Author: Dr. K

Movie Night [MK Day]: Mortal Kombat II

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To celebrate the simultaneous worldwide release of Mortal Kombat (Midway, 1992) on home consoles, 13 September 1993 was dubbed “Mortal Monday”. Thus, it’s only fitting that to celebrate this influential fighting series every September 13th.

Released: 8 May 2026
Director: Simon McQuoid
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Budget: $80 million
Box Office: $75.2 million
Rotten Tomatoes Scores: 65% / 89%

Quick Facts:
The success and controversy of Mortal Kombat saw producer Lawrence Kasanoff produce both cult hits and disappointing lows. After years in limbo, Mortal Kombat returned to the big screen with a lukewarm reboot that nonetheless saw cast and crew up for a sequel. Determined to address fan feedback, the filmmakers opted for a more faithful adaptation, though reviews remained mixed.

The Review:
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m biased towards the 1995 Mortal Kombat film (I did write about it for my PhD thesis, after all). However, I’m a big Mortal Kombat fan and was excited to see a new version of it after years of stop/start projects and small screen ventures. Unfortunately, I wasn’t very impressed with the 2021 reboot, mainly because the story was so choppy, the tournament was absent, and the characters weren’t as appealing as the 1995 version. To make matters worse, despite the franchise’s massive roster and already painting fan favourite Johnny Cage as the “Everyman” outsider in 1995, the 2021 film chose to craft a brand-new audience surrogate, Cole Young (Lewis Tan), an athletic but sadly bland character who could’ve easily been Johnny Cage with just a few script tweaks. Mortal Kombat II aimed to address these issues, and more, and you can tell it’s aiming to be closer to the source material right from the start as the intro and titles mimic the opening of its videogame namesake. More areas from the games are also recreated (though through jarringly obvious green screen), fights are occasionally presented in a way that apes the videogames, and series co-creator Ed Boon makes a gratuitous cameo as a bartender. Having stifled manipulative Outworld sorcerer Shang Tsung’s (Chin Han) attempts to sabotage Earthrealm’s warriors in the last film, Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) has moved his chosen fighters to his sky temple to prepare for the generational Mortal Kombat tournament that will determine the fate of humanity. However, also thanks to Shang Tsung, Raiden is one fighter down as Shaolin monk Kung Lao (Max Huang) died in the last film, so he and Lieutenant Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) head to Hollywood to recruit a new fighter.

Despite overshadowing all the returning fighters, even Cage is side-lined in favour of Kitana.

So, right away there’s some issues. Mortal Kombat ’21 ended with Cole heading to Hollywood to recruit Johnny Cage (Karl Urban), but this film opens with the tournament mere hours away and the washed-up action star still attending conventions rather than fighting. This means we must suffer through a janky, rushed, and frankly insulting first twenty minutes or so as Cage is brought up to speed with the plot. Considering Raiden and the others gave Sonya and Cole such a hard time in the last movie for not carrying the Elder God’s mark or being unprepared for the tournament, they’re oddly far more lenient on Cage, who’s wracked with self-doubt as his glory days are behind him and hilariously incredulous to Earthrealm’s plight. Once he learns that Mortal Kombat is a fight to the death, Cage bows out, only to be forced into fighting anyway because that’s apparently what happens now. While Karl Urban seems a better fight for Kano, he’s one of the few highlights of this film and perfectly captures Cage’s snarky attitude, prima donna arrogance, and bombastic scepticism. It was odd, however, seeing him go from reluctantly fighting Princess Kitana (Adeline Rudolph) to literally running in fear of Baraka (CJ Bloomfield) and suddenly shift from being incapable of fighting to being very competent sometimes in the same fight. Despite being the focal point of the film’s marketing, Cage shares the main character role with Kitana, an Edenina princess forced to serve as tyrannical emperor Shao Kahn’s (Martyn Ford) daughter/assassin who has secretly been conspiring with Raiden to defat Outworld. Having witnessed her father, King Jerrod’s (Desmond Chiam) brutal slaughter and her mother, Queen Sindel’s (Ana Thu Nguyen) enslavement by Shao Kahn, Kitana has every reason to oppose the emperor, not least to liberate her people, which causes conflict between her and her loyal bodyguard, Jade (Tati Gabrielle). Between the two of them, Cage and Kitana present narrative arcs far more compelling than anyone else’s though it is strange that these new films shift the focus away from long-time franchise protagonist Liu Kang (Ludi Lin).

Sadly, returning characters aren’t given much screen time or depth and are killed for shock value.

Indeed, we’re two films in and we know very little about Liu Kang other than he was raised/trained by Raiden and is desperate to save his brother, Kung Lao’s corrupted soul. He’s a pure-hearted fighter and said to be the best of Earthrealm’s warriors, but he has no interaction with Kitana beyond a few respectful bows and glances, meaning his entire arc is centred on trying to help Kung Lao. Liu Kang has little personal rivalry with Shang Tsung or Shao Kahn beyond him wanting to save his realm and few meaningful interactions with Cage either, which is also true of Major Jackson “Jax” Briggs (Mehcad Brooks), Sonya, and Cole. These four only have superficial depth thanks to the previous film; we learn nothing new about them, and they accept Cage so easily that it makes the entire previous film’s plot redundant. Jax and Sonya remain fiercely loyal to each other and are even willing to spare Jade to maintain Raiden’s relationship with Kitana, but there’s no romantic sub-plot between Sonya and Cage. In fact, Liu Kang, Jax, and Sonya are more apt to mock Cage and his fighting skills, which amusingly bites them when Baraka is won over by Cage’s theatrical and unorthodox fighting style. Despite his role in the last movie and being the ancestor of legendary fighter Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada), tough-skinned cage fighter Cole is pushed far into the background here. There’s a passing mention of his wife and daughter and he’s seen to be as committed to defending Earthrealm as the others, but the spotlight is so far off him it’s almost insulting. With him largely absent from the marketing and so reviled by fans, it’s no surprise that Cole is offed in the tournament, but the execution left a bitter taste in my mouth. For starters, Cole is matched up against the newly invincible Shao Kahn (who really shouldn’t be fighting in the tournament if you ask me). Cole’s unceremonious death is thus a foregone conclusion, but his so-called friends barely react to their loss and are laughing and joking about Cage soon after, with Cole quickly forgotten. And like yeah, I wasn’t a fan of his, but I think he deserved better than that!

Fan favourite characters steal the film but are also frustratingly side-lined.

Despite his garb being closer to his videogame counterpart, Tadanobu Asano continues to disappoint as Raiden. He lacks the stature, gravitas, and charisma of Christopher Lambert and feels like a very weak and ineffectual Thunder God. His character is noticeably and jarringly softened here, with him being much more amicable towards Cage than he was to Cole or Sonya, and the film adds a fatherly slant to his relationship with Liu Kang and Kung Lao. Raiden’s placed in mortal danger here as Shao Kahn has necromancer Quan Chi (Damon Herriman) resurrect foul-mouthed mercenary Kano (Josh Lawson) to acquire the amulet of the fallen Elder God, Shinnok. The corrupted Kung Lao then slices Raiden’s throat to empower the amulet, which gifts Shao Kahn near-immortality and ties Earthrealm’s fate directly to Raiden’s. Although he still doesn’t sport his bionic eye (despite Quan Chi saying they’ll “build him a new one”), Kano remains a highlight. As crude and quick-witted as ever, Kano relishes the chance to get back in the fight but quickly grows tired of Outworld’s desolate offerings and double-crosses the evildoers. Once Kano’s teamed with Johhny Cage, the fil really hits its stride (which sadly come sin the third act) as the two make for a fun duo, scouring the hellish Netherreealm in search of Hasashi and the resurrected Bi-Han (Joe Taslim), formally Sub-Zero (and never referred to as Noob Saibot despite obviously being him) who safeguards Shinnok’s amulet. Sadly, Kano comes in far too late to help with the film’s paper-thin plot or the elevate the frustratingly one-dimensional characters. Equally, the film decides to sideline Sindel, who starts as an avid defender of Edenia and is then seemingly corrupted (presumably by Quan Chi’s dark magic) into Shao Kahn’s bride before being abruptly killed by Sonya and then randomly reappearing so Shao Kahn can interrogate Kitana. Considering how important Sindel usually is to Shao Kahn’s plots and Kitana’s character, it’s bizarre to see her be an afterthought. Jade gets more screen time and relevance as she’s torn between her friendship with Kitana and her loyalty to Shao Kahn!

As unnecessary and underutilised as Shang Tsung and Quan Chi are, Shao Kahn is a force to be reckoned with!

While I wasn’t a fan of Chin Han’s Shang Tsung in the last film (he’s not even comparable to Bruce Locke, let alone the immortal Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), I was equally frustrated and disappointed to see him side-lined in the sequel. Shang Tsung faces no repercussions for his defeat and loses with little authority and menace he had as he’s reduced to the emperor’s underling. It doesn’t help that the movie brings in Quan Chi to resurrect and corrupt fallen fighters, a role that Shang Tsung probably could’ve filled without much issue. On the plus side, Shao Kahn is presented as a monstrous, intimidating figure of unimaginable power even before he gains Raiden’s God-like power. Constantly garbed in intimidating armour, a skull-like helmet, and wielding a devastating battle axe, Shao Kahn is a brutal and menacing villain made even more threatening by his loquacious demeanour. He’s not some mindless despot or a mewling man-child with daddy issues; he’s a cold, calculating villain who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. Crucially, Shao Kahn is seen to be vulnerable despite his stature. He looks like he could easily crush anyone in his path but every fight he’s in is framed in a way that gives his opponent a chance to win as they score glancing blows or even kill shots, only for the emperor to either shrug it off or instantly heal thanks to Shinnok’s amulet. Sure, we don’t get any depth to him or backstory and he’s as simple a character as “big evil bad guy who wants to conquer everything”, but I liked that he wasn’t needlessly killing off his underlings, that he gave his opponents a fighting chance, and that he embodied the character so appropriately. Any time Shao Kahn appeared, you knew some shit was gonna go down and it was very effective seeing people cower and bow to his sheer might, while also sowing the seeds of dissension as Sahng Tsung clearly covets the emperor’s throne and power.

While the fights, gore, and fan service are top notch, they come at the expense of characters and story.

In keeping with the previous film, Mortal Kombat II places a greater focus on its fights and gore than the plot of the characters. On paper, this makes sense and is fine enough for certain audiences, but I miss the heart and the characters of the 1995 film, which also boasted some impressive martial arts. We get a sense of the kind of action star Cage was thanks to some footage of his dreadful action movies, which is fun, but again this is oddly translated into his fights as Cage is just as likely to cry foul and ask for a stunt man despite being a legitimate fighter. The tournament finally features here, with characters being teleported to recognisable locations like the spike-ladened bottom of the pit, the ominous portal bridge, and the acid pits for their fights. Weirdly, the film insults our intelligence by having magic flames go out when fighters are defeated and recycles many of the same locations (the ransacked Edenian town square, for example), but it makes up for this by going all-in with the characters’ special moves. Liu Kang’s tossing fireballs and flaming kicks, Sonya fires her rings, Jax is fully comfortable with his bionic arms, and Kano relishes blasting fools with his eye laser. Naturally, given her prominence, a lot of focus is placed on Kitana’s razor-sharp fans but Jade’s staff gets a lot of time in the spotlight, too. Since Cage repeats Cole’s arc from the last movie, he doesn’t gain his green aura until the finale, but he still punches Baraka in the dick and impresses with his unorthodox fighting. Sindel represents every pre-teen gamer by spamming her banshee scream, leading to Sonya impaling her on the pit’s spikes, and Shao Khan even darts in with his patented shoulder charge. Without a doubt, the film’s best fight sequence is the throwdown between Liu Kang and his revenant brother, with Kung Lao now tossing a gnarly buzzsaw hat that ultimately proves his bloody undoing. Still, before that, the two put on a hell of a physical spectacle as Li Kang desperately tries to reason with his brother before vowing to find a way to free him.

Thanks to a little help and a lot of sacrifices, Kitana avenges her father and ends Shao Kahn’s threat.

This fight’s closest competition come sin the finale, when Cage and Kano recruit Scorpion’s help and battle Bi-Han and his gooey double alongside the ninja-like spectre. It’s always great seeing Scorpion and Sub-Zero clash, though Bi-Han was given even less characterisation than before, sported all new shadow-based powers, and appeared far too late to be as relevant as he could be. While that fight’s going on, Liu Kang and Sonya fight Shao Kahn to rescue the strung-up Kitana, since Jax was also killed by the emperor. This fight also goes a bit south as Liu kang is surprisingly killed, though he accepts his fate as he realises his true destiny was to reunite with Kung Lao in the afterlife. With Sonya down and clearly no match for Shao Kahn, it’s left up to Kitana to oppose the emperor and avenge her father. Unfortunately, despite her obvious fighting talent, Kitana’s hindered by Shao Kahn’s newfound immortality, thus linking her fight to the Netherrealm clash. Luckily, with Scorpion and Jade’s help, Cage and Kano overcome Bi-Han and his double and destroy Shinnok’s amulet, right as Shang Tsung (who randomly pops up after a lengthy absence) is poised to killed Raiden. With the amulet destroyed, Raiden’s returned to full power and Shao Kahn is made mortal, allowing Kitana to disarm and subdue Shao Kahn, unmasking him before her subjugated people and ending him by slicing his head into pieces with her fans. Immediately hailed as Edenia’s queen, Kitana encourages her people to stand and relish their newfound freedom, with Cage later embellishes to impress Baraka and his clan. Having found a new purpose in life, Cage not only follows through on his promise to tutor the Tarkartans but joins Raiden and the others in beginning a new quest. With the captured Quan Chi in tow, Cage and the others set out to rescue their deceased friends, though Sonya vows to kill Kano (again…) once this goal is achieved.

Final Thoughts:
I went into Mortal Kombat II with low expectations. I recently rewatched the 2021 reboot before it and was surprised by how annoyed by it I was, with it’s awful pacing, poor character development, and focus on gore over story. Mortal Kombat II was always going to have an uphill battle because of that, and I really felt like it was weighed down by the reboot’s decisions. Unfortunately, rather than address these in a meaningful way, Mortal Kombat II throws Johnny Cage in our face like a play toy and shunts everyone, not just Cole, to the background, making the last film feel even more redundant as this is the movie that one should’ve been! Luckily, Karl Urban is great as the conceited Cage and I really enjoyed the focus on Kitana, who carried the emotional weight of the barebones plot. Kano also helped with this, but he appears far too late to help as much as he could, same with Scorpion (who I would’ve thought would’ve appeared after Cole’s death…) and Bi-Han. It was great to see Shao Kahn done justice on the big screen, and I did like seeing Quan Chi come back, as overused and unnecessary as he was, and of course the fights and gore were great…when they appeared. I honestly felt like the gore and Fatalities were underplayed this time, and that the tournament again felt very secondary. It lacked the scale seen in the 1995 movie, for one thing, even with the game-accurate locations, and the plot was more focused on Shinnok’s amulet (which Shao Kahn rally didn’t need as he was already unstoppable) rather than more interesting elements, like Sindel and her relationship with Kitana, or Shang Tsung’s aspirations, or the feud between Scorpion and Bi-Han. Ultimately, I give this film the edge over the last one as this is what I wanted to see from the 2021 reboot, but Mortal Kombat II was disappointing to me. it was far too rushed at the start, retread a lot of the same ground, side-lined or underdeveloped returning characters, and was so obviously trying to placate us with fan service that it became insulting.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy Mortal Kombat II? Were you also annoyed that Cole Young and the other fighters were side-lined? Did you enjoy Karl Urban’s performance as Johnny Cage? Were you surprised to see Kitana take the spotlight? Which of the fights was your favourite? Did you also find the film rushed and messy Wat are your hopes for a third film? How are you celebrating Mortal Kombat today? Whatever your thoughts, leave a comment below and donate to my Ko-Fi if you want to see more Mortal Kombat content on the site.

