Author: Dr. K

Back Issues [X-Men Day]: The Uncanny X-Men #141-142

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To commemorate the culmination of their long-running and successful X-Men movies, 20th Century Fox declared May 13th “X-Men Day”.

Story Title: “Days of Future Past”
Published: 21 October 1980 (cover-dated: January 1981)
Writers: Chris Claremont and John Byrne
Artist: John Byrne

Story Title: “Mind Out of Time”
Published: 18 November 1980 (cover-dated: February 1981)

Quick Facts:
Revitalised by a 1975 revival courtesy of acclaimed writer and artist duo Chris Claremont and John Byrne, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s socially conscious X-Men dabbled with time travel in this purposely focused, much-lauded, seminal story that influenced both comics and X-Men media for years. Many videogames reference it, issue 141’s cover is repeatedly recreated, the story as notably adapted for the highly-praised animated series, and “Days of Future Past” inspired Bryan Singer’s critical and commercial hit 2014 movie of the same name.

The Review:
This classic two-part X-Men story, collectively known as “Days of Future Past”, is set in one of many possible Marvel futures (later designated Earth-811). In this dystopian future world, New York City has been devastated, leaving it a depressing shambles of debris and wreckage. Thanks to the internal monologue of the aged Katherine “Kitty” Pryde/Sprite, who’s scrambling through the ruins to rendezvous with James “Logan” Howlett/Wolverine, we learn that the cause of the destruction was the Sentinels, gigantic, mechanised weapons created to hunt and destroy Mutants. Already uneasy about being forced to venture into an unsafe part of the city, Kate is frustrated when she falls for a trap laid by the “Rogues”, punk-like human survivors with no love for “Muties” or Sentinels. Although she tries to talk her way out of it, Kate lashes out when the punks advance on her, unwilling to go down without a fight despite her Mutant power to become intangible being negated by an inhibitor collar. Luckily, the visibly aged Wolverine shows up to help, purposely avoiding popping his Adamantium claws to avoid alerting the Sentinels. Still, Logan easily handles such street trash and rescues Kate, revealing that the world is on the brink of nuclear destruction should the Sentinels advance out of North America. Logan hands Kate the last component to the “jammer”, a device she and her fellow enslaved and imprisoned Mutants secretly made to disrupt their inhibitor collars. Returning to her Mutant internment center, Kate quietly laments 2013 America, which is divided into three classes: “clean” humans, humans with the potential to sire Mutants and who are this forbidden to breed, and outcast Mutants who are either killed or kept in camps.

To prevent an apocalyptic future, Kate has her consciousness sent back into her younger body.

Kate is one of the latter, forced to work as slave labour for the Sentinels and carry the guilt of outliving her Mutant and super-powered friends. Kate’s interred alongside two surviving X-Men – her husband, Piotr “Peter” Rasputin/Colossus and Ororo Munroe/Storm – Franklin Richards, last survivor of the Fantastic Four, and his “lady”, telepath Rachel (later revealed to be the daughter of Scott “Slim” Summers/Cyclops and Jean Grey/Phoenix)), and unlikely ally Erik “Magnus” Lehnsherr/Magneto, ironically now confined to a wheelchair like his long dead friend and rival, Professor Charles Xavier/ Professor X. Alongside Wolverine, the six represent the Anti-Sentinel Resistance and plot to undo the death and destruction caused by the Sentinels, which resulted in the deaths of Kate and Peter’s children. Franklin completes the jammer and restores Rachel and Kate’s powers, allowing Rachel to mysteriously send Kate’s consciousness back through time. Logan then leads his fellow Mutants through the subways, where they’re quickly discovered by the Sentinels. When Franklin is vaporised, Rachel fights back with her telekinetic powers, holding off one of the machines to protect Kate’s unconscious form while Storm and Wolverine (with the aid of a “fastball special”) take out the second Sentinel. Colossus then brings down a nearby building to bury more Sentinels so the grieving survivors can reach the Baxter Building, the heart of the Sentinel’s operation. When the story shifts to the 1980s, Kitty walks in on X-Men testing their powers and combat prowess in the hazardous Danger Room and Professor X’s school, much to the shock of Colossus, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, Storm, Warren Worthington III/Angel, and Wolverine. After the X-Men to save her and Kitty showcases her amazing phasing powers, Sprite suddenly writhes in agony and collapses as her future self possesses her, leading them to rush her to the medical bay and be amazed when she rants about being from the future.

Tensions run high as the X-Men battle the Brotherhood to safeguard the future.

Kate quickly convinces them by revealing that the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants are due to assassinate Presidential candidate Robert Kelly, Professor X, and Mutant specialist Doctor Moira McTaggart. This escalates the fear and hatred or Mutants and sees the election of an anti-Mutant President, who orders the reactivation of the Sentinels and the summary execution and imprisonment of all Mutants and super-powered beings. Though sceptical, Storm agrees to fly them to Washington, D.C. so Professor X can mind scan Kate, unaware that Raven Darkholme/Mystique has already infiltrated the Pentagon using her shape-shifting powers. Mystique has also snuck in her Brotherhood comrades – Dominic Petros/Avalanche, Fred Dukes/The Blob, Irene Adler/Destiny, and St. John Allerdyce/Pyro – to assist in her plot, despite blind precog Destiny revealing the future is clouded and the Blob objecting to Mystique’s leadership. While Senator Kelly shares his concerns about Mutantkind with the United States senate, the Brotherhood strike, just as Kate predicted. Despite Kelly’s bigotry, the X-Men defend him and a fight ensues that sees Avalanche send the X-Men flying by erupting the ground and Storm forced to whisk Wolverine away with a whirlwind when the bloodthirsty X-Man goes to gut Pyro. In the fracas, Professor X and Moira are saved by a policewoman, who turns out to be Mystique in disguise, who subdues them with nerve gas. The fight between the X-Men and the Brotherhood spills into the streets, where the Army attack both teams and the X-Men struggle to protect innocents. After being roasted by Pyro, the enraged Wolverine argues with Storm when she asserts her authority, begrudgingly deferring to her wish that he sheaths his claws.

Although Senator Kelly is saved, the future remains uncertain for the X-Men…

Thanks to some physics-based teamwork, Colossus and Wolverine defeat Avalanche and the Blob. Although Storm douses Pyro’s flaming monster avatar and takes him off the board with a bout of rain, Nightcrawler hesitates to finish Mystique when she hints at knowledge of his past, allowing her to escape. Still, the X-Men are victorious, unlike their future counterparts. After infiltrating the Baxter Building and pondering what affect their time meddling will have, the future survivors encounter an “Omega series” Sentinel. Naturally, Logan insists on tackling the threat alone and is horrifically reduced to a smouldering metal skeleton by a single blast! When she fights back, Storm is fatally impaled by another Sentinel, driving Colossus into a berserker fury that also ends with his death. This leaves a distraught Rachel to cradle Kate’s body and hope that her friend can change the future, or at least create an alternative, less painful timeline. As the time switch has conveniently made Kitty invisible to Destiny’s prescient abilities, she easily prevents the precog from assassinating the defiant Senator Kelly, expelling Kate from her younger body and leaving the X-Men to wonder if they prevented the apocalypse and Mystique to swear revenge. Rather than give a definitive answer to this, the story ends with the President of the United States meeting with Senator Kelly and industrialist Sebastian Shaw. Despite Kelly owing his life to the X-Men, his concerns about Mutants have not softened and are only fostered by the scheming Shaw, who’s secretly part of the malicious Hellfire Club. The President appears to agree with their concerns but insists that any actions they take must remain top secret. He then introduces them to Henry Peter Gyrich, whom he tasks with head up “Project Wideawake” and begin construction of a new series of Sentinels…

Final Thoughts: 
While I appreciate “Days of Future Past” telling its story over two issues rather than dragging the plot out across a sprawling, multi-issue saga, I do think it would’ve benefitted from being at least four issues long just to further explore the past and future events. We’re dropped into this dystopian world that sees Mutants executed or imprisoned on sight and the few survivors making a desperate gamble to alter their fate, but don’t spend much time getting to know them in this environment. Like, how did Magneto end up in a wheelchair? How did the surviving X-Men set aside their past with him to form a resistance movement? How did Logan escape the Sentinels? What’s with Rachel and Franklin? These questions, and others, are left purposely vague as the story intentionally presents the worst, most intriguing future for the X-Men and then wastes no time in focusing on preventing that future. Ironically, I’ve read most of the follow-ups to “Days of Future Past” and found them lacklustre, so clearly keeping things vague was the best idea, it just would’ve been nice to explore just how dire things have become in America with a racist, warmongering, crazed bigot running the country. I like the idea that the Sentinels have usurped governmental and societal control, taking their anti-Mutant programming to the extreme to exterminate all super-powered individuals and ensure the extinction of the X-gene by limiting breeding. It ironically means that the machines built to ensure the survival of humanity have largely destroyed it, at least in America. The world now fears the Sentinels more than Mutants and is prepared to launch nuclear weapons against them, resulting in one of Marvel’s bleakest future worlds since basically all the superheroes (and supervillains) have already fallen and the Sentinels’ power is absolute.

Kitty takes centre stage in this harrowing time travel adventure.

I’ve never been a big fan of Kitty Pryde, but this is a great showcase of her. In the future, Kate is desperate to change her fate and the fate of her friends and children. Distraught at having seen all her loved ones murdered or enslaved, Kate gambles everything on a drastic plan to cobble together a jammer and have Rachel project her mind into her younger body. While this leaves Kate defenceless in the future, it sees her quickly convince her old friends of the looming threat and ultimately intervene to save Senator Kelly. Kate doesn’t get to do much between those points as much of the story focuses on the battle between the X-Men and the Brotherhood, but it’s fitting that she’s the one to stop Destiny (literally and figuratively). Kate’s overwhelmed to see her friends alive, and they are noticeably shocked by her adult demeanour when she’s in her younger body, especially as the X-Men largely regard Kitty as a child and someone they must nurture. Still, they’re quickly convinced and throw themselves against the Brotherhood to protect Kelly, Professor X, and Moira. This leads to some conflict between Wolverine and Storm as Storm seeks to assert her authority, overcoming her insecurities and demanding that Wolverine use non-lethal methods to avoid tarnishing their reputation. Ironically, the future Wolverine willingly sheathes his claws so as not to attract attention and Storm worries she’s becoming as ruthless as Logan since she’s ready to kill to protect her few remaining friends and to try and change the timeline. Indeed, the future X-Men are ready to die one way or another to change their fate since they will potentially be erased from existence if Kate succeeds. The story is vague about this, with Rachel suggesting their timeline may continue unaltered but will result in an alternative future for their past selves, and gives no resolution on what happened to the dystopian 2013 beyond Kate being expelled from Kitty’s body.

The ruthless Sentinels are portrayed as a significant threat here.

This is doubly interesting considering the story ends with the President ordering Kelly, Shaw, and Gyrich to work on “Project Wideawake”, meaning Sentinels will stalk Mutants regardless of Kate’s actions, but it can be assumed that the future will be at least partially different as the President isn’t a gibbering racist with a bad tan. Predating Cyberdyne System’s finest by a good four years, the Sentinels are ruthless mechanical terminators, towering robot giants who detect heartbeats, anticipate enemy movements, and vaporise with a single blast. The fact they do this to Franklin, one of Marvel’s most powerful cosmic beings, is one thing but seeing them reduce Wolverine to his Adamantium skeleton is quite another. Rachel telepathically feels the pain whenever her friends die, leaving her an enraged, distraught mess when her lover is killed and seeing her left cradling Kate when she feels Colossus die. Though this happens off-panel, it’s said to be horrifically fast and also showcases just how powerful the Sentinels are. The Sentinels are used sparingly, appearing as looming, authoritative slave drivers at the Mutant camp to begin with. Instead, we see the fallout from their rule, expertly presented by John Byrne. The Sentinels more than live up to their threat once they start blasting Mutants, but the story does a phenomenal job of showcasing their devastating power by focusing more on an air of ominous dread. We see New York reduced to rubble, society divided and living in fear, and the gravestones of Marvel’s famous heroes and villains, which emphasises that the Sentinels are a serious threat. The Brotherhood are no slouches either as their fight against the X-Men takes up most of “Mind Out of Time” and paints them as a significant threat, one willing to kill in the name of Mutant supremacy. All-in-all, “Days of Future Past” remains a quintessential X-Men story, one that’s both shocking and intriguing, that might’ve benefitted from being a few issues longer but still makes quite an impact even to this day.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Do you consider “Days of Future Past” a classic X-Men story? Do you think the story should’ve been a few issues long or do you think it’s the perfect length? Were you horrified to see so many of our heroes killed in the future? Can you imagine a world where the President of the United States is a racist fanatic? Did you enjoy any of the sequels to this story? Which stories involving the Sentinels are your favourites and how are to celebrating X-Men Day today? Whatever your thoughts on the X-Men and the Sentinels, drop them in the comments and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest more X-Men related content for the site.

Game Corner [Turtle Tuesday]: TMNT Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants (Xbox Series X)

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Since Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) first appeared in May 1984, they’ve achieved worldwide success thanks to many influential cartoons, videogames, and action figures!

Released: 23 April 2024
Originally Released: November 2017
Developer: Cradle Games and Raw Thrills
Original Developer: Raw Thrills

Metacritic Scores: 53 / 5.4
Also Available For: Arcade (Original Release), Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S (Port)

Quick Facts:
Despite the TMNT being dramatically redesigned for new animated and big-screen adventures in 2019 and 2023, developer Raw Thrills released an expanded port of their 2017 arcade game, which was based on the popular all-CGI 2012 cartoon. While Wrath of the Mutants perfectly captured the visual and humour of the cartoon, it was criticised for being a short, unfulfilling title that coasted on nostalgia.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants, besides being a mouthful, is a 2.5D sidescrolling beat-‘em-up based on the all-CGI 2012 cartoon (which, I’ll be honest, I’ve never watched and am not very familiar with). The game supports up to four players both on- and offline, though only the titular TMNT are playable. While they all play the same and don’t appear to have any unique stats, Raphael obviously has a harder time in combat as his sai have a shorter range than Leonardo’s swords, though it also felt like Michelangelo was faster. Wrath of the Mutants uses a simple four-button control scheme where you attack with X (executing some basic combos with repeated taps), jump with A (jumping higher the longer you hold it), grab and throw stuff with X, and unleash your character’s “Turtle Power” with Y when the gauge is full (either by defeating enemies or grabbing power-ups). You can bash enemies on the ground and toss them at the screen, perform jumping attacks and dive kicks by double tapping A or pressing A and X in mid-air, or do a spinning attack on the ground with A and X for crowd control. Each character has a different Turtle Power attack, with Donatello summoning electricity through his staff and Mikey raining pizza slices and can grab additional temporary power-ups as they play. These see you performing a breakdance-like spin move, toss smoke bombs to stun enemies, chuck a limited supply of shuriken, or hurl the Ice Cream Kitty to ricochet off enemies. You can also toss trash cans and rocks and such, hit explosive barrels, and use fire hydrants to even the odds, and restore your character’s health with some “Pizza Power!”

Batter ninja robots with ninja power and alongside some friends in this fun, if mindless, throwback brawler.

You can also ride surfboards in the “Sewer” stage and summon aid from Leatherhead and Metalhead when their icons appear, with the former performing a screen-clearing roll attack and the latter unleashing a missile barrage. Wrath of the Mutants pays homage to the classic TMNT arcade titles by featuring various Foot Soldier robots who burst from the background or up from the sewers and various hazards to watch out for. You can drop down holes, get blown up by dynamite and spiked mines, and battle waves of enemies on elevators. Each stage has different interactive elements: the “Amusement Park” stage, for example, has you dodging runaway rollercoasters, cars will barrel at you in “New York City”, and Krang’s gigantic mech suit zaps you with a weird, gigantic eye in “Dimension X”. You won’t have to worry about falling to your death at any point, which is good, but your lives and continues appear to be more limited on the harder difficulty settings. Enemies sometimes hide offscreen and stages are surprisingly long, with your performance being tallied up at the end to award additional points. You can pick from any stage but the final one right from the start, but there’s no story to link the levels together (though this is beneficial as your lives and continues are reset with each stage, making it easier to tackle the game’s “Hard” mode). There isn’t much variety to the stages, however, with even the aforementioned autoscrolling sewer surfin’ section only lasting for the beginning of the “Sewer” stage.

Presentation:
Fittingly, Wrath of the Mutants mirrors the 2012 animated series almost perfectly, with all the voice actors returning to deliver fun voice samples. While these clips do get repetitive, I liked that each character reacted to events and bosses differently and there are some fun call-backs to previous TMNT videogames. Since I never watched the show, I have no idea if the music is ripped from it or even similar. To me, the soundtrack was just a fun, if forgettable, series of rockin’ tunes to beat baddies to. While characters only assume a “ready” stance when left idle, each animates a little differently, with Mikey having a fun little jog, for example, and sports a victory pose upon completing the stage. When electrocuted, you’ll see your character’s skeleton and when they’re knocked down, stars spin around their heads like in the old arcade game. Sadly, Wrath of the Mutants doesn’t really feature a story and there are no cutscenes linking the stages together, though characters do interact with the bosses when they burst onto the screen and the game ends with a motion comic-like cutscene of April punching out Oroku Saki/The Shredder. The game’s graphics, gameplay, and overall feel reminded me of the Turtles in Time (Konami, 1991) remaster, though the controls are a bit more responsive and things are much brighter and detailed here. There’s a fair bit happening in the backgrounds, such as traffic in the distance in “New York City”, subway trains speeding past in “Sewer” (where you also battle in the TMNT’s ransacked/untidy lair), and bizarre, crystalline formations in “Dimension X”. The game doesn’t get too crazy with its environments, though, saving most of the weirdness for the hyper-futuristic labs in the Techno Cosmic Research Institute (T.C.R.I.) building and the warped Dimension X. Enemies teleport in, enter from elevators, or float across energy bridges. They toss explosive barrels from vans, attack in haunted house rides, and await in ominous, gothic castles in areas that marry the classic arcade titles with the all-CGI show to give the best of both worlds.

