Adam David Collings's Blog, page 4

New Book – The Christmas Star Disaster

I’ve just published a sci-fi Christmas short story. I wrote this last year and put it on Wattpad, where you can still find it for free, but it’s now available for 99 cents on all the major eBook retailers.

Get it at books2read.com/christmasstar.

A Christmas Cruise in Space

This is newly-promoted Glen Price’s first time as cruise director. He wants to make his mark and do something special for the passengers. But his plan to project a giant Christmas star above the ship turns disastrous when the ship suddenly loses power. Can Glen salvage what’s left of the event and still make it a meaningful Christmas?

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The State of Star Trek – Interview with Christian Geek Central

Paeter Frandsen from Christian Geek Central invited me to come and chat with him about the current state of Star Trek. We had a great time geeking out together.

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Star Trek Discovery “That Hope is You Part 1” – Detailed Analysis and Review

After a long wait, Star Trek Discovery is back. Michael Burnham has succeeded in saving the universe, but she now has to face the fact that the lift she knew is gone forever, and her friends aboard Discovery are nowhere to be found. Worse than that, she learns that the Federation is all but gone in this distant future. What’s a Starfleet officer to do? It turns out, this new century might need Michael just as much as the previous one did. 

This is a good solid episode that opens the new season and promises an interesting and satisfying story.

So let’s geek out about it.

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars.

And I am a nerd.

This is episode 38 of the podcast.

Today, we launch into something new and exciting. We’re covering the first episode of Star Trek Discovery season 3, and we’ll be doing weekly review analysis on each episode until the season is done.

And welcome to my new timeslot. Back when I was covering Star Trek Picard season 1, I’d watch the episode Friday night, then watch it again Saturday morning, taking notes and scripting the podcast. Then I’d record, edit and publish by Saturday afternoon. It got pretty intense. This time, I plan to pace myself a little. I’ll be posted on Mondays, Australian time zone. Probably Monday morning. That just allows me a bit more time to get the episode together and get some other things done on the weekend.

Today’’s episode is called That Hope is You. Part 1.

The description on Memory Alpha reads

Burnham navigates a strange, new galaxy, 930 years in her future, looking for the rest of the Discovery crew. (Season premiere)

The episode was Written by Michelle Paradise, Jenny Lumet, & Alex Kurtzman

It was Directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi

And it first aired on the 15th of October 2020

Make it so.

The end of season 2 was a big game changer, liquifying the status quo of the series. Michael Burnhan and the USS Discovery flew into a wormhole taking them into the distant future. Further into Star Trek’s future than we’ve ever seen before.

And that was an exciting prospect.

So now, finally, we get to see what kind of world they emerge into.

This gives the writers of the show the opportunity they’ve wanted all along, to create something brand new. To establish a completely unexplored era in the Star Trek universe. They must have had so much fun brainstorming ideas. 

Honestly, Star Trek Discovery should never have been set in the pre-Kirk 23rd century, given the kind of creative freedom they wanted. The writers finally realised this and used the second half of season 2 to set up this change.

So … the very first scene shows us a bird, with a digital clock projected on its side. Okay. That’s different. Evidently, this is some kind of futuristic alarm clock projecting a hologram. I kinda like it. I’d wake up to that.

We see a man wake up and leave his bed, which dissolves into a liquid state and disappear. The whole structure seems to be constructed from nanites. It’s very cool on screen.

He cleans his teeth, and a desk and chair are created by the same nanite technology as his bed. The process repeats, giving us a sense that this man’s life is very very routine and predictable.

He’s searching for signals, and he carries a case that bears a Starfleet logo (Oddly, it’s the early 23rd century logo with the split delta.)

When The Next Generation first came out, they designed a whole new aesthetic for the technology. We got the beloved Okudagrams, often referred to as LCARS, although technically, LCARS is the library computer access retrieval system. Anyway, we all love that look.

But for the 32nd century, they needed to similarly re-define the visual look of the Star Trek Universe. This nanite-based technology is both visually interesting and logical. It’s a believable extension from the replication and hologram technologies.We’ve heard the term “Particle Synthesis” from time to time in Star Trek. Arturis used it to fool the crew of Voyager into thinking his ship was Starfleet. Species 8472 also used it to re-created Starfleet Academy in the Delta Quadrant. I can’t help but wonder, is this an advanced form of particle synthesis? The name seems to fit what we see on screen. Later, we’ll see a control panel on a ship. Instead of okudagrams on a touch screen, we’ll see this same nanite technology creating displays and controls. So for the most part, it seems this has replaced the holographic controls we saw in Star Trek Picard. This technology actually reminds me of the Kryptronian technology in Man of Steel. That was kinda similar and also very cool.

Anyway, you could argue that this doesn’t look like Star Trek, but honestly, it shouldn’t. We’re almost a thousand years beyond the world Burnham left, so I think they’ve done a great job. I like it.

Then we cut to a space battle in orbit of an M-class planet. A spinning ship, maybe inspired by the jelly-fish ship in Star Trek 2009, is pursuing a character we’ll come to know as Cleavland Booker, or Book for short.

It seems Book has stolen something from this rather ugly alien. I don’t recognise his species. But whatever it was, the aliens had stolen it first.

Then the wormhole opens and Burnham emerges, in the red angle suit. No sign of Discovery yet.

So is this planet Terralesium? That’s where Michael was expecting to emerge.

I like the little shot of the CG bugs. I always enjoy seeing alien animals . Michael bounces off Book’s ship, causing them both to crash on this planet.

A shield in the suit protects michael. The suit disengages from her, looking way too advanced for 23rd century tech, as always. She can’t reach Discovery on her communicator. The suit tells her she’s in the year 3188. She asks the computer if there are any signs of life. Her face holds so much emotion in that moment before it answers. Imagine if she’d failed. And finds herself alone, the only living being in a universe devoid of all sentient life. That was basically her mother’s life.

But the computer confirms. There are multiple life signs on this planet.

And she gives this great scream of relief, and victory. It’s a powerful performance from Senqua Martin-Green. It really makes me feel her emotions.

She did it! She saved the universe!.

Now, technically, she should already know she was successful. She emerged in the middle of a space battle between two ships. She knows someone is here, although, I guess those ships could have been AI controlled.

In any case, I forgive it because it’s a wonderful moment.

The wormhole is closing, so she has to send the final red signal back through it, letting Spock and Pike know that she arrived safely and successfully.

The red angel suit flies off, on its last mission. The signal is sent and the suit explodes. This is important because it means Michael no longer has any way of getting back to the 23rd century. Her life, her entire world is gone. She’ll never see it again.

And we get another beautiful outpouring of emotion.

Before she can explore, let alone embrace, her new world, she needs to take a moment to mourn the loss of the old one. It’s really great stuff.

All she has is her badge, a tricorder, phaser and ration pack.

She clings to the one other thing she has. Her identity as a Starfleet officer. She doesn’t yet know just how meaningful and significant that will be.

Now we have a new opening titles to discuss. There are no major changes. I suspected they might do a new arrangement of the music, to make it feel less connected to TOS, but the score is unchanged. As with season 2, some of the visuals have changed to reflect what is happening this season.

The first big difference we notice is a huge collection of DOT-7 robots. Those were the things that popped out of the Enterprise Hull last season during the battle. Basically repair droids. Like R2D2. I Wasn’t a fan of this. Oh, they’re cool, but they felt out of place in Star Trek. That’s more of a Star Wars idea. It felt like they were trying a bit too hard there. Anyway, no idea what they’re showing up here. I guess they’ll have some significance this season.

This captain’s chair from the Enterprise bridge is still present, which surprises me. I’d have thought that no longer relevant.

Then we see a phaser. As usual, it pulls apart, but as it goes back together, it forms into a futuristic, possibly alien sidearm like we’ve never seen before. This shot makes the most sense it ever has.

Then we see Book’s ship (I think). It doesn’t follow the traditional Starfleet  design at all. No visible nacelles. But it’s constantly changing shape, like it has moving parts Reminds me of a transformer, actually. I don’t yet have a good sense of this ship.

We see the new oval-shaped com badge. That won’t appear in this episode. And then the three badges on the transporter pad meld into the new shape.

We get some beautiful vistas of this alien planet. They went and shot on location in Iceland for this. I love that. It makes such a difference. We occasionally got location shoots on Star Trek TV shows in the 90s, even in TOS, but I don’t think they ever went to another country just to film. That’s more of a movie-budget thing. Just another sign of the investment they’re making in this show. You can’t deny that CBS takes Star Trek very seriously at the moment. 

Anyway, it makes me want to go to Iceland, because this planet is both beautiful and exotic.

Michael has found Book’s ship. And it can turn invisible. Is this just a cloaking device, or some relation to the particle synthesis tech? 

Watching this episode the second time, I’m picking up on a lot of foreshadowing of Book’s true nature that I didn’t notice the first time.

Book thinks Michael is here to take his cargo. But he’s fiercely protecting it. It doesn’t belong to her.

She tries to explain herself to him but he’s not interested in what she has to say.

They get into a bit of a fist fight. Nicely done action. But the fight ends when she pulls her antique phaser.

This is where we get our first hint related to the new nature of the universe. Book questions the wisdom of ripping space apart, to create artificial wormholes. He says  “It wasn’t enough for you and the Gorn to destroy 2 light-years worth of subspace?”

But ‘you’ I assume he means Starfleet. So something has happened to subspace, and it appears that both STarfleet and the Gorn were somehow responsible.

We’ll talk more about this in a little bit.

When Michael asks if this is Teralysium, he says, it’s “Hima.”

So, is that just a new name for Teralysium, or a different planet? From evidence so far, I think it’s a different planet.

But right now, Michael doesn’t know what sector, even what quadrant she’s in.

I assume she’s somewhere in the alpha quadrant because of the races we meet here. Andorians, Orions, Tellarites, Lurians, and of course, humans.

Anyway, she makes an impassioned plea. I’m all alone in the universe. I have to trust someone, and for better or worse, that’s you.

We get a look at the interior of this ship. We see the particle control panels. Michael is as taken by them as I am.

The dilithium re-crystaliser on his ship was damaged during impact. He can’t fly using quantum slipstream (another technology that Voyager toyed with on their quest to get home) without Benamite, which is apparently very rare. Tachyon solar cells are too slow. It seems there are a bunch of methods of interstellar travel in this time, but not many of them will work, due to lack of resources. What Book needs is dilithium for his warp drive. By now we can already tell this is not the super-advanced utopia we’ve glimpsed in the 29th century, nor the time-travel-obsessed 31st century. This is a time of shortage and challenge.

And that’s when we meet Grudge, the cut. She’s sure to become a fan favourite.

Michael points out she’s a very large cat. And Book replies that she has a thyroid condition.

This is kinda weird.

My wife tells me Grudge is a Mancoon, which are naturally a very large breed of cat.

So …. What put this thyroid line in there. I wonder if that’s going to become significant at some point during the season.

Michael hopes she can trade her antique equipment for dilithium. If she helps him get off the planet, maybe he’ll help her try to contact Discovery.

Then some more gorgeous location shots of a waterfall and moss-encrusted rocks. So good.

Time for some exposition, so Michael, and the viewers, can learn a little about the state of the galaxy.

We learn that the Federation is gone, which is shocking news to Michael. How can the Federation be gone? What is the Star Trek universe without the Federation?

Apparently, there are some true believers out there that still believe in its ideals.

But not Book. He’s a courier. Out for himself. At this point in the episode, he seems like a bit of a Han Solo type. But we may challenge that assumption later on.

Book doesn’t know all the details, but the Federation collapsed a long time ago, after the burn. The burn was the day the galaxy took a hard left.

Everyone has been doing a lot of speculating, since this line was revealed in the trailer.

The most popular theory, by far, is that it was caused by an explosion of Omega Particles.

Omega PArticles disrupt subspace. If one goes off, a large area around it will become so damaged that warp drive is impossible in that region.

Fans surmised that omega explosions have made warp drive impossible, in this time. So everyone is cut off from everyone else. This made a lot of sense, and explained why Discovery’s spore drive would come in so handy.

What Book says is “Dilithium. One day most of it just went boom. Dilithium is the heart of every warp-capable ship

The Federation weren’t sure what happened or why,but after a while they just weren’t around anymore.

So what we’re seeing doesn’t quite seem to fit the omega particle theory.

Warp drive is still possible, and we’ll see it used later this episode. The problem is that Dilithium is very very rare (but not so rare that Book can’t get his hands on some before the episode is done.)

But he did mention damage to subspace in a 2-lightyear radius. And THAT sounds like omega. We’ll also learn later that people in this region of space cannot scan very far out.

This all seems a bit muddy at the moment. We don’t get a full picture of what the real state of things is in this episode. But I’m starting to worry that they’ve taken the concept of the omega particle, but complicated it way more than was necessary. Kind alike what they did with Voq in season 1. The idea of surgically altering someone to look like another species is a very common Star Trek Trop, as far back as the original series. But the show complicated the whole thing with Voq so much that to this day, fans are still trying to get their heads around exactly what happened. They made it more complex than it needed to be.

Hopefully this won’t be a similar thing.

Sonequa is doing a lot of really good face acting in this episode. She portrays so much emotion without saying a word. It’s awesome.

They arrive at a city. A massive city.

When they try to enter the mercantile, some kind of market, they scan Book and Michael. IT seems everyone in this time has some kind of technology embedded in their forearm. Reminds me a lot of the omni-tool in Mass Effect, actually. Because Michael isn’t from this time, she doesn’t have one, so they won’t let her in. I guess it’s like trying to enter a country without a passport, or trying to get a job without a social security number, or as we have in Australia, a Tax File Number.

But whoever runs this place is convinced that what Michael carries could be valuable.

Michael sees people using a site-to-site transporter, or as she calls it, a portable transporter. This technology existed, but was rare in the time of Voyager. It’ll be just like a toothbrush in this time.

And that’s when Book betrays Michael. He frames her as a bank robber and steals her equipment. Seems he’ll need more than just the tricorder to afford the dilithium he needs.