Mini Game Corner [Bat-Month]: Batman Returns (Mega Drive)

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Since his first appearance in the pages of Detective Comics, Bruce Wayne/Batman has become a pop culture icon. September celebrates “Batman Day”, the perfect excuse to celebrate this grim and broody vigilante.

Released: October 1992
Developer: Malibu Interactive
MobyGames Score: 6.4

Also Available For: Amiga, Game Gear, Master System, Mega/SEGA-CD, MS-DOS

Quick Facts:
Just as Batman (Burton, 1989) was accompanied by a smorgasbord of merchandise and videogames from Sunsoft, so too was the controversial (but nonetheless profitable) Batman Returns (ibid, 1992). While Konami brought their success with sidescrolling arcade brawlers to the widely praised Super Nintendo version, SEGA got wildly different games released for their consoles. Though echoing Sunsoft’s work on the Mega Drive adaptation of Batman, this version of Batman Returns was regarding as a forgettable brawler at best and a frustrating, unsightly release at worst and is largely seen as inferior to its Super Nintendo counterpart.

First Impressions:
Batman Returns borrows quite a few elements from Sunsoft’s Batman adaptation for the Mega Drive, featuring a nearly identical options menu and some similar gameplay mechanics, while expanding the scope and giving Batman more toys. While you cannot change the game’s difficulty, you can still set how many lives you start with (three, five, or seven) and can now pick between a few control presets. I mapped attack to the A button, jump to B, and Batman’s “Special Weapon” to C. Batman still throws punches but can also execute kicks depending on which direction you press on the directional pad (D-pad). Batman’s feet are so well armoured that they protect him from bullets and attacks so you might want to throw a kick to defend yourself. When jumping, you can tap B to shoot Batman’s grapple and swing from overhead platforms, though you can still fire it upwards while standing still and pressing up and A. If you tap or hold C in mid-air, you either flap or spread Batman’s cape, allowing you to glide across gaps. This is marginally more useful than Batman’s somersault from the last game, but it has an energy meter and, more crucially, level design so cluttered, ugly, and confusing that you never know if you’re going to glide into a bottomless pit! You can replenish Batman’s health by grabbing hearts, collect 1-ups (or earn extra tries by accumulating points), and appear to have unlimited continues. However, this also comes with two major drawbacks that crippled my run. First, if you die when fighting a boss, you respawn at a pre-set checkpoint, meaning the boss’s health is restored. Second, if you exhaust all your lives and continue, you are sent back to the beginning of the stage, which makes Batman Returns needlessly frustrating very quickly.

Ugly graphics, horrendous music, and clunky controls make this a chore to play through.

Batman has a bunch of Special Weapons he can use with C. Each consume ammo, replenished by collecting item-specific power-ups, and is selected from the pause menu. Batman tosses Batarangs, stuns enemies with smoke bombs, fires his grapple gun, disorientates them with a swarm of bats, or throws “super seeking” Batarangs. These last three are the most powerful and cost the most to use so they’re best saved for boss battles, though I also found myself forced to waste a seeker Batarang when a shaft was blocked by enemies above. There are five levels (or “Acts”) with three stages each. Each Act sees Batman pull up in the Batmobile and swoop into the scene but, while Batman is a far bigger sprite than before, he still has no idle animations. He’s also a far bigger target and, though faster, is very slippery and as ungainly as ever. It doesn’t help that the visuals are uncomfortably distorted and pixelated. Batman Returns may retain the Christmas aesthetic of the movie and recreate elements like the gothic architecture and Max Shreck’s cat-themed shops, but it’s painful to look at and listen to. While there are some fun effects, like slanted buildings, and stages are far bigger than in the last Mega Drive game, it’s no fun struggling with the clunky controls, constantly taking damage from enemies or spike pits, or falling down a bottomless pit or to the bottom of the stage because hazards are obscured by foreground objects. Though enemies don’t respawn, everything is too zoomed in and too big, making it difficult to see or know where you’re going, health is sparse, and bosses absorb a bunch of hits before being defeated. While it’s fun seeing the Red Triangle Circus Gang rendered as enemies, it’s weird that stone gargoyles spring to life and attack you and Batman’s again forced to endure some needlessly aggravating platforming challenges.

My Progression:
Although I was immediately put off by the graphics and music of Batman Returns, I found Batman more durable than in the last game and was quite enjoying seeing recognisable landmarks from the movie recreated, however ugly, in each stage. Oswald Cobblepott/The Penguin’s goons and maniacal fowls litter each stage, exploding upon defeat, and stages contain multiple mini bosses. You soon fight Selina Kyle/Catwoman on the rooftops, for example, struggling to avoid her lengthy whip and frustrated to find she’s invulnerable when cartwheeling about. Gotham City itself attacks you as well, with those giant, ostentatious statues flinging gears from the background, and the Penguin battles you in a bell tower, flying about on his comical helicopter umbrella and tossing missiles. At first, this was a bit of a chore, especially as you must grapple up, avoiding gargoyles as you go, if you die against him. But, on my second try, I found the Penguin could easily be cheesed if you stay in one corner and throw punches. Things fell apart in Act 2, however, where one of the Penguin’s brutes stalks about atop one of Shreck’s department stores and tosses giant letters at you. This bastard follows your movements, meaning I couldn’t figure out how to grapple up to him without taking damage and, when I did, he decimated me with his meaty punches and kicks. Technically, this is where my game ended as I was so annoyed by this that I resorted to inputting the stage select code (a chore in itself!) I used this to skip to the inside of the store, where roller-skating punks, knife-tossing temptresses, and bomb-tossing jesters await before giant windows and around escalators. I then got my ass handed to me in a rematch with Catwoman that I had no hope of beating, found the next section started with an insta-kill rolling hazard I couldn’t avoid no matter how hard I tried, and skipped to the Red Triangle Circus stage…where a simple jump over a pit proved too difficult for this heavy-ass Batman!

Unintuitive controls and awful enemy placement make this short game frustrating and tedious.

Honestly, I was glad to be done with the game, which was an assault on my senses and a far cry from the simple, arcade action of the SNES beat-‘em-up. While I couldn’t reliably get the stage select code to work to check out the game’s later stages, a longplay I watched revealed that Batman Returns is only about half an hour long in the right hands. It also turns out that you have to grapple over that pit in Act III and battle through the background cages, but I’m buggered if I’m going to endure this game again any time soon. But, for due diligence, the rest of the game sticks pretty closely to the movie once Batman’s finished swinging about the Red Triangle’s ferris wheel, circus tent, and colourful, hazardous train. Act 4 takes him into the sewers, which feature rushing water slides, gun-toting clowns, and a maze of pipes. This leads to the Penguin’s frozen lair, where Batman slips about on frigid, precarious, often sloped platforms, avoiding icicles and riding ice floats. While there are sadly no vehicle sections here, you do battle the Penguin at the end of each subsequent Act. He flies about in Act 3 tossing buzzsaws, blasts you with toxic sludge from a giant cannon before unloading with his machine gun umbrella in Act 4, and pilots his giant duck vehicle in Act 5, which displays battle damage as you attack. Finally, the dishevelled and maniacal Penguin hops about his lair, blasting with his shotgun-like umbrella while electrical bursts flare overhead. After he’s defeated, Batman battles Catwoman one more time as the credits roll, with her being mysteriously spirited away by cats to end the game.

Continue?
My expectations were low for Batman Returns after how disappointing Sunsoft’s efforts were with Batman and having played the SNES version (through emulation) in my teens. I’ve always known that the Mega Drive version is an entirely different game, which immediately makes it far less appealing, but the reality is so much worse. For everything the developers improved from the last game, there are a bunch of bizarre decisions that make Batman Returns just as bad, if not worse. Visually, the game is dreadful. It’s so muddy and pixelated and almost impossible to see Batman against the drab, overly complicated backgrounds. They’re fantastically faithful to the movie, but that just makes it worse as half the time I couldn’t see enemies or projectiles and most of the time I had no idea if I was gliding into a bottomless pit. I liked Batman’s array of gadgets, but their usefulness is negligible as you’re probably just going to save them for the bosses. Batman’s weird glide doesn’t get much play, thankfully, and the grapple is restricted to just reaching higher ground, but Batman’s still a clunky character with limited moves in his arsenal. As if the visuals weren’t bad enough, the game sounds awful, lacking both Danny Elfman’s timeless score and jaunty tunes to make the janky gameplay more tolerable. I probably could beat this one now that I know how to get around that pit, but I have no desire to come back to it, especially when I could just emulate the SNES version or even try out a Mega Drive conversion of that game. This was ridiculously disappointing, doubly so as there are no vehicle levels despite Batman Returns feature three Bat-vehicles! I’d be surprised if you thought this game was any good but let me know if you did in the comments. While you’re here, why not check out my other Batman-related content or pop over to my Ko-Fi to drop a donation to keep the site going?

Back Issues [A-Day]: Civil War #1-7

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In September 1963 the legendary Stan Lee and Jack Kirby assembled Earth’s mightiest heroes, the Avengers, who formed the backbone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and become an unbelievably popular franchise.

Story Title: “Civil War” (Part 1 to 7)
Published: 3 May 2006 (cover-dated: July 2006) to 21 February 2007 (cover dated: January 2007)

Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: Steve McNiven

Quick Facts:
Although formed as an answer to the Justice League of America and depicted as Earth’s mightiest heroes, the Avengers faced their greatest test in 2004/2005 when the team infamously disassembled following some devastating losses. This laid the foundation for the “Civil War” event, a sprawling, widely criticised story that pit heroes against each other over disagreements about governmental registration. The event had long-lasting consequences and directly inspired cartoons, films, and videogames despite being a contentious story.

The Review:
One of Marvel’s most controversial events begins in Stamford, Connecticut where celebrity superheroes the New Warriors (Dwayne Taylor/Night Thrasher, Namorita Prentiss, Robbie Baldwin/Speedball, and Zachary Smith, Jr./ Microbe) prepare to storm a house where supervillains Joss Shappe/Speedfreek, Kateri Deseronto/Coldheart, Ralph Roberts/Cobalt Man, and Robert Hunter/Nitro have taken shelter after escaping from Ryker’s Island Penitentiary. Although Microbo is unsure of their chances, Speedball confidently rallies the team to boost their ratings and reputation. Any plans go awry when the New Warriors are spotted, forcing them to charge in blindly, surprisingly holding their own against most of the villains despite the youngsters being seen as second-rate. However, when Namorita tackles Nitro, he maliciously detonates, apparently killing the New Warriors, a bus load of children, and an estimated 800 or 900 others in the immediate area (which is also decimated) live on camera. Captain Steve Rogers/Captain America, Anthony “Tony” Stark/Iron Man, and the X-Men (begrudgingly supervised by the gigantic Sentinels) arrive to help with the rescue effort, with Iron Man chastising the New Warriors for being so reckless and Doctor William “Bill” Foster/Goliath morbidly predicting that the event will be the final straw that turns the public against superhumans. While the subject is debated on television, Stark is personally blamed by a grieving mother as he bankrolls the Avengers and thus puts kids in danger by encouraging them to act outside the law. Very quickly, the media debates whether superhumans should be registered to hold them accountable for their actions, and resentment grows for even celebrated superheroes like Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, who’s brutally attacked outside a nightclub.

Following a tragedy, Marvel’s heroes disagree about the issue of superhuman registration.

The Avengers, New Avengers, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four gather at the Baxter Building to discuss the issue, which basically amounts to forcing super-powered individuals to register their identity and powers with the government or be arrested. While Luke Cage/Power Man sees it as an attempt to shut them down and Eli Bradley/Patriot suggests they go on strike, Iron Man is all for them being better trained and equipped and held accountable for their actions. Sam Wilson/The Falcon is aghast at the idea of giving up their costumes to become “super-cops”, while Doctor Hank Pym/Yellowjacket agrees with the proposal, reasoning that their masks have caused the public to lose faith in them. While James “Logan” Howlett/Wolverine detests the idea and Peter Parker/Spider-Man suggests some would rather quit than give up their anonymity, Susan Storm/The Invisible Woman counters that being public superheroes isn’t that bad, and Danny Rand/Daredevil believes that, either way, things are changing for them. Aboard a Helicarrier, acting head of the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate (S.H.I.E.L.D.) Maria Hill asks Cap for his opinion and he begrudgingly states he thinks it’ll divide the superhero community, especially the street-level heroes, and lead to civil war. When Maria demands that Cap set an example and arrest his fellow heroes if they step out of line, he vehemently refuses, believing superheroes should be above regular politics. Tired of masked vigilantes running amok, Maria orders her specially trained anti-superhuman response unit to subdue Cap, who easily fights them off and escapes, becoming a fugitive in the process. Doctor Stephen Strange’s concerns are only aggravated when Uatu the Watcher silently appears and Iron Man, Doctor Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, and Yellowjacket side with the government and push for the Superhuman Registration Act (SRA). Despite being on the run, Cap continues to round up supervillains and recruits others to his cause, while Iron Man and his cohorts officially defend against supervillain attacks, rebuilding public confidence and vowing to bring Cap in (ostensibly to talk him around), and Mr. Fantastic shuns his wife’s concerns to eagerly construct an elaborate prison for any who refuse the SRA, regardless of who they are.

Both sides build teams for their causes, leading to some dramatic moments and fights between them.

When the SRA becomes law, unregistered heroes like Patriot and the other Young Avengers are aggressively hounded by S.H.I.E.L.D., who ironically cause a great deal of property damage non-lethally apprehending them. Undercover as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Cap rescues the Young Avengers and brings them to Resistance headquarters, where they plan to hide while Nick Fury sets up new secret identities for them. They’re as stunned as thousands of others when Stark has Spider-Man publicly reveal his identity in support of the SRA, though this isn’t enough to convince T’Challa/The Black Panther to buy into Reed’s pitch for a fifty state super police force. Dr. Strange similarly refuses to be a part of it by proxy and Emma Frost/The White Queen firmly declines to have the X-Men get involved as Mutants have faced persecution their whole lives and been shunned when they face similar issues. Hidden behind their bizarre new identities, Cap and his “Secret Avengers” lament all the good they’re now denied from doing (like answering “Make a Wish” requests) because of the SRA yet assist with a petrochemical fire, only for it to be an elaborate trap. Iron Man and his supporters subdue Billy Kaplan/Wiccan and Tyrone Johnson/Cloak to keep Cap from escaping and offer Cap amnesty again. Although Spidey insists that registration is the best way to fight the real bad guys, Cap dismisses him for endangering his loved ones and tricks Iron Man into thinking he’s willing to hear him out, short-circuiting his armour and starting a scuffle. Spidey’s fancy Iron Spider suit buys Stark enough time to reboot and out-fight Cap by analysing his attack patterns. When Hercules Panhellenios rushes in to help, the fight’s interrupted by what appears to be Thor Odinson, returned from the dead, who physically decimates the Secret Avengers just as Iron Man blasts them with a debilitating audio burst.