Enemies and Bosses:
I you’ve ever played a TMNT videogame before, you know exactly what to expect here. Foot Soldiers, in all the colours of the rainbow, pour from everywhere and attack with various weapons. You’ve got the standard purple-clad grunts who attack with punches and kicks or toss manhole covers, sword-wielding black ones, yellow variants who toss shuriken from afar, and annoying orange ones who rush across the screen carrying a spear! Blue-hued Foot Soldiers fire lightning blasts from cannons, red ones chuck explosive barrels or dynamite, and some (or all, I couldn’t quite tell) can grab and hold you. While there are no flying variants, they do ride surfboards in the “Sewer” stage and most mini bosses and regular bosses are accompanied by a few of these minions. Mousers also spew from sewer tunnels and chew up from the floor, alongside the distinctly Xenomorph-like Pizza Monsters (who pounce from the water, swipe with their claws, and spew acid), T.C.R.I. agents in black suits, and the brain-like Kraangs in android bodies. Each stage sees you battling a mini boss halfway through and, while each has unique attacks, they all emit shockwaves after landing a jump. A distinctly slimmer version of Bebop is fought in “New York City”, with him teleporting about and tossing either his mohawk or firing a spread shot, and breakdancing when knocked down rather than relying on brute strength. I fought the samurai android Chrome Dome next, who charges about using a rocket pack and attacks with lightsaber-like blades, an energy whip, and eye lasers. You fight Fish Face Midway through “T.C.R.I.” with him stunning you with acid spit and executing a spinning attack like you (though he’s easy to batter from behind) and the Creep in the “Amusement Park” (an intriguing horror-themed glob monster who doesn’t use his pitchfork enough for my liking).

Fans of the 2012 cartoon may get a thrill out of battling these largely repetitive bosses.

Like the mini bosses, all the regular bosses share a shockwave attack, are bolstered by minions, and can send you flying. The brutish Rocksteady guards the end of “New York City”, goring you with his massive horn, tossing pipe bombs, and going ham with his chunky flamethrower. Doctor Baxter Stockman attacks in the “Sewer” stage in his mutated fly form, hovering overhead and spewing acid while taking pot-shots from his unreliable laser cannon and performing a spinning attack. Tiger Claw is a bit nimbler, swiping with his katana and showcasing martial arts skills that rival the TMNT. The 2012’s horrifically redesigned Rahzar is fought in “Amusement Park”, dashing across the screen to slash with his claws and seemingly firing spines from afar. When in Dimension X, the TMNT fight the 1980s Krang as a mini boss in a fight that largely resembles those of the classic arcade games. Krang hovers around in his mech suit, raining missiles stomping the ground, and knocking you away with punches and kicks but isn’t much of a threat. He’s superseded by Kraang Sub Prime, a decidedly more lethal mech suit that spins its bladed arms, fires a targeted missile, and zaps you with its eye laser. When fighting through the Shredder’s heavily guarded, gothic castle, the TMNT encounter his adopted daughter, Karai, who uses smoke bombs to teleport about, tosses a shuriken spread, and attacks with blades up close in one of the more challenging encounters. After you dispatch his minions, the Shredder attacks in a two-stage boss battle, fittingly being the toughest foe in the game. At first, the Shredder utilises Karai’s smoke teleport and attacks with a plasma shot and his signature blades but, after being defeated, transforms into the monstrous Super Shredder! His basic attacks remain the same, however, though he can regenerate some health with his aura and whip up a tornado to be slightly more troublesome.

Additional Features:
There are twenty Achievements up for grabs in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants, with players getting one each time they beat a stage on any difficulty and three more for beating the game on each difficult mode. As each difficulty must be tackled on a separate save file, these cannot be stacked so it’s probably better to start on “Normal” as that’s the only way to unlock “Hard” mode. Additional Achievements pop when you defeat 1000 enemies, enter or beat a high score on the leaderboard, and go repetitive tasks like eating 100 pizzas or summoning allies thirty times. Sadly, the Achievements aren’t very creative and there’s nothing else on offer here. There are no additional characters or skins to unlock, no other game modes (like time trial or boss rush), and no collectibles, making for an unfortunately barebones package.

Final Thoughts:
I was excited when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants was first announced as I thought it was a remake of the original arcade game, but oddly using the 2012 cartoon aesthetic. Even when I discovered it was an expanded port of a different arcade game, I was up for the challenge as I enjoy a good, old-school beat-‘em-up and have always had fun with the TMNT’s efforts in this genre. While I never watched the 2012 show so I have no idea who many of the enemy characters are, I liked how closely the game matches the cartoon’s visuals and energy; it’s just a shame the developers didn’t splice in a bit more story to link everything together. Gameplay wise, Wrath of the Mutants is as basic as it gets, but no less enjoyable. Everything feels very familiar to the classic arcade titles, from the TMNT’s attacks to the level layouts, which position the game more as another remake of Turtles in Time than anything else. I enjoyed the many boss battles, though it was disappointing that they all shared the same shockwave attack and could be easily battered into submission by looping behind them. I also liked the power-ups and the assist characters, though it would’ve been nice to see Splinter and Casey Jones added to the roster, and the lengthy, generally enjoyable levels. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of meat on the bones here and Wrath of the Mutants is probably best experienced as a budget digital download than a full priced game. Even for me, a die-hard fan of these games, Wrath of the Mutants is pretty lacklustre as there’s little incentive to come back to it once you’ve beaten it a few times (except to mop up the Achievements) unless you’re nostalgic for the 2012 cartoon. Since I’m more a fan of the classic TMNT, I’d take Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Tribute Games, 2022) over this one any day.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants? How do you think it compares to other TMNT arcade brawlers? Were you a fan of the 2012 cartoon? Which character was your go-to and which of the many bosses was your favourite? Were you disappointed at how barebones the game was? Which TMNT videogame is your favourite and how are you celebrated the TMNT today? Whatever your thoughts, leave them below, check out my other TMNT content, and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest another TMNT videogame for me to review.

Movie Night [Dragon Ball Day]: Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies

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DragonBallDay

When the Great Demon King Piccolo was released, he declared May 9th “Piccolo Day” and promptly claimed ownership of the planet, giving us as a good excuse to celebrate all things Dragon Ball today.

Released: 20 December 1986
Director: Daisuke Nishio
Distributor: Toei Company, Ltd.

Budget: Unknown
Box Office: ¥1.36 billion
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 60%

Quick Facts:
Inspired by Journey to the West (Cheng’en, 1592), Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball first appeared in Weekly Shōnen Jump back in 1984 before making the jump to anime in 1986. Dragon Ball’s popularity saw it expand into celebrated spin-offs and feature films (most without Toriyama’s involvement), beginning with this first of many retellings of Son Goku’s (Colleen Clinkenbeard) early adventures. Initially dubbed to sell Dragon Ball to American syndicators, Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies has been re-dubbed numerous times and is generally considered a fun introduction to the consistently popular franchise.

The Review:
Dragon Ball’s first feature-length anime starts a trend that would somewhat dog the feature-length adventures for decades in that it’s a very loose retelling of the first story arc of the series, the “Emperor Pilaf Saga”, rather than being part of the main series canon. The diminutive Emperor Pilaf (Chuck Huber) is sadly missing, substituted for the more grotesque and greedy King Gurumes (Jeremy Inman), who has recently undergone a dramatic and monstrous change of appearance and personality after discovering the Blood Rubies buried in his kingdom. The cursed gemstones turn King Gurumes into a rotund, toad-like creature and leave him perpetually hungry no matter how much he eats. Angered and dismayed, King Gurumes sends his troops – led by trigger happy Pasta (Kate Oxley) and the muscular Bongo (Jonathan Brooks) – to find the legendary Dragon Balls, seven magical balls that summon the eternal dragon, Shenron (Christopher Sabat), who then grants a single wish before the balls scatter. As King Gurumes desires to wish away his never-ending hunger, he thinks nothing of ordering his forces to uproot villages searching for the balls, ruining the lives of farmers like young Pansy (Cherami Leigh) and her father (Brian Mathis), who takes a beating for daring to stand up to Bongo. King Gurumes soon acquires and eats four Dragon Balls (which probably exacerbates his condition), before ordering Pansy to disregard the threat of “fortune hunters” seeking the final two balls and complete her mission so he can finally feel full.

Reclusive super kid Goku teams with Bulma and some vagabonds to quest for the mystical Dragon Balls.

Bulma (Monica Rial) is one such fortune hunter.  The scientific genius heir of the Capsule Corporation, Bulma is here a young girl with a few gadgets hoping to wish for a boyfriend. Bulma follows her homemade Dragon Radar to the wilderness of Mount Paozu and literally bumps into sheltered, monkey-tailed Goku, a naïve boy with superhuman strength and an extendable power pole who’s never seen a girl and thinks technology like planes and motorcycles are giant birds and monsters. Living alone ever since the offscreen death of his Grampa Gohan, Goku is initially wary of Bulma since she doesn’t look like any human he’s ever seen and opts to shoot him after being startled by him! Luckily, Goku’s bulletproof and inherently kind-hearted, so he takes Bulma to see the four-star Dragon Ball left to him by his grampa, only to find it replaced by a Gurumes-branded coin as Pasta and Bongo have already stolen it. To retrieve his family heirloom, Goku joins Bulma, saving her life after Pasta blows up her craft and eagerly meeting any threats along the way. A curious boy with an insatiable appetite and incredible fighting prowess, Goku is largely an enigma here; there’s no insight into his background and no one seems to think it’s weird that he has a tail. He easily recovers from any attack and defeats foes twice his size and showcases his superhuman aptitude for fighting when the rag-tag group visits the reclusive Master Roshi (Mike McFarland) for help and Goku masters the old man’s patented Kamehameha, a chi-blast technique it took Master Roshi fifty years to learn! Goku also demonstrates his pure heart by riding Master Roshi’s Flying Nimbus and is the only one with no interest in asking Shenron to grant a wish. Goku also doesn’t hesitate to defend Pansy when the shape-shifting Oolong (Bryan Massey) assumes a demonic form and seems almost bored when the group is threatened by Yamcha (Christopher Sabat), a desert bandit looking to rob them.

Perverts and bandits stand between these unlikely heroes and their heart’s desires.

Curse of the Blood Rubies speeds through many of Goku’s early adventures to service its unique plot, with Goku and Bulma meeting Oolong as he surprises Panasy in the woods and then immediately being targeted by Yamcha and his shape-changing cat friend, Puar (Brina Palencia), who Goku promptly humiliates. After hearing of Pansy’s plight, Oolong falls in with Goku and Bulma in hopes of wishing for some girly underwear and the three journey to a small island to ask the legendary Master Roshi for help. Though Yamcha beats them there and tries to fool Master Roshi into thinking the group are looking to steal his shell, the bandit’s deception is quickly revealed and this, coupled with his crippling shyness around women, forces him to flee. Indeed, Puar is amazed to learn that her “master” doesn’t want to wish for riches or power but instead wants to wish away his shyness so he can fall in love, get married, or at least go on a few dates! Master Roshi is revealed to be a dirty old pervert and only agrees to part with his Dragon Ball if Bulma shows her boobs. While Bulma agrees, she secretly has Oolong imitate her but is enraged when Oolong takes liberties with her goods and at how pleased Master Roshi is at seeing her tits. Unfortunately, these shenanigans allow Pasta and Bongo to launch a surprise attack from a submarine and steal one of the Dragon Balls, though Master Roshi is so impressed by Goku’s natural aptitude for fighting that he politely declines to join their quest as he believes Pansy has all the help she needs. Thus, Master Roshi is more of a cameo rather than Goku’s teacher, there to give us some amusingly perverted moments and teach Goku his famous energy blast (which amusingly fails to make a dent in the monstrous King Gurumes).

Unsurprisingly, the corrupted King Gurumes and his minions are easily bested to restore the land.

During their assault on King Gurumes’ opulent palace, Bulma, Oolong, and Pansy are shot down and Goku fights Bongo, easily destroying the brute’s hovercraft even in mid-air. The group are joined by Yamcha, though he’s left dazed and paralyzed when tangling with Pasta as he accidentally grabs her boob. Pasta tosses pipe bombs at the fleeing trio, and everyone ends up in King Gurumes’ throne room, where the grotesque monarch is fully revealed for the first time. Unable to contain his great hunger, he spontaneously grows to gigantic size and tramples his henchman in his desperate desire for the final Dragon Ball. Although Goku holds the giant back, the Kamehameha has no effect, leaving Bulma to defeat the corrupted king by willingly tossing the final Dragon Ball into his gaping maw and summoning Shenron. Although Bulma, Oolong, and Yamcha all vie to make the coveted wish, they defer to Pansy, who begs Shenron to restore her land. With a flash of his eyes, the eternal dragon grants the wish and disappears, leaving Goku determined to hunt down his grandfather’s trinket once more. Bulma and Yamcha’s despair at being denied the chance at happiness evaporates when they realise they share a common interest in wanting to be with someone and therefore find a natural solution to their wish, while Pansy is reunited with her father and relieved people. Rather than being torn to shreds, King Gurumes is reduced to his original, far smaller and less monstrous form and granted mercy by Pansy and the villagers, who show him how delicious their apples are. After returning Pasta’s gold coin, Goku hops onto the Flying Nimbus and goes to train with Master Roshi (presumably to power-up his Kamehameha since it was so ineffective).

Final Thoughts:
I didn’t grow up watching Dragon Ball. I started my journey mid-way through the “Cell Saga” in its successor series, Dragonball Z (1989 to 1996) and my only exposure to the original series (except for the finale) are the feature films. Honestly, I’ve never been a big fan of the simpler, more fantastical Dragon Ball and much prefer the more science-fiction-oriented route of Dragonball Z, but there’s something very quaint about revisiting Goku’s early days when the stakes were much lower and the lore was much simpler. Curse of the Blood Rubies may tell a truncated version of Goku’s early adventures, but it doesn’t feel rushed; the source material has been cleverly adapted to fit the new narrative into something that largely works. I much prefer Emperor Pilaf to King Gurumes, however, who was more of a lingering threat to be deposed than a persistent enemy, but then this movie is more about establishing the bond between Goku, Bulma, Oolong, and Yamcha. There’s no time to dwell on Goku’s background or explore his fighting potential as the film just wants to get the adventure moving. Indeed, more time is spent highlighting Yamcha’s shyness and Bulma’s outrage at the perverts she’s meeting and her wish for a boyfriend. Pansy was an adorable addition to the cast who I wish had been featured more, especially as a young friend for Goku, and I liked that the characters set aside their desires to restore her land. While Bongo was largely forgettable, I enjoyed Pasta’s trigger finger and explosive personality, which made her akin to Launch (Various). Fans of Dragon Ball’s crazy fights may be left disappointed by this film as they weren’t that impressive, though it’s fun seeing Kid Goku beat up guys far bigger than him. Sadly, I feel this movie lacked the x-factor to make it truly enjoyable. It’s certainly a lot faster to watch this than the thirteen episodes of the “Emperor Pilaf Saga”, but is best enjoyed as part of a marathon with the next two movies, which feature more recognisable elements (like Krillin (Laurie Steele), the Great Ape, and the Red Ribbon Army).

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

What did you think of Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies? Where does it rank for you against the other Dragon Ball feature films? Do you agree that King Gurumes is inferior to Emperor Pilaf or did you like his cursed predicament? Do you prefer this movie over watching the original series? What would you wish for from Shenron? What Dragon Ball character (hero, villain, or otherwise), saga, or movie is your favourite and why? How are you celebrating Dragon Ball this year? Whatever your thoughts on Dragon Ball, leave a comment below, check out my other Dragon Ball reviews, and donate to my Ko-Fi if you liked this review.

Movie Night [May the Sith]: Solo: A Star Wars Story

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While May 4th is Star Wars Day, many also celebrate the “Evil Star Wars Day” of May 6th (as in “Sith”) to extend Star Wars Day into three day celebration.

Released: 25 May 2018
Director: Ron Howard
Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Budget: $275 to 300 million
Box Office: $393 million
Rotten Tomatoes Scores: 69% / 63%

Quick Facts:
After buying the franchise from George Lucas, Disney set out to expand upon the Star Wars saga with a new trilogy, spin-offs, and other media. A Han Solo origin was one of the first ideas suggested, with Alden Ehrenreich taking the lead (to much unwarranted criticism), and ran into trouble early on when directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were removed from the film. Ron Howard took over, recasting Michael K. Williams with Paul Bettany and reshooting 70% of the film, which was met with mixed reviews.