The Andorian and Orion security officers drug Michael to make her talk. It really does feel like the wild west out here. It’s funny, but the current creative team behind Star Trek really do want to make Star Trek feel more wild west. Emphasis on the wild.

Star Trek Picard took us out of the safe comfortable Federation worlds into dingy places where morals were lower and danger lurked around every corner. Places where the peace is kept by Fenris Rangers because there’s nobody else to do it. It all felt a bit more Star Wars-ish to me. That’s feeling like a trend.

Anyway, it makes a lot more sense here, because a world without the Federation or Starfleet is basically gonna be like the wild west of Star Wars.

Michael’s reaction to the drug is mildly amusing.

I do love the line when she says “I have a friend with red hair. You cannot give this to her.”

It’s funny. This drug basically turns Michael into Tilly. So imagine what it would turn Tilly into.

The new round phasers are kinda cool. Michael certainly likes them, her appreciation enhanced in her drugged state. 

As much as I don’t endorse the use of drugs in any way, it’s kind of nice to see a more playful side of Burnham. She’s really letting her hair down, so to speak. I’m realising now, just how much of her vulcan conditioning she still clings to most of the time.

In the end, Michael has to steal the dilithium because Book can’t buy it.

And then we learn that Book has a site-to-site transporter. And so begins a game of cat and mouse and they beam away, and are quickly followed by the guards, only to beam somewhere else again. It’s a great way to show off more of this wonderful location.

And we notice that not all the guards are Andorian and Orion. There’s a Lurian among them. You know, one of Morn’s mates.

The lurian is bald, just like Morn, which is interesting, because we learned, in Deep Space Nine, that most Lurians have hair. Morn lost all of his because he was storing liquid latinum in his second stomach. I think this is a case of “it would be more correct for this lurian to have hair, but who wants to see that? We want to see the familiar bald look because it gives us nostalgia for Deep Space Nine, and Morn in particular.

So I’m okay with it. Afterall, who says other Lurians can’t lose their hair? There are plenty of bald humans in the world.

Then we’re introduced to Book’s super power. He speaks in an alien language, that sounds somewhat like Hebrew, a glyph glows on his forehead, and a plant grows out of the water. The plant produces a substance that can heal Michael’s wounds. Book says that what he was doing was “something like” praying.

He seems to have a connection to nature. We’ll see him use it to command an animal later on.

Book has figured out that Michael is a time traveller. He doesn’t know how she got her hands on what brought her here, but we learn that all temporal technology was destroyed and outlawed after the temporal wars. Nice to get some closure of that temporal cold war thing from Enterprise. Because we are further forward into the future than the time Agent Daniels came from.

This is important because if time-travel was still prevalent, then our heroes could return home. But this was always meant to be a one-way trip for the sake of the story.

They get back to the ship but the guards have tracked them down again.

When the Andorian says “What good is a courier who lets his cargo get stolen” and the dodgy bloke says “I’m the best runner in the galaxy”, it sounded very reminiscent of Han Solo. But then he gets shot.

These guards want Book’s cargo. Book relenets and opens his cargo hold.

There’s an animal in the3re. A giant slug thing,

When they let it out, it eats the guards.

What exactly were they thinking? Why would you come here to take possession of a dangerous animal, but have no way to contain it?

Anyway, after eating the guards, it swallows Michael. But Book uses his magic powers again and convinces the slug, which he calls Molly, to vomit her back out.

I don’t really have any opinion on Book’s powers yet, because I just don’t know enough about them.

Anway, Molly seems very friendly now.

So they’re now flying through space at warp speed. We’ve come to realise the truth of Book’s mission. He’s not just a courier. He’s an environmentalist. He’s rescuing these animals, endangered species, and returning them to their homeworld.

I like the red trees on the transworm planet. It’s a simple thing but it makes a place look suitably alien.

Now that his job is done, Book knows somebody who might be able to help Michael find her ship.

He takes her to see that guy from the very beginning of the episode. Remember him?

He lives on an old Federation relay station.

The guy’s name is Sahil. 

Michael is excited to meet him, but he’s in awe to meet her.

He can’t find Discovery. But we learn there are two Federation ships out there. So not all is completely gone.

But Sahil can’t scan beyond several sectors. Long range sensors failed decades ago.

On first viewing, I thought this was a widespread problem in the universe, but now, I Think it’s just because the long range sensors on this space station are damaged. So maybe this is not related to the burn after all.

But he says he imagines it is the same for all others, so who knows.

It seems Discovery either landed somewhere a long way away, or it hasn’t arrived yet. IT could arrive tomorrow, or in a thousand years.

Sahil explains that he’s not a commissioned officer. Several generations of his family have run this facility, but when Sahil took over, there was nobody left to swear him in.

But what about the two other ships out there? Couldn’t he ask them?

Anyway, for 40 years, he’s been waiting for a genuine Starfleet office to come.

Michael is that hope.

Sahil doesn’t know how much of the federation still exists, but he does his own little part to keep the dream of it alive.

And that’s when Michael hangs the flag for him. Only a commissioned officer may raise it.

This episode seems to be using the terms Federation and Starfleet interchangeably. But they’re not the same thing. Very closely related, of course, but Starfleet and The Federation are two distinct things.

The  Federation is a political alliance of worlds.

Starfleet is their scientific, exploration and military service.

So, while she hasn’t yet found her friends, Michael has a new purpose. She commissions Sahil. Together, they will seek out others and help to rebuild the dream of the Federation.

So let’s examine this new world we find ourselves in.

The utopia of the Federation is gone. In its place we now have a somewhat dystopian future.

It seems they like to do that a lot. Discovery Season 1 plunged us into war with the Klingons. Our characters had to fight to get their utopia back. Then Picard season 1 turned Starfleert somewhat dystopian by having them be corrupt, due to certain influences. And now Discovery season 3 and yet again given us a Star Trek dystopia.

It’s starting to feel like alex Kurtzman and his team really like dystopia, and are not actually that enamoured with the traditional utopian view of Star Trek.

Deep Space Nine actually pushed back against the utopia a bit, and in my opinion did it more effectively than anything else has since.

There are those out there who are not fans of this trend. I can understand that. I’m not particularly bothered, but I’m definitely noticing a trend.

One question people like to ask is “What would Gene Roddenberry think?

I’m convinced he wouldn’t have liked Star Trek Picard. He was always against Starfleet being portrayed in a negative light. I believe he didn’t even like what they did in Star Trek VI.

But you know what, I suspect he’d have liked this. Why? Because of another show he created called Andromeda. It followed a similar plot to this. An officer from a great utopian alliance was thrust into the future where his government no longer existed. He strove to re-build it.

And that’s the essence of what we’re seeing here. A determination to re-build the ideals of the Federation. There’s a whole lot of optimism to it.

And that concludes the first episode of season 3.

I enjoyed it. There’s a lot we still don’t know. But I’m excited that our heroes have a whole new Star Trek universe to explore, and I’m looking forward to exploring it with them. I suspect this is going to be a good season. It’s the first one that has been produced without massive disruption behind the scenes in the writers’ room, so that alone is promising.

I like Book. He’s a cool character and I’m looking forward to seeing his arc across the season.

Don’t forget, I have a book series out called Jewel of The Stars. It follows the passengers and crew of a cruise ship in space, boldly travelling through unexplored space, after Earth fell to an alien occupation. Just like the crew of Discovery, they’re all on their own.

You can read the first book completely free on Wattpad, or get it wherever eBooks are sold for 99 cents. It’s also in paperback. I’m working on edits to book 3, but I’ve been a bit delayed because my day job has really been kicking my butt lately. But hopefully that’s mostly over, and I can get on with life again.

I’ll see you again next week, when we discuss the second episode of Discovery season 3, which strangely enough, is not called That Hope is You Part 2, it’s called Far From Home.

Catch you then.

Live long and prosper.

Make it so.

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Star Trek Discovery – Looking Back on Season 1 and Season 2

Star Trek Discovery Season 3 is about to launch, and I’ll be covering it from the next episode, but before we get there, I wanted to look back quickly on the first two seasons and share some thoughts. I talk about what worked for me, and what I perceived as flaws. Overall, I enjoyed both seasons quite a bit, and am looking forward to starting season 3.

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Shazam! Retrospective Movie Review& Analysis

Shazam! is the last of the DC Extended Universe movies that I’ll be looking at in the current batch. If you’ve been following this podcast, you’ll know I tend to prefer the serious movies. Man of Steel, Batman V Superman etc. So you might be suprised to learn that I really like this movie. Why? For similar reasons that I also like the MCU Spiderman movies. The humour is believable in-universe and comes naturally out of the characters, specifically, it’s natural kid reactions to the world around them. The stakes are much lower than the average superhero movie, but given the child protagonist, they still feel like very high stakes. There’s something that just works nicely about it all.

So let’s dig in and geek out over Shazam!

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a Nerd.

This is Episode 36 of the podcast.

Today, we’re talking about Shazam.

Before we go on, I just want to give a quick shout out to Scott from Florida who gave me my very first review on Apple Podcasts, my very first review anywhere so thank you very much, Mate. That made my day. And if you are enjoying the podcast, please consider giving a quick review wherever you do listen. I know  that both Apple Podcasts and Stitcher have a review system. Probably a number of other places as well. So, yeah, that would definitely be helpful.

  

The description on IMDB reads

A newly fostered young boy in search of his mother instead finds unexpected superpowers and soon gains a powerful enemy.

This movie was written by Henry Gayden and Darren Lemke

It was directed by David F. Sandberg

And it first released on the 2nd of April 2019.

The movie begins with a reasonable dark opening.

It’s great because it gives us a lot of sympathy for Thad.

And it was a brilliant move to bring in John Glover, AKA Lional Luthor from Smalville to play his father. He’s great at playing a lousy father. It was a joy to see him in that cameo.

So Thad is disrespected and misunderstood by both his father and his older brother. And then he’s pulled into this magical place where he meets a wizard.

He’s seen something in Thad. But Thad needs to prove himself.

But the seven deadly sins are manipulative, and they know just what buttons to press.

And just like all of us, in the face of sin, he falls short.  He is not sufficiently pure of heart.

The wizard is looking for absolute moral perfection. Well, he’s not gonna find that in the human race.

I like this because we really see ourselves reflected in Thad. And it makes him yet more relatable to us. We’re really feeling for this little boy.

If things hadn’t come to a head, do you think the wizard would ever have been successful in his search? Do you think he ever would have found someone worthy? Someone sufficiently pure of heart? Personally, I don’t think he would. I think it was an impossible quest. Obviously, I’m speaking from my own beliefs and theology.

So he’s back in the car. He’s distraught. He came so close to finally having some power in his life. And it’s been snatched away from him. And that distraction causes the death of his father.

And in his pain, and despair, the sins reach out to him.

Oh, I feel so sorry for this kid.

So then we cut to present day.

Our first introduction to Billy Batson demonstrates just how unworthy he is.

But he’s not just a delinquent for the sake of being delinquent. He’s trying to find his mother. A quest we can all have sympathy for.

I like how the kid is unable to convince the radio room that he’s an adult. He says “walkie talkie” .This movie allows kids to be kids. Some movies overly empower kids. Makes them stronger, smarter, or more world-aware than they should be. Now, this is a useful trope in kid’s entertainment, but for adults, Kid empowerment just doesn’t ring true. So I like how this movie allows the kids to be kids.

In a way, the whole point of this movie is the opposite. Oh, the kids get the empowerment fantasy, and which of us didn’t have a fantasy like that when we were kids, but it actually de-powers the adult version of Billy, because inside that big strong body is the mind of a kid. It’s good stuff.

So as he stares at the house, hoping that maybe this is the one. Maybe this will be his mother, we get the flashback to the day he got lost.

And we feel the same heart-broken confusion that Billy felt. How was he never reunited with his Mum? I mean, any mother would move heaven and earth to find their child. Right?

Finally, he’ll get some answers.

But one look at the skin tone of the woman and it’s obvious she’s not the right Racheal Batson.

It was cleverly done.

So he’s introduced to his new foster parents, Victor and Rosa. And I really like them. They really have created a loving family environment for these kids. Fostering is not something I’m personally connected with, and have no real experience with, so I have no idea what it feels like to be in Billy’s situation, sitting in a car with strangers who are trying to act like parents. It must be awkward for both parties. But I just find these characters really heart-warming.

All the kids in this house are nicely developed with fun personalities, or lack of personality in the case of Pedro. I find myself liking all of these characters.

Freddy turns out to be a big Superhero fanboy. Which I can understand. In the world they live in, where superheroes are real, people would be fascinated by them. They’d want to own a replica batarang, or a genuine bullet that had been fired at Superman. Plus, it ingratiates him with us, because we’re DC superhero fans just like him.

So that’s it. Billy has run out of addresses. So in despair, he throws the notebook away. He’s just gonna have to try to make it work with these people. I think he can actually see that this is a great family, and he could do well to be a part of it. But it’s still not his family.

He still has this need to find his mother. To understand what happened.

And of course he does.

We catch up with Thad, as an adult. He’s investigating people who have had the same childhood experience he did with the wizard. The scientist working for him thinks it’s all a case of mass hysteria she’s investigating. But this latest case has revealed to him the sequence of symbols that will lead him back to the wizard.

The moment when the scientist touches the symbols and burns to ash is dark, but isn’t played as horrific as it really is.

Thad has become super hardened.

And so he releases the seven deadly sins, wanting to claim their power.

But sin is always manipulative. He’s become their slave. A vessel for them to inhabit.

There seems to be a wide age range in this school. You’ve got young kids like darla all the way up to teenagers old enough to drive. Although, admittedly, Americans seem to be allowed to drive a lot younger than here in Australia.

 

It’s really telling of the character of these kids when they knock a kid over, and their greatest concern is the mark on their car. I know they’re antagonists, but even the biggest jerk would surely feel a little guilt or worry if they literally just hit someone with their car.

To not do so would seem to suggest a very serious psychological condition.

Billy doesn’t stand up for Feddy until they make a crack about him not having a mother. That hits too close to home.

Helping others doesn’t come naturally to Billy. He’s a loner. By definition, his life has been all about looking after his own interests. Because he’s always felt alone.