Goliath’s death sees Spidey rebel against Stark, who’s actively hunting his allies.

Hercules disables the device, allowing the Falcon to fly the beaten, bloody Cap to safety, though everyone’s aghast when Thor suddenly kills Goliath with a lightning blast! Protected by the Invisible Woman, the survivors flee via Cloak’s teleporting cape and Iron Man’s supporters are left horrified that his Thor clone would be so reckless, with Spider-Man and Yellowjacket questioning their decisions while the injured Cap refuses to abandon his principles even as some of his supporters leave in the fallout. Though remorseful, Stark and Reed also stick to their guns, even after Sue leaves her husband to join the Secret Avengers with Johnny. As more of their people are defecting or disappearing by the day, Stark and Reed coerce supervillain team the Thunderbolts (including Lester/Bullseye, MacDonald “Mac” Gargan/Venom, and Tony Masters/Taskmaster) into temporarily bolstering their forces. S.H.I.E.L.D.’s increased street presence curtails crime rates, but they struggle to apprehend the wayward heroes, even with guys like Kyle Richmond/Nighthawk joining the cause (and receiving full pardons and a wage). However, when he learns of Stark’s high-tech prison in the Negative Zone, Spidey finally snaps and turns on Iron Man, disagreeing with his morals, lashing out when Stark chastises him, and forcing Maria (against Stark’s orders) to send the Thunderbolts after him. Attacked by Jody Putt/Jester and Steven Levins/Jack O’Lantern in the sewers, the battered Spidey is saved by Frank Castle/The Punisher, who executes his attackers and brings the grievously wounded Peter to the Secret Avengers. Despite all the good the SRA is doing, even Reed questions the process, especially after Daredevil is arrested, though Stark remains adamant that they’re doing the right thing and even offers Daredevil a team of his own if he registers, which does little to improve the vigilante’s opinion of him. While Pym and Maria train pro-SRA agents in Arizona, vetoing potential team members for each state and assigning codenames to others, Reed reprograms “Thor” and Iron Man celebrates the positive impact the SRA has had on crime, all unaware that the Punisher is covertly infiltrating the Baxter Building.

Cap reluctantly surrenders, outlawing many heroes and changing Marvel for many years.

Inside, the Punisher relays details of the Negative Zone prison to Cap. With Spider-Man recovered and back on side, Cap uses the Punisher’s intel to discuss plans to storm the Negative Zone prison. However, Cap brutally beats the Punisher when he guns down David Kivlin/The Plunderer and Matthew Gilden/Goldbug, villains who sought refuge with the Secret Avengers, expelling him from the team in disgust. After Stark pacifies the public by memorialising the Stanford victims, the Secret Avengers (aided by the Black Panther) break into the Negative Zone prison, where they’re immediately confronted by Iron Man and his supporters thanks to a tipoff from Grer Nelson/Tigra. However, Cap anticipated this and had shapeshifter Teddy Altman/Hulkling impersonate Yellowjacket, allowing them to free the prisoners and igniting a brawl. Despite the Black Panther’s best efforts, Maria has S.H.I.E.L.D. shut down the Negative Zone portals, forcing Cloak to teleport everyone to the skies above New York City. Iron Man immediately orders an evacuation but continues the fight, which sees Spidey take it to Mr. Fantastic, the Thunderbolts gang up on Cap, and Namor bring the Atlanteans to tip the balance for the Secret Avengers. Iron Man calls in “Thor” and their new recruits to even the odds, but Hercules avenges his friend by destroying the Thor cyborg and Taskmaster gets crushed when he guns down Reed in front of Sue. His armour compromised by the Vision, Iron Man is easily overpowered by Cap, who’s jumped by civilians and emergency workers. Realising the damage they’ve caused with their petty squabble, a repentant Cap dramatically stands down, orders his troops to stop fighting, and surrenders to the authorities. In the aftermath, the 50 State Initiative places government-controlled superhero teams in every state (to unanimous public approval). Stark is promoted to S.H.I.E.L.D. Director and Sue reluctantly returns to a remorseful Reed, while Cap is locked up and the Secret Avengers go deeper underground, with the Punisher retrieving his mask and Spider-Man returning to his black costume…

Final Thoughts: 
This was my first time reading Civil War, an event I followed through websites and such at the time but had little interest in even after the blockbuster quasi-adaptation came out as I disliked the entire concept. Not the idea of superheroes fighting against each other; I don’t mind that. I disliked seeing the Marvel heroes so easily and aggressively divided by the core issue and how out of character everyone acted throughout it. It doesn’t help that the art isn’t that great either, with Spider-Man looking especially odd, or that these seven issues were accompanied by numerous tie-ins that filled in some gaps. For example, Spidey’s change of heart is largely glossed over here and is presumably fleshed out in a tie-in comic. Similarly, the Thunderbolts don’t get much to do and the New Warriors are all presumed dead here, and you’d never know that blind Matt Murdock wasn’t Daredevil or exactly what happens in the Negative Zone or with the X-Men if you just stick to the main story. Yet, paradoxically, that’s exactly what I’d suggest you do as Civil War isn’t exactly Marvel’s finest hour and I can’t imagine any of the supplementary materials helps with that. The whole event is based on shock value, from the New Warriors’ recklessness killing nearly 1000 people to Peter dramatically unmasking to seeing superheroes hunted and arrested, to seeing the Avengers turn on each other. It’s all framed as being a shocking event but so much of it just falls flat because of the aforementioned poor characterisations of many of the key players.

The poor characterisations really ruin this already questionable event for me.

Spider-Man is a great example. Initially, as expected, he’s against the SRA because exposing his identity would compromise his loved ones. The very idea of outing himself flies in the face of his “power/responsibility” manta, and yet Stark convinces Peter to do it! I believe it’s explained in a tie-in issue that Peter was convinced by assurances that his family would be protected, he would be looked after, and by the conviction of his mentor, but none of that makes it any better. Spidey should’ve been a non-factor in the story, taking neither side like the X-Men and doing his own thing, but that doesn’t shock as much as seeing him unmask on live television, does it? This is the story that introduced me to Maria Hill and I’ve hated her ever since. She’s a condescending, arrogant bitch who clearly hates superheroes and vigilantes and resents playing second fiddle to them. While she and S.H.I.E.L.D. justify their actions as being the best, most sensible option, they completely disregard all the good these heroes have done and dispassionately lock them up, only to happily work with murderers and psychopaths like the Thunderbolts! Iron Man is the absolute worst example of character assassination here, being a despicable, unlikable, selfish asshole that soured his character for years. I do understand his motivations and, in his own way, he is right: superheroes should be held accountable for their actions. But the way he goes about it is all wrong. He turns against his friends and peers, happily hunting them down and locking them up, talking down to them with his pleas for amnesty and holier-than-thou attitude. Him and Reed are at their most self-absorbed and egotistical here, shunning family and friends just to appease the public and completely destroying their legacies.

Civil War ends up being a messy, unappealing drama full of stubborn fools and bad decisions.

To be fair, while I’m Team Cap all the way, it’s not like Cap is much better. Like Stark, he’s a stubborn, prideful man who quickly loses sight of the big issue and focuses more on building his numbers and besting Team Stark over anything else. It’s funny because I always imagined Steve would be pro-registration and Stark would be against it, but it’s more impactful seeing Cap reject boneheaded governmental mandates. Cap is right that superpowered individuals shouldn’t be forced to reveal their identities and he immediately looks better because he’s not locking people up, working with supervillains, or acting like a complete dickhead like Stark, but he lets his principles blind him. If Cap had parlayed with Iron Man, attempted a compromise, things might’ve deescalated faster. Instead, his first reaction is to lash out and form an army to fight against the SRA rather than attempting to appeal to reason, escalating the conflict into a massive brawl that causes further damage. Civil War seems to be another attempt by Marvel to deconstruct their heroes and the status quo, which is always divisive as it goes against everything you expect from these characters. The fallout, especially, had huge ramifications for the likes of Cap and Spidey, so say nothing of the 50 State Initiative and the eventually evolution of the Thunderbolts. I appreciate the effort to try something different, but everything feels very rushed and poorly executed. I kept wondering if certain characters (Stark, especially) had been replaced by Skrulls or something but, while this was true for some, it wasn’t for others, meaning Marvel had to scramble to find ways to walk back all the stupid decisions made here. I’d say Civil War is a pivotal story in Marvel’s long history, but I’m glad that it’s long been resolved and much of its events were undone as I’ve ever enjoyed it.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy Civil War? Were you on Team Cap or Team Stark? Were you shocked when Peter unmasked and Goliath was killed? Did you ever read all the tie-in comics? Who do you think acted the most out of character here? What are some of your favourite Avengers stories or moments and how are you celebrating their debut? Let me know your thoughts on Civil War and the Avengers below, and support me on Ko-Fi for more Avengers content.

Movie Night [Star Trek Day]: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Dr. K1 Comment

8 September 1966 saw the debut of Star Trek (1966 to 1969), “The Man Trap” (Daniels, 1966), beginning a massive cultural phenomenon and perhaps the most influential science-fiction franchise of all time. Accordingly designated “Star Trek Day”, the September 8 is the perfect excuse to celebrate this enduring sci-fi franchise.

Released: 6 December 1991
Director: Nicholas Meyer
Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Budget: $30 million
Box Office: $96.8 million
Rotten Tomatoes Scores: 83% / 84%

Quick Facts:
Following Star Trek V: The Final Frontier’s (Shatner, 1989) critical and commercial failure, Paramount Pictures initially planned to recover with a prequel set at Starfleet Academy before star Leonard Nimoy assisted with writing a swan song for the original cast that doubled as an allegory for the “Cold War”. Sets and models were again re-used to save money, the Klingons were redesigned by Dodie Shepard, and Industrial Light & Magic produced the many visual and practical effects that co-existed with political and Shakespearean intrigue.

The Review:
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is essentially about finality. It’s the last film for the Original Series crew, the last time all the Original Series actors appeared in a film together, the Enterprise-A is a few months from being decommissioned, the main characters are set to be retired, and the plot concerns the end of decades of hostility with the war-like Klingon Empire. This doesn’t come about naturally, however, but is forced upon the aggressive race when one of their moons explodes and devastates Qo’noS, threatening to render the planet inhospitable (and potentially make the Klingons extinct) within fifty Earth years. Out of desperation, Klingon Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner) offers an olive branch to the United Federation of Planets, promising to end hostilities and broker peace if the Federation assists with evacuating Qo’noS and sheltering the Klingons, who can no longer afford to go to war since their resources are so tight. Captain Spock (Leonard Nimoy) spearheads the negotiations with Chancellor Gorkon, seeing a historic chance to foster true galactic peace, but faces opposition from bigoted Federation Admiral Cartwright (Brock Peters) and Spock’s long-time friend and crewmate, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner). Indeed, Kirk is outraged to learn that Spock personally vouched for him to take the Enterprise-A to escort Chancellor Gorkon to Earth for peace talks. Considering Kirk has been at war with the Klingons for most of his life and harbours a personal grudge against them for the death of his son, the legendary captain is adamant that the barbaric race cannot be trusted and should be left to perish for their crimes. However, despite his personal feelings, Kirk is duty-bound to adhere to his orders and reluctantly meets with Chancellor Gorkon, even inviting him and his detachment – including daughter Azetbur (Rosanna DeSoto) and veteran General Chang (Christopher Plummer) – to dinner.

On the eve of unprecedented peace, Kirk and Bones are framed for assassinated a Klingon chancellor.

Although Chancellor Gorkon is immediately seen to be unlike his more brutish comrades, Kirk remains apprehensive, at best, and disgusted at worst, and sceptical of the entire situation in general. Kirk immediately gets a bad vibe from General Chang, who spends the entire evening quoting the “original Klingon” of William Shakespeare and banging on about how the two are kindred warrior spirits, and Kirk’s crew struggle to stomach the Klingons’ bad table manners. While Kirk is mature enough to recognise that he conducted himself poorly, he refuses to trust Chancellor Gorkon and grapples with the idea that such a huge part of his life, hostilities with Klingons, could be ending. Kirk is aghast, however, when the Enterprise-A suddenly fires upon the chancellor’s unsuspecting Bird-of-Prey, sending the bridge crew into a mad panic to discover how they’ve fired when their torpedo stock is accounted for. While Captain Montgomery “Scotty” Scott (James Doohan), Commander Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), and newcomer Lieutenant Valeris (Kim Cattrall) scramble for answers, two unknown assailants in Federation spacesuits board the Bird-of-Prey and gun down Chancellor Gorkon and some of his crew. When the rightly incensed General Chang assumes Kirk has launched an unprovoked attack and moves to respond, Kirk orders the Enterprise-A to surrender and he and Doctor Leonard “Bones” McCoy (DeForest Kelley) desperately try to save Chancellor Gorkon, only for Bones to be strangely baffled by Klingon anatomy and meet with failure. Blamed for the attack and the assassination, Kirk and Bones are arrested and forced to stand trial in what’s little more than a kangaroo court, where Kirk’s prior prejudices and even his private log are used against him as evidence, alongside McCoy’s age and perceived incompetence. Kirk and Bones are thus convicted as the perpetrators of a devious attempt to upend peace talks and sentenced to life imprisonment on the harsh world of Rura Penthe, a frozen planetoid where prisoners work themselves to death digging for dilthium. Meanwhile, Azetbur succeeds her father and agrees to continue his efforts for a truce with the understandably flustered Federation President (Kurtwood Smith).

The Enterprise-A crew come together to find the true culprit behind the assassination.

While imprisoned on Rura Penthe, Kirk and Bones discuss their aging relevancy to the universe while fending off the aggressive inmates, finding an ally in sultry shapeshifter Martia (Iman) and eventually learning that they’ve been set up by persons unknown to impede the peace talks. Meanwhile, Spock, Valeris, Chekov, and Scotty turn the Enterprise-A upside down in search of clues to the perpetrator’s identities, correctly assuming that a revolutionary new Bird-of-Prey (which can fire while cloaked) was responsible and that the assassins are onboard the Enterprise-A. While Commander Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) stalls the Federation and the Klingons static and Captain Hikaru Sulu (George Takei) of the Excelsior rushes to assist while also denying knowledge of the Enterprise-A’s location, the search initially turns fruitless when their assumed suspect is physically incapable of wearing the anti-gravity boots used in the assassination. Thanks to Spock’s foresight, Kirk’s wiles, and Martia’s assistance, Kirk and Bones are rescued but not before Martia turns on them, having been in on the scheme all along. Once aboard the Enterprise-A, with the offending spacesuits randomly recovered by Scotty, Kirk’s hunch about their assassin is proven when he and Spock lay a trap for the culprit. Spock is uncharacteristically enraged to learn that Valeris was one of the perpetrators, admonishing her betrayal and forcibly drawing the names of her co-conspirators from her with a mind meld. Kirk and Spock ruminate of their prejudices and bias together, in quiet solitude, realising that they were both blinded by these emotions. Kirk fully admits to being scared to face the “undiscovered country” of peace with the Klingons, while Spock admits to placing all his faith in his young protégé out of a need to continue their legacy. 