The Review:
I think it’s only fair to start by saying I didn’t care much for Disney’s “Sequel Trilogy”, mainly because I didn’t like some of the narrative choices (like rehashing the Original Trilogy at the expense of a unique and logical continuation). I much preferred Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Edwards, 2016), which perfectly cashed in on nostalgia, though I’m still not convinced that Han Solo really needed his own spin-off/origin story, especially one that omits his most notorious rival: Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch/Temuera Morrison). Set ten years before Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (Lucas, 1977), Solo sees young, wannabe pilot Han (Alden Ehrenreich) and his girlfriend Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke) struggling to survive on the spaceship-building world of Corellia. Eager to escape the thumb of Lady Proxima (Linda Hunt), who’s essentially an insectoid Fagin, and fly off to the stars, they some “coaxium” hyperfuel to bribe their way off the planet. Thanks to Han taking Lady Proxima by surprise and making a hasty retreat through the crowded streets, the two reach the dock and successfully bribe their way through, only for Qi’ra to be apprehended at the last minute. Distraught and directionless, with Lady Proxima’s goons on one side and abusive Imperial Stormtroopers on the other, Han makes a desperate gamble and enlists in the Imperial Navy, hoping to become a pilot and return to Corellia and rescue his lady love. Unfortunately, Han (dubbed Han “Solo” since he’s “all alone”) has a bit of an attitude problem, one not conducive with the Galactic Empire’s desire for obedient cannon fodder, and is kicked out of flight school for insubordination. Drafted into the infantry, Han is left in the thick of an all-out warzone on Mimban, which is where he first catches sight of slick gunfighter Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson).

Desperate to reunite with his lost love, young Han falls in with Beckett and runs afoul of Dryden Voss.

Drawn to Beckett’s fast trigger finger, Han quickly deduces that Beckett and his cohorts – devoted if distrustful wife Val Beckett (Thandiwe Newton) and four-armed Ardennian pilot Rio Durant (Jon Favreau) – are posing as Imperial officers looking to steal an armoured transport hauler. Disenchanted with the Empire and desperate to get back to Qi’ra, Han lobbies to join Beckett’s crew, citing his own skills as a pilot. When this fails, Han attempts to blackmail Beckett, who responds by reporting him as a deserter, resulting in Han being thrown to the Empire’s “beast”. Luckily for Han, the beast turns out to be Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), an enslaved Wookie the Imperials jovially watch consume their victims. Thanks to Han’s rudimentary knowledge of Shyriiwook, he and Chewie concoct a ruse to escape and frantically flag Beckett down. Impressed by Han’s determination and initiative, Beckett allows him and Chewie to assist in stealing a shipment of coaxium from a high-speed train on the snowy, mountainous world of Vandor, despite Val’s objections. Although Han and Chewie acquit themselves well on the heist and things go smoothly, with the smugglers successfully separating the train and ready to secure the payload, a mercenary group led by the infamous Enfys Nest (Erin Kellyman) interferes, despite Beckett guaranteeing that Enfys Nest wouldn’t be a problem. Rio is mortally wounded when Enfys Nest’s cohorts board the transport, Val’s forced to sacrifice herself to secure the coaxium, and Han is forced to ditch the payload to avoid meeting the same fate. Though heartbroken, Beckett’s more concerned with explaining the loss to Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany), a loquacious but malevolent crime lord who heads the feared “Crimson Dawn” crime syndicate and who hired Beckett and his crew to steal the hyperfuel. Realising his only choice is to plead for a second chance, Beckett reluctantly allows Han and Chewie to accompany him to Dryden’s elaborate yacht, warning that they’ll be caught up in the smuggler’s life forever once they board the ship.

Though not as rugged as I expected, Ehrenreich did a great job as the young, naïve Han Solo.

Ehrenreich makes for a pretty great young Solo, despite his critics. He shares many of Harrison Ford’s mannerisms while still making the role his own and is full of cock-sure optimism, confident that he can either blag, fight, or flee his way out of a situation. Though a little “rough around the edges”, Han is far from the seasoned scoundrel we meet in A New Hope, meaning he’s somewhat naïve and overly trusting, especially of Beckett and Qi’ra, who he’s stunned to find working as Dryden’s right-hand. Han is incredibly resourceful, however, smooth-talking many characters, offering solutions to keep Dryden from killing them (even if it means an insane plan to steal unrefined coaxium from the hostile world Kessel), and adopting various disguises to infiltrate different establishments. Although the story goes into (at times painstaking) detail to show how Han acquired his trademark look, blaster, and starship, and places undue emphasis on his gold dice, Han’s still a charismatic, roguish character you can’t help but root for. Unfortunately, Han’s character arc is largely the same as in A New Hope. Rather than showing Han as a rugged, selfish, free-loading smuggler who’ll backstab anyone for a profit, he’s a bleeding heart and hopeless romantic. He clings to his dream of escaping to the stars with Qi’ra, aids Chewie in freeing his Wookie brethren on Kessel, and sympathises with Enfys Nest’s plight so much that he risks the wrath of the Crimson Dawn. While he refuses to join the fledgling Rebellion and denies being a “good guy”, Qi’ra is right in her assessment of him as Han has a good heart beneath all his bravado and big talk and always tries to do the right thing, putting him somewhat at odds with the more mercenary Beckett, who isn’t above double-crossing his allies if it benefits him.  

As gorgeous as she is, I felt Qi’ra was under-utilised and undeserving of the reputation given her.

Han is joined by some interesting and well-rounded characters. Beckett examples all the negative aspects of the smuggler life that Han eventually struggles to juggle. He’s constantly living with a bounty on his head and in debt, desperate to leave it all behind and return to Glee Anselm with Val but always making new enemies. A seasoned smuggler, Beckett tries to teach Han (and, to a lesser extent, the others) how dangerous the galaxy is, emphasising the importance of having a plan and taking advantage of any opportunity, but is unwilling to stick his neck out for anyone unless it services him. Unfortunately, his crew is largely expendable. Considering how quickly they’re all killed off, I question why they were included as it might’ve saved time to have Qi’ra (on Dryden’s orders), Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), and L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) be Beckett’s crew just to keep the pace up. While I hate to say anything negative about the absolutely gorgeous Emilia Clarke, her arc is pretty predictable, and her physicality and demeanour do not suit the “cold-blooded assassin” vibe. Though she claims to be a master of Teräs Käsi and a highly trained warrior, Qi’ra is more of a subtle manipulator and peacemaker, using her status as Dryden’s lieutenant to get Lando on side when Han’s sabacc skills fail and using subterfuge to infiltrate Kessel. Though clearly torn between her loyalty to Dryden and her love for Han, Qi’ra ultimately sees herself as bound to her fate thanks to years of performing unknown (but allegedly unspeakable) deeds. I found the idea of Han having a true love prior to Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) I bit odd, especially as Han isn’t especially distraught by Qi’ra choosing to lead Crimson Dawn in Dryden’s place, so it’s not like he’s closed his heart off by the end. Indeed, I can’t help but think it might’ve been better to have Qi’ra tragically killed saving Han, thus hardening his heart and explaining why he’s such a scoundrel in A New Hope as Beckett and Qi’ra’s betrayals would’ve taught him harsh lessons about trust.

Lando and outspoken droid L3-37 steal the show and facilitate some of Han’s iconic moments.

Although I won’t pretend to have read every Han Solo book, it’s my understanding that Solo takes some inspiration from non-canon and canon texts starring the title character. This means we see him as an Imperial and his first meeting with Chewie, with the two quickly forming a close bond after they help each other escape and save each other’s lives on Vandor. Chewie’s said to be searching for his “tribe or family” but falls in with Han out of gratitude for him rescuing him, even returning to aid Han and escaping Kessel with the others despite reuniting with his Wookie brethren. Solo also depicts Han’s first meeting with charismatic gambler Lando Calrissian, with Donald Glover stealing the show by absolutely nailing Billy Dee Williams’ mannerisms in his portrayal of as the younger but no less charismatic rogue. Smooth talking, arrogant, and slick, Lando cheats at sabacc but is persuaded to lend them the Millennium Falcon in return for 25% 20% of the take. Lando’s joined by L3-37, another in a long line of outspoken and rebellious droids who’s said to have the best navigational system in the galaxy. Obnoxious and with an innate hatred of droid mistreatment, L3-37 showcases a sentence beyond other Star Wars droids by hinting at a sexual relationship between her and Lando and actively encouraging other droids to oppose their humanoid “masters”. L3-37 becomes so enamoured with the rebellion she sparks on Kessel that she’s summarily gunned down and tragically dies in Lando’s arms, only to live against when he and Qi’ra install her into the Millennium Falcon to complete the hazardous “Kessel Run” in less than twenty parsecs, thereby explaining why the ship is so inexplicably fast. Han, naturally, falls in love with the Millennium Falcon and relishes taking the controls and showing off by blindly plunging into the maelstrom surrounding Kessel, using nothing but gut instinct and his bravado to brave the storm and deliver the unstable, unrefined coaxium to Savareen but earning Lando’s ire in the process as he ditches the others after they reach the planet.

As menacing as Dryden Voss was, Enfys Nest and Maul seemed wasted and shoe-horned in.

Initially planned to be a half-mountain lion, half-human, Dryden Voss makes a nice change of pace from the usual pure evil Imperials, depicted as the cold, calculating, and manipulative arm of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate. This allows Solo to depict other antagonistic forces in a galaxy all-too-often dominated by Imperials and nicely sets up future conflicts with the syndicate’s all-too-familiar dark figurehead, revealed to be former Sith, Maul (Ray Park/Sam Witwer). This revelation was confusing to me as someone who hasn’t dabbled much in extended Star Wars media and definitely felt unnecessary as I never imagined Maul as the kind of guy to run a crime syndicate. Dryden, however, was menacing presence who adopted the guise of a welcoming and even amiable figurehead only to showcase a violent temper (as indicated by his glowing eyes and facial markings), sadistic mean streak, and uncompromisingly ruthless nature. I liked how unpredictable he was and how every scene with him had me as on edge as the characters, though I would’ve liked to see Prince Xizor and the Black Sun organisation in his place as another reference to wider Star Wars canon. Initially depicted as a terrorist and a callous mercenary, Enfys Nest is revealed to be a young girl seeking to strike back against the malicious Crimson Dawn and oppose the oppressive Empire, earning Han’s sympathy (though not his allegiance) and showing how dangerous the galaxy is. However, I still would’ve preferred to see Boba Fett in her place, perhaps leading a handful of other bounty hunters as Dryden’s insurance policy, as I don’t think any reference has been made to Enfys Nest since Solo. Indeed, the film ends on a cliff-hanger and there were clearly plans for more stories to be told with the young Han that have apparently been abandoned due to the film’s poor critical and commercial performance. While I doubt the filmmakers expected this, it was still bold of them to include all these loose ends even after all the alterations and behind-the-scenes drama that plagued the film.

Final Thoughts:
I was cautiously optimistic when Solo: A Star Wars Story was first announced, expecting it to be an action-packed, science-fiction heist film much like how Rogue One was more of a war/spy thriller than a galactic epic space opera like the main series films. I remember finding it surprisingly enjoyable, despite some flaws and a few of my personal grievances with the decisions made, and I still stand by that assessment. Honestly, I was really disappointed by the negative reactions to the film, especially those that complained about it being “safe” or a “by-the-numbers science-fiction film” as I don’t see what’s wrong with that. The only issues I had were extremely minor (I could’ve done without the text at the start, for example, it’s very convenient that Qi’ra works for Dryden Voss, and the head of the syndicate probably should have been a familiar, undeveloped antagonist from the Sequel Trilogy) and I found the film to be very exciting, fast-paced (once Han gets off of Corellia). All the performances were really good, as were the set pieces. The train heist was particularly memorable, as was the famous Kessel Run, with its malevolent space storms and Lovecraftian entity, and the film hit just the right level of visual and practical nostalgia for me with its presentation and effects. I do wish this had been a more self-contained story as it seems we’ll never get a resolution to the film’s cliff-hanger ending, however, and I remain disappointed by Disney’s refusal to do anything with this cast and the loose ends left by the film. still, I think Solo remains somewhat under-rated and underappreciated as it’s a very engaging and enjoyable Star Wars romp with some fun action, some tangible chemistry between the leads, and a lot more to offer than many gave it credit for at the time.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy Solo: A Star Wars Story? Do you agree that it’s under-rated or do you still think it’s one of the more disappointing Star Wars spin-offs? Were you a fan of Alden Ehrenreich as a young Han Solo and his chemistry with Emilia Clarke? Do you agree that Dryden Voss was a menacing change of pace for a Star Wars villain? Did you think the film went a bit overboard explaining unnecessary stuff about Han? How are you celebrating Star Wars this month? I’d love to see your thoughts on Solo: A Star Wars Story in the comments below so feel free to share your opinions, good or bad, and go donate to my Ko-Fi if you liked this review.

Back Issues [May the Fifth]: Star Wars: Dark Empire

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Although May 4th is Star Wars Day, many also celebrate on May 5th as a play on the word “Sith”, extending Star Wars Day into three day celebration.

Writer: Tom Veitch – Artist: Cam Kennedy

Story Title: “The Destiny of a Jedi”
Published: 12 December 1991

Story Title: “Devastator of Worlds”
Published: 18 February 1992

Story Title: “The Battle for Calamari”
Published: 21 April 1992

Story Title: “Confrontation on the Smugglers’ Moon”
Published: 23 June 1992

Story Title: “Emperor Reborn”
Published: 18 August 1992

Story Title: “The Fate of a Galaxy”
Published: 20 October 1992

Quick Facts:
Following his Original Trilogy, George Lucas licensed Star Wars to continue in novels (later dubbed “Legends”) and comics initially published by Marvel Comics before being picked up by Dark Horse Comics. Although Lucas apparently shot down Tom Veitch’s pitch of having someone else don Darth Vader’s armour and approved Emperor Sheev Palpatine to return in a clone body, later reports stated approval came from Lucasfilm contact Lucy Autrey Wilson. The well–regarded metaseries sold over 100,00 copies and helped sustain Star Wars in the 1990s, was followed by two sequels, and was even referenced in some Star Wars videogames.

The Review:
According to the very fitting opening scroll that opens the story, Dark Empire takes place “long years” after Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (Marquand, 1983) where, after defeating the Galactic Empire, the Rebel Alliance reformed into the New Republic. However, without the legendary Jedi Knights, the New Republic struggled to police the galaxy. Civil war erupted as Imperial remnants retook key worlds, leading Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and former smuggler turned General Lando Calrissian crashing their captured Star Destroyer somewhere near the Imperial City. General Han Solo and his wife, Princess Leia Organa-Solo, Chewbacca, and C-3PO/Threepio take the Millennium Falcon to look for them, finding only debris and the mutinous Imperials battling the Emperor’s loyalists. Han bypasses the conflict, hoping both sides will destroy each other, and heads for the crash site, Leia using Luke’s Force teachings to clear the way to Lando, R2-D2/Artoo, and the other survivors, only to learn that Luke went to investigate nearby remnants of the Dark Side. However, Luke shows up a few panels later to turn the tide when the group is attacked by scavengers and weapons droids, defeating both as easily as he tears apart an Imperial Walker with the Force. As Luke senses that “someone…or something” is using the Dark Side somewhere in the galaxy, he insists that Han and Leia flee so he can investigate further. While they wish to stay close, he orders them to flee when an energy storm emerges from a hyperspace wormhole and sweeps the planet. They reluctantly comply to protect the next generation of Jedi, though Artoo stays with his master as he approaches and is consumed by the raging storm, apparently a manifestation of the Dark Side generated as a reaction to Luke’s presence.

The revived Emperor tempts Luke to the Dark Side and unleashes his latest doomsday weapons.

The Falcon returns to the Rebel fleet stationed around the fifth moon of Da Soocha, where Fleet Admiral Gial Ackbar shares his concerns of the Imperials who have vanished into the “uninhabited regions of the galactic core” with Mon Mothma. Upon learning of Luke’s fate, Mon Mothma calls an emergency meeting to discuss the “World Devastators” emerging from the galactic core and threatening New Republic allies. A fleet of these Dark Side-engineered destroyers ravage Admiral Ackbar’s home world, Mon Calamari, sucking up everything in their path and converting it into fuel and energy and posing a threat far greater than the Death Star due to their sheer number and awesome power. After Admiral Ackbar orders immediate retaliation, Han and Leia share a rare quiet moment where they discuss Luke, who’s been taken to Byss, a Dark Side-infested world deep in the galactic core, via an Imperial Dungeon Ship. Imprisoned within an energy cage, Luke and Artoo are taken to a grand citadel by ominous, cloaked figures and only somewhat amazed to meet Emperor Palpatine. Emperor Palpatine reveals that he maintained his stranglehold over the galaxy and avoided death, even as his body withered and decayed, thanks to cloning, painfully transferring his consciousness into a new body and offers Luke the chance to join him. Emperor Palpatine mocks the New Republic’s attempts to usurp his Empire and proposes Luke command the World Devastators. Emperor Palpatine is impressed by Luke’s resolve but points out that killing him “in anger” would only cause him to return in a new body and offers to train him in the Dark Side to give Luke the power and knowledge to truly defeat him. Thus, though conflicted, Luke submits to the Emperor like his father did decades ago. Although Han’s elated to find that other worlds have joined their efforts against the World Devastators, he’s as troubled as Leia when his wife shares that Luke has turned to the Dark Side, having sensed the change through the Force, but resolves to help his friend however possible.

The looming crisis sees Han call in some old favours to get to the dark world of Byss.