So he hides in the train and is transported to the wizard.

I really like his movie, but the wizard stuff is the one bit I have an issue with.

As is usual, I tend to compare stuff to Man of Steel, because, to me, that’s the pinnacle of DC movies.

Can I mentally accept that this wizard exists in the same universe as Man of Steel?

It’s a hard mental stretch. It really is. It all feels so cheesy and kinda silly.

Billy’s reactions are pretty natural.

The wizard’s name is Shazam of all things. I mean, they might as well have called him Abra-cadabra. How can you take that seriously? And even in a comedic movie, you still need to be able to take the core concept seriously. Unless it’s an outright parody, like The Naked Gun. Then nothing matters. The movie only exists for the comedy. But this isn’t The Naked Gun. This is a proper story set in the DC universe.

Of course, this is all straight from the comic. They didn’t just make this stuff up. But what do you do when the source material in the comic is fundamentally cheesy? How do you make it work?

Honestly, I don’t know. I’m not sure I can think of a way to make it work much better than they did here.

If I were writing this, I’d probably have to make some changes from the source material.

Like, maybe Billy Had to come up with his own word, so he said “Shazam” as a bit of a joke. I know. Blasphemous.

But there’s still interesting stuff going on here. Billy, like Thad, thinks that the Wizard’s quest for a perfect person, pure of heart, is an impossible quest.

But the wizard no longer has a choice. The sins have escaped. He needs a champion. Any champion. So he lowers his standards and he takes the very next kid he tests. It’s gonna be Billy.

Interesting development.

So he transforms into …. Well, let’s just call him Shazam. Because what can you do?

The powers he receives are:

The wisdom of Solomon

The strength of Hercules

The stamina of atlas

The power of zeus

The courage of cilles

And the speed of mercury.

Notice how so many of DC’s characters are connected to greek mythology?

Apart from Solomon, of course, who was a Israelite King.

And, that’s the one power I’m not sure he actually demonstrates in this movie. He makes a whole lot of unwise choices in his superhero adult form.

Now, we’ll watch and see how his wisdom might grow through the course of the movie, but if the wisdom of solomon really is part of his power set, shouldn’t it begin to manifest as soon as he transforms, like his other powers?

But then, it does take him a while to learn to fly.

When he wakes up, he runs out of the train and bumps his head on the top of the doorway. That was a really nice touch. Because, of course, he’s a lot taller than he was a few minutes ago.

So Billy goes to the only person he can think of. Freddy. He’s really into superheroes.

And just a little note, I can’t quite believe that the term “caped crusader” exists in universe in the same world in which Batman V Superman took place.  I mean, do we really need to reference all the old cheesy sayings?

But the whole thing with these two kids geeking out and trying to figure out what powers he has feels pretty natural.

Interesting thing, Freddy doesn’t actually ask “how did this happen?” That would be the first question out of my mouth.

Zachery Levi does a pretty good job of portraying a child in an adult’s body.

 

I love the interactions they have with the mugger and the pepper-spray woman. The humour works great because it all feels like natural dialog for a couple of kids trying to navigate this unusual situation.

And then that thought occurs to him. The thought that many a kid would have when suddenly transformed into an adult.

“I’d like to buy some of your finest beer, please.”

So do they really sell alcohol in petrol stations in America? Sorry, gas stations. Or is it just a corner store? Either way, the only place you get alcohol in Australia in a licensed bottle shop. So this feels pretty weird to me.

Anyway, I love how they try the beer and hate it. Then go back in and buy chips and soft drink.

So he goes home, Darla sees him, and he learns he can change back and forth by saying Shazam. I don’t have much to say about this, but it’s all good.

So Thad breaks into the board meeting of his father’s company, and surprise surprise, his father is actually alive. He survived the car crash.

But he lost the use of his legs.

His older brother is a board member.

So just picks him up and hurls him out the window to his death.

That was kind of intense.

The shock of the actors in this scene really sells the emotional reality of the situation. You don’t always expect that in a comedic movie. Very well done.

And then he releases the sins from his eye. One of them ites the head off a board member. It’s pretty intense stuff So Thad’s father definitely gets his comeuppance, for being such a bad father. But I think we can agree that it’s probably more than he deserves.

And the board members, what did they do?

For a minute, I thought Thad was going to let his father live, and suffer with all that he’d lost.

But no, he let’s greed, the sin most associated with the man, eat him.

WE notice that Thad had become significantly darker, more evil. Letting all that stuff into him and corrupting him even further. Brought out the worst parts of him, which were already pretty bad.

Meanwhile, Billy is also using his newfound powers to give some comeuppance to those who have wronged him.

So Billy and Feddy go off to do some more tests, after destroying their school books with lightning power.

Billy does a dance move on camera called a floss. I know it’s called that because my son used to do it. Kids seem to always be doing dance moves these days. 

Anyway, it’s just a little moment to visually show the kid inside the adult body.

These guys feel like they’re acting believably in character though all of these comedic shenanigans. That’s what makes the humour in Shazam work.

If you’ve listened to a few of my DC podcasts, you know I like the serious movies. So you might have been surprised to learn that I really like this movie.

I like it for the same reasons I really like Spiderman homecoming and Spiderman Far from Home.

The humour is natural and believable for a child protagonist.

The kids act like kids. And the stakes are quite low. Especially in the first Spiderman. We’re not dealing with world-ending stakes like Superman or the Avengers would face. But given that these characters ARE kids, the lower stakes still feel like significant challenges for our heroes.

It works really well.

I like how they test a bunch of different powers, some of which he has, and some of which he doesn’t.

I’ll admit, I’m kinda jealous of their youTube numbers.

Anyway.

The montage that follows is entertaining.

One thought about the toilet scene. This is an example of a superhero movie kinda making fun of the genre. Billy has no idea how to get his pants down when in Shazam form. So he changes.

That actually makes sense in his case. The costume isn’t something you put on. It magically appears around you.

But, by extension, this is kind of making fun of other Superheros. For example, how does Superman use the toilet in his suit?

But in his case, we need to remember his suit is alien technology. I have no hesitation in believing that although there are no visible seams, his pants can separate from the top when needed.

I know I’m analysing this way more than the film-makers intend. It’s a joke.

But, I’ve mentioned before how some superhero movies draw attention to the silly aspects of their stories and make fun of it. Marvel does this a lot. But I tend to prefer the other approach, where the movie either makes the thing work, or just drops it altogether.

I like the real-estate scene, but I don’t have anything to say about it.

So the conflict begins between Billy and Freddy. I get why Freddy broke his own rule and bragged that the new Superhero would come to lunch the next day, without asking Billy first. He’s a kid who’s tired of being bullied. It’s a very kid thing to do.

I also get why he feels he’s as much a part of all this as Billy.

Billy did come to him for help, and they have been in this together from the start.

I also get that Billy would be feeling a bit used and unappreciated

It’s all believable teenage behaviour

There’s an ongoing joke throughout the movie where everyone keeps coming up with different names for Billy’s superhero form.

Remember, Shazam is technically the name of the wizard.

This, of course, is poking fun at the fact that the character used to be called Captain Marvel, before DC lost to Marvel in the legal dispute over that name.

So Billy decides to wag school, leaving Freddy in the lurch regarding lunch time.

And there’s a nice scene where he saves Mary and then they have a conversation about her reaction to being accepted into college.

It’s touching because it’s the first time we see Billy really reaching out to one of his new siblings and caring about them, wanting to help them.

But it’s also amusing because unlike the usual wise advice you’d expect to get from a Superhero in a situation like this, he gives her terrible advice that comes out of Billy’s own selfishness. Again, it’s coming from a teenage boy.

Great stuff.

But he tells her that that family is for people who can’t take care of themselves, which really sums up who Billy is at the moment.

You can’t not feel sorry for Freddy when he’s humiliated in the lunchroom.

And then Billy finally realises how his actions affect other people when his lightning show nearly causes the death of everyone on that bus.

So at 1.25 hours in, over half way through, Billy finally meets his villain. Thad.

In all the excitement of saving people and getting paid for selfies, fighting a villain is one thing that never occurred to Billy until now.

Billy is immediately out of his league. Which again makes sense, because he’s just a kid.

But he immediately realises he needs Freddy.

Transforming back into his teenage self to escape was a smart move.

So the other kids figure out who Billy is, and Eugene has identified his real parents.

It seems unlikely that the police couldn’t find his mum, just because she reverted to her maiden name. But I happily forgive that because the scene that follows has so much emotional weight to it.

Wow. So he reveals himself to his mum, and leans in to hug her. And she kind of pushes him away, looking visibly shaken. Already the scene is hitting me deep.

When Billy first let go of her hand and went missing, she panicked, but when she saw him with the police officers, she let herself believe that they could do a better job of looking after him than she could. She believed he’d be better off without her.

So she left.

And she actively hid herself so she wouldn’t be found.

I understand the feeling of parental inadequacy. I feel it a lot. And she has reason to feel it too. She’s 17 years old with a child she’s raising on her own. She has no support. Probably no money. She feels she’s never going to be able to give him a good life.

But the one thing he really needs, she can give him. A mother’s love. That’s what he needs most. That’s what she doesn’t understand.

But to give up your child like that. Man, I could never do that. I couldn’t even comprehend that.

And now, she immediately tries to justify herself by saying “But you’re okay right. You landed on your feet. You look good.”

And Billy, with all the heartbreak he’s feeling, as he realises he’s been completely rejected by the mother he’s searched for all his life, so crushed in spirit, actually spares her feelings by saying he just wanted to let her know he was good, and he’s going back to his real family now.”

He’s the mature one here. He’s the adult in this situation.

He’s the one putting the needs of others before himself, while she’s just looking out for herself.

But I think there’s actually a little truth to what Billy says.

I think he realises in this moment that his new foster family cares for him a heck of a lot more than his biological mother ever did. They can be the family he always craved.

But I think he also realises just how messed up his mother is. She’s not in any better situation now than she was when she was 17. In fact, she’s probably worse. Evidence suggests she may be in a relationship with an abusive partner.  

If they were to re-enter each other’s lives, he’d be the one taking care of her.

And given the chance, he’d probably do that.

But she doesn’t want him in her life. That is clear.

And she doesn’t even remember the compass, which was such a symbol to him all his life.

But he’s right, she needs it more than he does. She’s still lost, whereas Billy is starting to realise what he’s found.

Of course, none of this is really going to dampen the pain he is going through right now.

It’s a powerful scene. Fantastic stuff.

And that’s when he gets the phone call, letting him know that Thad has his family.

But now he’s ready.

He’s just gone through some powerful character growth.

Now he’s ready to be the hero. And now he knows just how much that family means to him.

This is how it’s done. Character growth, overcoming the internal demons equips a protagonist to defeat the external demon. In this case, Thad and his, well, literal demons.

Don’t you just love story structure?

The batarang moment was important because it allows Billy to realise that Thad is vulnerable when the sins are not inside him.

And then we end up in Monsters Inc.

I’m not sure what’s supposed to be behind all these doors.  Other planets? Other realities?

The crocodiles playing cards are kinda weird.

Thad says Billy doesn’t deserve the name Champion. Billy is no more worthy than Thad was as a child. Billy knows that.

But he’s about to show us that you don’t need to be perfect to be a hero.

You just need to learn from your mistakes and do better.

The kids have figured out that Thad is powerless when the sins leave his eye, so, in a true act of bravery, given they have no powers at all, they bait him into letting them chase her.

But he’s gotta keep one in his eye.

At that last moment when hope seems lost, Billy realises his greatest power is enlisted the help of those he loves most.

The thrones wait for his brothers and sisters.

So he transforms all of his siblings, giving them the same powers he has.

It’s a little corny, but it’s all very thematic. And it works, because the movie has kind of earned it.

They do a little bit of the others struggling to figure out their powers, but they learn to use them way quicker than Billy did.

But I guess you could argue that they at least have Billy’s example to know what is and isn’t possible.

The actor that plays adult Darla does a pretty nice job of portraying a little girl in an adult body.

Nice little payoff as Freddy gives the two bullies suitcase wedgies, like they did to him. I didn’t pick up on that detail before.

So now we have the final confrontation. Billy has to convince the sin to come out.

He figures out which one is left and appeals directly to what it is.

And then we have a Disney death, where thad falls on his own, rather than being actively killed by the hero.

Except that Billy saves him. And then traps the sins back in the rock.

So Billy is with his family now. He’s home.

And then we get a payoff to the lunch scene. Freddy is still a pariah, but he doesn’t care. Because he’s a superhero.

But Billy shows up and brings Superman, minus his head, since Henry Cavill was unavailable to film the scene.

I mean, it was a fun little reveal. But it’s a real shame we didn’t get to actually see Billy meet Superman, and have Superman give him some advice.

I think there’s a lot of potential for a Tony Stark / Peter Parker style relationship there.

I mean, we’ve all seen the screenshot of the comic with Clark Kent sitting next to Billy, even if we haven’t read the comics.

But films bring in their own logistical challenges.

Maybe we’ll get to see some of that in the sequel.

Not having anywhere near enough comic book cred, I didn’t know what the talking caterpillar was all about, in the mid credit scene, other than …. It seemed kinda silly.

So I asked Google.

Turns out it’s Mister Mind. A worm from the planet venus.

Hmm. That’s gonna be a hard villain for me to swallow.

Not that I’d want to swallow a worm.

Anyway. We’ll see what, if anything, comes of that.

So that was Shazam. A pretty entertaining movie with more heart than you might expect from the comedic tone.

That brings my coverage of the DC Extended Universe to a close.

As I said in a previous episode, I haven’t Birds of Prey yet so I’m not going to be talking about it.

I’ll cover more DC movies as they come out. We’ve got Wonder woman 1984 and Zack Snyder’s Justice League coming. Theatrical movies are gonna be harder for me to cover in this format, as I can’t watch them over and over, pausing to take notes, so I’m not sure how that’ll work with Wonder Woman. I might wait until it is released on Blur Ray.

I dunno.

Next fortnight, I’m gonna give an overview of my thoughts on the first two seasons of Star Trek Discovery.