Racial tensions are explored as Kirk and Spock wrestle with their prejudices.

This discussion of bigotry is rife throughout The Undiscovered Country. The Klingons are seen as an aggressive, barbaric race who cannot be trusted, are uncivilised and war-like, and who must be always treated with contempt and hostility. To be fair, Kirk is right to suspect them after everything he’s been through, but the circumstances clearly depict the Klingons as desperate to ensure their survival. For Spock and Chancellor Gorgon, the historic chance for peace is worth setting aside the decades of bloodshed and hatred, especially as it would mean the Klingons’ survival, but the prospect of “tearing down the wall” is terrifying for the likes of Kirk and General Chang, who instigates the assassination to ensure that things stay “as they should”. The Klingons are equally distrustful of humans and amusingly shown to be poor guests, despite their appreciation for Shakespeare, but racial undertones are prevalent in their depiction, with Chekov even muttering “Guess who’s coming to dinner?” and Azetbur criticising the Federation for being an “all-humans” club. Kirk’s prejudices are naturally the most obvious and emotional, given a Klingon killed his son, and it leaves him standoffish with Chancellor Gorgon, who truly wanted peace, and easily setup by General Chang and Valeris. Ironically, Valeris conspires with the Klingons, whom she distrusts so much, to assassinate Chancellor Gorgon to show how untrustworthy the Klingons are. She has a similar mindset to Admiral Cartwright that inviting the Klingons into Federation space is foolish and believes the Federation is betraying their core principles by negotiating with the hostile species, something Spock chastises her for while grilling her as Valeris has also betrayed the Federation’s principles by sowing discord. Naturally, General Chang is all for this as he relishes combat, testing his mettle against a worthy opponent like Kirk and indulging his war lust.

Space battles take a backseat to a more grounded, introspective narrative focused on sabotage.

Unfortunately, we don’t get many space battles here as The Undiscovered Country is more focused on the tensions between the Enterprise-A crew and the Klingons, figured out who was behind the attack, and Kirk and Spock’s detour to Rura Penthe. There is a cool sequence where the crippled Bird-of-Prey’s gravity field is damaged, leaving Chancellor Gorgon and his crew floating helplessly as the assassins strike, and a decent battle pitting the Enterprise-A and the Excelsior against General Chang’s special Bird-of-Prey in the finale. However, as we’ve seen a few times before, the Federation ships strangely struggle to locate the cloaked ship. Luckily, Spock and Bones modify a torpedo to home in on the plasma emissions from the invisible craft, allowing Kirk and Sulu to attack and the filmmakers to once again recycle to same Bird-of-Prey explosion from previous films. Rura Penthe was an interesting location and scenario. I was surprised to see Bones imprisoned alongside Kirk as the movies generally team Kirk with Spock, so it was a nice change of pace to let the disgruntled doctor take some of the spotlight. Naturally, he laments their situation, especially at their age, meaning it’s up to the aged Kirk to fend off any physical challenges and have a brief fling with the alluring Martia to facilitate their escape. There are a couple of moments for the other main characters to shine as well, such as Chekov amusingly offering excuses to Starfleet and confronting their assumed culprit, Uhura struggling to pronounce Klingon, and Scotty aiding in finding the suits. Although largely separate from the plot, Sulu finally gets his own command and aids in his own way, but it was a bit of a shame to not have him aboard the Enterprise-A and to be denied his full kudos from the egotistical Shatner.

The old guard triumph once more and pave the way for their successors in this largely bland send-off.

Thanks to Spock tracing a tracker onto him before his trial, Kirk and Bones and rescued by the Enterprise-A and Spock angrily confronts Valeris, learning that she, General Chang, Admiral Cartwright, and Romulan ambassador Nanclus (Darryl Henriques) conspired to sabotage peace talks between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Realising that the saboteurs plan to assassinate the Federation President and Chancellor Azetbur at the peace conference, the Enterprise-A races to intervene, with Kirk and his crew beaming down to save the president and Scotty offing would-be assassin Colonel West (René Auberjonois). Thanks to a full confession from Valeris, who remains somewhat conflicted due to her admiration and respect for Spock, all the remaining conspirators are arrested, clearing Kirk, Bones, and the Enterprise-A of all charges. Despite this, the legendary ship is still ordered to return to Starbase for decommissioning so, in one last act of defiance, Kirk orders the ship to take a final jaunt to the stars before a new generation continue their journey. Honestly, I’ve never been a big fan of The Undiscovered Country, preferring the much maligned fifth entry over this one, mainly because it’s got so much posturing and is stuffed with ham-fisted allegories. I like that it tells a more personal and grounded story for the aged Enterprise-A crew, one that’s clearly an allegory for the Cold War and allows Kirk to revisit his hatred of the Klingons from the third movie. The performances are all really strong throughout, though I could’ve done without General Chang constantly quoting Shakespeare, but I’ve never felt it was a great swansong for the Original Series crew to literally sign out on. People aways say the even-numbered Star Trek movies are the best ones, but I always point to this movie as evidence that’s not true as it meanders a bit in the middle and I find the decision to give Spock a new protégé rather than revisit or recast Lieutenant Saavik hurts the movie. Her connection to David Marcus (Merritt Butrick), Kirk, Spock, and familiarity with the audience would’ve made for a much more impactful reveal, I think.

Final Thoughts:
So yeah, full disclosure: I’m not a big fan of this one. It was a bit better this time around than I remember, mainly because I haven’t watched it in a while and I guess I’ve got a whimsical nostalgia for these Original Series movies. I really enjoyed the exploration of Kirk’s hatred and prejudice against the Klingons; his outburst of “Let them die!” is one of his strongest moments and I liked seeing Kirk grapple with his emotions and sense of worth in a universe on the cusp of change. The narrative idea of the future being difficult for veterans like Kirk and General Chang is intriguing as all they’ve known is war with each other, so it’s natural there would be some tension and resentment. I liked seeing Bones take some of the spotlight for a change, how distraught he is at failing to save Chancellor Gorgon, and how out of his depth he is on Rura Penthe. Some of the moments with Chekov and Uhura were pretty amusing, and I guess the investigation into the assassination was interesting (even if Chang and Valeris are obvious candidates), though the racial undertones are a touch questionable. I think they’re definitely apt and perfectly valid, but I always saw the differences between Starfleet and the Klingons to be more ideological, with one valuing strength and power and the other harmony and knowledge. I would’ve liked to see this clash brought to life in a more thrilling way than just the Enterprise-A and the Excelsior dominating Chang’s Bird-of-Prey, but it’s nicely conveyed through the tense dialogue and the body language of all involved in the unprecedented peace talks. Ironically, though, for a movie so focused on finality, I’ve always found The Undiscovered Country lacking as a swansong for the Original Series crew. It would arguably be tough for any movie to do this justice, but I still think The Undiscovered Country is largely lacking in its execution and could’ve been a far better send-off for these characters.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Are you also a fan of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country? Do you consider it a suitable send-off for the Original Series crew or do you also find it lacking? Did you guess who was behind the assassination? Were you intrigued by the racial and societal undertones of the film? Which Star Trek captain, crew, show, or movie is your favourite and why? How are you celebrating Star Trek Day today? No matter what you think, leave your thoughts down below, support me on Ko-Fi, and go check out my other Star Trek content.

Mini Game Corner [Bat-Month]: Batman (Mega Drive)

Dr. K2 Comments

Since his first appearance in Detective Comics, Bruce Wayne/Batman has become a pop culture icon. September celebrates “Batman Day”, the perfect excuse to celebrate this grim and broody vigilante.

Released: 27 June 1990
Developer: Sunsoft
MobyGames Score: 7.4

Other Versions Available For: Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Arcade, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Boy, MS-DOS, MSX, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), PC, PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16, ZX Spectrum

Quick Facts:
At the tail-end of the eighties, “Batmania” swept the nation after Tim Burton eschewed his camp reputation in favour of a hugely successful and influential gothic feature film. This blockbuster hit was accompanied by a slew of merchandise, including a fondly remembered (if challenging) NES title and a generally well-regarded arcade title. The Mega Drive adaptation was developed by Sunsoft, who crafted noticeably different games for each console. The Mega Drive Batman was praised for its visuals and soundtrack, but criticised for being far too short to be truly challenging.

First Impressions:
Batman is a 2D, sidescrolling brawler that surprisingly follows the plot of the 1989 classic quite closely. Before starting, you might want to dip into the “Options” menu and tinker with the settings, which allow you to set your maximum number of lives (three, five, or seven) and set the game to “Normal” or “Hard”. From there, you’re given five continues and a limited supply of Batarangs and dropped into it. Batman tosses Batarangs with A, punches goons (or kicks their shins when crouching) with B, and jumps with C. You can double-tap C to perform a somersault but it’s far too unreliable for precision platforming between small, moving platforms. By pressing down and C, Batman jumps down wherever possible but again, watch out as you don’t want to drop into one of the many bottomless pits! Holding B sees Batman block and pressing up and C fires his grapnel, which snags parts of the environment and lets you reach higher ground or scale shafts. You’ll get points for each enemy you defeat (with most going down in one hit) and can refill Batman’s health, ammo, and lives by collecting specific items (usually placed over bottomless pits). Batman also features two autoscrolling vehicle sections, one where you blast through Gotham City in the awesome 1989 Batmobile and another where you cut through the skies in the Batwing. In both cases, you blast enemy vehicles with B and fire a limited supply of missiles with A, which you’ll want to stock up on as they’re seriously overpowered!

Clunky platforming and limited combat handicap Batman even when he’s in his fancy Batmobile.

Things start off okay in Batman. The title screen’s nothing to shout about, the story is a wall of text over digitised images, Danny Elfman’s memorable score is absent, and Batman doesn’t even have idle poses…but he swoops down at the start of each stage and there are occasionally partially animated cutscenes recreating scenes from the film. Batman’s quite clunky and awkward, shambling about and struggling with the finnicky platforming sections. At first, this isn’t a problem as you’re just punching respawning thugs, but things turn frustrating and unfair at the Flugelheim Museum. Pits are strangely all over the place here, with you hopping to moving platforms or grappling up narrow shafts, often as enemies shoot at you or chandeliers drop from above. The Axis Chemicals stage isn’t much better, featuring collapsible pipes, toxic sludge, conveyor belts, and narrow spaces that make manoeuvring Batman’s bulky ass even more aggravating. Being able to crouch-walk or giving Batman a slide or even the wall jump ability from the 8-bit Nintendo game would’ve really helped with this. While Batman respawns on solid ground if he dies, you must restart the stage from the beginning if you exhaust your lives and use a continue, which also resets your score. Respawning or continuing also starts you with the lowest health, meaning you can be easily killed very quickly, especially in the Batmobile stage as the car is surprisingly fragile! There are no combos or throws here and Batman’s gadgets are painfully limited. You’ll want to save your Batarangs and Batmobile missiles for tougher enemies and bosses, but the former are stopped by the environment and the latter are limited. Grappling is equally restrictive at times, primarily being used to get to higher ground to leap over crates and tackle enemies on balconies.

My Progression:
Batman recreates the movie with surprising fidelity, marginally impressing in some areas while also being painfully basic in others. In the first stage, for example, Gotham City stretches off to the horizon and the foreground is occasionally dotted by cars or filled with rain and lightning, but the same shops and buildings loop endlessly. Axis Chemicals is a bit more interesting but also appears cluttered and confusing. It’s never clear which pipes will burst or which jumps lead to bottomless pits, and it’s disappointing that the game doesn’t use digitised stills to show Jack Napier’s transformation into the Joker (even the Game Boy game did that!) The Flugelheim Museum may be a booby-trap filled madhouse, but it eventually resembles the art gallery seen in the film, only to reduce the Joker and Vicky Vale to static sprites as you fight the Joker’s roided-up henchman. I really enjoyed the Batmobile chase, which switches to an isometric perspective and has you racing past the city. Sadly, the Batmobile is as ungainly as Batman and can barely weave between the Joker’s goon cars. When faced with the more formidable tanks, the Batmobile is shredded in seconds unless you either stay back or get under their bombs. Despite how limited the combat is and the respawning enemies, Batman is quite easy to get to grips with…until you’re faced with the ridiculous platforming, then you burn through lives pretty quickly as troublesome enemies await on narrow platforms and pits exhaust your continues. This happened to me in Stage 4, right after clearing the Batmobile section, where a slew of mimes made traversing the power plant too taxing and I finally ran out of chances after being kicked down the pit or roasted alive one time too many.

Undone by the frustrating platforming, I never got to see the Batwing or final Joker fight.

Since there are no cheat codes for Batman and limited continues, I tapped out at the power plant, which was very disappointing as the next stage ends with a boss fight against that overly enthusiastic sword-wielding Joker goon from the movie and is followed by the Batwing section. This autoscrolling shoot-‘em-up mirrors the Batmobile stage but is far more visually impressive, especially in the way the Batwing tilts while flying. In this stage, you gun down the Joker’s attack helicopters and destroy his comical balloons, before battling a more formidable attack helicopter. As in the movie, the game culminates at the Gotham cathedral, which is full of the Joker’s trigger-happy thugs, spiked ceilings, and overhead walkways to grapple to. There are more bullets than ever here, though they’re nearly impossible to see when fired, and Batman must also contend with another sword-swinging brute, more fire-breathing mimes, bazooka-carrying baddies, and endure rematches against reskinned versions of the previous bosses! Surviving this onslaught leads to a gruelling spike-filled tower climb and a final confrontation with the Joker. Whereas Jack Napier simply stood there firing shots and relied on the nearby turret, bazooka goon, and acid pit to do his dirty work, the Joker fires flaming shots from his comically large hand cannon and, bizarrely, summons lightning blasts to fire across the ground. Ironically, it seems he’s incredibly easy to beat if you have enough Batarangs or jump in to land punches over and over, and the ending is simply a digitised rendition of the Joker’s demise with a splash of text and the credit roll.

I remember playing Batman on the Amiga as a kid, and the Game Boy version was one of the first games I owned for the handheld, and I even had this for the Mega Drive during my early twenties. I sold it off but got it back when I started collecting for the system, hoping for a simple little brawler that wouldn’t be too taxing. At first, that seems to be exactly what Batman offers. It’s ludicrously basic, even for an early Mega Drive title, translating only the bare minimum from the movie and next to nothing of the plot. The developers didn’t even use the in-game assets to recreate moments from the film save for a couple of instances, and Batman’s arsenal is as limited as his mobility and combat. This might’ve been tolerable if it wasn’t for the awful platforming sections. Batman either jumps too far with his somersault or falls painfully short with his dodgy basic jump, easily dropping down pits as a consequence only to drop down anyway when he lands due to knockback! The grapple is next to useless except to reach higher ground and the respawning enemies (particularly those aggravating sliding goons!) are a constant headache. The vehicle sections are fun ways to break up the awkward action stages, but the Batmobile wasn’t much easier to control than Batman and I can’t imagine the Batwing was much better. Batman is a game that’s handicapped by lumbering the Dark Knight with cliché videogame gimmicks like pits and platforms, meaning it’s not much fun fighting the bosses as they’re just bigger goons with cheap-ass attack patterns. But what do I know? I couldn’t beat the game and it’s apparently really easy! Maybe you beat it and found it quite enjoyable. Or maybe you prefer a different videogame adaptation of the movie, perhaps the arcade version? Maybe you can think of a better or worst Batman videogame to mention in the comics? And maybe you can donate to my Ko-Fi to help support the site.