Commander Wedge Antilles and Lando lead the assault against the Mon Calamari World Devastators using a captured Star Destroyer, the Emancipator, surprising the orbiting Imperial fleet. However, the World Devastators are heavily advanced, armed, armoured, and shielded, and spew Twin Ion Engine Drone (TIE/D) fighters to overwhelm the Rebels. To make matters worse, a World Devastator turns its main vacuum weapon against the Emancipator, tearing it apart and forcing Lando and the others to abandon ship. Across the galaxy, Leia is suddenly confronted by a vision of Luke, garbed in Darth Vader’s shadow, who warns her not to look for him or interfere with his actions. Though he claims to have willingly followed in his father’s footsteps to destroy the Dark Side, Leia’s unconvinced, especially when Emperor Palpatine speaks through Luke’s visage and the strain causes her to collapse. As Han preps the new recruits and introduces the new E-Wing, Mon Mothma alerts him to Leia’s condition and he visits her in the infirmary. Though sceptical, Han agrees to accompany Leia to the galactic core to rescue Luke before he’s lost to the Dark Side, taking Threepio and the Falcon to Nal Hutta to get help from the devious Hutts. Although there’s a hefty bounty for Han and Leia after their run-ins with Jabba the Hutt, Han’s contact, Mako Spince, welcomes them in, only for the Falcon to be damaged by bounty hunters looking to cash in on the bounty. Han is sheltered by another of his unscrupulous contacts, Shug Ninx, who reveals that the Empire has been moving a lot of military hardware lately. Still, Han’s old flame, Salla Zend, offers them the Starlight Intruder, a deep core freighter that’ll suit their purposes, in exchange for cash. As the Starlight Intruder still needs some work, Han takes Leia to his old homestead to get a few parts, unnerved by how awful the neighbourhood has become and being gifted an ancient lightsaber by remorseful, wizened, and destitute former Jedi Vima-Da-Boda.

Han and Leia are horrified to see how far Luke’s fallen under Palpatine’s sway.

When they reach Han’s old home, they’re stunned to find Mako has betrayed them to Boba Fett (having proven “indigestible” to the Sarlaac) and Denga, forcing them to flee through the crowded spaceport. As clumsy as ever, one of Boba Fett’s wrist rockets knocks a passing Hutt crime boss from on his floater and to his death, allowing Han and Leia to flee in the Starlight Intruder. Unaware that Boba Fett and Dengar are in hot pursuit in Slave II, Han and the others head to Byss. During the trip, Leia inspects Vima’s lightsaber and receives a horrifying vision of Luke commanding the Imperial forces on Mon Calamari. Despite receiving backup from the E-Wings, the Republic fleet suffers massive losses before the world smasher suddenly shuts down when improper signals are sent from Byss, causing the massive ship to self-destruct and making Lando question the strategy of their commander. Upon arriving at Byss, Salla’s codes allow the Starlight Interceptor to beach the planetary shield, though Slave II is blasted when it tries to sneak in behind them. Concerned for Luke’s welfare on such a dark and foreboding world, Leia convinces Han to let her pilot the Falcon to his location, an ominous, gleaming black tower in the heart of the city, easily using the Force to fool the guards and sensors. Upon docking, Leia and the others are instantly apprehended to be taken to “Lord Skywalker”, though Salla and Ninx blast to safety, as planned. Astonished to learn that Emperor Palpatine is alive and that Luke’s erased Artoo’s main programming Leia, Han, and Threepio, meet Luke in the clone laboratories, where Han admonishes Luke’s fall from grace and Luke reveals his artificial hand has been replaced by an energy blaster! When Emperor Palpatine arrives, Leia immediately lashes out with her lightsaber, much to his glee, though he easily disintegrates it and punishes her with his lightning.

Though Luke shakes off the Dark Side, a restored Palpatine plots to possess Leia’s unborn child.

When Han flies into a rage, Luke easily subdues him, insisting he’s doing what’s best for the galaxy and leaving Han vowing to kill him for what he’s done. Although Han sends a distress all to Salla and Ninx, they (and the Falcon) are apprehended by an Imperial Hunter-Killer droid. Meanwhile, Emperor Palpatine reveals he knows Luke’s been surreptitiously sabotaging him and shows Leia an ancient Jedi holocron that contains a warning from Boda-Baas regarding the Dark Side. Emperor Palpatine then plays the “helpless old man” card to prey upon Leia’s compassion before revealing his plans to transfer his essence into the child growing within her, driving her into a rage. She tips over Emperor Palpatine’s bed, swipes the holocron, and heads to Luke, who dismisses a commander’s concerns about sabotage and reveals that he’s fully aware of what he’s doing and has loaded Artoo with the Emperor’s battle plans and master codes. Though reluctant, Leia defends Luke when they reconvene with Han as the data is invaluable to stopping the World Devastators, and they all escape aboard the Hunter-Killer (which Ninx successfully hacked) and in the Falcon. However, once they’re safely away, Luke reveals that he’s been a Force projection the entire time and has remained on Byss to confront Emperor Palpatine. Having learned the Emperor’s secrets and freed himself from his control, Luke goes to prevent Palpatine’s latest mind transference, vehemently rejecting the Emperor’s suggestion that he become Palpatine’s willing host and frantically destroying all the gestating clones when the Emperor dies in a burst of Dark Side energy. Despite Luke’s efforts, Emperor Palpatine is reborn in a younger clone body who quickly grabs a nearby lightsaber, mocks and disarms Luke, and demands that he accompany him to retrieve the holocron…and Leia’s unborn child!

Thanks to the Skywalker’s bond, the Emperor’s malicious plot is foiled.

Chewbacca accesses the data Luke stored in Artoo to disable the World Devastators on Mon Calamari, which Artoo turns against each other to end their threat. The victory sees Han begrudgingly apologise to Leia for doubting Luke (and her), though it’s just the beginning of their counterattack against the Empire. Reviewing the holocron, Leia learns of a prophecy of two siblings who “walk the sky”; while the brother would fall to the Dark Side, the sister’s unborn child could save him. Just then, Emperor Palpatine’s gargantuan flagship delivers an ultimatum: hand over Leia and he’ll discuss a truce. When Han refuses to let Leia go, she’s forced to manipulate him with the Force to hand herself over, intent on rescuing Luke, who’s been brainwashed back to the Dark Side. When Leia (and her unborn child) refuses the Emperor’s demands, he sets a reluctant Luke against her. As they clash lightsabers, Leia pleads with Luke to see into her child’s future with the Force, revealing that he will train the boy to be a great Jedi, and Luke begs her to help him break free from the Dark Side. Having learned why and how his father was so seduced by the Dark Side’s power, Luke rejects the darkness, enraging the Emperor, who curses their bloodline, mocks Darth Vader’s impotence, and strikes Luke with lightning. Drawing strength from his bond with Leia, Luke battles the Emperor, literally disarming him and preparing to arrest him. Defiant to the end, Emperor Palpatine wills another cataclysmic storm to tear through the Republic fleet, though Luke and Leia combine their powers to turn this raging force against the Emperor’s flagship, escaping as it and the Emperor are consumed. Having learned a valuable lesson and avoided the same fate as his father, Luke resolves to restore the Jedi Order alongside his family.

Final Thoughts: 
I can’t remember if I’ve read Dark Empire before. I feel like I have, or at least read about it, and I know elements of it (specifically the World Devastator attack on Mon Calamari) from Star Ways: Rogue Squadron (Factor 5/LucasArts, 1998). Regardless, I knew the basic plot and specifically chose to revisit it based on my dislike for how poorly Emperor Palpatine’s (Ian McDiarmid) resurrection was handled in Star Wars: Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (Abrams, 2019). Elements of Dark Empire are echoed in The Rise of Skywalker, by accident or design, such as the Empire having a hidden, devastating fleet and the Emperor returning (…“somehow”…) through “Dark science! Cloning! Secrets only the Sith knew!” but it was horribly executed. Here, it’s the focal point of the story, with it explicitly said that the Emperor has repeatedly cheated death by transferring his power and consciousness into fresh clone bodies, which rapidly deteriorate due to the Dark Side. Also, but the revived Emperor is the linchpin for a fascinating story arc for Luke Skywalker, one denied his film counterpart, as he willingly follows the Dark Path to learn its secrets and understand why his father turned to the Dark Side. This sees Luke adopt a darker, imposing demeanour that echoes Darth Vader’s, commanding the World Devastators from afar and seemingly turning against his allies. Sadly, this aspect is somewhat confused. It’s said that Luke is sabotaging the world crushers, but they still inflict cataclysmic death and damage, and Luke also says that Leia’s influence helped him shake off the Emperor’s power, suggesting he wasn’t in full control of himself. Paradoxically, he had the wherewithal to download the kill codes for the machines and to use Palpatine’s teachings against him yet also fell under the Emperor’s sway in the finale.

Luke’s questionable and nonsensical turn to the Dark Side sadly fails to live up to its full potential.

Things would’ve been far more coherent if we’d learned that Luke was troubled about his father from the start, that he’d been pondering the Dark Side and wanted to learn of its allure to better understand and fight it. Or, if Luke had fully turned to the Dark Side, losing himself to the Emperor’s influence and only escaping his grasp due to Leia’s intervention in the finale, thus meaning he would be devastated by the destruction he caused and determined to regain the trust of his allies. Some of this is here, with Han being especially suspicious and mad at Luke, launching himself at him, vowing to kill him, and constantly questioning his loyalties despite Leia’s unwavering faith in her brother. It’s kind of amazing how quickly Han turns on Luke, but completely understandable given how devastating the world crushers are and everything Han experienced at Darth Vader’s hands. Leia acts very holier-than-thou about it all, considering herself a learned Jedi and trusting that Luke either has a plan, however flawed, or can be saved. Luckily, there’s a convenient prophecy that spells out how the crisis will be averted, with Luke and Leia realising that they (and the Jedi) are stronger united and overcoming the Dark Side through sheer willpower. This is somewhat ironic considering it’s widely accepted that the Jedi’s vast numbers led to corruption and complacency, but also a lovely way to reinforce the bond between the Skywalkers. Leia never gives up on Luke, just as he never gave up on his father, and he constantly warns her not to pursue him to keep her and her baby safe. It’s not immediately clear what Luke intended to do without Leia or what insight he gained from the Emperor’s teachings. We never see him do anything with the Dark Side and it’s pure-hearted Jedi power that saves the day, so his turn was simply to get the kill codes, it seems. Something I’d wager Artoo could’ve just downloaded with a bit of hacking rather than risking Luke’s soul.

Some questionable art and lacklustre executions drag this otherwise intriguing story down.

Still, as half-assed as some of that is, I do like the concept. Emperor Palpatine is the ultimate manipulator, preying upon Luke and Leia’s compassion and insecurities, while berating how weak Darth Vader was. I’m not sure why he was so obsessed with the holocron as it only contained the Skywalker prophecy, but I liked his sinister plot to possess Leia’s baby and seeing him reborn as in a young, strong body. Sadly, the art is dreadful. Ships look pretty good (the World Devastators look especially…devastating…) and the likenesses are largely on point, but there’s a strange, washed-out colour scheme that makes things seem blurry and amateurish. At times, I had trouble telling Luke and the young Palpatine apart, the youthful Emperor appeared to have lizard skin thanks to some odd lighting, and everything just feels very rushed and basic at times. It was weird seeing Boba Fett shoe-horned in, with the explanation of his survival being handwaved away and him being as ineffectual as ever. In fact, the entire side plot to Nal Hutta could’ve been excised completely to just have Han and the others use a stolen Imperial craft. That could’ve placed more focus on Luke’s turn, or possibly shortened the story by an issue or two, or allowed for some bigger battle sequences between the new-fangled E-Wings (whose capabilities I’m still unclear of) and the World Devastators. Indeed, as terrifying as the World Devastators are, their destruction is disappointingly limited to one world and kept offscreen to focus on the main plot, which somewhat reduced the stakes. Still, this was a decent enough story with some interesting elements, and I’d still rather read it than watch The Rise of Skywalker, but there’s no denying that it fails to live up to its full potential – and the potential of Dark Jedi Luke Skywalker – in many ways.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy Star Wars: Dark Empire? Were you excited by the concept of Luke turning to the Dark Side? Did you like that the Emperor survived through cloning? What did you think of the World Devastators and the Imperial civil war? Do you agree that Luke’s plan was flawed and sloppily executed? Which Star Wars comic was your favourite and how are you celebrating Star Wars Day today? Whatever your thoughts and memories of Dark Empire, leave a comment below and donate to my Ko-Fi if you’d like me to cover the other Dark Empire comics in the future.

Screen Time [May the Fourth]: The Mandalorian (Season One)

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Known as as Star Wars Day thanks to a clever pun (“May the Fourth be with you”), May 4th often starts a three day celebration of the influential science-fiction series.

Season One

Air Date: 12 November 2019 to 27 December 2019

Network: Disney+

Rotten Tomatoes Scores: 93% / 93%

Quick Facts:
After inspiring and wowing generations, George Lucas sold Star Wars to Disney, who immediately developed new content, especially for Disney+. Spearheaded by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, The Mandalorian employed cutting edge digital sets alongside traditional, practical effects to evoke the Original Trilogy. Bolstered by a wave of fan support, the first season was universally lauded, revitalised the franchise, and led to subsequent seasons, spin-offs, and a feature film continuation.

The Review:
Five years after Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (Marquand, 1983), the galaxy has changed for better and worse. Remnants of the Galactic Empire are scattered throughout the Outer Rim where the New Republic has little jurisdiction and even less influence. Their principal figurehead here is the enigmatic and loquacious “Client” (Werner Herzog), an Imperial loyalist taking refuge (alongside a personal guard of battered Stormtroopers) on the outpost world of Nevarro. Since former magistrate Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) operates the bounty hunter guild from Nevarro, the Client has ample resources to offer a shady commission for a mysterious acquisition for purposes not revealed in this season. Dismayed at the low rewards of Greef’s other bounties, lone Mandalorian Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal/Brendan Wayne/Lateef Crowder) accepts the bounty in hopes of earning enough beskar to complete and upgrade his sacred armour and earn his signet, a representation of a great victory for himself and his clan. I’m gonna be honest and say I’ve never been a huge fan of Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch/Temuera Morrison), the bungling bounty hunter who wowed a generation with his cool armour and gadgets. As far as I know, he’s somehow not even a “true” Mandalorian, which I find unnecessarily ridiculous. However, I did question the logic of creating a character who is simply a Boba Fett repaint rather than basing this series around such a fan favourite character, an opinion that only strengthened when Boba Fett was canonically brought back and received his own spin-off show anyway! However, I understand the logic of presented a “blank slate” character with no fan expectations and Din Djarin (largely referred to as “Mando”) is certainly an enigmatic character. A man of few words who says a lot through subtle gestures, he owes more than a debt to the stoic “Man with No Name” (Clint Eastwood) and Shane (Alan Ladd), turning heads simply by entering rooms and impressing with his quick trigger finger and persistent nature.

The stoic bounty hunter Din Djarin’s life is changed by an adorable, Force-sensitive child.

Orphaned as a boy (Aidan Bertola) when Separatist battle droids attacked his people, Din Djarin was adopted by the Mandalorians as a “foundling”, a youngster they indoctrinated into their highly disciplined order. Under the supervision of his clan’s armorer (Emily Swallow), Din Djarin forsook his name and his past and, upon coming of age and earning his traditional helmet, vowed to never reveal his face again. Since then, Mando has been collecting counties in his ship, the Razor Crest, with stoic efficiency, earning a reputation as a feared and capable bounty hunter despite attracting some controversy amongst his people for dealing with the Empire. Years prior, the Machiavellian Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) led an assault against Mandalore that brought them to the brink of extinction, forcing the once knight-like Mandalorians into the shadows, though Mando has more of a grudge against droids since they caused him such pain as a child. Mando’s world is turned upside down when he reaches Arvala-7 and finds his target is a small child (David Acord) with mysterious powers. Just as “Baby Yoda” captured the hearts of viewers everywhere so too does this child melt Mando’s heart as he feels an immediate kinship to the baby-like creature, blasting killer droid IG-11 (Taika Waititi/Rio Hackford) through the head to protect him and later rescuing the child from Doctor Penn Pershing’s (Omid Abtahi) invasive experiments, overwhelmed by guilt after trading the boy for his coveted beskar and making an enemy of the bounty hunter guild and the Empire. Driven into exile, much of the series focuses on Mando’s attempts to protect the child and find him a safe home. He’s briefly tempted to leave the boy with kindly Omera (Julia Jones) after seeing how happy the child is amongst her people in “Chapter 4: Sanctuary” (Howard, 2019). Mando’s even tempted to remain there himself after helping free Omera’s people from the aggressive Klatooninians, only to reluctantly return to his travels with the child to avoid endangering others.

The child’s adorable nature and incredible powers see Mando set aside his prejudices to protect him.