Then, the next episode after that we’ll be starting on season 3.

Don’t forget you can look me up at AdamDavidCollings.com where you can learn all about my book series, Jewel of The Stars.

Until then, have a great two weeks.

Live long and prosper.

Make it so.

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The post Shazam! Retrospective Movie Review& Analysis appeared first on Adam David Collings.

Aquaman Retrospective Review & Analysis

Aquaman is the 6th movie in the DC Extended Universe. In today’s edition of the Nerd Heaven Podcast, I delve into this story, discussing what worked for me, and what didn’t. Ultimately, while I had been hoping for something more along the lines of Man of Steel, I found there was a lot to enjoy in this underwater tale. And bonus points because they filmed it here in Australia.

Transcript

Before we launch into today’s episode, I just want to acknowledge the passing of Chadwick Boseman, the actor who played Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I’ve just read that he passed away due to colon cancer at the age of 43. That’s just one year older than me. My condolences go out to his wife and his other loved ones. It’s really sad to hear of anyone who has died, but someone who is public like this who is loved for his art…yeah I just wanted to acknowledge that.

Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars.

And I am a Nerd.

Today, we’re talking about Aquaman.

DC Fandome happened two weeks ago. It was pretty exciting. We Got a teaser for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which was awesome. It gave the promise of a much deeper weightier version of the film. I’m very excited for it. We learned it will be shown in 4 parts, each episode 1 hour. And then later be edited into a 4-hour movie.

We got reveals of all the characters in The Suicide Squad. We learned the Flash movie is very much focussed on the concept of multiverses.

And we got a trailer for The Batman. And I have to admit, it looks really good.

I’m still mourning the loss of Batfleck, and I’m not sure why we need another Batman trilogy not connected with the established continuity.

But the movie has a lot of promise from what I’ve seen. I don’t doubt Robert Pattison. I’ve always kept an open mind about him.

But speaking of Affleck, there’s a lot of chatter online about him returning to play Batman in The flash movie, although nothing was said about this at Fandome. So … I’m still not 100% sure whether to believe it or not.

Part of me thinks it’ll be one last hurrah to farewell his character, and that they may use the whole flashpoint thing to replace him with Pattison. But who knows.

Anyway, it’s an interesting time to be a DC fan.

So let’s dig into Aquaman.

The description on IMDB reads

Arthur Curry, the human-born heir to the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, goes on a quest to prevent a war between the worlds of ocean and land.

The screenplay was written by

David Leslie, Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall

Based on a story by

Geoff Johns James Wan and Will Beall

And this movie first released on the 26th of November 2018.

I love the way they  use the underwater effect over the studio logos at the start. Very effective

We launch straight into the meeting of Arthur’s parents in 1985.

Wow, so that means I’m quite a bit older than Aquaman, and by extension, probably Jason Momoa.

Isn’t that weird. I mean, Jason is a “real man” so I tend to assume he’s older than me.

I love the way Nicole Kidman plays the confusion of her character, Atlanna, in a world that is so alien to her. Going to the surface would kinda be like going into space for us.

It makes some sense that she’d eat the goldfish. She doesn’t know when she’ll get her next meal in this world, although I think it’s mostly played for comedy.

And yet, she speaks and understands perfect english. The ability for characters to communicate is always a challenge for writers of sci-fi and fantasy, so I can understand why it is often just ignored, like in the stargate TV shows,  But I wish they’d had her speak a completely different language upon first meeting. All it would have taken was a quick montage or him teaching her a few words, and then have her use a slightly broken english after that.

As it is, they cut from first meeting to pregnancy. IT would have been a really easy fix.

I like how they point out the significance of the fact that atlanteans and humans are biologically compatible, able to reproduce. That IS a big deal.

She sees this as symbolic of Artuhr’s ability to unite two worlds.

And then the guards show up, wanting to bring her back to the arranged marriage she fled.

I love their laser weapons, and I REALLY love their water-filled EVA suits.

But we notice straight away that she can breathe oxygen? This will be addressed later.

Atlanna returning home in order to protect Artuhur, is somewhat reminiscent of Jor-el and Lara sending Kal-el away to protect him.

It’s a touching scene. But i’m not sure it fully captures the unbelievable, indescribable pain, of saying goodbye to your husband and son for the last time.

The transition from her going home to the aquarium is cool.

And the scene where the fish come to little Arthur’s rescue is awesome. And then they all just crowd around him with reverence. Great stuff.

This has to be a purely instinctual reaction on their part since fish are not sapient.

So we see a submarine get hijacked. I kinda like the line “I won’t tell you how to captain if you don’t tell me how to pirate”

There’s some interesting father and son stuff with Black Manta and his Dad. Apparently, his grandfather was a frogman in WW2 but after the war, his country forgot him. We’re not really told specifically what this means, but clearly there was  some — about how he was treated in a post-war world.

I wonder, was it a racial thing? I can well imagine that black soldiers returning from the war were not given the respect they were due.

In any case, it has resulted in three generations of piracy. Quite a legacy that mistreatment created.

So Aquaman shows up This will be our first look at adult Arthur Curry in this movie, but from this point on, the story is set after Justice league.

Already I’m appreciating this character more than I did in the second half of Justice League. 

We’ve got a little of the grittiness back that his early appearance promised. And a lot less of the silliness.

So Black Manta has been scouring the seas looking for Aquaman. And he’s just like “Do I know you?”

What’s not clear to me is why this man has been searching for Aquaman. In a few minutes he’ll have good motivation. But to my knowledge there’s no reason for animosity between them right now, other than the fact that Aquaman just ruined his planned piracy of this submarine. Maybe that’s enough.

I like Aquaman’s response to this guy raising this son into a life of crime.

“Shame on you,” he says, without a hint of irony.

I’m actually seeing a lot of the man-of-stel-eqsue emotional grittiness in this scene. It’ll get a lot chessier later in the film, but I’m loving this stuff.

Despite his crimes, we can really empathise with black manta at this moment, as he’s forced to leave his father behind to die. Aquaman has effectively killed his father.

Now he has strong motivation.

Good stuff.

Very emotional.

Where did David Kane and his dad get the futuristic submarine that looks like a spaceship? Remember, I even found it hard to accept Batman’s troup carrier in Justice League, and that, at least, was developed with Bruce Wayne’s fortune.

I love sci-fi technology, but it has to have a reason to exist.

So Arthur goes to meet his own dad, which provides quite the counterpoint to Manta’s loss.

And while I’ll certainly question the moral choices of the Kane family, I don’t doubt the love that existed between father and son. Both of these men had great relationships with their dads.

Which makes them mirrors of each other, in a sense, but is also a nice change from the stereotypical broken father relationships you often see in fiction.

When Arthur’s dad says “I’ll buy you breakfast,” and then the camera immediately cuts to a massive empty beer glass being slammed onto the bar, I laughed out loud.

The thugs wanting a selfie with Arthur was mildly amusing but also a bit on the nose.

Visually, Atlantis looks amazing. Very impressive visuals.

But there’s definitely a feeling of un-reality to it. They give an occasional bubble out of the mouths of the creatures to hint at this all being underwater, but it really doesn’t look like it is. Everything is too clear. I can buy that in this underwater world, sea creatures would be domesticated in the same way that land animals have been by humans, so rinding on seahorses and sharks. Okay. But the sheer size of these creatures is a big thing to ask of our disbelief. And the way the sharks are controlled. Again, the only way I find I can buy this is if there is telepathy involved. The movie doesn’t outright say this, but I have to employ this as head-canon to make it work.

I like how there is such a big world underwater, with multiple kingdoms. All collectively known as Atlantis. But for all of this to be down there undiscovered by humankind? Sure, I can buy they would be able to hide themselves from us in the great depths of the ocean, but why hide themselves? They seem to have had little to fear from humans throughout most of history. With today’s modern weapons, I guess we pose more of a threat to them. But then, they have water-lasers.

The prevailing opinion seems to be to let the humans destroy themselves, but Orm sees them as a threat, a threat that should be confronted, not hidden from.

And then these ancient ruins are attacked by a submarine. They’ve been discovered. It seems Orm was right to view the humans as a threat. It makes sense that they would be found now. After Justice League, the existence of the mysterious Aqua man is public knowledge. Many will be curious and will be actively searching for the truth behind the legends.

And then Mera shows up to seek help from Arthur.

The whole history between Arthur’s contact with Atlantis is a bit muddy. We know he’s met Mera before. In Justice League, he went down underwater to speak with her. So her had first met her even before that. But he’s never actually been all the way into Atlantis itself. I’d have liked this to be explained a little better. I’m not sure which movie to fault, this one, or Justice League.

Mera wants Arthur to take up the mantle of rightful King of Atlantis. An idea he finds laughable. They don’t want me. They executed my mother. I’m illegitimate and half human.

But a character named Vulko believes in Arthur, and has found evidence of an ancient lost trident he believes will allow Arthur to rally the people behind him.

This is some pretty standard almost cliche fantasy fare here.

Arthur has no interest in being King, but if Orm attacks the above world, he’ll treat him mercilessly. Just as his mother was treated.

And then, the little twist. David, soon to be Manta, is secretly working with Orm’s faction. He hijacked the Russian sub and used it to simulate an invasion from the surface dwellers, so Orm could get the other kings on side. But Manta is very angry that Arthur intervened and killed his father. He cares nothing for helping Orm. He just wants revenge.This also explains where Manta and his dad got the super advanced spaceship sub. I’ve only ever seen this movie once, and there’s some details here that I’d forgotten.

The scene where the giant wave sweeps a battleship toward shore looks fantastic, as does the effect as Mera holds back the water so Arthur can get his dad out of the ute. (what Americans call a pick-up truck. I need to add that become statistics show most of my listeners are American)

Arthur learn’s Mera’s name for the first time, so clearly, they are not all that well acquainted.

Orm has officially declared war. All over the world ships are being washed up, along with rubbish – lots of rubbish – that has made it’s way into the oceans.

It wouldn’t be an Aquaman story without an environmental angle. It’s kind of part of the deal, isn’t it.

My question is, how is this much rubbish ending up in the oceans? Oh, I know ocean plastic is a real issue that threatens marine life. But our rubbish here in Australia is all buried in land fill. We don’t just dump it in the sea. I guess I’m possibly not very informed on this issue. Probably should do some research.

Anyway, as much as Orm is the bad guy, I kinda don’t blame him for dumping all that back to us.

Now we get a childhood flashback, and get to learn more about this character Vulko. He’s the atlantean who taught young Arthur to use his powers.

By the way, have you noticed just how much the atleantean’s clothing resembles the black kryptonian suits? Very similar texture.

We get more great underwater visuals.

Arthur learns that he can talk underwater. This still bugs me, and will bug me all though the movie. There should at least be bubbles. When you speak, you are expelling air through your mouth. I wonder if it would have been practical to make all underwater dialog telepathic. It would make for challenging performances, and they’d have to record all the dialog separately. Yeah, probably impractical, but part of me would love to have seen it tried.

Anyway, I’ve said my piece. I’ll put this issue aside now.

Arthur is willing to help Mera defeat Orm and prevent the war, but after that, he’s done.

He really is a reluctant hero. This mirrors his journey in Justice League.

He wasn’t interested in helping Bruce, but when the war came to him, he had no choice but to help. 

So arthur goes to Atlantis for the first time. When you see all the traffic lined up to get in, you realise just how vast the population of this world is.

Highborns can breathe underwater and in air. Which explains how Atlanna was able to breach on the surface, but the guards who came after her couldn’t.

This actually makes some sense. The whole concept of highborn, or nobility, basically represents a narrowing of the gene pool. In many stories, this narrowing is done deliberately to keep a certain genetic trait from becoming widespread. In this case, a remnant from their time before Atlantis sunk underwater. Of course, narrowing the gene pool can cause all sorts of problems as well.

We get some cool worldbuilding. We see Atlantis while it was still on the surface. How they had a technological society, more advanced than ours, in some ways, in ancient times. I love this kind of stuff. The idea of ancient advanced societies is very compelling. 

In the end, it was their own pursuit of power that lead to the fall of Atlantis.

And Vulko tells of the lost trident of Atlan, first ruler of Atlantis. It was imbued wit the power to command the sea. Vulko has information that will lead Arthur to it.

But before he can embark on his quest, he is captured by Orm’s forces.

Orm baits Arthur into a challenge. If Orm wins, it will solidify his position.

Arthur is confident he can win. But that’s typical tough-guy bravado. 

It was kind of stupid on Arthur’s part. You don’t run into something like this without understanding what you’re getting yourself into.

but then, that’s Arthur. He’s a flawed character. He’s impulsive. And I like that.

And he’s right about one thing. If he wins, it’ll solve all their problems.

They cast both the child Arthur and teenage Arthur pretty well.

I love the flashback, when Orm finally admits to Arthur that his mother is dead, and that she had married Orm’s father. Very emotional. The look on Arthur’s face really hit me. Right in the heart.

Great acting.

Then he says, “Are you saying they had her executed, for having me?”

Wow. What a thing to live with.

Ok. So now we come to the ring of fire.

I don’t know how to tell you this, but fire kinda doesn’t burn underwater.

Now, looking at it, I think it’s supposed to be magma. Ok. But water would cool it and solidify it, right? And if the water’s not cold enough to do that, well, Arthur and Orm would probably be quickly turning into seafood chowder.

And, they’re not swimming. They’re walking around, as if this was the surface.

Everything about this annoys me. I know it’s hard and expensive to shoot everything on wires to make it look realistic, but…..seriously? If we’re not gonna bother to do it right, why are we bothering at all?

In science fiction and fantasy, you have to suspend your disbelief on a lot of things. Men can’t really fly, or breath underwater.

But you have to really think about what you want the audience to believe.

A superhero movie like this asks for quite a bit of suspension on the big stuff. So don’t make us suspend our disbelief on the mundane. With stuff that is …… silly. Dare I say stupid?

When I say I want my superhero movies to be realistic, I don’t mean that every detail must be exactly true to life, because then it wouldn’t be a superhero movie anymore. The most important thing tends to me the emotional realism. But stuff like this can be important as well.