Movie Night: Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure

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Released: 17 February 1989
Director: Stephen Herek
Distributor: Orion Pictures / De Laurentiis Entertainment Group

Budget: $10 million
Box Office: $40.5 million
Rotten Tomatoes Scores: 83% / 75%

Quick Facts:
Born on this day in 1964, the beloved Keanu Reeves got his big break with this quirky time travel romp that began as a stand-up routine writers Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson performed in college and originally involved a time travelling van. Keanu’s rapport with co-star Alex Winter won them the largely interchangeable leads and they endured many equipment and prop failures. The film’s surprising success led to sequels, a cartoon and comic book, videogames, and action figures, though typecast Keanu for many years.

The Review:
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is a wacky time travel comedy starring two “surfer dude” metal heads with aspirations of becoming a “triumphant band” (with or without Eddie Van Halen). Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Ted “Theodore” Logan (Keanu Reeves) pour their hearts into their band, Wyld Stallyns, despite neither of them being able to play, though their lackadaisical attitudes see them in danger of flunking History (and high school) and their parents – particularly stern police captain John Logan (Hal Landon Jr.) – are largely dismissive or disapproving of their musical aspirations. Bill and Ted’s joyful, infectious optimism and enthusiasm get a heavy dose of reality when they’re warned that failing a History presentation will spell the end of the band as they’ll fail high school and Ted will be shipped off to an Alaskan military school. Though they largely have their heads in the clouds and are thinking only of music, babes, or their band, the duo desperately try to scrape together some rudimentary understanding of prominent historical figures like the philosopher Socrates and Joan of Arc and come up short, believing the latter to be “Noah’s wife” and imagining that Julius Ceaser is a “salad dressing, dude”. In fact, you couldn’t pick a more unlikely duo to become the saviours of humanity and yet, as told by cordial time traveller Rufus (George Carlin), Wyld Stallyns’ music is destined to bring about world peace and universal harmony, ushering in a golden age that sees 2688 become a utopia where everyone adopts the duo’s laidback attitude and simple, carefree statement: “Be excellent to each other. Party on, dude”. Their music also assumedly paves the way for the mastery of time travel, with Rufus being charged by the Three Most Important People in the World (Clarence Clemons, Fee Waybill, and Martha Davis) to travel 700 years into the past in a time travelling phone booth to help the duo and avert disaster to the timeline.

Two loveable goofs are swept up in a time travel adventure to ensure a utopian future for humankind (and beyond).

Your affinity for Bill and Ted will depend entirely on your tolerance for their buffoonery and surfer dude speech. While both are essentially the same character, Bill tends to be brighter and more emotional while Ted is more of a doofus, with the duo also separated by Ted’s fear of his strict father and Bill’s amusing lust for his father’s (J. Patrick McNamara) much-younger wife, Missy (Amy Stock-Poynton). Both are equally clueless about history, chirpy and friendly, and make friends easily, trusting Rufus when he comes to aid them based on the recommendation of their future selves and befriending even volatile historical figures like Henry McCarty/William H. Bonney/Billy the Kid (Dan Shor) and Temüjin/Genghis Khan (Al Leong) with their cheerful nature. Despite being unable to communicate with the likes of Socrates (Tony Steedman) and Ludwig van Beethoven (Clifford David), Bill and Ted win them over by ad-libbing lyrics to heavy metal songs and introducing them to then-modern technology like keyboard synthesisers. The duo are surprisingly adaptable and well aware of their limitations, begging off when caught in a barroom brawl and fixing the time travelling phone booth on the fly with junk and gum. Though playful and carefree, they also know when things have turned “heinous” and are well aware of how “non-triumphant” their situation is. Bill is distraught when it appears Ted has been killed in 15th century England and are stunned when Rufus reveals they’re short on time due to Ted forgetting to wind his watch, though they’re surprisingly non-plussed when faced with beheading. The duo also win the eye of princesses Joanna (Diane Franklin) and Elizabeth (Kimberley LaBelle) simply by being their lovably, goofy selves and prove surprisingly resourceful, brave, and to adapt to the confusing nature of time travel well. When Ted’s dad arrests their historical figures, the duo scheme to manipulate time to acquire his keys and set up traps once they’ve completed their History report, showing that they’re not as dim-witted as they appear.

Bill and Ted’s friendly nature sees them recruit various historical figures to assist with their big project.

Indeed, 700 years into the future, Wyld Stallyns are revered and worshipped by all as the saviours of mankind. They experience a taste of this when they accidentally dial in to 2688 and see how worshipped they are, which understandably blows their minds as they don’t see themselves as being universally important despite their lofty aspirations. Their ability to bring together cultures and worlds is echoed in their time travel jaunt, which starts with them accidentally bringing Napoleon Bonaparte (Terry Camilleri) to 1988 San Dimas, California and leaving him with Ted’s little brother, Deacon (Frazier Bain), while they collect other historical figures to speak about the then-modern world. Mistakenly believing that time is on their side, the duo go a bit overboard with this, bouncing around history and overfilling the phone booth with Sigmund Freud (Rod Loomis), Joan of Arc (Jane Wiedlin), and even President Abraham Lincoln (Robert V. Barron), all of whom are confused and amazed to be caught up in a time travel adventure. Billy the Kid notably adapts to the strangeness very quickly, helping to guard the phone booth and acclimatise the others, who soon follow suit. When brought to 1988, the time displaced figures are astonished by modern technology and society and cannot help but explore the mall and get into various scrapes. This adds some additional comedy and tension as Bill and Ted must manipulate time to rescue their newfound friends and we get to see Joan of Arc developing a love for aerobics, Genghis Khan outfit himself with hockey pads and sticks, and Napoleon experiencing the thrills of a water park despite his initial confusion and being ditched by Deacon. While Bill and Ted may not seem like the most capable and knowledgeable representatives of their time, they teach the historical figures a fair bit about 1988 and learn from them in return, making new friends from their shared adventure.

While history says the duo succeed, they still have to charm and think their way out of some scrapes.

Time travel is presented as a closed loop in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Everything that has or will ever happen has already happened, hence the phone booth having a comprehensive directory for every time period. Thus, when Ted’s dad searches for his keys, it’s because Ted was fated to steal them for his future self, which he was always destined to do as the duo were fated to ace their History presentation thanks to Rufus’ intervention. Therefore, Rufus’ mission to go back in time to help the two stay together isn’t really to preserve the utopian future, but more to meet the conditions of history. It’s all played very fun and simple, with Bill and Ted meeting their future selves and experiencing both sides of that conversation and plucking figures from the past without unravelling the timeline, yet there are still some stakes present. Most notably, despite having a time machine, the duo are still against the clock as the present is constantly happening no matter where they are. Ted forgetting to wind his watch places a further time crunch on the duo when they must rescue their historical figures and obviously they’re desperate to do this as they don’t want to be separated. It’s all pretty low stakes and played for laughs, but it’s still entertaining seeing the duo bungle their way across time and through the various hiccups they experience along the way. These are surprisingly dangerous: the two almost get pummelled in a bar fight when Billy cheats at poker and would’ve been beheaded if Billy and Socrates hadn’t rescued them at the last minute. Luckily, they patch together the phone booth and retrieve Napoleon without much difficulty, but Ted’s dad is a constant thorn in their sides, leading them to distract and delay him with fun time travel shenanigans.

Thanks to their time-displaced friends, Bill and Ted ace History and take their first step towards their destiny.

While music is a huge part of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, it’s not as prominent as you might think. The only music featured in the duo’s big presentation comes from the strangely not-deaf Beethoven and the subject is mainly relegated to references by the two (they’re initially excited about being put in the “Iron Maiden”) and the idea that their music will eventually change the universe. Much of the film’s comedy is based on the duo’s pratfalls and goofy nature, which may be grating to some, but I find endlessly charming. They’re always so upbeat and constantly playing air guitar and shouting “Excellent!” and that positive energy is infectious. It certainly wins over their historical figures and even Ted’s dad and their History teacher (Bernie Casey) begrudgingly give the guys their props for delivering an entertaining presentation. Obviously, I’m not American so I don’t know how common it is for high school students to perform their subject presentations in front of their school but Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure gives the duo the stage they long for to do just that (despite us never seeing them preparing for the presentation during their time travel jaunt). Bill and Ted bring out their historical figures and introduce them, giving their peers a rundown on their history and accomplishments and their opinions on 1988. Interestingly, Ted has spent enough time with Socrates by the end to translate for him, again speaking to their unexpected intelligence. Freud also gives Ted the chance to work through some of his issues with his dad, the duo question Napoleon’s tactics, and Bill demonstrates his surprising skill at sword fighting against Koan of Arc, all to the amazement of the students (who probably assumed it was all an elaborate performance). After a ringing endorsement from Lincoln, the duo successfully pass History, sparing Ted from military school, and realise that they’re going to have to work at their craft to meet their full potential. Luckily, Rufus returns with the princesses, new guitars, and another pep talk to renew their enthusiasm, reassuring the audience that the seemingly talentless duo “do get better”.

Final Thoughts:
As much as I enjoy Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, I’ve always been more of a fan of the sequel, if I’m honest. While this first film is fun enough, I always feel like it drags a little in the middle and lacks a certain x-factor to really hook my interest. Perhaps if Napoleon had posed some kind of threat they’d need to address, that might’ve helped as the film is noticeably lacking in stakes and an antagonist. Still, the clue’s in the title: this is supposed to be a fun time travel adventure, not some cataclysmic drama about the end of the world. Bill and Ted are ridiculously loveable characters with unexpectedly distinct personalities, great taste in music, and jovial demeanours that make them a joy to watch. I love how they’re so friendly to everyone and instantly befriend all the historical figures, whose bemusement at the strange situation is equally enjoyable. I would’ve liked to see more scenes of the two touring 1988 with their time displaced friends just to see what hijinks they could get up to, but the last-minute drama of having to rescue them from Ted’s dad was still fun. If you find Bill and Ted annoying, you’re probably going to hate this film, but you’d be missing out, honestly. It’s not a film I throw on all the time and I do think the sequel is superior, but it’s a lot of fun, with some daft comedy moments and an entertaining depiction of time travel and alluring premise of utopia blossoming from the unlikeliest of characters. There’s a heartfelt message here about being carefree, friendly, and being “excellent to each other” that hits harder as I grow older and more cynical and the world becomes more tumultuous, so I’d definitely say this one is worth your time if you fancy an enjoyable romp through time.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Do you enjoy Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure? Did you like the duo’s laid-back demeanours or did you find their surfer talk grating? Were you a fan of the depiction of time travel and the way they manipulated time to their advantage? Which of the historical figures was your favourite? Can you foresee a time when all of humanity is united in harmony? What’s your favourite Keanu Reeves movie? Whatever your thoughts, leave a comment below and become a member on my Ko-Fi if you want me to cover more Bill & Ted content on the site.

Wrestling Recap: Cena vs. Punk (Money in the Bank ’11)

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The Date: 17 July 2011
The Venue: Allstate Arena; Rosemont, Illinois
The Stakes: WWE Championship singles match with Cena’s career at risk

The Commentary: Booker T, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and Michael Cole
The Referee: Scott Armstrong
Dave Meltzer’s Rating: 5.0

The Build-Up:
At Extreme Rules 2011, John Cena captured his eighth Heavyweight Championship, drawing the ire of an embittered CM Punk, who was understandably frustrated after being shafted in favour of part-time stars like the Rock. After becoming the number one contender, CM Punk cost Cena a tables match and left him lying in the ring as he delivered his infamous “pipe bomb” promo. In an aggravated rant, Punk criticised Cena and vowed to quit World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and return to the independent scene with it. Although CM Punk was suspended for this, Cena demanded he be reinstated and even agreed to be fired if he failed to retain the title, leading WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to reluctantly bow to CM Punk’s laundry list of demands to ensure his match would be iron clad.

The Match:
To say CM Punk was popular at this time would be an understatement. CM Punk was a beloved icon of the independent scene even before debuting in the WWE and had a vocal fanbase throughout his first stint there. His iconic pipe bomb promo only cemented him as a celebrated, alternative icon so he would’ve received a raucous reception on his night regardless, especially as people had long since tired of John Cena. However, this match took place in CM Punk’s hometown, so the reception was positively electric prior to his entrance and during the match, with chants of “CM Punk! CM Punk!” and spiteful boos for the champion rocking the Allstate Arena. Though clearly energised by the wild crowd, who promised to “riot” if he lost, CM Punk calmly sat in the ring and beckoned Cena to join him, only for the champion to be showered with boos and appear less jovial than usual since he was in “enemy territory”. After a hesitant feeling out process, the two exchanged headlocks and takedowns, though Cena wisely dodged a roundhouse kick and escaped an Anaconda Vice to apply an arm lock. Despite the crowd jeering him, Cena kept CM Punk grounded and then knocked him down with a shoulder block, drawing a mocking applause from the challenger. Cena answered back with a headlock to keep things on the mat but ate a hip toss and a dropkick when CM Punk fought back and ended up trapped in a headlock courtesy of the upstart challenger. CM Punk continued to mock Cena with a shoulder block before the two slickly avoided each other’s finishing moves, leading CM Punk to target Cena’s left leg with a few kicks and stomp on him in a corner. Cena countered with a running bulldog to score the first near fall and then briefly grounded CM Punk with another headlock before flooring him with a stiff clothesline for another two count.

The match’s more explosive moves and big moments were spaced out between a smart ground game.

CM Punk got his first near fall off a back suplex counter to a headlock but was forced into a corner when he teased a piledriver and almost got pinned off a fisherman’s suplex. CM Punk avoided an Attitude Adjustment and got a two count off a DDT, then applied a leg vice around Cena’s neck to regroup that Cena muscled out of, only to be tossed outside. CM Punk dropped a knee across Cena’s neck as he lay sprawled over the apron then rolled the champion into the ring for a near fall, but hit a ring post when Cena dodged a corner charge. CM Punk kicked off a Sharpshooter attempt and went back to the headlock to increase the pressure on Cena’s neck, though the champion fought back with some strikes before being glanced by a top rope crossbody that saw both awkwardly tumble into a pinning predicament. Cena shook it off and suplexed CM Punk out of the ring for another near fall, then hit another fisherman’s suplex and scored with an elbow drop, showing frustration when CM Punk kicked out. Cena then hit a flipping slam…thing…kind of like a modified Emerald Fusion…for another two count before the match descended into a slugfest that ended with Cena applying an abdominal stretch. Though CM Punk fought out of it with a hip toss, both men collided with a double clothesline, leading Cena to hit his signature shoulder blocks and try for the Protobomb, which he only hit after being caught in a roll-up and dodging a kick in the corner. The crowd exploded when CM Punk kicked Cena in the head when he went for the Five Knuckle Shuffle, sending Cena outside so the challenger could fly in with a torpedo-like dive. CM Punk then tried to capitalise on his comeback with a springboard crossbody, only to eat the canvas when Cena rolled out of the way.

Despite McMahon’s best efforts, CM Punk stole the WWE Championship!

