Category Archives: Television
A Doctor Who Christmas
So I’m busy putting together a list of my 6 favorite TV show Christmas episodes. It won’t be done today, so to hold you over, enjoy this new trailer for the Doctor Who Christmas special coming out later this month. It’s a tiny morsel, but perhaps you’ll enjoy it. Maybe some good comic book news will break later today.
It’s also an excuse to finally post this picture I found online of all 11 Doctors drawn like the Whos from Whoville, the tall and the small.
Can you name them all?
Because Last Week Was Batman Comedy Week, Apparently
Because I am not privy to the machinations of NBC, I don’t know if this was planned or just coincidence, but two NBC shows ran jokes about Batman last week. Extended jokes, complete with costume; not just a punchline. First of all, Batman is never not relevant. Second of all, if it was a coincidence, how did that happen? Other than Batman just being generally awesome.
Sadly, neither one was very funny. If you want funny Batman sketches, go to College Humor.
But first we have a noble effort by Saturday Night Live. I haven’t watched them in years, but I guess they do digital shorts now? As opposed to live sketches? Where’d that come from? Anyway, Steve Buscemi as Commissioner Gordon is awesome.
Second is the show Community, which is an amazing show, yet is on the verge of being cancelled. Why? BECAUSE WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS!
How is it that a TV show where one character does an extended Batman riff – in costume! – isn’t the most popular show on TV?
There’s a Good Avatar, and It Has a Sequel Coming
Cartoons aren’t just for kids anymore. Nor are they just about making toys. A fascinating thing happened between the 80s and the 90s – we grew up and became adults. And some of those adults are a lot more successful than I am, and they got jobs in TV. So everyone who grew up watching cartoons like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers and GI Joe (like me!) are now the ones making cartoons. They are putting that love they had as kids into the products of today.
Which is why Avatar: The Last Airbender is probably the greatest cartoon ever.
Bad to the Ass
Did you see the movie by M. Night Shamallamadingdong? Forget that fucking movie. It was an abomination. Not only was it just a poorly made movie, but he crammed the entire epic first season of the show into a 2-hour crapfest. Do not watch the movie.
Watch the cartoon that ran for three seasons on Nickelodeon.
It’s about a 12-year-old boy who finds out that he’s the chosen one, and is the only one who can stop the bad guys and save the world. But it’s told with such grace, depth and character that you can’t help but be riveted throughout the whole epic saga. The hero, Aang, is simultaneously a boy trying to have a childhood, and a hero with the fate of the world on his shoulders. He wants to have fun with his friends, but they all know they have this incredible responsibility. The group of them must travel the world, gather the allies and the training they need, so that in the end they can defeat the villains and save the world.
It’s a story about politics, about moral gray areas, and in the end it’s about heroism, friendship and romance. It’s also about super powers, so that’s pretty awesome. And it’s most definitely NOT about making toys.
Not action figure accesible
The reason I’m telling you all of this is twofold. 1. Not all of my readers might be familiar with Avatar: The Last Airbender. And if they’re not, I want them to know that it’s totally worth watching. If you have kids, show them Avatar. If you’re bored one weekend, watch Avatar. You have the Henchman-4-Hire guarantee that it’s awesome.
And 2. There’s a sequel coming! It’s called The Legend of Korra, and stars, of course, a girl named Korra.
Inheriting badassness
She’s the new Avatar, because the position of all-powerful being comes once per generation. She’s got a lot of learning to do when it comes to controlling her powers, and I guess that’s what the show is going to be about. The world might need saving again, and it’ll be up to Korra, and possibly her friends, to band together and do the hero thing. That should be pretty awesome.
Recently on the Internet, I found the opening sequence for the sequel cartoon:
And if that’s not enough, here’s the teaser trailer!
Merry Christmas, Doctor Who
Back in the middle of all my Multiple Man grieving, I failed to note the announcement of this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special. I’m sure everybody could have heard the news a million other ways, but I want to mention it anyway. And here it is: Doctor Who is going to have another Christmas special, yay!
Why is that a big deal, you ask? Well, Doctor Who has a tradition of making their Christmas episodes a big deal. They occur outside of the normal season order, but at the same time they are still very important (and often times awesome) episodes. I never saw any of the pre-2005 reboot Christmas specials, but the new series has had some good ones.
The first was an alien invasion that introduced new actor David Tennant. There was the one that introduced Donna Noble, my favorite companion, a full year or so before she’d become a series regular. Then there was the Christmas episode about the Space Titanic.
One of the best was current Doctor Matt Smith’s first Christmas episode. He had to convince a miserly old man to be kind to others in order to save the Doctor’s friends. But the old man wouldn’t budge. So the Doctor went back in time to when the old man was a child and started visiting him every Christmas, having adventures together, in order to warm the man’s heart. Brilliant episode.
Well here’s the trailer for this year’s Christmas special, called The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe:
And here is the official blurb:
It’s Christmas Eve, 1938, when Madge Arwell comes to the aid of an injured Spaceman Angel as she cycles home, in this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special, starring Matt Smith as the Doctor.
He promises to repay her kindness – all she has to do is make a wish.
Three years later, a devastated Madge escapes war-torn London with her two children for a dilapidated house in Dorset. She is crippled with grief at the news her husband has been lost over the channel, but determined to give Lily and Cyril the best Christmas ever.
The Arwells are surprised to be greeted by a madcap caretaker whose mysterious Christmas gift leads them into a magical wintry world. Here, Madge will learn how to be braver than she ever thought possible. And that wishes can come true…
So I have no idea what to expect…Should be good though!
6 Comic Books that Should Become TV Shows
The announcement yesterday that the Syfy Network has ordered a pilot script for obscure DC superhero Booster Gold got me thinking: what other comic book superheroes or stories would make for great live-action TV? We already know that superhero movies are a huge hit in Hollywood, and there are decades worth of superhero cartoons from Marvel Comics, DC and also some indie publishers. Even live-action shows based on comic books have been successful. The Walking Dead is currently kicking ass on AMC. And Smallville, the story of Superman as a teenager, ran for a whopping 10 seasons on the CW!
And heck, Booster Gold even appeared in live action during an episode of Smallville. That show gave us our first on-screen, live-action Justice League years before The Avengers movie will hit theaters.
And they did it with explosions and crappy green screen effects!
New shows and programs flood our boob tubes every year, like flinging a bunch of crap against a wall and hoping something sticks. Sometimes they’re a surprise success, sometimes they are canceled after one or two episodes and sometimes, like the Wonder Woman pilot, they never get broadcast at all. TV is a funny world.
Well here are 6 Comic Books that I think Should Become TV Shows! And I mean only live-action, no cartoons.
Henchman-4-Hire 