And the line is gonna be different for everybody, but for me, this scene crosses the line.

And here’s another thing that crosses the line. An octopus playing the drums.

What? Is this a sapient octopus?

So Arthur’s mother’s trident, the one he wielded in Justice League, is destroyed.

Mera has to interrupt the duel and rescue him to save his life.

Arthur has now lost all credibility. He’s discouraged and a laughing stock.

This has set Mera’s plan back significantly.

He was supposed to have Atlanta’s trident before challenging Orm.

Oops.

Again, I like this because it’s Arthur’s character. And it’s all part of his arc.

We get a fun action scene as the spaceship submarines chase each other through atlantis. All good spectacle.

So hiding inside the whale was clever. It seems Aquaman’s ability to communicate with sea creatures is unique to him, not common to all atlanteans.

And then, suddenly, we go from the ocean to the Sahara. How different can you get?

There’s a nice quiet scene on the plane where Arthur realises how much Mera has sacrificed for him. When she rescued him, she effectively banished herself from Atlantis. Even her own father wouldn’t take her back now.

But in reality, her father still cares and wants her to be rescued, not killed.

Vulko convinces Orm they should be arrested and brought home.

There’s an Indianna Jones aspect to this movie, especially this part. I really like Indianna Jones

They don’t really explain how Mera and Arthur can jump from a plane and land unharmed on the ground. It seems they have Superman-level invulnerability.

The only explanation they really give for the Atlantean’s powers is that they naturally evolved underwater. But invulnerability like that? That’s a little far fetched.

I just don’t think this movie gives sufficient reason for the existence of these incredible powers.

Anyway, Manta has just been armed by Orm with Atlantean water lasers. He uses the Atlantean technology to build himself a suit. And Black Manta is born.

We get some more cool mythology. One of the tribes of Atlantis settled out here when it was still an inland sea.

When the water dried up, they died out.

So now we have the remains of an ancient aquatic kingdom buried under a dessert.

That’s really cool.

And now Mera has telekinetic powers to draw water out of Arthur’s body and make it fly through the air. Oookay.

I’ll admit I did laugh out loud when Arthur said he could have just peed on the machine. Does that make me a bad person?

The idea of a sacred object that can unite a divided people is a common trope. The sword of Kahless from Star Trek comes to mind.

But…..how does that work.

The trident in the wrong hands could be devastating, but in the hands of the true heir, it could unite the kingdoms above the surface and below.

How? Why?

How exactly will the people put aside their differences because some bloke comes along holding a trident? I don’t understand the logic.

Orm really is a bad guy. He kills the king of the fishermen in front of his daughter, and them commands her to rally her armies. She’s not exactly say no, is she?

Arthur figures out the mystery of the bottle. It’s nice to see Arthur portrayed as having a brain, as he’s been portrayed as kinda stupid in recent scenes.

Manta shows up, and they have a big battle.

The line when he says “Call me Black Manta” was pretty cheesy. I don’t think we needed that.

The battle in the town is pretty good, in an Indiana Jones kind of way. It’s not a deeply emotional fight, but the spectacle is entertaining.

But Manta must have some REALLY good shock absorbers in that armour of his.

Arthur has a nice reflective moment.

He had a choice to save Manta’s father. He chose to let him die.

And now he’s made an enemy. It’s a nice relaiseation. I was thinking the same thing during the fight. So nice to see Arthur contemplate it as well. How might this all have unfolded differently if he’d not let the man die?

He still doesn’t think he’d be any good at leading. He doesn’t play well with others.

But Mera sees him as a bridge between people. That’s his strength.

Vulko reveals his true allegiance in front of Orm and gets arrested for it.

Logically, it would have been smarter to keep holding his tongue but I guess he just couldn’t hold it in any longer. He’s been dying to say those words to Orm for a long time. I get that.

So Arthur and Mera are heading for the trench, where horrible beasts reside. The beasts his mother was sacrificed to.

But they show up early and attack the boat.

They’re super creepy. I love them.

There are so many of them. This is a really scary scene. Nicely done.

I just did a quick google search, and apparently flares that work underwater are a real thing. Ok. I can’t complain about that, then.

And then we find this weird air-filled cavern deep under water.

This is hard for me to swallow.

The title on the screen says, the hidden sea. Earth’s core.

First of all, core has got to be a bit of an overstatement.

The heat and pressure at the core of the earth wold be way too much for anyone or anything to survive. I mean, the depths we think of when we talk about going underground, they barely scratch the surface. Our planet is a lot bigger than I think people realise until they really stop and think about it.

I doubt a dry place like this underwater is in any way scientifically plausible.

I mean, it’s cool, but it’s really hard to swallow. And they don’t even try to explain it. This is the difference between a movie like this, and a movie like Man of Steel.

But … they’ve got dinosaurs.

Anyway, we find that Arthur’s mother, Atlanna is still alive down here.

Turns out, you can get into this place, but you can’t get out. The only way of escape is the trident.

It’s guardian will only allow the true king to pass.

Arthur is afraid. I think, because he still doubts his worthiness.

I really like Atlanna’s explanation of the difference between a king and a hero.

A king fights only for his nation. But Arthur fights for everyone.

Arthur didn’t come here because he thought he was mortal. He knows he is not.

He’s not here for selfish ambition.

He’s here to save his home and the people that he loves.

The guardian creature likes this. Finally someone who may be worthy of the trident.

So he gets the trident, and when he emerges from the waterfall, he’s changed clothes.

No explanation is given for this.

But he’s in the traditional Aquaman suit. 

I don’t know if that was really necessary. I just don’t know if the traditional costume really suits Jason Momoa’s Aquaman.

But anyway.

Orm is attacking the kingdom of the brine.

They haven’t accepted his authority.

The guardian creature is massive and pretty scary. But it’s not Aquaman’s noble steed.

To be honest, it’s doing all the work. Arthur is just standing on it’s back looking macho.

But he does call all the dolphins to come join the battle on his side.

There’s too many casualties. They have to end the battle quickly. Oh, but first, let’s have a good long snog.

I mean, I’m happy for them to have found love with each other, but it’s not really the time.

Mera’s father recognises Arthur’s authority by the fact that he carries the trident. That means the guardian has recognised him, and he commands the sea. The creatures of the trench obey his will.

That actually makes sense.

I’m starting to see how the trident can unit the people.

So they have a big fight, and Arthur spare’s Orm’s life. Showing mercy unlike he did with Manta’s father. This is a nice pay-off,

But then Orm learns his mother is still alive

She gives a nice speech, but those words are not going to be enough to sway him. Not in a hurry.

But Arthur is ready to talk, when Orm is ready. I wonder what might become of that.

But Atlanna’s place is not in the sea. It’s with her husband.

What a great moment when he sees her at the end of the jetty, and they are finally reunited.

So there you have it.

I’m glad I decided to cover this movie. I enjoyed it more than I remembered.

It’s not man of Steel, but it’s an entertaining movie. It’s like a Marvel movie.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this trip through Aquaman. It was fun. Next time, we’ll be looking at Shazam. That’ll be cool.

That leaves just one more episode before we launch into Star Trek Discovery season 3. I’ll probably do a recap of my thoughts on the first two seasons.

Don’t forget you can get the first book in my Jewel of the Stars series for just 99 cents at books2read.com/jewel (and that’s the number 2), and the prequel story for free by going to adamdavidcollings.com/free

And I’ll see you next time, on Nerd Heaven.

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Justice League Analysis (Theatrical Cut) Detailed Analysis & Review

We’ve made it to Justice League in our journey through the DC Extended Universe. In this episode, I delve into the theatrical cut of the movie, pulling out what I liked, and discussing what I didn’t, which leads into my hopes for the upcoming Snyder Cut. I try to be positive in these podcasts and focus on geeking out over the things I like, so I must admit this one’s going to be a bit of a downer, but, with the Synder Cut coming, there is still hope.

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Star Trek Lower Decks “Second Contact”

In a suprise twist, CBS All Access made the first episode of Star Trek Lower Decks available to watch on youTube worldwide. They geo-locked it not long after, but I managed to see the show in that little window when it was available.

So, here is the review I never thought I’d be able to give you. I present Star Trek Lower Decks “Second Contact”.

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a Nerd.

This is episode 33 of the podcast.

I wasn’t expecting to do this episode. I thought we’d just be going straight into Justice League next week. But CBS All Access just did something unexpected.

They’ve released the first episode of Star Trek Lower Decks onto youTube to watch for free for a limited time.

And best of all, they’ve not geo-locked it, so it can be watched anywhere in the world.

That means I can watch it and share my thoughts about it here.

So that’s what we’re doing today.

I’m very grateful they’ve done this. I don’t want to sound too entitled, but I almost feel as though they owe us this, after the failure to release the show outside of North America.

Anyway, it’s a nice gesture and I think it was totally the right thing to do on their part.

So thank you CBS. It’s very much appreciated.

*SCRATCHING SOUND*

Okay. Stop the press. This is Adam from the future. You see, we have a problem. The video was only available internationally for a few hours. It has now been geo-locked. So I am far less generous with my praise. Anyway, we’ll get to all that shortly. Back to you, past Adam.

*SCRATCHING SOUND*

So the name of this first episode is Second Contact.

The description on IMDB reads

Ensigns Mariner and Boimler run into difficulty on Galar. Meanwhile, an alien virus infects the crew of the Cerritos.

The episode was written by Mike McMahon.

It was directed by Barry J Kelly and Juno John Lee

And it first aired on the 6th of August 2020

Make it so.

So Lower Decks is such a strange beast. It’s an animated comedy, and yet, it’s so Star Trek. I could already tell this from the trailer, but the show has been mode out of a great love and reverence for Star Trek. The visuals, the sound effects, the music. It’s very trek, and specifically, very TNG.

We first encounter the USS Ceritos docked at Douglas Station, which, like a lot of starbases in the 24th century, is designed like the space dock in orbit of Earth as first seen in Star Trek III. I love that design.

The premise of having a ship dedicated to second contacts was kind of a brilliant idea. It means that even the senior bridge officers are, in a way, lower decks themselves. Just like the ensigns who are the stars of the show, they’re the lowly guys, trying to live up to the shadow cast by the crews of more important ships, such as the Enterprise, Defiant and Voyager.

And we see that, especially in the captain, who is looking for meaning and significance in her job making second contact.

Nice to see they got the stardate correct, for a post-nemesis show.

The opening log entry kind of lulls you into a false sense of security, because the minute Mariner sees Boimler in the closet things ramp up significantly.

And again, we saw this in the trailer. Mariner is so overly hyperactive I actually find it a little hard to watch her sometimes. I feel like I need to give her a stimulant just to keep up. Talking at a hundred kilometers an hour, bouncing around the room. It’s like she’s on a permanent coffee high or something.

It’s kind of exhausting just watching her. Admittedly, she’s very drunk when we first see her, but even sobre, she’s intense. She’s like that for pretty much the whole episode. She goes from hyper, to extra hyper and back again.

And that ends the teaser.

So … now I have a brand new Star Trek opening theme to talk about.

The music begins very much like the discovery theme, with a variation on the dings from the start of the TOS theme. Then there’s a bit that almost seems reminiscent of the animated series theme.

The main piece of music is not as memorable as any of the 90s Trek shows, but it seems to fit the series. It’s kind of operatic and heroic, which is amusingly paired with imagery of the USS Ceritos messing up and failing in various ways.

I don’t think we’re meant to take these scenes too seriously. I don’t think we consider the opening titles of any other show canon as such.

But the titles themselves use the classic blue TNG font. And the episode-specific credits, like writer, director etc all play over act 1, just link in the old days. This give a really strong Next Generation vibe to the whole thing which I really liked.

And they use the proper warp effect from the TNG days as well.

And this is where we run into a problem.

The way I usually do these, with something I haven’t seen before, is I’ll watch it twice. The first time, I’m just watching for pure entertainment value.

I don’t take any notes.

The second time, I basically write the script for my podcast, pausing frequently as I go through the episode.

I first discovered that this episode had been made available in the evening. Once the kids were off to bed I watched it. I stayed up to start making a few notes here and got as far as the end of the opening credits. Then I went to bed.

I came to continue the work this morning over breakfast, only to discover that CBS All Access had geo-locked the video.

So I can’t watch it the second time.

I’m just going to have to talk about the rest of the episode from memory.

And I’m gonna have to push through my bitter disappointment with CBS and try not to let that colour my thoughts.

This is just another example of CBS flinging their feces at their international fans.

It just feels like they’re playing with us.

I have a whole lot of hard feelings built up within me right now, but I’m not going to depordise my family friendly status to fully express them.

I’m one of the lucky ones, I at least got it see it within that window of a few hours.

But I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to do this podcast justice. And for that, I apologise to you listeners. All 4 of you.

Ok, back to the episode.

We see Tendi arrive on the Ceritos with a number of other new crew.

She’s so wide-eyed about being here. She’s the Starfleet fangirl. She’s kind of represents us, the Star Trek fans

But in a different way to Boimler. He’s got all this promotion anxiety. He’s desperate to move up the ranks. Tendi is just excited to be here. Doesn’t matter if she’s an ensign or an admiral. She’s in Starfleet, and that’s so exciting to her.

We get to see a lot of familiar Star Trek races in this episode. There’s a benzite behind her, complete with breathing thing.

Boiler and Mariner are both in the command division. Which is interesting, because Boimler is currently repairing a broken replicator. That’s a job for a yellow-shirt engineer.

But it raises the question. What does a junior officer in the command division do?

We often see them as helm officers, such as Tom Paris, the random extras that sat at the helm of the Enterprise D, and Wesley Crusher, for that matter.

Being the liaison for a newly arrived officer does make sense. That’s a good training ground for command.

We get to learn quite a bit about Boimler and Mariner in this next section of the story. Boiler is formal and straight-laced, but Mariner is easy-going and doesn’t care about the rules.

We also learn that Mariner has a lot more experience. She’s been in Starfleet longer, and she’s previously held a higher rank. That’s really interesting.

We very briefly meet Rutherford, but he’ll become more important later on.