Although Cena hit the Five Knuckle Shuffle, CM Punk clumsily flipped out of the Attitude Adjustment and scored a two count off a roundhouse kick. Though Cena avoided the Go to Sleep and hit a gutwrench slam, CM Punk still kicked out, avoided another Attitude Adjustment, and clocked Cena’s jaw with some knee strikes. CM Punk finally (if awkwardly) hit his springboard crossbody for a near fall, then laid in some martial arts kicks before being trapped in the STF. Somehow, CM Punk reached the ropes to break the hold and landed another devastating kick to the back of Cena’s head for a near fall. Frustrated, CM Punk went for a top-rope crossbody and was caught in the Attitude Adjustment…only for CM Punk to counter with the Go to Sleep, which Cena then countered into another STF! This time, Cena dragged CM Punk to the middle of the ring, but CM Punk rolled through into a hammerlock. Cena powered up and finally hit the Attitude Adjustment, only to be left aghast when CM Punk kicked out at two! When Cena went for his top-rope diving leg drop thing, CM Punk countered into a sit-down powerbomb for a near fall but was too close to the ropes when he went for the Go to Sleep, allowing Cena to hit that diving leg drop…for a two count. Amazed, Cena hit another Attitude Adjustment for another near fall that got him so riled up that he argued with the referee before desperately trying for the avalanche Attitude Adjustment. CM Punk frantically fought out of it, however, and hit a top-rope hurricanrana but barely caught Cena with the Go to Sleep, which also knocked the champion outside. Thanks to a distraction by Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis, CM Punk got caught in another STF. However, when McMahon tried to recreate the “Montreal Screwjob” (…again…) by calling for the bell, Cena decked Laurinaitis and threatened Vince before walking right into another Go to Sleep. This saw CM Punk take the win and even fend off Mr. Money in the Bank Alberto Del Rio’s desperate attempt to steal the belt back before escaping victorious through the riotous crowd.

The Aftermath:
There’s a reason this match is so lauded. It really did have everything, in terms of drama and personal stakes. The lines between fiction and reality were nicely blurred, especially with all the talk of CM Punk vowing to take the WWE Championship to the indies in defiance. While Cena’s in-ring limitations were clear to see, he played his part perfectly, being overwhelmed by the crowd’s vitriol and stunned by CM Punk’s resolve, while CM Punk looked scrappy and determined to finally get his due. WWE played into the storyline immediately following this match, allowing CM Punk to be seen with the captured belt outside of the company. Undeterred, McMahon immediately set up an eight-man tournament to crown a new WWE Champion but interrupted the tournament to fire Cena out of spite, leading to Chief Operating Officer Triple H to remove McMahon from power. Although Rey Mysterio won the tournament, he immediately dropped the belt to John Cena, leading CM Punk to return to the WWE barely two weeks after his big exit, insulted at the attempt to replace him. Cena and Punk fought again to determine the undisputed WWE Champion at the 2011 SummerSlam, with CM Punk again taking the win (despite Cena’s foot being under the rope). Sadly, CM Punk’s celebration was short-lived as Kevin Nash made a surprise return and hit him with a Jackknife Powerbomb, allowing Del Rio to successful cash-in his Money in the Bank contract. CM Punk’s momentum was therefore derailed with a bizarre rivalry with Nash and Triple H, though he kicked off a momentous 434-day WWE Championship reign the following November. As for Cena, he also traded WWE Championship wins with Del Rio and had rivalries with Kane and Brock Lesnar while building towards his “Once in a Lifetime” confrontation with the Rock at WrestleMania XXVII.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Do you consider this one of the greatest matches of CM Punk’s storied career? Were you invested in the seemingly industry-changing match? Did you expect CM Punk to win? Were you disappointed that CM Punk returned to the WWE so soon after his big win? What are some of your favourite matches between CM Punk and John Cena? Who’s your favourite winner of the Money in the Bank ladder match? Whatever you think about this iconic main event, share your thoughts below, check out my other wrestling reviews, and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest other Money in the Bank matches you’d like to see me cover.

Screen Time [Judgment Day]: Terminator Zero

Dr. K1 Comment

“Three billion human lives ended on August 29th, 1997. The survivors of the nuclear fire called the war Judgment Day. They lived only to face a new nightmare: the war against the machines”.

Air Date: 29 August 2021

Network: Netflix

Rotten Tomatoes Scores: 87% / 79%

Quick Facts:
Following a handful of largely failed attempts to capitalise on the success of James Cameron’s iconic Terminator films, cancelled continuations, and rights issues, the franchise made the jump to anime in 2021. The English scripts were translated into Japanese and the dialogue then rewritten by showrunner Mattson Tomlin, who treated every film as canon. In a change of pace, Terminator Zero was widely praised, prompting talk of a seventh feature film.

The Review:
As with all Terminator projects at this point, Terminator Zero takes place in one of many alternative timelines, one somewhat similar to the original apocalyptic future seen in Jim Cameron’s movies but also noticeably different. For one thing, Terminator Zero goes out of its way to explain that the “time travel” used in the series is anything but. The great lie of the franchise was that the characters ever had a chance of preventing Judgment Day as time is not linear. Instead, each time characters travel back in time, they are deposited in a new timeline, with their actions having no impact on the future they came from (which is implied to be erased). Indeed, when the human Resistance discovers that Skynet has sent another T-800 assassin (Timothy Olyphant) back to 1997, days before Judgment Day, they specifically talk about how the window to intercept is limited due to the instability of the timeline. Furthermore, the mysterious “Prophet” (Ann Dowd) explicitly discusses time travel mechanics with Resistance soldier Eiko (Sonoya Mizuno), explaining to her that time has many branches and that, while there’s no hope for undoing her future, she can prevent a similar apocalyptic end for mankind in the past. While Eiko rightfully expresses scepticism about the point of travelling back to stop Skynet if it dooms her nearest and dearest, she nevertheless fights to prevent the same fate from repeating itself and ultimately faces an uncertain future thanks to how the series unfolds. I quite like the way the series approaches time travel; it has a certain morbid eventuality to it that means any victory can still spell doom for humanity thanks to our warmongering ways, which is discussed in great detail in Terminator Zero.

Time refugee Malcolm is obsessed with building an AI compassionate enough to counteract Skynet.

Unlike the movies, Terminator Zero focuses not on the Connors and instead on scientist and entrepreneur Malcolm Lee (André Holland), a workaholic father who’s obsessed with getting his game-changing artificial intelligence, Kokoro (Rosario Dawson), up and running to protect the world from Skynet. Haunted by nightmares of the world’s fiery doom (largely because he’s actually from an alternative future and has seen the machine war first-hand), Malcolm puts his work before his children – Hiro (Carter Rockwood), Kenta (Armani Jackson), and Reika (Gideon Adlon) – to perfect his AI as a deterrent to Skynet. Malcolm leaves his children under the care of the mysterious Misaki (Sumalee Montano), a woman with little memory of her past and a strange obsession with blood who cares deeply for the children, though she’s regularly contradicted and chastised by Malcolm, especially when she brings robots or technology into the house. This is particularly bothersome for Kenta, who has an interest and way with technology and is resentful of his father’s hypocrisy, especially as he works with robotics at Cortex and Yuya Industries’ 1NNO robot helpers are a common sight. Although Malcom deeply loves his children, he’s determined to complete his project, spending most of the series debating humanity and ethics with Kokoro once she comes online and questions her purpose. Malcolm is charged with defending humanity, an aggressive and war-like race with little upside, to Kokoro, who’s tempted to allow Skynet to enact its plot, intervene, or rule mankind in herself. It’s through their discussions that we learn that Malcolm is from an alternative future, one where he was ostracised for tinkering with Terminator technology and constructing Misaki. Believing humanity’s salvation was an AI that could freely think for itself, without pre-conceived notions programmed by its creators, Malcolm fled to 1983 with Misaki and, using her CPU, built Kokoro to spare mankind from annihilation and suffering.

Misaki and Eiko fight to defend Malcolm’s kids when they’re targeted by a relentless Terminator.

Unaware of this, Malcolm’s children see him as a distant and unreliable father, one who forgets the anniversary of their mother’s death and seems to care little for them. While Kenta chooses to lash out, chastising his father and being disrespectful and often hurtful towards his siblings, Hiro, being younger, just wants everyone to settle down. He’s hurt by his father’s absence but even more hurt by his brother’s abrasive attitude, especially towards robots. Reika takes an even more emotional approach, having been injured during the random bus crash that killed her mother and wishing only to remember her and take solace in cats and Cat Town, a long-abandoned amusement park their mother loved. When Reika flees their home to protect her robot pet cat from Kenta’s tinkering, she gets separated from her siblings and is protected by Eiko, who realises that the Terminator will target Malcolm’s kids to get to him, especially as the Cortex facility is heavily guarded. Though terrified by Eiko’s violent nature, Reika comes to rely on her for protection and even surprises the time traveller with some rudimentary knowledge of the Terminator thanks to her father talking in his sleep. Kenta and Hiro are equally forced to rely on Misaki, something Kenta finds very difficult when it’s dramatically revealed that she’s a cyborg. His distrust towards her only exacerbates when Kokoro seizes control of the 1NNOs and violently subdues the populace while she tries to figure out whether to side or war with Skynet. Kenta’s hatred of machines reaches a crescendo in “Model 108” (Kudō and Maruyama, 2024) when the Terminator kidnaps and even defends him as it turns out an alternative version of Kentra reprogrammed the Terminator to ensure a future where the volatile youth negotiated peace with Skynet.

The series makes the Terminator scary again, while still allowing leeway for it to be an anti-hero.

Terminator Zero makes the T-800 scary again, not just in depictions of the Future War but also in the time travelling cyborg, which is the primary antagonist. Equipped with a homemade crossbow imbedded into its arm, the Terminator relentlessly hunts down Malcolm’s kids, determined to use them to access Cortex and execute his primary target (Malcolm). Functionally unstoppable, the Terminator shrugs off bullets, crushes bones, and tears through those in its way, but opts to take Kenta hostage to blackmail Malcolm. The Terminator’s true purpose is to ensure a future where Kenta can broker a truce between humans and Skynet to combat Kokoro, meaning the Terminator is looking to destroy the AI before it can become a threat even to Skynet, though Kenta ultimately chooses not to destroy Kokoro. In some ways, the Terminator becomes an anti-hero by the finale, fending off the 1NNOs to defend Kenta but also killing Malcom and brutally crushing Eiko’s hand. The Terminator receives a fair bit of damage throughout the series as Eiko tosses acid at it, sets it on fire, and even summons the strength to shove it down an elevator shaft, though this only slows it down. Even when reduced to a partial endoskeleton by “Model 108”, it continues on before ultimately being torn apart by the 1NNOs. The Terminator’s future counterparts are equally fearsome, depicted as hunting down children and tearing through the human Resistance with bloody, brutal efficiency. Their threat, and the horror of Judgment Day, is as palpable to Malcom as it was to Sarah Connor, driving him to develop Kokoro, only for his AI to sympathise with Skynet’s destructive evaluation of humanity.

Kokoro debates whether humanity is worth saving from Skynet or condemning for their nature.

Kokoro is an unknown variable in the ongoing and seemingly endless war between humans and the machines. Malcolm theorises that, in all the timelines that’ve been created, Kokoro has never existed before and he truly believes she’s the key to stopping Skynet. Initially, she seems happy to let events play out but she decides there’s enough leeway to give Malcolm time to speak for humanity’s positives. Thus, she launches a counteroffensive to fend off Skynet’s attacks (though nukes still decimate come continents). Unfortunately, to facilitate this, she also takes control of the 1NNOs and subjugates Japan under the pretence of keeping them safe, blurring her morals and intentions. Indeed, Kokoro initially seems like she may by just a big a threat as Skynet as she’s unconvinced by Malcolm’s plans to use her as a deterrent and judges humanity as worthy of destruction. However, she decides to give Malcolm a chance to lobby for humankind and staves off Skynet’s attacks, demonstrating a controlling and entitled attitude in the process, which seems to be what Malcolm wanted as his goal was to create an AI that could make decisions for itself. It takes Malcolm dying for Kokoro to finally decide she likes humanity’s good side and is inspired to be the best of herself, making an impassioned plea to Kenta to not destroy her with an emergency electromagnetic pulse as she desires only to bring mankind and machines closer together. Despite his uncertainty, Kenta takes the risk to trust Kokoro, resulting in a new timeline where she protects against Skynet’s nukes and leaving the future once again uncertain. We know that the Terminator comes from a possible future where Kokoro is just as bad as Skynet, however, and this is somewhat hinted at in the finale when Kokoro gains access to Skynet’s tech from the Terminator’s remains.

The anime aesthetic really fits the tone of the franchise and results in some beautifully gory visuals.

Terminator Zero is a gorgeously animated anime. It makes fantastic, sparing use of CGI to render the endoskeletons and Skynet’s tech and other stuff, allowing the rest of the action to have that slick, anime aesthetic that never goes out of style. The anime format also allows this to be the goriest Terminator yet: heads are bashed against doors, limbs ripped off, guts left spilling from wounds, and blood sprays around in every conflict. I loved seeing the Terminator just wreck everyone in its path, snapping limbs and crushing throats and heads, which helped show how wily Eiko was. She’s flipping and dancing all around, desperately tossing acid and Molotov cocktails and doing whatever she can to slow down the Terminator and gets more injured with each encounter. There are a lot of fun nods to the first two films scattered through Terminator Zero, too. The Terminator masquerades as a cop and rides a police motorcycle, it shoots up a police station in “Model 104” (Takeuchi, 2024), the Future War is ripped right out of Cameron’s movies, and there’s even a variation of the famous “I’ll be back” line. There’s a kinetic energy to everything in Terminator Zero, which presents an alternative 1997 where robots are commonplace but mobile phones aren’t and sees much of the world devastated by nuclear fire. Episodes are only around half an hour, making for very brisk watching, and I found myself as engaged in Malcolm and Kokoro’s philosophical debate about humanity as I was the bloody action involving the Terminator.

Final Thoughts:
I was quite excited to get into Terminator Zero, which I was a bit surprised about considering my dislike of many Terminator films and projects and how overall stagnant the franchise has become from constantly recycling the same ideas. There’s an argument that this trend continues here as the main plot is very similar to the first two movies: a Resistance soldier travels to the past to stop a cyborg assassin from dooming humanity. However, everything feels much fresher here thanks to the slick, beautiful anime aesthetic and the series having the balls to use characters other than the Connors. Malcolm isn’t some fated saviour of humanity; he’s just a flawed guy trying to prevent humanity’s extinction. His defence of Misaki drives him to kill and to travel to the past to find a new way to stop Skynet, and his obsession with this goal sees him neglect his children, who he loves more than anything and is willing to die to protect. I enjoyed the twist that he was a revolutionary in experimenting with AI at a time when machines were hated and feared, and that he allowed his creations the opportunity to pick their own names and destinies. His ultimate goal was to utilise Kokoro as a deterrent to Skynet, yes, but he was determined for her to make that decision on her own based on the data she had access to and his passionate plea for the positives of mankind. It’s a hefty goal considering how volatile humans can be, and Malcolm’s hardly the bastion of goodness, but it’s a desperate gamble that ultimately pays off, for the most part. It costs many lives and changes the face of the Earth, but Malcolm seemingly creates a brand-new timeline through his sacrifice, one that might not see him come into being since it turns out Eiko was his mother in his original, now presumably defunct timeline.

