well as a sort of spinoff, that doesn’t rely on deep knowledge of either Captain Americ or Agents of Shield – or anything else in the Marvel universe for that matter. Plus, it avoids the drawback of most prequels: you know who isn’t going to die.

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An Old Dark House Double Feature: The Ghost and the Guest (1943) and The Monster Walks (1932)

An Old Dark House Double Feature: The Ghost and the Guest (1943) and The Monster Walks (1932)

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The Ghost and the Guest Lobby Card-small

The Ghost and the Guest
PRC Pictures, 1943
Directed by William Nigh

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A decrepit old mansion that appears to be haunted. A pair of newlyweds move in and by the time it’s all said and done, we find out that the mansion is actually a hub for some nefarious criminal type dudes.

This was not a particularly fresh concept, even in 1943, and the execution leaves more than a bit to be desired. To call it a B-movie is probably elevating it to a much higher status than it deserves. I’m not sure if there’s such a thing a Z movie but this one’s no better than a V, at best.

The most notable factoid about this uninspired piece of work is that it was written by none other than Morey Amsterdam, best known for his role as one of the sidekicks on The Dick Van Dyke Show. His comic stylings, even at that time, were probably kind of old school, but he made it work with superior timing and delivery. None of which is on display from any of the alleged thespians in this particular cinematic exercise, where the comedy — and pretty much everything else — leaves a lot to be desired.

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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: A Pair of Holmeses Named Alan

The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: A Pair of Holmeses Named Alan

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Napier_Napier2In 1937, Holmes made his first appearance on American television in The National Broadcasting Corps’ rendition of The Three Garridebs, starring Louis Hector. Regular television service from NBC hadn’t even begun yet when this test show was transmitted and it’s likely few people saw it. Sadly, I’m only aware of one picture taken from a television screen, though I believe someone in the industry once told me there are other stills in the archives. There’s certainly no belief an actual recording of the broadcast exists!

In 1949, CBS aired a series of 30-minute literary adaptations in the Your Show Time program. The tenth episode was The Speckled Band, starring Alan Napier as Holmes. Napier was certainly a stuffy, stiff detective, with a bit of Raymond Massey (Holmes in a 1931 film of the same story) and Leonard Nimoy in his look.

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Superhero TV: Exploring the Dark Mysteries of Gotham

Superhero TV: Exploring the Dark Mysteries of Gotham

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Gotham TV show-small

We seem to be in a new Golden Age of superhero television. It’s been so long that I can’t even remember the last one…. the early 80s, maybe, when Bill Bixby and William Katt (as The Incredible Hulk and The Greatest American Hero, respectively) dominated airwaves? Could be, but record-keeping was scattered in that long-ago time, and no one alive today remembers that far back.

But there’s ample evidence we’re in a new Golden Age. It’s a pretty simple yardstick, really. If you can count the number of really great superhero TV shows on more than two fingers, it’s probably a Golden Age (again, no one is exactly certain, because we’re not sure it’s ever happened before). These days, it’s hard to shake a stick at all the big-budget, highly acclaimed superhero drama on the small screen. There’s the brilliant Daredevil and Jessica Jones, both on Netflix, which have elevated adult action shows to high art. There’s Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow and Joss Whedon’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which started slow but became must-watch-television by the second season.

Derek Kunsken and Marie Bilodeau kicked off Black Gate‘s survey of our favorite Superhero TV shows last week; Derek opened with a look at ABC’s Supergirl, and Marie followed with The CW’s The Flash. But for my money, the most successful superhero TV show on the airwaves at the moment doesn’t even have any superheroes in it: Fox’s marvelous exploration of the greatest city in comics, Gotham.

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Superhero TV: Remembering Fun

Superhero TV: Remembering Fun

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oie_19161911CmqN6r4gThis series on superheroes was started by Derek Künsken when he chatted Supergirl! Check it out!

There are times in each of our lives when we don’t feel like embracing that darkness on TV. When we’re tired of murder and drama and stoic heroes with perfect cleft chins (scratch that last one, actually. I couldn’t get tired of that).

Sometimes, life is dark enough (loss of loved one, running out of ice cream, losing a toe, etc.) that we want to just watch something fun. We want to watch stories that both fulfill the need for heroic action while letting us have some bloody fun. We want to escape in our TV sets. (Not à la Poltergeist, mind you.)

I love heroes. I’ve loved them since I was a non-speaking English kid and thought He-Man and She-Ra were married (theirs would have been very sturdy children). I also have a soft spot for superheroes. I’ve binge watched way too many superhero episodes on Netflix so far.

My latest binge was The Flash. I hadn’t checked out The Flash yet because of Arrow. If there was to be one more flashback scene and stern, misunderstood look, I thought I’d rip my right ear off and toss it at Stephen Amell’s screen projected hotness.