So they visit the holodeck, which looks and sounds just like a holodeck should. Note that it’s the older model like on the Enterprise D, not the newer model like on Voyager. But that makes sense. This ship has probably been around a long time.

We learn that Tendi has never seen sand before, so I guess there are no beaches or deserts on the Orion homeworld. She would have spent years on earth at Starfleet Academy, but I guess she never went anywhere she’d see sand.

And I have to say, it’s nice to see an Orion female who is not a sex slave. Star Trek 2009 gave us an Orion woman who was a starfleet officer, and yet, it still managed to have her stripped down to her underwear.

Anyway, it’s nice to see that Orion women in the 24th century can live a normal life.

So we get our first look at the planet Galar, and we see the Galardonians. They’re kind of pig-like creatures with big heads. I’m not sure how well they really fit in with the Star Trek universe. Animation gives this show the opportunity to show some variety in the aliens, so they don’t just all look like humans with bumps on their faces, which is great, but these guys look a little too cheesy, a little too …. Kiddie.

Anyway, first officer Jack Ransom gets bitten by an insect, which he completely dismisses. That’s a really bad idea. You get bitten by an unknown alien insect on a planet you’re not overly familiar with, you should make sure it’s not gonna kill you. That should be basic Starfleet procedure.

The exchange between Ransom and Stevens, which we saw in the trailer, didn’t feel very Star Treky. It’s not so much that they talk about having a cold beer after a successful mission, it’s just the general way they talk to each other and I dunno, I can’t quite remember, was it high fives, or chest bumps or something. It just didn’t feel very 24th century to me.

Anyway, Boiler is called into the Captain’s office. She sees some potential in him, which is exactly what he’s hoping for. But she gives him a special assignment. She is to report any breaches in protocol made by Ensign Marriner directly to her.

Not only that, but he’s to keep this a secret.

That puts Boimler in a very difficult situation. He’s essentially expected to spy on his friend and covertly pass information on her behaviour back to the captain.

Frankly, I think it’s inappropriate of a captain to ask this of him.

Now these are the kinds of nitpicks that you’re possibly not supposed to make with an animated comedy. I mean, the rules are different.

And I’m still trying to figure out how to reorient my brain, how to consume this story in a different way. And I’m definitely still figuring out how to talk about it.

There is clearly something going on between the captain and Mariner. So why would the captain concern herself over a lowly ensign like this? We’ll see.

So Boimler and Mariner beam down to help build the subspace relay. Liked the transporter effect, both the visual and the sound. It very much felt like a TNG movie era transporter.

Rutherford is having a date in the crew lounge with Ensign Barnes, who appears to be a trill. They’re really hitting it off well. But then something weird happens to Ransom. His insect bite has infected him with some kind of zombie virus. And this is really weird. As they duck for cover behind a table, Rutherford and Barnes just keep talking calmly, getting to know each other. All this stuff between those two was really sweet, and I kinda liked that, but I just don’t know how to take their reaction to the chaos around them. There is one situation where the loose realities of an animated comedy might be pushed too far for me.

Back on the planet, Boiler notices Mariner has snuck some supplies into an argo and drives off. Believing she’s doing something illegal, he follows her.

We meet the ship’s chief medical officer, T’Ana, who is Caitian. Still not sure what to think of her. She’s got less bedside manner than the holographic doctor from Voyager season 1. I’m sure she’s got some compassion we’ve yet to see, but she comes across a bit prickly in this episode. But I can hardly blame her given what she’s dealing with.

So Tendi has to manually massage a guy’s heart while it’s outside of his chest. Again, this was a step too far for me.

It turns out, Mariner is giving farming equipment to some Galardonian farmers. But in the chaos, as Boimler confronts her, an alien animal is released from it’s barn and begins to chase the two ensigns.

So technically Mariner is breaking the rules. She left her post, and she’s giving this equipment before it has been authorised by the Federation. She believes these farmers can’t wait that long. So, yeah, breaking the law, but her heart is in the right place. She’s genuinely trying to help these people. She’s not just being an idiot.

The farmers need that animal and Mariner isn’t going back until they retrieve it.

We get a bit more insight into Mariner’s character at this point. She was present during first contact with this planet before she was demoted and transferred to the Ceritos.

She’s actually got a decent amount of experience.

She’s a bit of a Kirk. She likes to think for herself, outside the strict bounds of starfleet protocol.

Boiler is a sticker for the rules, which sets these two at odds, or maybe not at odds, but definitely opposite ends of thespectrum.

I’ve gotta say, I identify any more with Boimler. I’m a sticker for the rules myself.

But it’s a nice dynamic between these two.

So stunning the creature will spoil it’s milk (the farmers confirm this).

Mariner draws on her years of experience and comes up with the bright idea of having them both strip down to their undies, and distract the creature with dummies dressed in their uniforms.

I imagine this particular story point was put in here to amp up the sexiness factor.

It kinda works but Boimler ends up in the creature’s mouth.

Turns out the animal is a herbivore and is suckling Boimler for moisture. Which doesn’t make a lot of sense. I mean how much moisture is it gonna get off his skin. A little sweat to start, maybe. But the things keeps sucking him in and out of its mouth for an extended period of time. And Mariner just lets it do it. No further attempt to rescue him. Sure, he’s not in danger of being eaten, but this is clearly a very unpleasant experience for him, so I found her pretty heartless here.

Rutherford and Barnes are continuing to get along great. They seem perfect for each other. But just as she kisss him, he’s distracted by a strange engineering problem. Now we think, at first, that he’s the stereotypical nerd, so absorbed in his obsession that he doesn’t even notice the hot girl hitting on him, but the episode actually twists this trope. As we learn in a conversation with Tendi later, he was well aware of her, and puzzled by her lack of interest in the engineering problem. If she has so little interest in a problem like that, she’s clearly not the girl for him, and he doesn’t plan on seeing her again. Interesting.

Boiler and Mariner beam up to find things really out of control, but T’ana realises the pink slime from the animal can cure the zombie virus. The senior officers protect him at all costs, not because he’s important, but because the slime is important.

The crew are cured, and everything is back to normal.

And it seems Boimler is getting no credit at all for his part in saving the ship.

(although technically, his only contribution was having slime on him. He didn’t actually figure out the slime was useful)

Anyway, having gotten to know Mariner a little better, he chooses not to report her breach of protocol. He protects his friend and lies to his captain.

The captain is annoyed. She was really hoping to have some dirt on Marnier. So what’s her obsession?

It turns out, Mariner is the captain’s daughter. Her husband is a Starfleet admiral. They have no idea how to handle their kid.

So….Mariner is a starfleet brat. When your mum is a captain, and your father is an admiral, you’re probably gonna have some rebellious tendencies.

That’s why she acts up so much.

And yet, she’s not totally against the ideals of starfleet, she just doesn’t like the rules.

Mariner is thrilled he didn’t rat her out and vows to be his mentor and help him reach the rank of captain.

Honestly, I’m not sure she’s the best person to be his mentor, but maybe she’ll be good for him, and maybe he’ll be good for her. They might find some balance between them.

And then she starts rattling off all these famous figures from Starfleet history.

In the end, it turns out that all 4 of our major characters are big Starfleet fans, but all in different ways.

Tendi just loves everything about starfleet. She’s the wide-eyed fan.

Boiler is the rule sticker who dreams of sitting in the captain’s chair.

Rutherford is the techie trekkie who loves all the technical manuals and made up science

And Mariner loves the legends of starfleet, she’s just a bit of a rebel.

At first, I thought Tendi was the character that represented us.

But I now realised, that all four characters represent different aspects of fandom.

And I think that’s really clever.

It gives us all a character we can relate to.

In the end, I was impressed with the character dynamics we got in this show. I like these characters and I’ve love to spend more time with them. I’m sure that I’ll have that chance some day, when they finally organise an international deal for the show.

As I said, I didn’t really connect with this show on a comedic level, but I did connect with it on an emotional character level.

Oh, it’s a show I find hard to take seriously, but it’s not the kind of show you’re supposed to take seriously.

But issues with it have nothing to do with uniforms or the finer points of canon. This show has already done a significantly better job on all that stuff than either Discover or Picard ever have. My difficult just comes from the tone, and from the overly-ramped up nature of some characters (particular Mariner).

While I may have trouble reconciling this wacky cartoon with the rest of the Star Trek universe, I can say that I certainly enjoyed watching it, and would very happily continue to do so.

So well done to Mike McMahon and his team for pushing the boundaries in a very creative way, and giving us a kind of Star Trek none of us would ever have thought to ask for.

I’m very disappointed in CBS’s decision to geo-lock this video after a very short time. I’m so lucky I got to see it in that little window.

I understand there might be a good reason. It may be related to ongoing negotiations over international rights, but I feel they’re just kicking us while we’re down. They keep offering hope and then snatching it away.

And never once have we had an actual apology from them.

I think a “sorry, we know this sucks,” would have been really nice.

Anyway. I think I’ve sufficiently beaten this dead horse.

Next week, we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled episode looking at the Justice League movie. I actually recorded that before this one.

Originally, I was planning to stop there, but I think I’ll probably also cover Aquaman and Shazam. (I can’t talk about Birds of Prey because I haven’t seen it).

That’ll almost bring us up to the beginning of Discovery Season 3.

So have a great week. See you next time.

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Wonder Woman – Movie Review

Wonder Woman is a fantastic addition to the DC Extended Universe. Where Man of Steel succeeded as a science fiction movie, Wonder Woman succeeded as a war story and a fantasy film. Join me as I delve into this story, discussing the themes, praising the balanced tone that maintains the depth of Man of Steel and Batman V Superman while adding character-centric humour, and see how the film connected emotionally with me on a level I was not expecting.

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of the stars

And I am a nerd

This is episode 32 of the podcast

Today, we continue our look at the DC Extended Universe with Wonder Woman.

The description on IMDB reads

When a pilot crashes and tells of conflict in the outside world, Diana, an Amazonian warrior in training, leaves home to fight a war, discovering her full powers and true destiny.

The screenplay was written by Allan Heinberg

From a story written by Zach Snyder, Allan Heinberg and Jason Fuchs

The film was directed by Patty Jenkins

And it first released on the 25th of May 2017

So let’s talk about Wonder Woman

We are introduced to Wonder Woman in present day Paris. Working at the Louvre.

And we immediately get our first bit of connective tissue with the DC universe as the Wayne Enterprises van pulls up.

That photo that Bruce found and emailed to her in Batman V Superman. He’s found the original. He thought she might like it. Isn’t that sweet.

He still wants to hear the story.

And that takes us to Dianna’s childhood.

Thymiscera looks awesome. All those waterfalls and stone buildings. Incredible visuals.

They cast young Dianna quell. Not only is she a coll little actress, but I recently saw a photo of her beside a childhood shot of Gal Gadot. They look very similar.

It’s so cute seeing young Dianna mimicking the actions of the adults as they battle.

You’ll notice that this entire sequence in Thymascyra gives us no sense of time, all the way until Steve arrives. That makes sense. This is a world to itself. Completely cut off and self-sufficient.

To them, the outside world doesn’t exist.

But I find myself wondering. How old exactly is Dianna when she meets Steve? When are these childhood scenes set? We know Amazons don’t age like humans. We know Dianna was created by Zeus in the times of the ancient greeks. So how long was her childhood? Did she take centuries to grow up? Or did she mature at a normal rate and then simply live as an adult for thousands of years?

Anyway, we get some backstory. The stories of Greek Mythology are already considered ancient at this point, having happened a long time ago.

So this movie canonises the existence of the Greek gods as real in the DC universe.

The marvel movies present the Norse gods as real, but aliens.

This movie doesn’t make that claim. It leaves it a little uncertain, but the implication seems to be that Zeus and his mates were actual gods.

The implication also is that human beings were created by Zeus. At least, Antiope believes this.

After Ares corrupted the hearts of mankind, Zeus created the Amazons to influence men’s hearts with love.

So, did humans, male and female, not already know love? Or is the suggestion here that the Amazons were the first, females? Perhaps that human females are descended from them? Again, it’s not completely clear.

We know the gods can die, given that Ares killed all but Zeus, so they are in some form mortal beings.

With his dying breath, Zeus created a weapon that could kill a god, just in case Ares returned.

The movie cleverly doesn’t explain exactly what the weapon is yet.

The look on Antiope’s face when Dianna asks to see the god killer means so much more on repeat viewing.

Note she never actually calls the sword the god killer. Dianna is the one who says it. She assumes, though clearly pushed in that direction.

Hipolita is hesitant to let Dianna train as a warrior, but when she eventually agrees, she insists that she be trained harder than any Amazon before her. But she must never know the truth about herself. This, of course, is our first clue that Dianna herself is the god killer.

But because she’s never been told the truth, when her powers begin to manifest, she has no idea what’s going on.

And then we hear the buzz of a propeller plane, as it passes through the forcefield protecting Thymiscira.

Chris Pine was a great pick to play Steve. I was surprised how easily I was able to seperate him from Captain Kirk. Possibly because, to me, Captain Kirk will always be William Shatner.

I love the visual contrast we the camera passes through the forcefield. The bright world of Thymiscira gives way to the dark fog surrounding the German ship. Does Thymiscira have the same day/night cycle as the rest of the planet? Because it looks like night time out there. Of course, fog does make everything a lot darker.

And the shot as the German officer puts his head in and out of the forcefield is cool.

Dianna’s sense of wonder as she sees a man for the first time is nicely played.

Here’s a question. Why didn’t the Amazon’s continue to advance their weapons technology? We’ll learn later that they are at least somewhat aware of what is going on in the outside world. They know many languages of the outside world, including English.

They’re a race of warriors, so certainly not against fighting.

Don’t get me wrong, they clean the floor with the German soldiers, guns or not, but they pay a hice price in casualties. Do they consider bows and swords more honourable, in some way, than bullets? Because that’s a perspective I don’t quite understand.

Of course, there’s no denying that swords are cool.

And so Antiope dies, sacrificing her life, taking the bullet to save Dianna. As she dies, she knows the time has come. War has consumed the world. Ares has returned.