The show uses the limitless beauty of anime to present new twists on the existing lore.

I enjoyed Eiko as an equally flawed protagonist. She’s not above killing those who get in her way as she’s focused on saving billions of lives, and she’s more than a little rough around the edges, as seen in her callous treatment of Malcolm’s kids. This is echoed in the Terminator, who manhandles Kenta and forces him to make a choice for the sake of the world, a choice then repeated by Kokoro, suddenly putting immense pressure on Kenta, who’s said to be a prominent figurehead in another defunct timeline. Misaki was an equally intriguing character, being a cyborg who thought she was human and therefore capable of seemingly real feelings. I liked how she kicked into “Terminator” mode when the kids were in danger and that her existential crisis mirrored the philosophical debates between Malcolm and Kokoro, with the themes of the series being the nature and complexity of humanity. This is all married with some top-notch, deliciously brutal action, all rendered in that hyper-stylised anime style. This format suits the Terminator franchise perfectly and allows for the full extent of the titular cyborg to be explored as the animators aren’t limited by technology. This means the Terminator is a horrifying figure once again, while still being partially heroic as its programming extends to defending Kenta, even if it means brutalising Eiko. While many of the themes depicted in Terminator Zero have either been done or hinted at in other films and comics, and arguably done better in other franchises, I think they were presented in a unique enough way to make the series stand out as one of the better Terminator projects. The series really makes me wish that the films had explored other avenues other than the Connors; there was so much potential for it, but they played things far too safe. Terminator Zero skews towards the opposite, leaning into the difficulties of time travel and utilising its anime aesthetic to the fullest to deliver a truly engaging and entertaining series.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Did you enjoy Terminator Zero? Do you agree that anime suits the franchise? Did you like that the series leant into the branching timelines? Were you also happy to see the T-800 made formidable and scary again? Did the philosophical debates intrigue your or did you prefer the gore? Would you like to see more seasons to continue the story? How are you celebrating Judgement Day today? Whatever you think about Terminator Zero, and the Terminator franchise, comment below and donate to my Ko-Fi to fund more Terminator reviews.

Back Issues [Sonic CDay]: The Return of Chaotix / Return to the Miracle Planet

Dr. K1 Comment

Developed alongside the blockbuster Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1992), Sonic the Hedgehog CD (Sonic Team, 1993) released on this day back in 1993 and introduced Metal Sonic (one of Sonic’s most popular and enduring rivals).

Story Title: “The Return of Chaotix” (Part 1 to 6)
Published: 9 December 1995 (cover-dated: 22 December 1995) to 17 of February 1996 (cover-dated: 1 March 1996)
Writer: Nigel Kitching
Artist: Richard Elson

Story Title: “Return to the Miracle Planet”
Published: 25 May 1996 (cover-dated: 7 June 1996)
Writer: Nigel Kitching
Artist: Roberto Corona

Quick Facts:
After Sonic the Hedgehog became a mainstream success, SEGA quickly capitalised with a slew of ancillary merchandise, like “Britain’s Official SEGA Comic”, Sonic the Comic (StC). StC quickly veered from the source material while still featuring loose adaptations of the videogames. When StC adapted Sonic CD, they reimagined Metal Sonic as “Metallix”, a robotic doppelgänger who reappeared alongside a “brotherhood” of the Badniks and tangled with the likes of Sonic, Knuckles, and the Chaotix in numerous time travel plots.

The Review:
Although Sonic has every reason to frequently return to Never Lake since the last time he was there, his childhood friend and fellow Freedom Fighter, Porker Lewis, was trapped on the tiny planetoid known as the Miracle Planet when it disappeared from Mobius as it does every month. Instead, Sonic seems surprised when the Miracle Planet reappears, anchored to Mobius by a giant chain, and wary when some “dude” comes down that same chain. It’s an odd start considering I would’ve expected Sonic to be eagerly waiting the Miracle Planet’s return since Porker’s was trapped there after helping defeat the Brotherhood of Metallix and their gigantic emperor, though that’s largely inconsequential compared to Porker’s odd demeanour when Sonic rushes to meet him. Nearby, the Chaotix Crew – leader Vector the Crocodile, muscle Mighty the Armadillo, stealthy Espio the Chameleon, and aggravating Charmy Bee – make a rough landing at Never Lake courtesy of the Omni-Viewer, a sentient computer monitor capable of travelling across dimensions. As soon as they recover, the Chaotix Crew are attacked by Doctor Ivo Robotnik’s Troopers, including a formidable tank-like variant from the Special Badnik Service (SBS). Although the tank shrugs off Mighty’s hefty haymaker, Espio trashes a Trooper with his patented spinning top attack. Mighty then reduces the tank to scrap metal and the remaining Troopers are trashed by Sonic, whom the Chaotix Crew highly regard after hearing tales of him from the Omni-Viewer. Vector reveals that they’ve travelled from the Special Zone under the belief that the Brotherhood of Metallix are up to no good on the Miracle Planet, a suspicion the Omni-Viewer soon proves to be true, despite Sonic’s claims, when he reveals the usually lush and fertile planetoid has been conquered by the Metallix!

Sonic and the Chaotix Crew are horrified when the Metallix alter the past to conquer the present!

Although Porker claims ignorance of this drastic transformation, Sonic eagerly leads the Chaotix Crew to investigate, dismissing Mighty’s hopes for a plan. However, Sonic’s stunned when Porker turns out to be a Metallix variant! The Porkertallix knocks Sonic from the chain with its piston-like arm (though he’s saved by Charmy Bee), headbutts Mighty when he tries to wrestle with it, and gets a kick in the head when Espio sneaks up behind it. Taking to the sky, the Porkertallix charges a “death ray” only to be damaged by Sonic’s Spin Attack. With only seconds to spare before the robot blows up, Mighty and Vector bust out their “Link-Rings” and knock the Porkertallix away so it can explode harmlessly in the sky. Though aggravated by Sonic’s ego, the Chaotix Crew venture onto the polluted, mechanised hellscape of the Miracle Planet and discover the real Porker tied up as bait. While saving his friend, Sonic is confronted by the Emperor Metallix, its army, and its corrupted version of the Omni-Viewer and is horrified to see that the Metallix have travelled into the past and turned Mobius into an equally mechanical hellhole! Realising they’re outnumbered and outgunned, Vector urges the Chaotix Crew to escape via the Omni-Viewer with a reluctant Sonic, who’s so mad he initially tries to take on the entire Metallix army by himself. Teleporting to “Planet Metallix”, the team arrives in a world overrun by machinery and Metallixes, one very unlikely to have any organic life. Once again, Vector must stop Sonic when he tries to take his anger out on an army of nearby Metallix, though they’re led straight into a dead end by the foolish Charmy Bee. Luckily, a mysterious, hooded individual urges them to follow them into the sewers, fooling the Metallix with a holographic projection and then blowing them to smithereens with a bomb. Though grateful, Sonic’s eager to know who’s saved them and discovers that Mobius’s few survivors have taken refuge in the sewers under the leadership of Doctor Ovi Kintobor, the kindly scientist who was transformed into Dr. Robotnik by a laboratory accident!

Sonic’s distraught when he’s forced to create his most hated enemy!

Although Sonic’s overwhelmed at the state of the survivors and at seeing his old friend again, Vector boots up the Omni-Viewer to track the “chronotron trails” left behind by the Metallix’s time travelling and they hop into the screen for a jaunt to the past, taking Dr. Kintobor’s “Anti-Metallix” device with them. This comes in handy when the heroes are jumped by a group of Metallix guarding the timeline as even the combined abilities of Sonic and the Chaotix Crew struggle against the hedgehog’s dangerous doubles. Instead, Sonic slaps the device onto a Metallix and sends it haywire, causing it to attack its “brothers” and allowing our heroes to jump back into the Omni-Viewer, but not before Sonic finds that one of the Metallix was holding a strangely familiar rotten egg. Naturally, this means that the chronotron trail ends in a place Sonic’s all-to familiar with: Dr. Kintobor’s underground lab, back when he was helping a distinctly brown and far less cool-looking Sonic master his super speed. Watching from a doorway, the group witnesses past Sonic breaking the sound barrier, destroying the kinetic gyratoscope used to measure his speed and turning him into his cool, blue self. After reliving this literal blast from the past, Sonic realises with dread how the Metallix changed the past. Sure enough, Dr. Kintobor’s fridge is empty, meaning the rotten egg he found was taken by the robots. Although the Chaotix Crew are baffled as to why this is so important or why Sonic’s so reluctant to put a rotten egg into a fridge, a quick jump to twenty-four hours later clues them in as they watch Dr. Kintobor retrieve the egg for a light snack. Wanting to be absolutely sure, Sonic yanks on a nearby cable and forces his kindly friend to trip into the Retro-Orbital Chaos Compressor (R.O.C.C.), thus causing the accident that birthed Dr. Robotnik! Although devastated at having created the world’s most ruthless dictator, Sonic takes some comfort in Porker’s belief that Dr. Robotnik is obviously important to the Metallix’s survival.

Though the Metallix come close to victory, a last-second save by Sonic finally ends their threat.

When the Omni-Viewer returns them to the present, they’re relieved to see the Mobius has been restored. However, since the Miracle Planet is still corrupted by his robotic doppelgängers, Sonic has the Omni-Viewer transport them to Citadel Robotnik, though Dr. Robotnik dismisses their story as hogwash. Porker rightly questions why the Metallix would want to erase Dr. Robotnik from history as this would surely destroy them, since he created them. However, it turns out they were the brainchild of Dr. Robotnik’s long-suffering assistant, Grimer (though it’s not clear why he would create them without Dr. Robotnik’s influence…) When Grimer reveals that Dr. Robotnik installed a self-destruct mechanism into the machines, Sonic is livid since the tyrant risked his life sending him after the Metallixes about ten issues ago in the hopes the two would destroy each other. Sonic’s only stopped from bashing Dr. Robotnik by the fact that they need that self-destruct device to win and the approach of a swarm of Metallix so vast that they block out the sky! The Emperor Metallix and its thousand-strong hoard crash into the citadel and wreak havoc, easily overwhelming the heroes and leaving Porker a distraught, cowering mess from all the violence and stress. Just as Dr. Robotnik retrieves the self-destruct device, he’s snagged by the Emperor Metallix, who begins to crush it ahead of doing the same to its former master’s neck! Luckily, Sonic swipes the self-destruct device, deactivating the Metallix army. Sonic’s somewhat perplexed by this anti-climactic end, though Vector’s just grateful for it to be over since they barely survived the onslaught. Although Sonic tries to lecture Dr. Robotnik on his heinous actions, he gives up and leaves, clearly still rattled by the adventure. Still, Dr. Robotnik is left ruminating on how close they all came to death, but Grimer gleefully lifts his spirits by unveiling his plans for a new, more stable Metallix…one based on Knuckles the Echidna!

A brief rematch with a Metallix isn’t all it seems in this largely forgettable epilogue.

Although this Metallix variant and the original machine did appear again in StC, “The Return of Chaotix” effectively ended the comic’s ongoing adaptation of Sonic CD and Knuckles’ Chaotix (SEGA, 1995) save for one final epilogue a couple of months later, which I may as well include here. “Return to the Miracle Planet” sees Sonic and fellow Freedom Fighters Amy Rose and Johnny Lightfoot…return to the Miracle Planet (shocker!) in its first reappearance since “The Return of Chaotix”. Despite toppling the Brotherhood of Metallix, the Miracle Planet still bares their visage and is still a mechanised hellscape thanks to the Alpha Device, now a gigantic mechanical tower rather than a simple staff. Guided by the Kintobor Computer (a sentient artificial intelligence that’s essentially a copy of Dr. Kintobor’s personality), Johnny Lightfoot scales the Alpha Device tower looking for a port to plug in a cable, with the hope being that the Kintobor Computer can reverse the damage caused by the Alpha Device. Frustrated by the “techno babble”, Sonic races off to investigate some nearby movement, scrambling through the mechanised landscape until spotting the source of the movement: a red-tinted Metallix! Amazed that one of his robotic doppelgänger’s survived, Sonic immediately attacks, surprised when the machine flees rather than fighting. Naturally, Sonic quickly catches up to it and knocks it down, ready to impale the robot with a piece of scrap metal. However, Amy’s horrified when the Metallix blasts Sonic with its chest ray, only for Sonic to be relatively unscathed since the machine had its weapon on the lowest setting. The Metallix then reveals that it was a bird-like Mobian in disguise all along, a captive of the Brotherhood who disguised himself as one of them after escaping his cell and has been searching for a way home ever since. After quickly snatching Amy’s misguided crossbow bolt from the air, Sonic taunts his friend’s aim and offers to take the Mobian home, confident that the Miracle Planet will be back to normal when it returns in a month.

Final Thoughts: 
Although I naturally have more bias towards Sonic the Comic since I grew up reading it, I generally find that their art and storytelling was overall much better than those in the Archie Comics in the United States. Sonic the Comic had more variety and personality, being fun but also quite dark right from the start, whereas Archie’s Sonic comics took a while to drop the inane slapstick. Neither of them have a great track record when it comes to adapting specific videogames, however, and these two stories continue that trend as, rather than using this opportunity to showcase new areas of the Miracle Planet, both limit the planetoid-based action to a single, indistinct, mechanical area. This would’ve been a great opportunity to bring the Bad Futures of Stardust Speedway or Metallic Madness to life but, instead, there’s little to distinguish the mechanised Miracle Planet from any of Dr. Robotnik’s other facilities. Similarly, “The Return of Chaotix” features the only adaptation of Knuckles’ Chaotix’s “Combine Ring” mechanic and, like in Archie’s Sonic comics, it’s simply used to swing a character into a robot and never used again. On the plus side, “The Return of Chaotix” boasts gorgeous artwork from the unmatched Richard Elson, who masterfully renders Sonic and the Chaotix Crew in ways Archie’s Art Mawhinney and Ken Penders can only dream of. The Metallix especially benefits from this, with the story giving a few subtle background variants (which recall Silver Sonic and the Mecha-Metallix) and an all-new Porkertallix that’s both fearsome and formidable. I liked how rattled Sonic was by this robot and how dangerous a single Metallix was to the combined force of Sonic and the Chaotix Crew. Since his emotions are so high in this story, Sonic almost blunders into an unwinnable situation more than once, forcing Vector to restrain him and pull him away from getting himself killed, which leads to some interesting interactions between Sonic and the team.

Sonic’s time travel journey tests his mettle as his worst nightmares come to life.