Though he’s in the business of profit more than anything, Mando’s priorities noticeably shift once he cares for the child. He actively shields the boy from harm and others and quickly learns to have the boy be watched whenever he goes out on business. A curious, inquisitive sprite, the child test Mando’s patience by fiddling with his controls and disobeying him and yet impresses and confuses the Mandalorian with his strange powers, which see him levitating a rampaging mudhorn, healing with a touch, and choking those who threaten his surrogate father. Strangely, Mando has no knowledge of the Force or the Jedi and is thus puzzled when the Armorer charges him with watching over the child until he can be reunited with his people, whom Mandalorian legend refer to as “enemy sorcerers”. Rather than constantly trying to ditch the child or being resentful of the burden, Mando shows genuine affection for the child in his own way, letting him sit in the cockpit and keeping him close by in his little floating carriage. When convinced to use the child as bait to get close to the Client, Mando has his ally, Ugnaught mechanic Kuiil (Nick Nolte/Misty Rosas), upgrade the boy’s carriage to make him more comfortable and also demands that Kuiil spirit the child to safety when Moff Gideon attacks Nevarro. Despite his prejudice against droids and his distrust of IG-11, regardless of Kuiil’s reprogramming, Mando begrudgingly allows the former bounty hunter to protect the child and IG-11 impresses with his dedication to safeguarding the boy, gunning down any who threaten the child and even sacrificing his life to ensure his safety, earning him Mando’s respect. When the child is discovered by Mando’s roguish and unscrupulous teammates in “Chapter 6: The Prisoner” (Famuyiwa, 2019), Mando tries to convince them the child is simply a pet to disguise his true meaning, though even Mando has no idea of the child’s true significance.

Though surrounded by enemies, Mando inspires the loyalty and assistance of many in the galaxy.

Despite working alone and actively shunning social interaction, Mando amasses a handful of allies on his journey. When the Razor Crest is stripped by opportunistic Jawas in “Chapter 2: The Child” (Famuyiwa, 2019), Kuiil helps negotiate the return of his stolen parts and to repair the ship, happy to assist freely and impressing Mando so much that he asks Kuiil to join him. Though Kuiil politely declines, having earned his freedom, he readily agrees to aid Mando in “Chapter 7: The Reckoning” (Chow, 2019) and ultimately gives his life trying to protect the child. Mando teams with hard-ass former Rebel Alliance shock trooper Cara Dune (Gina Carano) in “Sanctuary”, hiring her to prepare the backwater town for a gruelling assault and to down a repurposed All-Terrain Scout Transport (AT-ST) to liberate the peaceful villagers. Although Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) helps repair the Razor Crest in “Chapter 5: The Gunslinger” (Filoni, 2019) and watch the child, she doesn’t do it for free, so Mando’s forced to help wannabe bounty hunter Toro Calican (Jake Cannavale) hunt the notorious Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), briefly giving Mando the chance to pass on some of his bounty hunter tips before being forced to gun the greedy Calican down. Mando turns to former accomplice Ran Malk (Mark Boone Junior) for work in “Chapter 6: The Prisoner” (Famuyiwa, 2019) and is reunited with Xi’an (Natalia Tena), a Twi’lek he used to run with who offers scant hints towards Mando’s chequered past. Mando immediately rubs Malk’s crew the wrong way and they quickly turn on him once they rescue Xi’an’s brother, Qin (Ismael Cruz Córdova), though Mando uses his wits to escape and get his revenge by receiving his pay and alerting the New Republic to Malk’s operation.

Despite being grievously injured by Moff Gideon, Mando sets off on a new journey as a surrogate father.

We learn very little of Mando’s past in this series. He speaks even less and stubbornly follows the strict Mandalorian code, always keeping his cards close to his chest and letting his actions speak for him. This makes him a very honourable character, one who pays his debts and fights to protect the defenceless as much as he tracks down wayward bounties. This code of honour is exactly why Greef sets aside his grudge and asks Mando for aid when the Client overruns Nevarro and threatens his operation, offering to wipe Mando’s record if he assassinates the Imperial. Despite the danger, Mando recruits Kuiil and Dune, begrudgingly allowing the reprogrammed IG-11 to join their makeshift team and devise a plan to get close to the Client. Out of gratitude for the child saving his life, Greef reveals he planned to double-cross them and they devise a ruse to have Dune bring the captive Mando to the Client alongside the child’s empty carrier, sure that they can dispatch the Client’s Stormtroopers. Things quickly go south when the Client has more bodyguards than they expected and when Moff Gideon suddenly attacks alongside his Deathtroopers, cornering Mando, Dune, and Greef until IG-11 evens the odds. Grievously wounded in the firefight, Mando demands that Dune get the child to safety and expects IG-11 to revert to his original programming. Instead, IG-11 gingerly removes Mando’s helmet to tend to his wound, allowing Mando to reunite with the Armorer and receive his signet and jetpack to essentially earn his full stripes. Thanks to IG-11’s sacrifice, the group escapes through an underground lava river and, thanks to his jetpack, Mando brings down Moff Gideon’s Twin-Ion Engine (TIE) Fighter. Although a grateful Greef offers to reinstate Mando into the bounty hunter guild, he decides to live up to the new mission bestowed upon him by the Armorer to find the child’s people, returning to the stars having accepted his role as the boy’s father-figure and unaware that Moff Gideon not only survived the crash but possesses an awful black-tinted lightsaber!

Final Thoughts:
I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t a big fan of the Sequel Trilogy, which largely relied on nostalgia, retreading ground from the Original Trilogy, and was crippled by a series of narrative and character blunders that left a bad taste in my mouth. I much preferred the standalone spin-off films, though all of Disney’s Star Wars features impressed by incorporating more traditional special effects wherever possible. This is especially true of The Mandalorian, which utilises real sets, props, and costumes alongside a bunch of puppets and animatronics to capture the spirit of the Original Trilogy (especially prior to them being digitally enhanced). Even better, The Mandalorian wisely shifts its focus from a galaxy-wide conflict to tell a far more grounded story focused on the titular Mandalorian and his journey and showing a side of the Star Wars world we’ve never seen in live-action. I loved the idea that the galaxy was still dangerous even with the New Republic in charge, that the Outer Rim especially suffered from the fall of the Empire and that crime lords and Imperial remnants took advantage of the chaos to set up their own empires and schemes. There’s definitely a greater plot happening in the background concerning the Client, Moff Gideon, and Baby Yoda, but we have no idea what it is here and that adds to the intrigue surrounding the child. Personally, I like seeing the Empire reduced to a rag-tag group of trigger happy, shadowy extremists forced to scrabble together a comeback. I also really liked seeing the Empire depicted as a significant threat. Stormtroopers were seen as formidable in groups, a single AT-ST was an insurmountable obstacle, and Moff Gideon’s lone TIE Fighter had Mando and the others pinned down in “Chapter 8: Redemption” (Waititi, 2019). This showed a glimpse of the true horror and danger the Empire represented to average people, whose lives were left destroyed by the Empire’s destructive ways.

Channelling classic Western anti-heroes, Mando is a flawed but incredibly charismatic character.

While I still think the show could’ve been reconfigured to focus on Boba Fett without much changing, Din Djarin is a worthy substitute for the fan favourite bounty hunter. A striking, charismatic figure resplendent in his silver armour and sporting loads of nifty gadgets, such as a flamethrower, grapple hook, and his heavy-duty Amban phase-pulse blaster, the Mandalorian is every bit the stoic gunslinger of classic Westerns. His boots and armour even sound like spurs and “Chapter 4: Sanctuary” (Howard, 2019) is an obvious homage to Shane (Stevens, 1953), with the nomadic bounty hunter aiding a small village against an oppressive enemy and leaving behind the chance of personal happiness for their own protection. Pedro Pascal and his body doubles do fantastic work with Mando, who conveys a great deal of emotion through subtle body and head movements and tonal inflections. Mando evolves considerably across this season, beginning as a tough but fair bounty hunter looking only to complete his armour and transforming into a protective father figure and defender of the innocent, even attempting to calm tensions in “Chapter 6: The Prisoner” to avoid unnecessary bloodshed and moving past his hatred of droids by bonding with IG-11. Mando commands much respect, fear, and hostility in others but never seems bothered by it. He’s as quick on the draw as he is to pay for people’s services and steadfastly adheres to the Mandalorian creed, never removing his helmet around others and following a strict code of honour since “this is the way”. As impressive and memorable as Mando is, though, it’s the child who steals the show here. A disgustingly cute, pixie-like baby, the child raises so many questions regarding his origins and destiny and directly changes Mando’s ways for the better. He’s also incredibly adorable, curious, and capable, utilising the Force to protect and defend others and capturing the hearts of all around him even when he’s swallowing live frogs!

A wonderfully tactile and engaging series that got Star Wars back on track for many.

The attention to detail in the sets, costumes, and visuals are beyond impressive here. While I was disappointed to return to Tatooine and that Arvala-7 was a similarly uninteresting desert world, such locations are used sparingly in favour of dingy, disreputable bars, flourishing jungle worlds, and other corners of the galaxy rarely seen in live-action Star Wars. I loved the personal stakes that drove the show, with Mando eager to earn his jetpack and a greater status within his clan, and the mystery surrounding everything. We get snippets of backstory into the Mandalorians, an almost religious order driven to near extinction not unlike the Jedi, breadcrumbs of Mando’s past exploits and dubious nature, and are left to speculate on what the remnants of the Empire want with Baby Yoda. This intrigue is only exacerbated by the mysterious figure who approaches the seemingly lifeless Fennec Shand and is beautifully married with some explosive and enjoyable action sequences. I especially liked the scuffle between Mando and Dune, seeing them hustle the Sorgan village into fledgling fighters, and watching Mando tangle with beasts and mercenaries alike, often coming out worse for wear despite his fancy armour. Fights, shootouts, and space battles have so much more weight thanks to the models and practical effects and the show allowing us to spend time getting to know Mando and his supporting cast and The Mandalorian went a long way to show just how rich and varied Star Wars is. Even now, this first season stands as some of the best Star Wars content, offering a bunch of new merchandise and endlessly quotable lines for the fandom. It advances the narrative in interesting ways, introducing an enigmatic gunslinger-esque main character who’s easy to root for, and plants the seeds for future seasons, conflicts, and storylines that potentially lead into the more maligned Sequel Trilogy.

My Rating:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Fantastic

Did you enjoy the first season of The Mandalorian? Were you disappointed that it didn’t focus on Boba Fett or do you prefer Din Djarin to that doofus? Did Baby Yoda capture your heart, too? Were you a fan of the references to classic Westerns? Did you enjoy exploring a darker corner of the Star Wars universe? Which of the Disney+ Star Wars shows is your favourite and how are you celebrating Star Wars today? Let me know your thoughts on The Mandalorian in the comments and donate to my Ko-Fi if you want to see more reviews of the Disney+ Star Wars shows.

Back Issues [National Superhero Day]: Kingdom Come

Dr. K3 Comments

In 1995, Marvel Comics created “National Superhero Day” and, in the process, provided comics and superhero fans the world over with a great excuse to celebrate their favourite characters and publications.

Story Titles: “Strange Visitor”
“Truth and Justice”
“Up in the Sky”
“Never-Ending Battle”

Published: May 1996 to August 1996
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artist: Alex Ross

The Background:
While working on Marvels (Ross, et al, 1994), artist Alex Ross pitched a similar “grand opus” to celebrate DC Comics’ long and illustrious history. Inspired by a similar, rejected proposal by Alan Moore, Ross brought his signature photorealistic artwork to this acclaimed, thought provoking miniseries. Kingdom Come was such a hit that it spawned numerous spin-offs and follow-ups and has influenced DC Comics ever since.

The Review:
Perhaps the greatest DC “Elseworlds”, Kingdom Come begins with audience surrogate and main character, pastor Norman McCay, visiting the aged, sickly Wesley Dodds/The Sandman. Wesley has been driven to near mania by nightmares of an apocalyptic future, one akin to the “Book of Revelations” and dismissed as the delusions of a dying old man. Insistent to the end, Wesley begs Norman to read from the Bible to understand the coming crisis but passes before he can fully explain himself. Having met Wesley near the end of his life and shared many dinners with him, Norman is somewhat aggrieved that he took Wesley’s stories of his past heroics for granted, especially as this is a world (since designated Earth-22) where superheroes (or “metahumans”) are a controversial topic. Wandering the streets, Norman reminisces about how Wesley despaired of society, which placed so much faith in a new, more violent and less morally skewed generation of superheroes and wished more than anything for the legends of yesteryear to be remembered rather than reduced to mere pastiches by the likes of the Planet Krypton restaurant chain. Recognising that “hope” has become a precious commodity, Norman tries to take solace in scripture, but his faith is tested as the “mighty” far outweigh the “meek” and seem destined to inherit the Earth. The heroes of today are largely the children and grandchildren of legends, numbering in the thousands and fighting mainly for their own egos, having eliminated most old-school supervillains and caring little for the collateral damage their battles cause. Indeed, it’s up to normal folk like Norman to rescue crying children from these dangerous conflicts, though even he despairs for the fate of the world when Earth’s greatest and most belligerent “hero”, David Sikela/Magog, led the Justice Battalion against the confused and desperate Parasite and caused widespread devastation when he split Nathaniel Adam/Captain Atom open in a panic and decimated Kansas with a nuclear explosion.

The Spectre recruits pastor Norman McCay to observe and judge the world’s new and old metahumans.

Already suffering from the same horrific visions that plagued Wesley and rattled by these events, Norman believes he’s gone mad when Jim Corrigan/The Spectre appears and tasks Norman with assisting him in judging the world in Wesley’s absence. Though initially reluctant, Norman accompanies the Spectre to a seemingly innocuous midwestern farmland (actually an elaborate virtual reality environment tied to the Fortress of Solitude), where the aged, bitter, reclusive Clark Kent/Kal-El-Superman has exiled himself and his livestock after losing faith in humanity. Norman watches, unseen and unheard, as Princess Diana Prince/Wonder Woman visits Clark Kal and expresses concern for him, believing he has lost touch with humanity after all the losses he’s suffered. Annoyed at Kal’s dismissive stubbornness, Wonder Woman demands that he remember what he once stood for (“truth and justice”) and review Magog’s destructive behaviour. Though stoic, Kal’s obviously disturbed by the devastation, yet he urges Wonder Woman to return to Themyscira where she will be safe. The Spectre reveals that Superman’s exile caused many of his contemporaries to also give up their crusade, but not all: Wally West/The Flash (now pure energy) still patrols Keystone City as a lightning fast “guardian angel”, an unknown Hawkman protects the forests of the Pacific Northwest, and Alan Scott/Green Lantern guards the Earth from extraterrestrial threats from an emerald-hued space station. Bruce Wayne/The Batman also still maintains order in Gotham City (despite being confined to an exoskeleton) with a series of Batman-themed robots. Angered that their successors have become even more reckless after Kansas, Norman rages at the Spectre, asking why he or his “higher power” didn’t stop the madness. While the Spectre remains impassive, Norman’s pleas are answered when a noticeably changed version of Superman makes a dramatic return, immediately awing the masses but bringing only dread to Norman as his visions tell him this is a sign of greater conflict.

Although Batman refuses to join the new Justice League, Superman hopes to inspire the new heroes.

Norman finds himself displaced from time and space as the Spectre follows the pastor’s visions, eventually watching with horror as super-patriot (and aggressive fascist) the Americommando and his Minutemen attack immigrants coming to the United States. Luckily, the reformed Justice League (Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Hawkman, Kara Zor-L/Power Woman, and Raymond Terrill/The Ray) quell the danger, with Richard “Dick” Grayson/Red Robin also dispatching two psionics (the Brain Trust) who were escalating the situation. The Justice League then address the world’s press from the United Nations to state their intentions: namely, to inspire hope in people once more and mentor their misguided protectors into more benevolent force, though Superman is noticeably reluctant to discuss Magog given their history. Still puzzling the link between Superman and his prophetic visions, Norman accompanies the Spectre and Superman to the remains of Wayne Manor, obliterated years ago when Bane and Harvey Dent/Two-Face exposed Bruce’s identity. Since then, he’s lived in the Batcave, his crimefighting efforts largely aided by the deaths of many of Gotham’s worst criminals in unsanctioned bombings. Bruce dismisses Superman’s offer to join the new Justice League, persists in calling him “Clark”, and criticises Superman for pretending like the state of the world is anything new. Bruce believes the metahuman situation requires a finesse the Justice League isn’t equipped for and is as unimpressed that Superman recruited Dick (Batman’s former partner and adopted son) to his cause as Superman is that Gotham is now a police state ruled by fear. Bruce has his own allies (Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, Dinah Lance/Black Canary, and Ted Kord/Blue Beetle) and his own plans to address the situation. Norman’s stunned at the bickering between Batman and Superman but watches with hesitant optimism as the Justice League, through diplomacy and force alike, turn others to their cause and bring hope to the masses.

Superman’s decision to imprison rebellious metahumans inspires an unlikely alliance for Batman.

Norman and the Spectre then observe a meeting between Lex Luthor and his “Mankind Liberation Front” (including Selina Kyle/Catwoman, immortal tyrant Vandal Savage, and Raʾs al Ġhūl’s heir (and Batman’s illegitimate son) Ibn al Xu’ffasch). Luthor offers medical aid to the Kansas victims while also outfitting survivors of the Belle Reve and Arkham Asylum massacres to arm vigilantes and metahumans to their cause, aiming to heighten tensions between humans and metahumans so humanity can reclaim their world through war. Justice League’s unexpected return sees Luthor’s plan escalate to a ten-day plan that largely depends on Billy Batson/Captain Marvel, who’s been swayed to Luthor’s manservant. Next, Norman observes as the Justice League gate-crash a metahuman bar and chastises the patrons, offering the chance to be better or be dealt with, only for the awestruck metahumans to receive an alternative pitch from Green Arrow. Still, many join Superman and setup their headquarters in Green Lantern’s emerald space station to spread their mission across the globe. When Superman shares his concerns about the resistance they’ve met, Wonder Woman takes him to Atlantis to ask King Arthur Curry/Aquaman to setup an underwater penal colony for rebellious metahumans. Although Diana tries to appeal to Aquaman by reveal that she’s been stripped of her royal heritage and has committed herself to improving the world, he refuses to grant the request as his focus remains on his people. Superman’s similar talks with Orion end in failure as he’s disappointingly become as grim and ruthless a ruler of Apokalips as his father, Darkseid. Although Scott Free/Mister Miracle and Big Barda provide the solution (a labyrinthine gulag built on the ashes of Kansas), this sees Batman and his allies join forces with Luthor in response. Superman’s worries about Wonder Woman’s anger are shelved when Magog resurfaces in the wastelands of Kansas, desperately trying to repair the damage he caused.