The Amazon who argues against killing Steve on the spot is wise. “If we kill him, we learn nothing of who they are and why they came,” she says.

And we’re introduced to the laso of truth. A potentially cheesy addition to the Wonder Woman mythos, and yet this movie makes it work.

The scene as Steve tries desperately to avoid revealing that he’s a spy. He has a duty. He can’t willing reveal classified secrets in war time, but ultimately we has no choice. I like the way it’s portrayed as he endures as much as he can before the truth finally bursts out of his mouth.

Can I say that I love that they set this movie in World War 1. World War 2 has been used so many times, in so many stories, it’s practically a cliche. I mean it was a practical good idea to set this apart from Captain America, which was set in World War 2, but from a creative standpoint, I just enjoyed the earlier setting. I guess since the fairly recent century of the first world war, I’ve been thinking a lot more about it than I used to, when I was younger.

Steve is on a very important mission. If he doesn’t get word of Doctor Poison’s plan back to the British, millions will die.

Apparently, the Amazon’s haven’t been playing much attention to the outside world for a while, because they’re not aware of the great war.

And you can understand that from their perspective, hearing of this horrific war, truly a war like none the world had ever seen, it’s obvious that Ares has returned and is messing with humanity.

Dianna starts off this story as quite naive. But that doesn’t mean she’s wrong in wanting to go with Steve and help. This is why the Amazon’s were created. This is why Dianna was created. But, like the monks of old, the Amazons have shut themselves off from the world, rather than allow themselves to influence it.

This movie doesn’t quite portray Wonder Woman as being able to fly, in the same sense that Superman can fly, but she can certainly jump like no human ever could.

So she breaks in, steals the lasso, shield and sword, and armour.

She’s wearing the wonder woman costume from this point on, but it’ll actually be quite a while before we see it.

We see a lot of Dianna’s character when she says “I’m willing to fight for those who cannot.”

In the end, Hipolita knows what Dianna must do, so she lets her go with her blessing.

As a parent, I understand her reluctance. Who wants to willingly let their children go out into the wide world where they might get hurt? I haven’t faced this challenge yet, but for Hippolita, it’s greater, because there is so much danger out there.

Steve kinda plays along a bit. He doesn’t believe for a minute that Ares, the greek god of war literally exists, but he’s also seen the power of these people, so he knows there’s something to them.

Again, we see Dianna’s naivete. As soon as Ares is dead, the war will end and men will be good again. I mean, she’s not exactly wrong, but it’s nowhere near as simple as she thinks. She’s going to have to face up to the hard reality that things are more complex than she sees if she’s going to have a hope of fulfilling her destiny.

Steve has a bit of a cynical view of marriage. And if you look at the statistics, it’s not hard to understand why. But despite what he says, plenty of married couples still do love each other up until death.I fully intend to do so.

So Doctor Poison has developed a serum that gives Ludendorf greater than human strength. Okay. I can suspend disbelief enough for that. But the way his face glows, I dunno. It looks like something supernatural or alien. Not like a chemical concoction that could believably have been developed by a human in the early twentieth century.

It makes sense that Steve, though American, is working for British intelligence. The Americans didn’t enter World War 1 until very late in the game. Even now, as it’s nearing its end, they haven’t been involved that long. It’s interesting that not a single frame of this movie takes place in America. I kinda liked that. Not that I have anything against movies taking place in America. A lot of my favourite movies do, but it just made sense for this story that it took place elsewhere in the world, and frankly, there’s a whole planet out here. Not every Superhero story has to take place in America.

Dianna’s arrival in London is truly fantastic. This is an incredible exotic world to her, and she drinks it all up.

I love the idea of Superhero period pieces. I always have. There haven’t been many. I’ve got to admit, this one is my favourite.

It’s very sweet when Diana gets excited at the cry of a baby. She’s never seen a baby before. She’s been surrounded by adults all her life. Of course she’d want to see it.

I heard a lot of praise for this movie from female viewers, because it allowed Wonder Woman to be powerful, strong, and a mighty warrior, without being masculine. She was still allowed to be feminine, with all the varied things that means. They really appreciated that. And I think I can understand that.

And we’re introduced to Etta.

Etta is totally awesome.

She brings a lot of the humour to this film, but it all flows naturally out of her character. This movie had a lot more humour than Man of Steel or Batman V Superman, but unlike Suicide Squad, the humour was all character-based and natural. Much of it came from Dianna’s being a fish out of water, the rest came from Etta’s great personality.

So they make a little joke about slavery. The way Etta describes her job as Steve’s secretary does sound like the definition of slavery to Dianna, but I think she left out some important details.

Now, I’m not going to suggest that the world of 1918 was in any way an equitable society. Far from it.

But there Is a big difference between somebody who voluntarily enters into employment, offering services, for which they are paid money, and a slave. I think to seriously confuse the two runs the danger of understating the evils of true slavery.

But I may be reading too much into this. It’s a joke.

It does make sense for Dianna to put on setting-appropriate clothes to help her blend in.

I do love the scene of her walking through the building in her street clothes holding her sword and shield.

And the scene in the alley, where they are confronted by the german spies, and Dianna saves Steve, is awesome. It’s very reminiscent of the scene in Superman: The Movie, where Clark and Lois are mugged. The way Dianna catches the bullet. I’m pretty sure that was deliberate. It’s a great scene.

Steve realises in that moment just what an asset Dianna is in a fight. He doesn’t need to protect her. She ends up protecting him.

Her naivete continues as she asks the german spy where she can find ares. She’s taking everything at face value, assuming people know what she’s talking about.

And now we meet Sir Patrick Morgan. He’s telling everyone they need an armistice. Which is quite ironic if you know who he really is.

He sees Dianna and is taken aback. He says it’s because there is a woman in the room. But it may be that he recognises her.

And it’s Steve who comes up with her secret identity name, Dianna Prince. This is done in a realistic way. She can’t just walk around calling herself Princess of Themyscira.

Due to Dianna’s linguistic expertise, they learn of Doctor Poison’s plan. The creation of a dangerous gas against which masks will be useless.

Morgan continues to argue for the armistice, but by doing so, he prevents Steve’s mission to stop Doctor Poison. Dianna’s passionate argument to the generals is very satisfying.

And yet, after Steve tells Dianna he’s taking her to the front against orders, and recruits some backup, he shows up and helps them.

Given what I know about Morgan, I’m not quite sure why he’s helping Steve and Dianna. But as I watch I’m going to pay close attention and see if I can get my head around it.

Anyway, he gives them money to fund their illegal mission.

I love the moment when Dianna tries ice cream for the first time. Another one of those nice little moments that show her innocence.

I don’t think Steve believes that the greek god of war is behind all of this, not really, but he’s seen enough to know that Dianna and her people are powerful, more so than any normal human. He knows something is going on, and he knows she can help him. So he’s bringing her along, and acting as if what she says is true.

The more I think about it, the more I realise that it had to be world war 1 in this story. This is a war like none the world has ever seen. This is just what it would look like if Ares was trying to destroy the world. That wouldn’t have worked for world war 2. Don’t get me wrong. WW2 was horrific but wasn’t as unprecedented as WW1.

So once they meet chief, a nickname that would probably be considered politically incorrect in today’s world, we’ve assembled the team we first saw in the photo in Batman V Superman.

We see a little glimpse of the reality of war with charlie. He’s clearly suffering from post-traumatic stress.

Dianna has an eye opening experience as they near the front lines and she gets a sense of what war really looks like.

It’s a powerful moment as they walk through the trench.

Dianna learns about the town of Veld. The inhabitants have been enslaved.

Steve is not unsympathetic but helping those people is impossible.

Dianna doesn’t understand.

And yet, she has the power to do what nobody else can.

And so , she takes off her coat and finally, we see her in the wonder woman costume.

Can you believe this is the first time we see Wonder Woman? I didn’t realise until this moment that he hadn’t actually seen it. The character kept us so engaged.

But it’s a wonderful moment.

So triumphant and heroic.

And yet there’s not the slightest hint of cheese. It plays wonderfully.

I get a whole lot of goosebumps watching this scene. Words can’t do it justice. I can only say it’s awesome.

And we see her do a few of her super jumps.

So they arrive in Veld.

This is a fantastic action sequence.

And finally we get a reprise of the amazing wonder woman theme from Batman V Superman. That music was incredible and I’m so glad they brought it back in this movie.

It fits even better here than it did in the previous movie.

Interesting fact, did you know it’s not actually an electric guitar playing those notes, it’s a cello put through the same kind of distortion usually applied to guitars. Very cool.

What a great moment of celebration as Dianna realises she has saved the people of the town. They’re all feeling the elation.

And we see the famous photo being taken. Wonderful.

And we get a nice little reminder that few of these people wanted to be soldiers. They all had different aspirations and dreams.

Morgan is insistent that Steve not go near the meeting to jeopardize the armistice. But if Steve doesn’t, and the poison weapon is deployed, there will be no armistice. Which, of course, is what Morgan wants. He wants to war to continue. So why did he give Steve that money to help him go?

Dianna thinks, quite logically, that Ludinorf is Ares.

So Steve and Dianna finally have a quiet enough moment to really draw close to one another. And they spend the night together.

Love is a tricky thing in a movie. In a TV show, you have time to let people slowly and naturally fall in love over a course of multiple episodes, just like in real life. But a movie has very limited time.

You almost have to make it happen faster than it logically should.

A good movie somehow makes it work despite that. I’m not sure how or why. But for me, in this movie, it works.

You know what I like about their relationship. It’s sweet, it’s genuine, and there’s not a hint of angst.

Dianna wants to storm into the castle, guns blazing, and take out Ludinorf. Steve is wise to advise a more subtle approach.\

Some stories with female heroes, Star Trek Voyager comes to mind, try to make their heroes perfect. They can never be wrong.

Wonder Woman doesn’t take that approach. It allows Dianna to be flawed. To be naive and to make mistakes. By allowing her to be human, in that sense, I think this movie portrays Wonder Woman as a more satisfying female hero. And I think that’s what a lot of the female viewers who praised this movie appreciated. Certainly I appreciated that approach to Superman in Man of Steel.

So anyway, Dianna finds her own way to sneak into the palace. And to her credit, she is blending in.

Steve’s primary objective is to stop the gas weapon from being used.

Dianna’s primary objective is to kill Ares. Then everything will be good again.

Their objectives are at odds. Steve can’t let her kill Ludinorf until they find the gas.

Maybe Ludinorf is not Ares.

Or maybe Ares doesn’t even exist.

And then they test the gas weapon on Veld.

And we have that heart-breaking moment as Dianna goes and sees that all the people of that town, who she had saved, are dead.

It’s a tragic moment.

And Dianna blames Steve, because he stopped her from killing Ares.

In her mind, Steve has been corrupted as well. Which kind of is some growth for her, because in any war, there aren’t really pure good guys and bad guys.It’s never entirely that simple.

This movie had a very successful tone. It had those comedic moments (which actually were funny) to satisfy those who prefer the light-hearted stuff, but it still had a lot of depth, and gritty emotion that I crave in a superhero movie. It was the perfect middle ground that seemed to work for everybody.

We have another great action scene as Wonder Woman battles Ludinorf.

So she kills him.

It’s over.

Except …. Nothing happens. No great world-shattering change.

The war is still raging.

And Dianna is forced to come face to face with the truth. She was seeing things in simplistic terms. The truth is a lot more complex than she had been able to see.

It’s a terrible moment of self-doubt for her.

“Maybe people aren’t always good, Ares or no Ares,” steve ays. “Maybe it’s who they are.”

Dianna can’t accept this. After all she’s seen. People killing people they can’t even see. Civilians. Children.

Humans can’t be that bad on their own. Can they?

Her mother was right. MAnkind doesn’t deserve her.

It’s not about deserve. Maybe we don’t. Maybe it’s not about what we deserve. Maybe it’s about what we believe.

Don’t you think I’d like to believe it was all just due to one guy.

This is all wonderful thematic stuff.

So while Dianna questions everything she’s ever believed, Steve has to go. Someone still has to stop that gas.

And that’s when Morgan shows up.

And we learn the unexpected truth.

Morgan is Ares.

I thought this was a brilliant move.

First of all, I’m glad they didn’t make a German Ares. That’s too easy. Too black and white.

The charming posh old british man. Who would ever have expected him to be Ares?

So now we know that Morgan is Ares, we still ask, why did he help Steve come here to stop the gas? He wants the gas weapon to be used. He wants the war to continue.

“All I wanted was for the gods to see how evil my father’s creations were.” He says.

“I am not the God of war, I am the God of truth.”

There is so much here that resonates with me spiritually. So much biblical parallel.

As the sword burns, Dianna finally learns that it isn’t the god-killer. SHE is the god killer. She is the weapon Zeus left behind to protect the world from Ares.

We find that humans never needed Ares to make them fight. War and evil ARE in the hearts of man. It’s our sinful nature. IT always has been.

But he gives a little push here, and little push there. Gives them the weapons and let them use them.

All he did was engineer an armistice he knew they could never keep.

I think, in the end, he recognised Dianna when he first saw her in London. He wanted her to be here, and let her naivete make the war worse, not better.

I think that’s probably why he gave that money to Steve.

When Steve sees them fighting in the distance, he believes. Finally he has no doubts. Ares is real, and he’s here.

Steve has a plan. A way to get that gas out of here. He’s got to fly the plane out of here.

It’ll likely be a suicide mission, but that’s what soldiers do.

They make the ultimate sacrifice.

I like the intercutting between Dianna’s battle with Ares and Steve’s attempt to hijack the plane.

It’s a heartbreaking moment as Steve fires the gun that destroys the plane, the poison, and himself.

Was that necessary? I dunno, but it at least makes as much sense as Steve Rogers crashing the plane in Captain America. Probably more.

Ares’ aim here to to prove to Dianna how pathetic humans are. How evil and undeserving they are of her sympathy.

Doctor Poison ends up being the symbol of mankind.

And he’s right. The humans don’t deserve mercy. They don’t deserve her sympathy.

It was an interesting film-making technique to obscure the sound of Dianna and Steve’s final conversation, only to reveal it now in this moment. But he makes a good point. He can save today, but she can save the world.