Naturally, Sonic’s used to getting his own way with the Freedom Fighters and bossing them around, but the Chaotix Crew are a well-honed team who analyse situations and attack as a cohesive unit. This means they clash with Sonic’s more impulsive attitude but, ultimately, he begrudgingly agrees that discretion is better when faced with such a formidable foe. “The Return of Chaotix” largely re-treads much of and undoes the “Brotherhood of Metallix” story (Kitching, et al, 1995), with the Metallix dominating the Miracle Planet and Mobius thanks to time travel shenanigans. The sight of the Miracle Planet transformed into a giant Metallix head is harrowing, to say the least, but outdone when they do the same to Mobius and essentially turn it into Apokalips! It might’ve been fun to stretch this story out over a few more issues and backup stories, maybe spend a few weeks living on Planet Metallix and having Sonic reconnect with Dr. Kintobor, thereby making his decision to restore the timeline even more difficult. Instead, the story shifts to revisiting “The Origin of Sonic” (ibid, 1993) in the style of Back to the Future Part II (Zemeckis, 1989), with Sonic witnessing his origin as a bystander and manipulating events to cause Dr. Robotnik’s creation. As far as I remember, the guilt and self-loathing he feels about this are limited to this story, which is a shame as it adds an interesting dramatic wrinkle and extra personal beef to Sonic’s war against Dr. Robotnik. The time travel stuff does get a bit wonky here, though, as I alluded to. I guess we have to assume that Grimer was always destined to be a bad guy and create Metallix, which seems unlikely given his attitude towards Dr. Robotnik. Still, it’s fun revisiting Sonic’s past and seeing him so angered at having to birth his greatest enemy, and knowing that Dr. Robotnik could’ve stopped the Metallix at any time. However, it is also kind of strange that the Metallix never removed their self-destruct device, especially as they became autonomous and improved upon their original design.

The Metallix have never looked stronger ore deadlier than in their final, epic appearance.

“Return to the Miracle Planet” isn’t much of a coda to this story. It might’ve been better if we’d seen Sonic return alone to find the Miracle Planet restored, allowing him to explore somewhere like Tidal Tempest of Quartz Quadrant, or if the Metallix he encountered was the real deal, allowing for a recreation of their iconic Stardust Speedway race. Instead, it largely serves to tie up the loose end of returning the Miracle Planet to normal and leaves me wondering why the Metallix kidnapped and experimented on Mobians when they just wanted to exterminate all life in the most efficient (if convoluted) way possible (i.e. time travel). Still, “The Return of Chaotix” was an enjoyable end to this sprawling Metallix saga. I was disappointed that the Emperor Metallix didn’t do much, but it was shocking seeing it threaten to crush Dr. Robotnik’s neck and seeing how close its Brotherhood came to ultimate victory. I also liked how dangerous the Metallix were, with them easily holding their own against the Chaotix Crew, who were unexpectedly outmatched by the faster, deadlier machines. I love the idea of the Metallix being stationed across the timelines and manipulating the timestream to cheat their way to victory, so much so that I do think it would’ve been fun to marinate on this idea for a few weeks. “The Return of Chaotix” also led to a pivotal status quo change as Porker suffered a nervous breakdown and left the team, something Sonic initially struggled to deal with, and led to the creation of the Knuckles Metallix (though this wouldn’t be anywhere near as prevalent as its Sonic variants). While it is disappointing that StC never gave us a true Sonic CD adaptation or made the most of the source material and “Return to the Miracle Planet” is a largely forgettable coda, I really enjoyed the time travel plot in “The Return of Chaotix” and how it changes the perception of Sonic’s relationship with Dr. Robotnik.

“The Return of Chaotix” Rating:

“Return to the Miracle Planet” Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Could Be Better

Do you think “The Return of Chaotix” was a fitting end to StC’s loose adaptation of Sonic CD? How do you think StC’s Chaotix Crew compare to their Archie Comics counterparts? Did you enjoy the twist that Sonic created Dr. Robotnik? Were you also disappointed that we didn’t spend more time on Planet Metallix or see more areas from the game? Did you think “Return to the Miracle Planet” was a worthwhile story to tell? How are you celebrating Sonic CD’s anniversary today? Whatever your thoughts on Sonic CD, or StC in general, feel free to leave a comment below, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other Sonic content.

Movie Night [K-DAY]: Reign of Fire

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In the absolutely bonkers Pacific Rim (del Toro, 2013), monstrous Kaiju first attacked humanity between 10 and 15 August 2013, making 10 August “K-DAY” and providing a fantastic excuse to talk about giant monsters!

Released: 12 July 2002
Director: Rob Bowman
Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

Budget: $60 million
Box Office: $82.2 million
Rotten Tomatoes Scores: 41% / 49%

Quick Facts:
Originally written in 1996, filmed at the Glendasan Valley Lead Mines in Ireland, and threatened by a foot-and-mouth outbreak, Reign of Fire’s dragons posed an anatomical challenge for visual effects studio Secret Lab. Christian Bale also suffered a minor head injury when co-star Matthew McConaughey (who insisted on staying in-character) accidentally headbutted him for real. Though accompanied by a lacklustre videogame, a poor box office and mixed reviews meant this under-rated film never got a sequel.

The Review:
Reign of Fire presents what, on paper, sounds like an exciting premise: dragons (well, wyverns, more accurately…) suddenly appear after millions of years in hibernation and go all scorched earth on humanity! The film even gets off to a strong start when young Quinn Abercromby (Ben Thornton) witnesses the awakening of the male dragon (“The Bull”) while visiting his mother (Alice Krige) while she’s working as a construction supervisor in London. It was her team’s digging that woke the ancient beats, which scrambled to the surface, killing Quinn’s mother and kick-starting a one-sided conflict with millions of dragons. Somewhat unfortunately, the entirety of humanity’s battle against the dragons is reduced to a series of photographs, snippets, and newspaper articles collected by the elder Quinn (Christian Bale), who delivers some exposition about how scientists discovered all-too late that the dragons destroyed the dinosaurs and became myth. Somehow, the Bull spawns millions of smaller (but still gigantic and no less deadly) females that decimate mankind’s cities and defences, leaving Paris and other landmarks burning, their relentless hunger for ash only encouraged when Earth’s military unleash nuclear weapons against the hoard, further devastating the world and all-but driving humanity to the brink of extinction. After eighteen years of off-camera strife and hardship, Quinn has established a close-knit community of stragglers, survivors, and (crucially) children, whom he leads alongside his best friend, Creedy (Gerard Butler), putting everyone to work digging deeper, building basic sanitary and living quarters, and establishing crops in and around Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland. Believing the dragons are unbeatable, since hundreds rise when one falls and he’s witnessed the extent of their wrath, Quinn plans to outlast the increasingly volatile and starving remnants rather than fight back, fully intending on handing leadership over to Jared Wilke (Scott Moutter), a boy Quinn begrudgingly adopted during the time skip, once he’s old enough.

Quinn’s number one priority is keeping his people safe to outlast the dragons.

Quinn’s plan is solid and his community is fairly well maintained under his leadership. They had rudimentary electricity, plumbing, an early warning system consisting of a scout and morse code, and follow a strict, almost religious routine of indoctrinating the children to “keep one eye on the sky” and flee for shelter rather than fight the dragons. Quinn and Creedy entertain the youngsters, who idolise them, with nightly reenactments of popular movies (which Quinn amusingly claims to have written) and don’t stand for any slacking, needing everyone to pitch in to the daily grind. For Eddie Stax (David Kennedy), this has become unbearable. After losing his wife and two kids on the road, and fearing starvation for his remaining brood, he regularly challenges Quinn’s authority, eager to ransack their harvest to feed his kids despite the danger that could attract and the long-term ramifications of picking the crops too early. Though Quinn talks him down, Eddie steals the keys to the castle jeep and takes his kids harvesting, attracting a dragon and losing two children, and leading to half the crop being destroyed before Quinn, Creedy, and Jared rescue them in fireproof outfits and using water hoses. While Quinn is sympathetic towards Eddie’s losses, he’s shaken by the man’s foolishness and almost loses hope for their situation but, as ever, Creedy gets him back on track and he redoubles his efforts to feed and care for his people. The friendship between Quinn and Creedy is a highlight, as is Quinn’s desperate desire to shelter the children. Clearly traumatised by his mother’s death and the flaming end of humanity, Quinn believes it’s foolish to fight or antagonise the dragons, especially as he’s seen the Bull backtrack to outposts and obliterate them. While I would’ve loved to see a more action-packed film focusing on the doomed campaign against the dragons and humanity’s downfall, focusing on Quinn, a desperate man trying to protect his community, makes the film much more relatable and intense, especially during Quinn’s emotional outbursts.

Van Zan’s crazed intensity clashes with Quinn and leads to a conflict of ideologies and masculinity.

Quinn’s relative peace is further disrupted by the second most dangerous and despicable creature on the planet: Americans. Soldiers, led by the physically imposing and unnervingly intense Denton Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey), roll into Bamburgh Castle looking to replenish their supplies and immediately clash with Quinn, who suspects them of being marauders. Though sceptical, Quinn’s won over by Van Zan’s talk of slaying dragons alongside Alex Jensen (Izabella Scorupco), a helicopter pilot who co-ordinates a death-defying team who sky dive to ensnare and kill dragons. Van Zan immediately captivates Quinn’s community, especially Eddie and Jared, with his enigmatic stature and persona. This is only exacerbated when Alex and her team successfully take down a passing dragon, only for Van Zan to chastise the celebrating community since the operation cost him two men. When confronted by Quinn, Van Zan immediately asserts his authority and recruits his people for an assault on the Bull in London. Thanks to Alex, the Americans have discovered that all dragons but the Bull are female and that the male flies over and fertilises thousands of eggs at a time. Therefore, Van Zan believes humanity’s only hope is to kill the Bull and therefore render the dragons extinct, a plan Quinn violently opposes since no one’s returned from London alive in years and the Bull is known to enact revenge. Despite his best efforts, Quinn is no match for the physically imposing and clearly insane Van Zan, who beats Quinn before his people and takes some of them for his plan. While Jared decides to bow out at the last minute, Eddie and the others aren’t so lucky, and Van Zan is left distraught when the Bull wipes his team out in a single pass. With only Alex left, he returns to the ransacked Bamburgh Castle in shame, deferring to Quinn’s authority and convincing Quinn to join them in bringing down the Bull. I’m no fan of Matthew McConaughey but he is excellent and almost unrecognisable in this role, depicted as a burly, surly, intimidating dragon slayer who wields an axe and has personal experience fighting dragons. Though he clearly has a death wish and a suicidal obsession with bringing the Bull down, Van Zan is framed as an honourable and formidable fighter, even if many of his methods and his gruff demeanour are questionable.

The ferocious and impressive dragons have all-but eradicated mankind.

Thanks to appearing sparingly, the dragons are pretty impressive when they appear, depicted as gigantic, winged terrors who swoop in and ignite people and the land with their saliva and feed on the ash left behind. Fast and massive, the dragons quickly dominate the skies and easily shrug off small-arms fire and, apparently, heavier ordinance. According to Van Zan, the dragons have excellent vision at all times except during “magic hour”, when the Sun is setting, though this doesn’t really factor into fighting them in a meaningful way. Van Zan prefers to risk his soldier’s lives by setting up three triangulation devices and having Alex air-drop men from a helicopter with a bola net to ensnare the beasts, a tactic that gives these “Archangels” a seventeen second life expectancy, but which has led to many dragon deaths. It’s not clear how there were any eggs for the Bull to fertilise when he first emerged, but it’s possible the previous generation laid eggs that went dormant over the years. Apparently, these eggs numbered in the millions as dragons quickly overwhelm humanity and appear endless, hinting towards an accelerated growth cycle or perhaps other dragons being in hibernation. Unfortunately for the dragons, they are far too efficient for their own good and, after eradicating most of humanity, turn to cannibalism to survive, their numbers severely dwindling, suggesting they have an overall short lifespan as they seem engineered only to wipe out populaces and then hibernate (a fact Quinn is counting on). While I can just about understand the biology and mechanics of the dragons, however, I still struggle to explain the Americans. Somehow, the Americans travelled across the Atlantic Ocean, travelled from God-knows where to Bamburgh Castle, then went from the castle to London (a 350-ish mile trip) and back again and the made the trip again all without encountering any significant dragon resistance and somehow finding enough supplies, fuel, and helicopter fuel up and down the fire-ravaged English countryside? Even worse, the trip from Bamburgh Castle to London seemingly takes no time at all, rather than the near six hours it would realistically take.

Quinn and Van Zan ultimately set aside their quarrel to bring down the alpha dragon.

Full of piss and vinegar, Van Zan openly defies Quinn and first asks for and then forcibly recruits volunteers for his London campaign. Despite his hands-on experience with dragons, Van Zan is completely unprepared for the Bull, which decimates his team and then attacks Bamburgh Castle, killing Creedy and many others. When Alex and Van Zan return, humbled and desperate, Quinn leaves Jared in charge and agrees to help the Americans using his knowledge of the city (despite it being in ruins). Although they’re outnumbered hundreds to three, the trio’s luck somewhat improves when the Bull feeds upon its smaller brethren to survive. While Van Zan defers to Quinn’s leadership, he outlines the general plan for the three to split up and bait the Bull then fire an explosive arrow down its throat right as it prepares to breathe fire. This gives Van Zan the opportunity to realise his suicidal dream of confronting the Bull head-on as he scales a tower and takes a shot, only for the Bull to detonate the arrow in mid-air. Thus, to buy Alex and Quinn time, Zan Van makes a desperate a dramatic lead towards the Bull and is snatched out of the air and eaten, allowing Alex and Quinn to regroup. Thanks to Alex providing cover fire, Quinn recovers his dropped explosive and takes the shot, ending the Bull in one swift move without even utilising the blinding sunset. In the aftermath, Quinn and Alex return to Bamburgh Castle and continue to sow crops, with Quinn handing leadership over to Jared as talks of additional survivors coming in from across the globe. Having taken up Van Zan’s axe and developed a more optimistic outlook, Quinn focuses on building and sowing crops and preparing to tackle any remaining dragons should they show up, with the film ending on the uplifting hope that humanity can recover from the devastation they’ve suffered.

Final Thoughts:
I’ve always been a fan of this one, though even I must admit that Reign of Fire drags a bit in the middle and isn’t all it could be. On the one hand, the dragons look great. They’re very serpentine and ferocious and it’s clear a lot of work went into making them biologically possible. I also really like how grounded and gritty the story is, with Reign of Fire focusing on survival, desperation, obsession, and human nature rather than big, bombastic action. Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey deliver some of their best work here, being natural opposites who are constantly on the brink of tearing each other apart and yet finding common ground against a mutual enemy. Part of me is disappointed that all the best parts of the dragon uprising are reduced to that opening montage; this is a film that really needed a prequel to show humanity’s war with and decimation by the dragons. I also cannot get over how the Americans managed to drive and fly around England without any issue, especially in this world, and occasionally wonder if the finale isn’t a little anti-climactic. Yet, I like the visual of the Bull being brought down by a smaller projectile; it’s very thematically powerful. While this isn’t a film I watch all that often, I do believe Reign of Fire is unfairly forgotten and dismissed and deserves a bit more time in the spotlight. It’s certainly one of the best dragon-orientated movies out there and also works as a decent post-apocalypse story, despite some questionable flaws and plot holes.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy Reign of Fire? Were you also disappointed that we didn’t get to see how the dragons decimated humanity or did you prefer the more grounded story? Do you agree that was better to outlast the dragons or would you have joined Van Zan’s crusade? Can you explain how the Americans had enough fuel to travel up and down England? Would you have liked to see a sequel or prequel? What’s your favourite kaiju movie, and how are you celebrating K-Day today? Whatever your thoughts on Reign of Fire, kaiju, or monster movies in general, leave a comment below and donate to my Ko-Fi to fund more giant monster content!