The reunion between Superman and Magog is as combustible as the tensions in the gulag.

When Superman chastises him, Magog challenges him to punish him, mocks him, and then blames the Kal for everything that happened ten years prior since he refused to change with the times and the people’s demands for darker, more violent heroes. Magog bitterly recounts how the Joker easily murdered the Daily Planet staff, including Superman’s wife, Lois Lane, because of the heroes’ refusal to kill. Magog had no such compunction and publicly murdered the Joker, only to be arrested by Superman and summarily acquitted for ending the Joker’s threat. Magog was then slighted when Superman refused to acknowledge him as Metropolis’s “number one” and exiled himself in disgust rather than fighting for that title. Interestingly, Magog isn’t some unhinged psychopath. Instead, he’s incensed that he had to become the man, the killer, Superman refused to be and blames him for it, submitting to Superman’s custody after raging at the Man of Steel. Yet, Norman’s cataclysmic visions only increase, especially as the gulag is filled within two weeks, its embittered inmates only incensed by Superman’s hologrammatic lectures. The events catch the attention of God-like beings like the Wizard, Shazam, the Phantom Stranger, and Ganthet, who refuse to intervene since the affairs of man are insignificant in the grand scheme of things. While observing this, Norman is approached by Boston Brand/Deadman, who questions the Spectre’s motivations as he’s lost touch with humanity since becoming God’s avenging spirit. While Superman and Wonder Woman debate metahuman ethics and motivations, Luthor subjects Captain Marvel to further brainwashing using a combination of his silver tongue, doctored videos, and Mister Mind’s psychic powers. Luthor the reconvenes with his allies, sure to keep Batman on side by talking of necessary evil rather than world domination and reveals that Superman’s no longer vulnerable to Kryptonite, though Batman assures him that the youths they’ve recruited are more than willing to fight.

Despite Norman’s pleas, the Justice League war with themselves over their conflicting views.

While listening in to Red Robin’s concerns about the gulag, Norman is stunned when the Flash drags him into the real world. Met with suspicion, Norman tries to warn Superman of the coming apocalypse, only for his fears to first be disregarded and then come to light by reports of a riot at the gulag. Although Superman orders it to be quelled peacefully, Wonder Woman orders the opposite, leading to some conflict between them ahead of their meeting with the United Nations. Despite Superman’s assurances, the representatives are unimpressed with their God-like saviours and their prison and ready to act for themselves, if necessary. When Luthor prepares Billy to capitalise on the gulag riot, Batman punches him out and betrays Luthor, subduing him and his allies and trying to reason with Billy, only for him to panic and explosively become Captain Marvel. Superman’s fears about Wonder Woman’s warrior lust come to a head when she dons her ceremonial battle armour and leads their allies to war when the gulag riot turns violent and fatal, forcing Superman to demand help from the Batman before things escalate further. After learning of Captain Marvel’s threat, Superman speeds to the battlefield, only to be intercepted by the Big Red Cheese and a fist fight to break out between them as the Justice League battles the rioting prisoners in all-out war! Norman is horrified to see his visions coming to life and begs the Spectre to intervene, though he refuses as he’s simply there to judge. While Superman unsuccessfully tries to talk sense into Captain Marvel, the United Nations tasks the Blackhawks with launching three multi-megaton nuclear missiles at the site, reasoning that the collateral damage is acceptable to ensure the survival of the human race. Norman watches as both sides (Wonder Woman, especially) use lethal force, all moral qualms abandoned, and Batman and his allies try and subdue and save whoever they can, leading Bruce and Diana into a moral and physical conflict.

Though many lives are lost, Norman appeals to Superman’s reason and a new age is born.

When they spot the incoming Blackhawks, Wonder Woman finally sees she’s consumed by anger and violence and tries to intercept the planes alongside Batman, toppling two of three. Superman struggles against Captain Marvel’s magic and desperately shuts him up, rendering him powerless, but is horrified to see the third, wayward nuclear missile heading towards them. When it easily shrugs off Superman’s heat vision, he hesitates to intercept it, unsure if he should keep it from destroying them all. Reasoning that Billy, who’s both man and demigod, is the best to make the decision, Superman begs for his help and releases him before racing towards the missile. The Spectre then turns to Norman and demands that he decides what should happen, shouldering the burden of judgement to the unsure priest, who sees “good” and “evil” on both sides. Ultimately, Norman’s unspoken decision impacts Superman and Billy, who transforms into Captain Marvel one last time and takes Superman’s place, unleashing his magic upon the missile and detonating it up high. Norman is as devastated as Superman to see the battlefield littered with charred corpses and few survivors. Overcome with grief and rage, Superman turns his wrath on humanity and, enraged at the Spectre’s impassive nature, Norman demands to talk sense into him. Thankfully, Norman succeeds, appealing to Superman’s better nature and talking him down, with him and the other survivors vowing to exist alongside humans as equals rather than acting as Gods. Thus, Batman follows in his father’s footsteps and becomes a healer, caring for any survivors and building bridges with his family; Wonder Woman reconnects with her sisters; Green Lantern joins the United Nations; and the Spectre thanks Norman for giving him perspective, with the whole experience having reaffirmed Norman’s faith in a higher power. After building a fitting monument to the lives lost, Superman works to restore Kansas and begins a new life with Wonder Woman as lovers, with them naming Bruce godfather to their pending child and the DC Trinity finally committed to making the world a better place together.

Final Thoughts: 
Unquestionably, Kingdom Come is an absolutely gorgeous and glorious piece of work from Alex Ross, with the artist’s signature, painted realism bringing these classic characters to life in ways never seen before. Although it’s similar to Marvels in that we follow a mortal man as he observes these God-like beings, Kingdom Come presents a possible future for the DC Universe with a new generation of violent anti-heroes. Thus, the likes of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are aged and noticeably changed by time and conflict, meaning the story doesn’t present these characters at their physical peak and renders many in very different guises, yet it beautifully captures the spirit of their morals, conflicts, and very personalities in its morality tale. Superman, especially, is rocking a striking look. While his costume is extremely familiar, his signature S-shield is visibly simplified and tinged with black to show he’s still morning his losses and attempting to be the light against the dark. Wonder Woman is largely unchanged, but more focus is placed on her warrior heritage, especially when she shuns Superman’s more pacifist ways and takes up her Themysciran armour for war. Batman is only briefly seen in his recognisable suit in a flashback and is dramatically presented as physically broken and relying on an exoskeleton, but is no less cunning and capable, employing gigantic robotic bats to curb any crimes in Gotham and eventually donning a mechanised Batsuit for the finale. I especially liked Green Lantern’s emerald armour and the Flash’s disembodied look, and the blend of “Golden Age” and “Silver Age” heroes, such as using Alan Scott and Wally West. While these legendary heroes are changed, they’re still recognisable and inspire the same awe (and fear) from the masses, who embraced more violent heroes some time ago, ones whose designs are purposely exaggerated and “extreme”.

Classic heroes face new challenges in this alternative future in desperate need of hope.

Magog is the figurehead of this new generation. Donning golden, ram-like armour and wielding an energy staff, Magog won over the people when he did what other heroes refused to do and made violent supervillains pay for their crimes with their lives. It’s an interesting ethical quandary as, undoubtably, the Joker is more than deserving of the death penalty but, on principal, Superman cannot sanction wanton execution and is disgusted when the people embrace such violence. Interestingly, Magog isn’t exactly happy about having to be what Superman refused to be, and it’s implied he would’ve preferred to be more virtuous but was forced to fill that void because the “old guard” wouldn’t change. The absence of the legendary heroes and the rise of increasingly violent vigilantes saw conflicts escalate as “heroes” disregard the innocents caught in their crossfire and cause as much damage and death as they prevent, with them only resenting being locked up and judged by the reformed Justice League. While Superman urges his followers to teach and inspire first, he’s forced to imprison those who refuse to conform, which quickly skews his mission as he and the Justice League act autonomously, agitating the United Nations and causing many to question their methods. This is part of the reason why Batman refuses to join the new Justice League as he’s always been a little resentful of metahumans, but he also sees that the situation requires a more strategic approach. He allies with Luthor to influence those on his side away from all-out war and worldwide domination, though largely out of his own sense of self-preservation due to his stubborn nature. Though Wonder Woman urges Superman to reconnect with humanity, she’s ironically as separate from them as he since she takes a far more aggressive approach towards the rebels, believing that violence is often necessary to ensure peace and still clinging to her demigod status despite being ostracised from Themyscira.

Norman’s given an impossible task, one that will decide the fate of the entire world.

Norman is not only our guide through all this, but also the Spectre’s. Norman’s amazed by the events he witnesses, which test his faith in the metahumans of hold and in the almighty, with him astonished to see just how flawed and vulnerable these God-like beings really are. Norman’s understandably enraged at the Spectre, and God, for simply standing back and letting such awful things happen, though the Spectre impassively maintains that it’s not their place to intervene…only to judge. Norman’s journey is a tumultuous one, with him seeing heroes and villains on both sides, meaning his final judgement is clouded by shades of grey and isn’t as simple as saying they all deserve to live or die. This is the same conflict that laces disagreements between Superman and Wonder Woman, as one wants to preserve and improve life, and the other is adamant to protect it. In the end, Norman is faced with an impossible, heart wrenching decision that he seemingly subtly delegates to Superman and Captain Marvel, meaning Norman carries as much of the guilt for all the deaths as Superman. Yet, Norman has seen how inspiring these heroes can be and how they need to use their powers for the greater good by acclimatising with humanity, with both sides understanding that they’re each flawed and must work together for the greater good. I loved seeing Superman so consumed by guilt and rage that he became a wrathful God ready to scorch the Earth, and that Norman managed to appeal to his humanity and core values. It’s not a pretty end, as many lives are lost, much has been destroyed, and there’s a lot of work and healing to be done, but the message is clear: there’s hope for the future. This sees the DC Trinity reunite as equals, committed to improving the world using all their talents, rather than just being seen as God-like figures to be revered, feared, or hated. All this makes Kingdom Come one of the most emotionally engaging and visually stirring tales in all of comics and easily places it as one of the quintessential alternative takes on these beloved characters.

My Rating:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Fantastic

Ae you a fan of Kingdom Come? Do you also appreciate Alex Ross’s artwork? Were you shocked to see the classic DC superheroes so changed by time? Do you prefer violent anti-heroes or those with a moral compass? Would you have saved or destroyed all the characters if you were in Norman’s shoes? Which DC Comics character is your favourite? How are you celebrating National Superhero Day today? Whatever your thoughts, leave a comment down below, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other superhero and comic book content.

Movie Night [Alien Day]: Prometheus

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In the classic science-fiction horror Alien (Scott, 1979), an unsuspecting cargo crew investigates the barren world of LV-426. Thus, the 26 April is “Alien Day”, a day to celebrate one of the greatest sci-fi/horror franchises ever created.

Released: 8 June 2012
Director: Ridley Scott
Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Budget: $120 to 130 million
Box Office: $403.4 million
Rotten Tomatoes Scores: 73% / 68%

Quick Facts:
Although the Alien vs. Predator movies (Various, 2004; 2007) quashed a collaboration between Ridley Scott and James Cameron, Scott was enticed back to his seminal sci-fi/horror franchise to explore the origins of his volatile Xenomorphs. The concept quickly evolved from a simple prequel to explore existential themes, employing practical effects wherever possible, with Neal Scanlan and Conor O’Sullivan designing the proto-Xenomorph creatures. Despite a somewhat mixed reception, Prometheus was followed by a 2017 sequel, though its place in the franchise canon has become notably dubious since its release.

The Review:
Set in 2093, over around one hundred years before Alien, Prometheus is full of oddities compared to its other, Xenomorph-ridden brethren. For starters, it begins on Earth, a location rarely seen or visited in these films, where archaeologists and lovers Doctor Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Doctor Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) unearth one of many ancient cave paintings depicting a tall man being worshipped by primitive humans and pointing towards a constellation in the stars. A combination of research and blind faith, especially by Shaw, sees them convince billionaire founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Weyland Corporation Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) to fund an expedition to the stars to find what they firmly believe to be the maker of humankind, dubbed “Engineers”. While the crew of the USCSS Prometheus are sceptical, with mentally unstable geologist Sean Fifield (Sean Harris) and cold-hearted Weyland Corp bureaucrat Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) scoffing at their theory, the film shows that the towering, muscular Engineers (Ian Whyte and Daniel James) visit habitable worlds like Earth and seed them with their very bodies after consuming a mysterious black goo, which kick-starts the evolutionary process. Interestingly, Shaw is a deeply spiritual woman, wearing her father’s (Patrick Wilson) cross and trusting in a higher power, yet is committed to seeking out the Engineers and asking them the big questions, like “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” Rapidly dying of extreme old age, Weyland gives Shaw and Holloway carte blanche to lead the expedition, this ruffles Vickers’ feathers as she doesn’t share Weyland’s optimism and is instead intent on claiming whatever they find on behalf of the corporation (and herself). She pointedly informs Shaw and Holloway that they’re not as in charge as they think, though Vickers chooses to remain on the ship while the others investigate the faraway world of LV-223. Vickers is equally forced to defer to Prometheus Captain Janek (Idris Elba) and deal with the surreptitious nature of her synthetic “brother”, David (Michael Fassbender), who monitors the crew and maintains the ship’s functionality while they’re in cryosleep.

Shaw and Holloway’s search for humanity’s makers leads them to some horrific discoveries.

Despite Vickers’ warnings, Shaw and Holloway join the others in investigating a large, seemingly artificial structure on the toxic planet’s surface, with Shaw chastising Holloway for trusting Fifield’s readouts and removing his helmet to breathe the self-contained atmosphere within. Initially, Shaw and Holloway are ecstatic to find the structure and the ancient, biomechanical technology within, where holograms triggered by David show the Engineers to be humanoid creatures, and even more thrilled when they discover an Engineer’s dead body and a tomb-like chamber filled with mysterious, vase-like containers. However, Holloway’s excitement evaporates as Shawn and medic Ford (Kate Dickie) investigate the Engineer’s severed head and he becomes despondent to learn that they’re all apparently all dead, having strangely perished while fleeing an unseen threat. Drunk, unaware that David has infected him with a tiny sample of black goo, Holloway vents his frustrations to David and Shaw, voicing his disappointment at being unable to talk to “God” and the revelation that there’s nothing special about human life. Shaw maintains her enthusiasm, though, largely because she cannot have children and their discovery promises to reveal so much about human evolution. At first, Shaw is as far from Lieutenant Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) as you can get, being an intellectual and a scientist first and foremost. Despite this, she fearlessly ventures into the Engineer’s structure and evolves into a more pro-active character, desperately dragging Holloway back to the ship when his infection takes root, faking being sedated afterwards so she can escape David’s custody, and even enduring a horrific automated caesarean to remove the Trilobite implanted by the android’s machinations. Shaw’s also far more emotional, feeling both angry and betrayed by Weyland Corp and the Engineers after she learns the truth about both and demanding answers from humanity’s stoic makers in the final act. In contrast, Holloway is largely uncharismatic and bland, initially mirroring Shaw’s enthusiasm before falling into despair before being doomed by David, a fate Holloway somewhat brings onto himself through his blind ambition to commune with “God” and his arrogant, malicious treatment of David.

Vickers is enraged by David’s surreptitious nature and her father’s callous attitude.

Unlike his successors, David is somewhat less refined and efficient, being noticeably more machine-like in his mannerisms and movements. He spends two years studying every modern and ancient language to transcribe and communicate with the Engineers and diligently serves the crew despite Holloway and Vickers treating him as inferior. David makes every effort to fit in, dressing like the crew and even donning a space suit he doesn’t need, only to be met with disdain or hostility. While David’s presumably programmed not to have emotions, it’s also implied that he’s learned to mask them to deceive people and this is only made more relevant when he observes Shaw’s dreams and specifically targets Holloway with the black goo, indicating that he has something of an obsession with Shaw. David is mostly helpful and polite, but Vickers’ hatred of him is rooted in jealousy as Weyland saw the android as the son he never had, favouring David over his daughter, Vickers, leading her to despise the android. Vickers’ stone-faced, no-nonsense demeanour sees her mocked (in private) by most of the crew and prompts Janek to question if she’s also a robot, resulting in a rare break in her icy exterior as she orders him to sleep with her. Vickers’ efforts to remain in control, even having a self-contained lifeboat quarters, are doomed to failure by LV-223’s chaotic atmosphere and her father’s plot, which sees David surreptitiously experiment with the black goo to report back to her father, who’s in cryosleep on the Prometheus. Thanks to David’s constant updates, the decrepit old man is confident that he can demand an extension on his already well-lived life, a decision which only brings Vickers further pain as Weyland would rather barter with “God” to extend his life than willingly pass on his legacy and company to her.

