Time for a Franchise Shift
Star Wars: The Bad Batch 3.14 Flash Strike
Almost at the end. Will they get Omega out? It could go either way given the circumstances.
As Omega looks for a way to rescue herself, the boys get split up. Echo is unable to leave the science ship and has to ride it all the way to the base, while the others get shot down in the jungle.
How did a coward like Rampart make Vice Admiral? Did he get promoted to where he could do less harm?
Emerie and Echo are now working together to get the kids out…it being children was the bridge Emerie would not cross.
And Omega has an escape plan.
One last double episode to go. I hope they escape, even knowing it can’t last…
Star Wars: The Bad Batch 3.15 “The Cavalry Has Arrived”
They managed to eke out a happy ending without any contradictions…Rampart got a copy of the data to revive Project Necromancer, pun intended, later. But the Batch escaped, even if it was touch and go. They got most of the clones off of Tantriss.
And the adults are planning on retiring, but Omega? She’s not accelerated, she might well live out a full human lifespan…likely with the Rebel Alliance.
I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of her. Or, perhaps, of Emerie.
I have to admit this ending didn’t entirely satisfy me. A blaze of glory would have worked better; this is meant to be a dark time in the Star Wars universe. It felt a bit Hollywood.
On the other hand, I definitely want Omega to have a good, if busy, life. So…I guess I’ll deal with it.
Going to switch franchises now ;).
X-Men 1.1 “Night of the Sentinels” Part 1
Yup, said I was switching franchises, to another cartoon I never quite got around to watching.
My first two impressions:
1. Did they not remaster this?
2. Man, I had forgotten just how angsty the 90s X-Men really were.
The show launches in at the deep end with Sentinels, but uses Jubilee as a vehicle to explain the world to the reader…badly. When she asks Storm what a mutant is, Storm gives her the history of the X-Men. That’s…not an answer, Ororo.
Also, stop showing off…nah, Ororo will never stop showing off.
The angst, though, is why I was never an X-Men fan. Hopefully it won’t be too dominant.
X-Men 1.2 “Night of the Sentinels” Part 2
This opening two parter introduces people to a lot. Almost too much for those new to the franchise.
The President is a woman to place us in the future. I hope in a bit over a month we won’t be able to do that any more.
Is Morph actually dead? Maybe, maybe not. I always question deaths in superhero fiction, but Tech stayed dead, so part of me is in people stay dead mode.
Jubilee is pretty awesome. I find Rogue’s accent a tiny bit exaggerated? Or maybe I just don’t hang out with enough southerners.
Jubes does do her best to be self rescuing. She doesn’t succeed because she’s inexperienced, not because she’s female, I’ll give them credit on that. She’s more self rescuing than Beast!
What’s with Jean’s outfit? I hate it. Really. Hate. It.
Cinema Disaster: Shark Zone
This is the kind of movie that gets sharks killed. According to this movie, Great Whites routinely attack humans with no provocation and are “basically dinosaurs.”
Sharks are not dinosaurs and this movie insults both.
The bulk of the movie is nothing more or less than a low rent Jaws ripoff, to the point of near plagiarism. There’s actually an interesting movie in here, though…the opening involves a Spanish galleon and the “treasure ship” comes back later.
There’s about 30 minutes of an interesting thriller tagged on to this boring, unoriginal shark movie, and I’m sad that’s not the movie we got.
Also, I’m pretty sure the location they filmed in had a fake blood shortage after they were done. That’s a lot of fake blood.
So.
Sharks do not attack humans unprovoked. The majority of shark attacks are mistaken identity…they think you’re a seal and spit you out when they realize you aren’t one. Great Whites are more dangerous solely because if they take one chunk out of you they can kill you.
Sharks are fish, not dinosaurs, although they are a very old group of fish and have been around a long time.
Some species of shark and ray are pretty social, too.
I wouldn’t bother with this one unless you are just hankering for a crappy shark movie. Even then, I’ve seen better.
X-Men 1.3 “Enter Magneto”
Okay, so, profound disappointment. They decided to make Magneto more timeless by making his past vague and in the process made him some random Eastern European white guy. He does not appear to be Jewish any more.
I’ve been criticized for not reacting poorly to the talk about a Black Magneto. I could handle that. This Magneto shares only powers and a relationship with Charles with the original. I’m not mad, just disappointed.
This episode sets up the conflict between Charles Xavier and Magneto quite nicely, that aside. Magneto tries to break Beast out of jail, but he refuses to go, determined to face trial…and still gets blamed for the attempt escape. Don’t they…oh wait, Magneto probably fried any surveillance.
Storm’s voice reminds me a bit of Nalissay.
X-Men 1.4 “Deadly Reunions”
Xavier tries to give Sabertooth telepathic therapy. He even thinks it works. Unfortunately, this is Sabertooth, and the results are predictable.
Why is everyone calling him X-avier. It’s going to drive me nuts.
Rogue getting Cyclops’ powers is pretty funny. “How do I turn it off?” “You don’t.”
Magneto apparently doesn’t yet have the telepathy-blocking helmet, so Charles is able to give him flashbacks. Presumably this is why he designed it.
I did like the way they showed Storm’s claustrophobia in a visual medium.
They’re still rapid fire introducing stuff…next episode is the Morlocks. I think they might be packing it in a bit too much.
X-Men 1.5 “Captive Hearts”
Ick, I’m not a love triangle fan. And I’ve never been a fan of this love triangle because honestly who dates Cyclops with Wolverine right there?
Callisto trying to capture Cyclops for stud duty is amusing and subverts the normal trope of it being the woman who’s wanted for breeding. Unfortunately, they ruin the entire thing by damseling Jean, including having her be mind controlled, more than once.
I know that’s a mind control specialist, but this is Jean Grey we are talking about. She’s got to have more resistance than that.
The staff fight between Storm and Callisto is fun, and I did like the visuals on the Morlocks in general.
But ick again on love triangles…
X-Men 1.6 “Cold Vengeance”
They neatly pack two plots into 20 minutes, without it feeling too busy. Wolverine goes to the Arctic to cool off over Jean and Scott…unfortunately, Sabertooth follows him.
Meanwhile Storm, Gambit, and Jubilee go to Genosha to see if they’re as welcoming to mutants as they claim. We cliffhanger on…well…we all know what’s going on with Genosha.
I wonder how this show would be if it wasn’t a bunch of familiar franchise stuff that I instantly recognize. Would it be better or worse? So far I’ve had zero surprises…
Wolverine’s healing factor seems weaker than in the comics. For drama, perhaps.
I assume he now has to go rescue Storm from Genosha and bury the hatchet with Scott…for now.