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Goth Chick News: Sean Young in a Darling New Indy Horror Pic

Goth Chick News: Sean Young in a Darling New Indy Horror Pic

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Darling poster-smallTwo years ago at Days of the Dead in Chicago, during a brief chat with Sean Young, the actress revealed she was just signed to do another indy horror flick following the then-recent-release of Jug Face (VOD).

Of course, she also shared that she was moving to New York and having a garage sale — did I want a second-hand, 1950’s patio set for $1,500, and could we all just boycott any new iteration of Blade Runner since Ridley Scott would not return her calls?

Though we do not know the eventual fate of the patio furniture, and the yet-to-be-titled Blade Runner project remains in pre-production, we now know the identity of that other indy horror film, and it looks pretty darn interesting.

Late last week, Screen Media Films released the official trailer and theatrical one-sheet for Mickey Keating’s new thriller, Darling, on VOD and in limited theaters April 1, 2016.

Keating’s psychological horror story, “Begins as a lonely young woman (Lauren Ashley Carter) moves into an old, mysterious Manhattan mansion. Hired as a caretaker, it’s not long before she discovers the estate’s haunted reputation and troubling past. These stories slowly transform into a backdrop for her twisted and violent descent into madness…”

You’d think by this time, everyone would know it’s a bad idea to accept the caretaker job in a creepy old mansion, even if it’s located in the heart of the city rather than on a lonesome Colorado mountainside.

But go ahead, see for yourself…

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Fellowship of the Pathfinders: The Importance of Party Dynamic in Fantasy Adventure

Fellowship of the Pathfinders: The Importance of Party Dynamic in Fantasy Adventure

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illustration by Eric Belisle
illustration by Eric Belisle

I bought my first Pathfinder novel after reading about it here in a New Treasures post. Howard Andrew Jones’s Stalking the Beast just looked like a lot of fun. Hunting down a big scary monster? Okay, cool. And I’m a sucker for half-orcs. The potential dynamic of a half-elven ranger and a half-orc barbarian working together grabbed me — in fact, I don’t think I ever ran a D&D campaign that didn’t have something like that combination in the mix.

As I described in my review here at Black Gate, I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun the book was — I found myself not wanting to put it down: an experience I was not primed to expect from previous RPG adaptations I’ve read. It delivered the sort of entertainment I am hoping for when I crack open an RPG-themed book, and it was very well written just in general terms as a fantasy novel. Well plotted; good world building; but most importantly, great characters. The dialogue was just as entertaining to read as the action set-pieces.

I subsequently read two of Tim Pratt’s books for Paizo Publishing, and then I went back to Jones’s first contribution to the series. All four of the books impressed me, which left me wondering: is it just because I’m a fan of Jones and Pratt? I mean, these are good writers (a critic more dismissive of “tie-in” literature might have uncharitably suggested they were just “slumming,” writing for a game publisher’s bi-monthly novel line). Were these books the exception, or are Pathfinder novels routinely this level of quality?

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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: How George Raft Made Bogie a Star

The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: How George Raft Made Bogie a Star

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Raft_BogaratLast week, we talked a lot about Humphrey Bogart as we roamed around The Maltese Falcon. And I had already done a post on Bogie’s only horror-sci fi film, The Return of Doctor X. Today, I’m going to talk about one of my favorite aspects of Bogart’s career. In the annals of Hollywood, never has one actor so torpedoed his own career, while making another actor a star at the same time. Let’s take a look, shall we?

George Raft grew up in Hell’s Kitchen, New York, where he was a childhood friend of Owney Madden, who would become a powerful mobster in the days of Prohibition. Raft toyed with being a boxer and then taught himself to dance, hitting it big in Vaudeville in the early twenties. At the same time, he hung out with professional gangsters, gaining access to them through his friendship with Downey. He studied how they walked and talked, and mastered the ability to imitate them.

After appearing in a few films as a dancer, Raft broke through in 1932. Long before Rod Steiger and Al Pacino played Capone roles, Paul Muni made a classic gangster film: Scarface – Shame of a Nation. Raft had a part as Rinaldo, a coin-flipping gunman. Emulating the men he knew, he received strong reviews for his performance.

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JourneyQuest: Onwaaard!

JourneyQuest: Onwaaard!

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journeyquest

I disbelieved the search results and tried again, but got the same lack of results. Has no one at Black Gate mentioned JourneyQuest? With their Kickstarter for season three underway, this must be corrected! Onwaaard!

JourneyQuest is a web series from writer/director Matt Vancil and many of the other fine folks who brought us The Gamers series of movies. These are known for grabbing RPG tropes with both hands and bashing the scenery, with the same actors portraying the players and their characters. Even my wife, who had led a sheltered gaming life and wasn’t familiar with the tropes, thought these movies were hilarious.

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