Any charisma Janek has is overshadowed by the stupidity and blandness of his crew.

Despite being an exploration vessel largely crewed with scientists, the Prometheus has some dumb-ass characters onboard, namely Fifield and biologist Millburn (Rafe Spall). While Fifield’s spheres map the Engineer structure, he gets spooked and gets lost (despite having the map) alongside Millburn, whom Fifield has a contentious relationship with because one of them is a crazy, abrasive asshole and the other is a chirpy annoyance. Millburn shows his own stupidity when they decide to weather a static storm inside the chamber and are confronted by snake-like Hammerpedes. While Millburn tries to keep his wits, he insists on approaching the mutated earthworm and unsurprisingly gets his arm broken and is infected by the slithering creature. Fifield is also infected while scrambling to help Millburn, taking a splash of acid to his helmet and landing face-first in black goo, which strangely transforms him into a zombie-like creature (because a humanoid Xenomorph would’ve been too cool, I guess). Pilots Chance (Emun Elliott) and Ravel (Benedict Wong) basically do nothing except fly and land the ship and opt to stay by Janek’s side in the finale as he plots a collision course with the escaping Engineer ship, sacrificing themselves to keep the Engineer from returning to Earth. Overall, the crew is far less memorable that the “space truckers” seen in Alien, despite Idris Elba’s bizarre accent and talent with an accordion. While it makes sense that Weyland’s ship would have all the mod-cons and be much cleaner and more impressive than haulage vessels like the USCSS Nostromo, the slick, high-tech ship (with all its holograms and touchscreens and such) feels too advanced for this point in the timeline and I never felt as connected to the ship or its crew as a result since they’re not as relatable as working class schmuks.

Prometheus goes out of its way to rewrite the lore yet struggles to juggle its identity.

This leads me into perhaps the biggest thing I’ve always disliked about Prometheus: it goes out of its way to distance itself from being a direct prequel to Alien, but apparently without changing the script. The ship travels to LV-223, not LV-426 as seen in the original film, but encounters an Engineer ship exactly like the one discovered by the Nostromo and which crashes in exactly the same position as that ship. It’s honestly distracting as it feels like these elements were changed at the last minute, meaning they just had to roll with what was shot, though I suppose it wouldn’t make much sense for the Company to forget about the planet where their founder died for over 100 years. Prometheus also seems to decanonise the AVP films, for better or worse, by stating that the Engineers created human life (and, apparently, all life) and suggesting that the Xenomorphs haven’t yet been bred or aren’t as prevalent. There’s a mural in the chamber depicting a Xenomorph and the “Deacon” that emerges from an Engineer resembles an Alien, but the creature itself is otherwise absent as the film clumsily tries to lay the seeds for their origin, again awkwardly juggling being a prequel and a standalone story. Indeed, Prometheus is more concerned with existential questions about existence and evolution, faith and science, and the nature of humanity. The Engineers are revealed to have sparked human evolution, but apparently “changed their minds” about humanity over the thousands of years and were preparing to wipe us out with the black goo. We never really find out why or what the Engineers’ true purpose was. Janek suggests they were creating weapons of mass destruction on LV-223 and it can be implied that they seeded worlds to breed hosts for the black goo, but none of this is explicitly said, with Shaw simply believing humanity somehow angered their creators. An abandoned idea, however, was to have an Earth-bound Engineer be Jesus Christ, explaining their wrath against humanity.

Sadly, few of the aliens and horrific moments can match the visual impact of the Xenomorph.

Instead of Xenomorphs, Prometheus offers a handful of other aliens and horrific creatures. The Engineer ship has that same unsettling, bone-like structure as before and is a disturbing combination of H.R. Giger and ancient civilisations like the Egyptians and Mayans. The dark, moody interior is littered with Engineer corpses, one of which has exploded from the inside out, and the crew unwittingly activate the black goo by disturbing the chamber’s ecosystem, causing it to horrifically mutate earthworms into Hammerpedes. This sees Fifield transformed into a bizarre, voracious, zombie-like creature that bashes some guy’s head in and must be run down and immolated to be killed. Holloway’s transformation isn’t as gruesome but does see his eyes go black and his skin malform as the black goo courses through his veins, leading him to invite Vickers to kill him before it’s too late. Thanks to them sneaking in some sexy time, Shaw is aghast to find she’s been impregnated with a rapidly growing alien parasite, which she forcibly removes with Vickers’ medical machine and which turns out to be a cephalopod-like creature that’s somehow an even more sexually disturbing and terrifying version of the traditional Facehugger. Unlike the elephantine “Space Jockeys” seen in the Dark Horse Comics, the Engineers are physical specimens and highly advanced, developing incredible technology and regularly kick-starting life on other worlds. Physically imposing and with science way beyond ours, they seemingly embody a physical and mental perfection far beyond humanity but are implied to have either become bored with humanity or to have always planned our extermination in the name of biological warfare. Despite their stature, David seemingly takes some pleasure in observing that the Engineers are as “mortal” as their creations and they were ultimately undone when one of their experiments somehow escaped and killed them (though we never see how this happened). Rather than being visually terrifying, it’s the implication of the Engineers which rattles most of the crew as they deconstruct religious and scientific ideas about humankind, though Shaw maintains her faith in a higher power as someone obviously made the Engineers.

Shaw heads to a doomed future with David to confront the malevolent Engineers.

After extracting the Trilobite, the grievously injured Shaw discovers Weyland was on the ship all along and, despite being betrayed and manipulated by him and David, agrees to accompany him to confront the remaining Engineer, desperate to understand why they turned on humanity. Unfortunately, neither she or Weyland get any answers as the hulking brute barely acknowledges them and opts to rip David’s head off rather than answer Weyland’s desperate plea for more life. The Engineer then bashes Weyland with David’s severed head, unceremoniously killing him and making Weyland’s plea to the Gods as futile as David’s efforts to earn the respect of his organic peers. The Engineer then resumes its mission to unleash black goo on Earth and cull humankind. However, thanks to Janek, Chance, and Revel’s sacrifice, the Engineer’s ship is downed as it takes off, with Vickers crushed when it rolls to a stop and Shaw left exploring her badly damaged lifeboat, where the enlarged Trilobite latches onto the Engineer in a disturbingly sexual manner. Distraught and at her wit’s end, Shaw faces a slow and painful death from her dwindling oxygen supply when David’s severed head contacts her. Despite being wary of him, Shaw is convinced to return to the Engineer ship and recover the dismembered android as David reveals that there are more alien ships on LV-233 and that he can pilot them. However, upon reaching David’s head, Shaw states her desire to go further, to the Engineer’s home world, to demand answers from her makers and David agrees, despite knowing that Shaw will never get the answers or the closure she’s seeking. As they fly off to a fate that leaves one of them doomed and the other destined to upset the universe’s food chain, the dead Engineer violently bursts open and “births” the Deacon, a pseudo-Xenomorph that was sadly never seen again and whose fate remains a mystery.

Final Thoughts:
I remember being very impressed when I first saw Prometheus, seeing it as a return to the more atmospheric sci-fi horror of the 1970s and appreciating that it took its time and raised interesting questions about faith, evolution, and the origin of the Xenomorphs. Over time, however, my opinion has soured as I grew more and more resentful of it not being a more straightforward prequel, especially as all the elements are in place for that but were seemingly changed at the last minute. That aside, this isn’t an especially impressive film and feels ridiculously disconnected from Alien thanks to the overly elaborate technology and the largely bland and unrelatable characters. Janek’s the only one who evokes the down-to-earth vibe of the Nostromo crew as everyone else is either stupid, insufferable, bland, or just inferior. Shaw, especially, did little for me despite her impressive resolve and the others were too forgettable or idiotic to talk about. David was the obvious standout and exuded an unsettlingly menace in his subtle mannerisms and thinly veiled dialogue, to say nothing of him clearly being resentful towards his creatures. Guy Pearce was laughable under all that make-up and made me wish they’d just brought Lance Henriksen back to the role, though I did like the bitter narrative regarding the search for answers. While the film looks great and has some disturbing moments, none of the creatures had the same visceral impact as the Xenomorph and the attempt at an origin fell flat as the narrative felt muddled since it doesn’t know if it wants to be a prequel, a standalone, or something else. Even now, I rarely revisit this one as it’s pretty tedious to get through and has few saving graces. I appreciate that Prometheus tries to be somewhat vague about the Engineers and the Xenomorphs, but it just doesn’t gel very well with the story that’s being told and feels like all its potential was sucked out the airlock by a pretentious, confused script. In the grand scheme of the Alien franchise, Prometheus is easily forgotten, and I can’t say my opinions have changed for the better since its release.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Did you enjoy Prometheus and, if so, why? Were you also disappointed that it wasn’t a straight-up prequel or did you like that it tried to do something more? What did you think to Shaw and her search for answers? Is David your favourite synthetic character? Why you you think the Engineers wanted to destroy humanity? Which of the Alien movies is your favourite and why, and how are you celebrating Alien Day today? Whatever your thoughts, eave them below and support me on Ko-Fi for more Alien reviews.

Wrestling Recap: HBK vs. Flair (WrestleMania XXIV)

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The Date: 30 March 2008
The Venue: Florida Citrus Bowl; Orlando, Florida
The Stakes: Singles match with Ric Flair’s career on the line

The Commentary: Jim “J.R.” Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler
The Referee: Charles Robinson
Dave Meltzer’s Rating: 3.5

The Build-Up:
After making one of the most celebrated comebacks in wrestling history, former wild child “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels saw a career resurgence. The legendary “Nature Boy” Ric Flair also had a career revival after returning to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2001 and running with super sable Evolution, but saw his livelihood in jeopardy when WWE Chairman Vince McMahon promised to force Flair to retire the next time he lost a match as he believed Flair had paid his dues. After defying McMahon’s efforts, the wily veteran challenged HBK to a WrestleMania match while being inducted into the 2008 Hall of Fame, seemingly happy to end his career against the Showstopper if he lost.

The Match:
Shawn Michaels bounded to the ring with his usual enthusiasm to start, despite the implications of the match stipulation, to a raucous reception only matched by a unanimous show of support for Ric Flair. J.R. and the King expressed hope that the legendary Nature Boy could “rise to the occasion” once again but their intonation and word choices were a bit odd, as though they figured the outcome was a forgone conclusion and that Flair would be retiring by the night’s end. Ever the wily showman, Flair baited Shawn before the bell rang before going in for a traditional tie-up, suffering a knockdown from a shoulder block and trading wristlocks before being taken down with a hammerlock. A lazy hip toss was enough to send Flair strutting and taunting HBK with his signature “Woo!” cry, resulting in the two grappling and shoving each other in a corner. An errant slap from Shawn left Flair with a bloody lip, compelling him to unleash a flurry of knife edge chops in the corner and drop his patented running knee drop. Shawn went to the top and paid for it when Flair tossed him to the mat. Flair then followed up and, incredibly, hit a diving crossbody for a near fall! Flair then targeted Shawn’s leg to set up for the Figure Four Leglock, causing Shawn to frantically send Flair outside, where HBK crashed through an announce table off an apron moonsault. Favouring his ribs, Shawn gingerly returned to the ring, got tossed into the corners, and ate a back body drop for a two count. Though noticeably winded, slow, and weak from age, Flair continued his assault with a falling hip toss for another near fall and even hit a stalling vertical suplex for two more pin attempts.

Despite his best efforts, a noticeably struggling Flair was bested by the reluctant HBK.

HBK fought back with a swinging neckbreaker and tossed Flair back outside, though barely landing a top-rope moonsault. After they beat the ten count, they once again traded chops in the ring before Shawn hit his running forearm, kipped up, and hit a couple of inverted atomic drops. Still clutching his ribs, HBK landed his signature diving elbow drop and prepared for Sweet Chin Music, only to hesitate at the last second and find himself in the Figure Four! Luckily, Shawn quickly reversed it, leaving both men hobbled as they tried for pin falls. After turning Shawn inside out off a whip into a corner, Flair returned to the leg with a chop block but almost got pinned when HBK reversed a Figure Four. Tenacious, Flair reapplied the hold regardless, dragged Shawn from the ring ropes and maintaining the hold even as Shawn tried to reverse it. Eventually, HBK grabbed the ropes and nailed Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere as Flair was stylin’ and profilin’. A lackadaisical cover saw the Nature Boy get his shoulder up and hit a mule kick to HBK’s balls when Shawn muscled him up for another kick. After kicking out, Shawn applied a Figure Four of his own, though Flair weaselled out by thumbing his rival in the eye and returned to the chops, eating another surprise superkick and leaving a distraught Shawn preparing the final shot. Stubborn to the end, Flair goaded Shawn on, leading HBK to mutter “I’m sorry… I love you!” and immediately embrace Flair after landing Sweet Chin Music and bringing the Nature Boy’s in-ring WWE career to an end. Afterwards, an emotional Flair received a standing ovation and embraced his family at ringside, tears streaming as he acknowledge the crowd’s support.

The Aftermath:
An emotionally charged match, to be sure, but hardly the greatest match of Ric Flair’s storied career. It’s obvious that Flair is way past his prime here as he’s stumbling about, clearly winded, and struggling to do much but the basics. Shawn Michaels can have a good match with anyone and bounced all over the place for Flair, but it only served to highlight the Nature Boy’s flaws so I’m glad he went out with a bang. The next night on Raw, Flair came out to deliver a rousing farewell speech and being celebrated by the WWE roster, old friends like the Four Horseman and rivals like Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and even earning the respect of the stoic Undertaker. Though Flair buried the hatchet with Shawn, HBK was near-immediately targeted by Flair’s old Evolution enforcer, Batista, for retiring his mentor. This obviously wasn’t the end for Ric Flair, who was involved in Chris Jericho’s campaign against his fellow WWE Legends at WrestleMania 25 before being written off television following an attack by Randy Orton. Flair had a brief spell in Ring of Honor (ROH) before embarking on a two-year run with Total Nonstop Action (TNA) that saw him mentor “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles, form the Fortune and Immortal stables, and return to the ring for matches against his old foes, Hulk Hogan and Mick Foley. Flair returned to the WWE in 2012 to manage his daughter, “The Queen” Charlotte Flair, and was brutalised by Batista during his own retirement tour. After being released from the WWE in 2021, Flair participated in a widely criticised “last match”, teaming with son-in-law Andrade El Ídolo against Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal, before appearing in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as part of “The Icon” Sting’s road to retirement.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Were you satisfied by Ric Flair’s final WWE match or do you feel he tarnished the ending by continuing to wrestle? Did you also find Flair to be lacking in the match or were you captivated by the emotion? Do you think Flair should’ve won or do you think this was a fitting end? What are some of your favourite Flair and/or HBK matches? Like this review and let me know what you think in the comments, then donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest other Ric Flair and/or Shawn Michaels matches for me to review.

Screen Time: Alien: Earth (Season One)

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Season One

Air Date: 12 August 2025 to 23 September 2025
UK Network: Disney+

Original Network: FX / FX on Hulu
Rotten Tomatoes Scores: 94% / 65%

Quick Facts:
First announced in February 2019, showrunner Noah Hawley pitched Alien: Earth as a prelude to Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror classic Alien rather than being beholden to Scott’s divisive prequels. One of FX’s biggest productions, filming was delayed by COVID-19 and the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike and employed practical effects from Wētā Workshop wherever possible. Praised by a critics and former franchise star Sigourney Weaver, Alien: Earth was successful enough to greenlight a second season.

The Review:
Ever since the troubled Alien3 (Fincher, 1992), the Alien franchise has teased bringing the titular Xenomorphs to Earth. However, this concept appeared only in comic books and the poorly received Aliens vs. Predator movies (Various, 2004; 2007), and even then the Xenomorphs were limited to Antarctica and a quiet America suburb, respectively. Alien: Earth therefore had a lot of potential, though strangely chose to be a prequel to Alien rather than taking place at any point after that. To be fair, I don’t have a massive issue with this as it was always clear to me that the malevolent Weyland-Yutani Corporation knew about the Xenomorphs prior to Alien, and the decision to set the series in this time seems purely to recreate the aesthetics of Alien and Aliens (Cameron, 1986), just as Alien: Romulus (Álvarez, 2024) did the year prior. Still, it was a little disappointing that the series didn’t depict Aliens loose in a heavily populated, sci-fi city. There is a bit of that, particularly in “Mr. October” (Gonzales, 2025), where a Xenomorph (Cameron Brown) goes on a bloody rampage through a New Siam skyscraper, but mostly the narrative is limited to a private island facility overseen by Prodigy Corporation’s chief executive officer (CEO) and “Boy Genius” Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin). Things start off quite strong when the Weyland-Yutani’s deep-space research vessel, the USCSS Maginot, crashes into New Siam, causing a fair bit of damage and raising tensions between Company CEO Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver) and the arrogant, condescending Kavalier, who plunders the ship’s bizarre and hazardous aliens to further increase his already staggering trillionaire wealth and get one-up on Weyland-Yutani by weaponising the aliens before they can.

The first of a new breed of hybrids, Wendy showcases amazing potential despite her young age.

Kavalier’s manic ambitions see him favour these aliens over his newest creation, the first-ever symbiosis between human and synthetic life, which he frames as a way to give dying children a chance at immortality but is actually to feed his own wealth and ego. Kavalier’s prize “hybrid” is Wendy (Sydney Chandler), formally terminal Marcy Hermit (Florence Bensberg), who volunteered after being won over by the Boy Genius and his lead scientists, Arthur (David Rysdahl) and Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis), who frame the procedure as a life-saving opportunity to essentially live forever in a superhuman body, likening Wendy and her fellow hybrids to Peter Pan’s “Lost Boys”. As the first and oldest, Wendy is Kavalier’s favourite and designated the leader of the Lost Boys, whom she helps acclimatise to their new synthetic bodies, which allow them to expand their learning and abilities (though they retain their child-like demeanour). Initially, Wendy is enamoured by the Boy Genius and eager to prove herself and the Lost Boys to Kavalier, volunteering to investigate the Maginot to show that she’s “premium” and also reunite with her brother, Joe (Alex Lawther), a medic for Prodigy’s Security Service. Wendy’s childhood memories and desire to reunite with Joe trouble Kavalier and her handler, Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), a stoic synthetic who barely tolerates Kavalier and seeks to protect his investment in the Lost Boys while also being intrigued by the aliens. Despite her childish nature, Wendy proves a formidable character when she kills a Xenomorph to protect her brother and soon becomes invaluable to Kavalier as she can sense and even communicate with the Xenomorphs due to a software glitch, which also sees her hack Prodigy terminals and even disable synthetics like Atom Eins (Adrian Edmondson), Kavalier’s sinister butler who delivers veiled threats on his behalf.

The Lost Boys range from naïve, to ambitious, to emotionally unstable but all struggle with their new bodies

Wendy’s extremely protective of the Lost Boys, initially urging them to follow the Boy Genius’s lead and be the next step in the evolutionary chain, and later defending them when they’re threatened. The Lost Boys are far more immature compared to Wendy, and some are much more emotionally unhinged, like Rose Ellis/Nibs (Lily Newmark), who’s severely traumatised after an encounter with the Trypanohyncha Ocellus that sees Dame forced to wipe her memory to ease her pain and sees her become violently unstable. Jane Mita/Curly (Erana James) harbours a jealousy towards Wendy and seeks to replace her as Kavalier’s favourite, somewhat ostracising her from the others, though she ultimately defers to Wendy’s authority after witnessing Kavalier’s callous attitude towards them. Steven DiMarco/Tootles (Kit Young) gets an inflated ego by working as Kirsh’s assistant, renaming himself Isaac to suit his “adult” personality and ultimately being melted by flying alien bugs after foolishly trapping himself in their cage. Aarush Singh/Slightly (Adarsh Gourav) and Christopher Okafor/Smee (Jonathan Ajayi) are largely inseparable, though Smee’s wish to simply play and have fun like kids is constantly ignored or shot down by the others and especially Slightly, who’s amazed after they encounter the Maginot’s cyborg security officer, Kumi Morrow (Babou Ceesay), and is targeted by him in his quest to secure a Xenomorph sample for Yutani. Manipulated by Morrow, Slightly’s forced to impregnate Arthur with a Chestburster to spare his mother, Meera (Anjana Ghogar), and his family. Conflicted about this, Slightly is prone to outbursts, especially once Joe joins the group, and is wracked by guilt following Arthur’s death. Joe bonds with the Lost Boys quite well but remains focused on keeping Wendy safe, risking being fired, fined, or even prosecuted when he threatens to take her away and encountering some resistance from Wendy about this as she’s so grateful to be part of Kavalier’s operation.

Morrow and Kirsh were two standout characters for their complex morals and actions.

Morrow is one of the standout characters of Alien: Earth. Met with distrust and even hatred by the Maginot crew as many in this world are dismissive or prejudiced against synthetics and cyborgs, Morrow is initially very cold-hearted, uncompromising, and almost machine-like character. He thinks nothing of sacrificing the Maginot’s crew as per Company orders or leaving others to face similarly gruesome ends to achieve his goal. Having lost sixty-five years and his daughter to the Maginot, Morrow has nothing to live for but the aliens and stubbornly sets out to reclaim the Xenomorph from Kavalier, threatening Slightly’s family and sacrificing anyone in the process. “In Space, No One…” (Hawley, 2025), which is essentially a retelling of Alien, gives Morrow the spotlight and shows his desperate attempts to lockdown the Maginot after science officer Chibuzo’s (Karen Aldridge) aliens escape and the ship is sabotaged by chief engineer Petrovich (Enzo Cilenti) on Kavalier’s orders. Thanks to acting captain Zoya Zaveri’s (Richa Moorjani) blunders, which cost additional lives, Morrow takes command and tries to contain the situation, then seals himself in the computer room to survive the crash to Earth. Despite his cybernetic arm (which sports a knife and a blowtorch) and nodes, Morrow is ultimately bitched out by Kirsh, though badly damages the android. Kirsh was also a standout thanks to Olyphant’s quiet, measured performance which fittingly recalls Blade Runner’s (Scott, 1982) Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer). Though he cares for the Lost Boys and encourages them to fulfil their full potential, Kirsh is quick to focus on the aliens but is ultimately bound to the Boy Genius’s orders, which clearly doesn’t sit well with Kirsh as he, like Arthur and Joe, are frustrated at being talked down to by Kavalier and forced to bend to his will or risk potentially fatal punishment.

Arrogant, impulsive Kavalier endlessly feeds his own ego and wealth with outrageous projects.

Kavalier is easily the most aggravating aspect of Alien: Earth. Having been abused by his jealous, alcoholic father and amassed a trillion-dollar company at a young age, Kavalier is widely regarded as a boy prodigy and fully aware of his high intellect. Prone to emotional outbursts and flights of fancy, Kavalier thinks nothing of threatening or sacrificing anyone to get his way, having built a synth to kill his father and barely caring about the alien threat. All he sees is an excuse to expand his empire and prove his superiority over Yutani, arrogantly swanning around in robes, baggy clothing, or with his shoes off and being a condescending little shit to everyone, no matter how integral they are to his operation. Even the Lost Boys aren’t spared his patronising demeanour as he quickly grows bored of their emotional baggage and childish ways, urging them to be more and expand their minds to give him at least an interesting conversation, if not an intellectual equal. Though impressed by Curly’s ambition, he dismisses her attempts to replace Wendy when he sees that Wendy can communicate with the Xenomorphs and barely flinches upon seeing Isaac’s partially melted (and digested) body. Even Atom despairs of his master’s impulsive nature and advises against separating the aliens due to the potential risk, as well as questioning Kavalier abandoning the hybrids to obsess over the T. Ocellus as it demonstrates intelligence after infecting a sheep. Kavalier’s arrogance eventually proves his downfall as he assumes the Lost Boys will be happy with being regarded as mere products to be sold to others and doesn’t see their rebellion coming in “The Real Monsters” (Gonzales, 2025), where he, Atom, and Dame are spared the bloody end that they deserve and left imprisoned and at the mercy of Wendy and her friends.

The Alien shares the small screen with some gruesome new creatures, including a living eyeball!

Having investigated distant moons, Maginot is carrying some alien specimens for Weyland-Yutani’s bio-weapons division. Though the aliens unsettle the crew, Chibuzo is fascinated by them, particularly the resilient bloodsucking leeches that escape and infect apprentice engineer Malachite (Jamie Bisping). These nasty little critters attach themselves to his oesophagus and ultimately kill him, Chibuzo, and medical officer Rahim (Amir Boutrous) by releasing a toxin when threatened. Thanks to Morrow, we also see that these bugs favour latching onto a victim’s neck and draining their blood, like leeches. Isaac falls victim to fly-like aliens that have evolved to consume inorganic matter and secrete an acid-like substance to subdue their prey, being much more proactive than the carnivorous plant D. Plumbicare, which patiently waits to strike. The T. Ocellus was the show’s breakout star, for sure, being an octopus-like eyeball that removes its victim’s eyeball and then controls their body like a puppet. Oddly, the T. Ocellus exhibits intelligence and even benevolence as it tries to warn Chibuzo of the ticks and even attacks the Xenomorph threatening the Maginot but later causes Slighty’s death and is more dismissive of humans, perhaps due its time in captivity. Naturally, the ship’s main prize is the Xenomorph eggs and Facehuggers they bring back, which we learn continue to gestate even in cryosleep and again emerge in record time to get an Alien onscreen. While the Aliens are used sparingly, they’re as ferocious and vicious as ever, tearing apart anyone in their path or partially cocooning them to lure in prey. We see a different side to the Alien here, though, as one is pacified by Wendy and follows her commands, effectively being tamed by the hybrid to be turned against those who would harm her or her friends. Though the Alien returns to its terrifying roots in “In Space, No One…”, it’s seen in full daylight in “Emergence” (Gonzales, 2025) and there are times when the suit looks a little dodgy and clunky. However, CGI renditions of the creature allow it to move faster and be more versatile and it still causes much carnage, skewering prey with its tail, ripping torsos from legs, and massacring woefully even troops of armed soldiers.

The show’s visual fidelity to the first two films is impressive and very welcome.

If there’s one thing Alien: Earth has going for it, it’s the atmosphere. The show perfectly recreates the look, sound, and feel of Alien and Aliens, clearly working from production designs or blueprints from the Nostromo to build the Maginot’s sets, which include darkly lit, claustrophobic corridors, a clinical mess hall, and a beautifully seventies computer room, complete with all the keyboard and computer sounds from the first movie. The sets bring an unprecedented level of authenticity to Alien: Earth and really help it fit right in with the original films as cameras, weapons, and terminals all have a clunky, retro-futuristic vibe rather than being all slick touchscreens and holograms. This is obviously best seen in “In Space, No One…”, which recreates the same claustrophobic horror and paranoia as Alien, but all Kavalier’s facilities feel right at home in this world too, as though he invested heavily in the research but wasn’t bothered by the aesthetics. While I had some issues with the Xenomorph suit, the effects are largely very impressive, and every episode felt like a mini movie with a lot of money and attention to detail behind it. Morrow’s cybernetic arm could be a bit dodgy, but everything was shot in a way that benefitted the effects and highlighted how complacent many of these characters are as they get distracted, make mistakes, or simply aren’t mature enough to think about every eventuality. I’ve seen people complaining that each episode ends with a rock song or music track, but I didn’t mind this, mainly because one is by Metallica and I simply skipped the credits, and because the score echoed the foreboding tunes of Alien and the militaristic adrenaline of Aliens. While we don’t spend much time in New Siam, the city and its architecture fittingly mirror Blade Runner, depicting a “lived-in” world where the decadent indulge their excess and trillionaires measure their dicks before their android servants.

Wendy’s command over the Aliens sees her take charge, but a greater threat still looms…

Blade Runner is a fitting comparison as Alien: Earth focuses almost entirely on synthetic life, to some degree. Wendy and other Lost Boys constantly question their humanity and mortality, believing they cannot get sick or die and are “premium” and thus leaving them rattled when Isaac is killed. Some of them struggle with their identity, others with their maturity, and they all insist that they are now adults simply because they have grown-up bodies and yet cannot escape the fact that they’re still children and prone to mistakes and manipulation. Alien: Earth isn’t saying anything especially groundbreaking with these characters, but it’s an interesting wrinkle on the franchise’s synthetics, which are generally always subservient to humans or blindly loyal to the Company. There’s a lot of prejudice against synthetics, even cyborgs like Morrow, which eventually fuels Wendy’s revolution against Kavalier when she realises that they don’t need to follow his commands as she can freely manipulate his technology and control Xenomorphs. Her perception of Kavalier changes when Dame rewrites Nibs’ personality, allowing her to finally agree with Joe’s plan to flee the island, only for tensions to flare between them when Joe’s marine buddies attack Nibs in self-defence. They quickly overcome their differences, however, to unite against Kavalier, who devastates the Lost Boys with his dismissive attitude towards them. Even Curly comes around in the face of this, reclaiming her previous name and joining Wendy in solidarity, the Lost Boys realising that they were manipulated into accepting nigh-immortality but being merely regarded as products, seen by Kavalier as being little better than a regular synth despite their unique composition. Despite Wendy getting the Xenomorphs on side and claiming dominion over Kavalier’s island, the hybrids and Joe face an uncertain future as the T. Ocellus is still out there, puppeting Arthur’s body, and Weyland-Yutani are closing in to retrieve their specimens from the belittling Boy Genius…   

Final Thoughts:
I was admittedly sceptical about an Alien TV show, primarily because TV spin-offs of big movie franchises rarely work, especially effects-heavy, R-rated franchises. I was mostly pleasantly surprised, especially by the aesthetics and the atmosphere. It was immensely satisfying seeing practical sets that lovingly recreate the environments from the original film, especially to create a visual cohesion within the franchise. Alien: Romulus did the same thing, recreating Nostromo-like architecture and technology, but Alien: Earth takes it to the next level with the Maginot, which is almost a 1:1 recreation of the Nostromo. This extends to the spotlight episode of the series, “In Space, No One…”, which sees the Maginot crew mumble and talk over each other, bicker, and struggle to work together against a hostile force just like in Alien. Tensions are raised even further here, though, thanks to the vitriol aimed at Morrow and the crew’s disdain for the unsettling Teng (Andy Yu), to say nothing of their lack of faith in Zaveri. It’s a bit of a shame that we don’t spend more time with the crew as they’re exactly the sort of blue-collar workers who the Alien films typically revolve around, but I was intrigued by the focus on the hybrids and their existential crisis. I can see why some would find the constant references to Peter Pan (Barrie, 1904; Luske, Geronimi, and Jackson, 1953) annoying but it makes a morbid sense considering the hyperactive Kavalier is like a bratty child who feels a kinship with children and their endless imaginations. Morrow and the Xenomorph flesh out this analogy as Captain James Hook and the crocodile, respectively, though if anything this thematic through-line isn’t emphasised enough. It mainly boils down to the hybrids worrying about their humanity, concerned that they’ll never really grow up, and struggling to adapt to their adult bodies when they’re still ruled by childish impulses…much like the Boy Genius.

The existential narrative is largely hit or miss but the characters are intriguing, at least.

Dodgy haircut aside, I quite liked Wendy’s character and arc, though I don’t recall it being explained how and why she can mess with Prodigy’s systems or communicate with the Aliens. It was an interesting wrinkle, though, and something we haven’t seen from the franchise before (outside of the comics, maybe) with a tamed Xenomorph. This worked in the sense that Wendy showed the Alien compassion, respect, and understanding rather than reacting violently to it or trying to capture and study it like everyone else, and it shows the potential for the Xenomorphs to be more than just killing machines. They still are, thankfully, splattering blood and entrails all over and bursting from chests with a voracious appetite, and fully taking advantage of stupid people who stupidly mess with their eggs or try to remove the Facehuggers. Wendy is inarguably the most fleshed out of the hybrids, running a gamut of emotions as she is first blindly loyal to the man who gave her a new life and then realises that she’s seen as nothing but property when she’s capable of so much more. The other Lost Boys were entertaining enough, but there were maybe too many of them. Smee, Slightly, and Nibs were probably all that were needed and could’ve have characteristics of Curly and Isaac merged with them, just to offer more well-rounded characters, but it was kinda fun seeing them act like kids while operating these adult and very powerful synthetic bodies. Joe was a bit of a weak link to me, despite the tender bond he shares with Wendy, and I found myself hoping for the T. Ocellus to possess him just to give him more personality and agency and create a bizarre dynamic between him and Wendy, as he wouldn’t be fully human and neither would she. As is, he’s just a nice guy trying to protect his sister, but who is largely out of his depth when fighting both Prodigy’s legal department and the Xenomorph.

While the iconic Alien takes a backseat, the other ghastly aliens leave a lasting impression.

The aliens were obvious a highlight, stealing every scene with their weird and horrific natures. Even the ticks are incredibly intelligent and dangerous, and I liked that the Alien universe gave us a glimpse of the other “bugs” out in the stars. The T. Ocellus was disgustingly intriguing, seemingly wanting to help its human captors and then choosing chaos when imprisoned on Kavalier’s island. The Xenomorph is rightfully presented as the ultimate predator and the primary goal of Weyland-Yutani, with Morrow manipulating Slightly into infecting an innocent victim just to smuggle a specimen to Yutani. Morrow was quite a complex character, too, being hardened and ruthless but also compassionate at times, and driven to complete what he saw as his life’s goal. It was interesting that he remained loyal to Yutani despite having every reason to go on a vendetta against her for costing him his family, his life, and his crew, though he was clearly conflicted between his mission and his loyalties. Kirsh was equally a consistently complex character, exhibiting disgust at his position with Prodigy and his subservience to Kavalier while moulding the hybrids into functioning individuals and gleefully experimenting on the different aliens despite knowing how dangerous they were. Alien: Earth is definitely very ambitious, expanding the lore to include competing corporations and existential discussions, but this was also a season of highs and lows. The highs were very enjoyable and did the franchise justice, delving deeper into the characterisation and perception of synthetics and delivering some gruesome new alien creatures, but the lows undeniably dragged it down. These are mainly the length of each episode, the repetitive nature of the hybrids’ existential worries, and failing to properly pay off some of its plot threads in favour of a cliff-hanger. I think long-time Alien fans will still find plenty to enjoy, however, especially when the show is paying homage to the first two movies.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Were you a fan of season one of Alien: Earth? Did the constant references to Peter Pan irk you or were you intrigued by the existential narrative? Which of the new aliens was your favourite and did you like seeing a tame Xenomorph? Were you also impressed by the visuals and attention to detail in the sets and props? What direction would you like to see the series go in the future? Which Alien movie is your favourite? Tell me what you thought about Alien: Earth in the comments and then show me some love on Ko-Fi to support the site.