“They’re everything you say, but so much more,” Dianna says. “It’s not about deserve. It’s about what you believe. And I believe in love.” This all lines up so well with what I believe. We ARE undeserving, but we are the recipients of love.

I didn’t expect this movie to be so thematically relevant. I really connected with this.

To use a Christian word, Dianna exercises grace. Undeserved favour.

I don’t mean to constantly bring my personal beliefs into this, but honestly, each of these movies just connect with me so personally in these moments. I can’t not talk about it.

Well, Ares is now dead.

And the war is over. Without the devastation of that gas weapon, the armistice has been signed, just as history records.

But the death of Ares is no quick and easy fix to the world’s problem. The sin in human hearts is still there. Each person must make their own choice every day. No hero can do this for them.

And that brings us back to present day, the framing device.

This is her mission now, to help where she can. And to help people daily make that decision.

As she dives into the air and sails over the Paris skyline, she appears to be flying. Properly flying. Not just jumping.

There is a lot of speculation that in the next Wonder Woman movie, which would have been released by now, were it not for COVID 19, she will gain the ability to fly. It’ll be interesting to see if that’s the case. Anyway, that movie will be set before the present day scenes here, so it’s conceivable.

This movie doesn’t have an after-credit scene, but there is an epilogue on the Blur-ray, in which Etta sends the team out to recover a cube-shaped artefact found near the western front, which if course, is a set-up for Justice League.

I love this movie.

Where Man of Steel triumphed as a science fiction movie, Wonder woman triumphs as a war movie, and a fantasy. It’s a mashup that I really really like.

Well, it’s been a wild ride. Man of Steel, Batman V Superman, Wonder Woman, even Suicde Squad. I count them all as great movies.

Next up, we’ll take a look at the theatrical version of Justice League. I’ll talk about what works for me, and what doesn’t, and try to settle in my mind exactly what it is that I hope for from the Snyder Cut which we’ll be getting next year.

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Comic Con At Home 2020 /Justice Con Reactions

In this episode of Nerd Heaven, I geek out over the things that stood out to me at this year’s Comic-Con At Home event, along with the Justice Con, which was dedicated to Zack Snyder’s Justice League. I give my unfiltered thoughts on the lack of announcement for international distribution for Star Trek Lower Decks. I also talk bout Farscape, Bill & Ted Face The Music, Red Dwarf The Promised Land and NASA’s Artemis Program which will take us back to the moon.

Transcripts

Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd

This is episode #31 of the podcast.

Today, we’re taking a brief break from the DC extended universe so I can talk about some of the highlights that stood out to me from Comic-Con and Justice Con.

While Covid 19 has introduced a lot of new problems in life, there have been some unexpected blessings. One of these was the transformation of Comic-Con from an in-person event into a free online event. And while that has a number of disadvantages for those who were hoping to attend physically, it opened things up for everyone in the world, regardless of geography and finance to take part.

It may not be feasible for me to fly halfway around the world to America, but I can watch the panels on youTube just like anyone else.

So, let’s get Nerdy and talk about what stood out to me.

We’ll start with Star Trek.

To be honest, I was expecting a lot more from the Star Trek Universe panel. I think a lot of people were. The only real solid announcement we got was confirmation of the title and logo for the kids animated nickelodeon show currently in production.

The name is Star Trek Prodigy. But we already knew that.

Interestingly, I’ve always said that word as Progidy. Not prodigy. With the d and g swapped. Is that just an American pronunciation, or have I been saying it wrong all these years? It looks like I’ve been saying it wrong all these years. It’s a little unsettling at 42 years of age to suddenly realise you’ve been making a mistake like this your whole life. But there it is. It’s about a group of delinquent teenagers who find a starship and decide to crew it. That may give the show something of a Farscape-esque feeling, where the cast is not a crew as such, with Starfleet discipline. They’re just a bunch of random people on a space ship but contained within the Star Trek universe. Obviously, I’m not a kid, and I’m not the target audience for this show, but if the opportunity presents itself, I’ll check it out. It could be a great show to watch with my son.

We learned nothing from the Discovery panel. The table read of the final episode of season 2 was kind of interesting, from a film-making point of view, nice to see what a table read looks like, but ultimately, if I want to watch the episode, I’ll watch the episode.

We did, however, get an official release date for season 3 a few days later. Why they didn’t include this in the panel is a mystery to me. But I’m sure they had their reasons. Anyway, the show goes live on the 15th of October, just after Lower Decks will finish. Which, of course, means, that North Americans will have 23 consecutive weeks of Star Trek.

As for the rest of the planet, we’ll just have to wait until October, because honestly, it’s not looking like we’ll be getting Lower Decks. The show is releasing in less than a week.

I’m sure it’ll appear on a streaming service somewhere, at some point, but by then the conversation will be over. I won’t be a part of that conversation. The best I’ll be able to do is talk about it in retrospect like I do with TNG, and the DC movies, but honestly, I don’t think it will have been long enough for anyone to want to look back nostalgically on the show.

Here’s my real problem. I want Alex Kurtzman to just be honest and say to the world, “I’m sorry, guys. We don’t have an international distribution option for you at this time. You won’t get to see it.” At least then he’d be acknowledging our existence.

But this silent treatment, this complete ignoring of us, the failure to acknowledge that we even exist or matter. I gotta say, it’s a little hurtful. It shows the people behind Star Trek really don’t have any regard for us. They don’t care about us. We don’t matter.

Back in the 80s, you coil get away with showing a TV show to Australia years after it was shown in America. We didn’t know any different. But this is 2020. There’s a little thing called the internet. We’re a global community now. We’ve been following the progression of these shows from day 1, and supporting them in any way we can. You can’t get away with excluding people based on their geography any more. It just doesn’t fly.

Now, I realise there are practical and business concerns. The industry is still very old fashioned in the way it works. Still very focussed on country borders. They may have tried and failed to secure an international distribution deal, maybe nobody wants to buy the rights to the show. They might want to see how well it performs before committing.

But that comes back to what I said earlier. I think Alex Kurtzman should make a little statement. “Hey, guys, we tried, we failed. I’m sorry.” That’s all I need. But by not addressing the issue at all, it’s like a giant gormagander in the room. It’s looming over him and he’s just pretending it’s not there.

Okay. That’s my rant.

We did get a trailer for the show just before Comic-Con, and an extended look at the first scene during the panel, plus an interview with the cast. This was definitely the meatiest part of the Star Trek Universe panel, and I quite liked it.

So what do I think of what I’ve seen? Well, it’s complicated. Comedy is a tricky thing to do. Humour is very subjective. To be honest, I generally prefer British humour to American humour. How well will an animated comedy show work in canon? I have no idea, but I’m fascinated to find out. One thing I really noticed, looking at the footage is that in animation, everything is ramped up. When Mariner is trying to get the pad from Boimler to read his fake captain’s log, she’s practically combing on top of his shoulders. She’s screaming like she’s deranged. IF we were to transpose this performance frame for frame into live-action, it would look absurd and ridiculous. I think they ramp things up like this because they can’t portray subtleties in animation like they can with a human actor. I guess you have to interpret animated shows through that filter. But Boimler actually having his leg sliced in two by Mariner’s bat’leth like that. It seems too extreme a situation to believably happen were this not an animated show. So, like I said, tricky in terms of canon. But not insurmountable. Ultimately, I think the way I’d like them to handle it, is to have Lower decks pay attention to canon and respect it, but without the need for other shows to have to be impacted too much by it.

And honestly, from looking at what we’ve seen, I think this show is gonna honour canon much greater than Discovery ever has. Which is pretty ironic.

The one thing I wish is that they’d kept the First contact / Nemesis uniforms. Not only is that my favourite uniform, but it would give the show a much firmer sense of placement in history. Tho show is set in the TNG movie era, not the TNG tv era. They’re different. I guess it’s sad to know that directly after Nemesis, Starfleet abandoned the gray uniforms and went straight back to these colourful things. Although the people behind the show have made a cryptic remark about maybe not every ship has the same uniform, so not sure what they’re doing there. Perhaps if we see a TNG cameo, they’ll be wearing the grey uniform. Dunno.

But personal taste aside, the big problem is the com badges. These uniforms have the delta without anything behind them. But Picard established that up until the time Jean Luc was booted out of Starfleet, they still have the TNG movie era com badges. I imagine the animators went with the simple delta because the true com badge was too much fine detail to work in animation.

Maybe we just need to assume that in reality, they’re wearing the proper com badge, even though we can’t see it.

There is a very clear love of Star Trek coming through in this show. And it really does feel like the Star Trek universe. They’ve got the 24th-century aesthetic nailed down. The look of the okudagrams, the sound effects. It’s actually pretty impressive.

Ultimately, I think what I’d want to watch this show for is all the Star Trek trappings, rather than the comedy itself, which may be hit or miss for me. It’s hard to tell.

Kinda like how I like to kick back with The Big Bang theory when my brain is tired. I watch that show for the character development and the nerd references first, and the comedy second.

I think Lower Decks is probably a show that I could really enjoy, even though there may be some things I have issue with.

Star Trek Strange New Worlds. We learned that all 10 episodes have been broken in the writer’s room, but they still need to write the scripts. That’s a lot more progress than I would have expected. And I’m not downplaying the time needed to write all those scripts, but that means, whatever the show is gonna be, good or bad, it’s already nailed down. The stories have been decided. Amusingly, I find myself a little nervous about that. Which is kinda weird.

Okay. Now let’s talk Farscape.

I enjoyed the Farscape panel, listening to the actors and writers share their stories.

They said that Rockne O’bannon and Brian Henson are still actively working on ideas to revive the show. This isn’t really new information, but it’s nice to know that they’re still trying.

They did make it clear that if there ever was to be a new Farscape show, they’d definitely want to come back here to Australia to shoot it, using the old cast and crew. That’s really cool, and I think for it to truly be Farscape, it needs to be shot here. So much of what made the show what it was came from that Aussie spirit.

Australia had never done a show like this, so we didn’t know it impossible. Therefore, we just went for it and made it happen. And by We, I mean our country. Obviously I had nothing to do with it.

The writers were all told to really push it, to go places you wouldn’t think you can go on television.

They talked about the different work ethics between Australian and American crews. The Aussie crews threw themselves into the work 100% until home time. They were done. Overtime just wasn’t a thing. Apparently, American TV crews kill themselves with overtime.

Gigi Edgley talked about how American actors get pigeon-holed into genres. You’re a sci-fi actor, or you’re a comedic actor. But Australian actors are all-rounders. They do everything.

The panel closed with the actors sharing their thoughts on where their characters might be now, after all these years, at the time of a new series’ first episode. It was fun to hear their speculations.

In addition to Comic-Con at home, we were treated to an entire convention devoted to the Zack Snyder cut of Justice League at the same time. Zack had some interesting things to say. He confirmed he would not use a single frame that was not shot by him, so no Joss Whedon scenes will be in his movie. This will give us some interesting insight into which directors were responsible for which scenes in the theatrical cut.

Zack voluntarily made the decision to leave the project after the tragic death of his daughter, but he had no say in who was brought in to replace him. As he said, he was quite distracted at the time.

Zack showed a little clip of superman coming to meet Alfred, while dressed in his iconic black suit. Apparently, the studio was not at all keen on Snyder using the black suit in the movie, so he shot it with the blue suit, in a way that he could colourise it later. Smart bloke.

There is another DC fandom event coming up in the next month or so. At that event, we’ll have confirmation of the title (Zack wants it to be “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” but there are some legal issues to work out), we’ll have confirmation of whether it’ll be a movie or a series, and we’ll get a teaser trailer. So lots more to still look forward to.

I haven’t seen all the panels from Justice Con yet. There was an entire panel devoted to suicide prevention, which is great. Zack said that because of the ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign, lives have been saved. People are alive today who would otherwise be dead. And that’s so much more important than a movie.

We also learned that Zack Snyder is making this movie for free. It really is a labour of love for him.

Back to comic con, I watched the Red Dwarf Promised Land panel.

This is a feature-length movie in the works. They showed a couple of clips from the movie, and it looks pretty funny.

It’s going to address a question that was raised all the way back in the first episode of the show, in 1988. What happened to the cat people?

Doug Naylor’s use of science is interesting. Sometimes he uses real science, sometimes he uses speculative science, and sometimes, he uses made-up science. But he draws from a lot of the latest real-world discoveries.

He also revealed that he never wants to do a big grand ending to the show. He feels that endings like that usually fall flat. So he just wants Red Dwarf to simply stop one day, with no great fanfare.

I get what he’s saying here, and I respect it, but I don’t really agree. As a writer, a reader, and a viewer, I prefer stories to have a definitive satisfying ending.

Next, I checked out the Bill & Ted Face The Music panel.

The moderator said that this movie, despite being a comedy, was very emotional. In fact, it moved him deeply. He called it a beautiful movie. And that really gets me excited for it.

I learned some fascinating stuff about the history of the franchise. The writers of the movies actually started playing these two characters themselves, as improv comedy.

They weren’t responsible for the casting of the characters, but they were waiting in line at Maccas one day, and two young people were in front of them in the line. The writers thought, these two guys would be perfect to play Bill and Ted.

When they got to set the next day, it turned out, those two people were Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter.

Turns out that Bill’s daughter Thea is played by an Australian actor, Samantha Weaving, who happens to be the niece of Hugo Weaving, so…Aussie Aussie Aussie.

Oh, and I learned that death in the Bill and Ted movies was played by none other than William Sadler, who, of course, portrayed the section 31 agent Sloan in Star Trek Deep Space Nine. How awesome is that?

The final panel I want to talk about was the “Back to The Moon” panel by NASA.

William Shatner moderated this, talking to real-life NASA astronauts and scientists about the plans to return to the moon this decade, and I gotta say, it was really exciting stuff.

I can’t believe William Shatner is 89 years old. He’s still so active. He looks a lot younger than his years.

So they talked about the Artemis program, which is the new moon program. Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology, so that makes sense.

They plan to send a robot mission to investigate the south pole of the moon in 2023. They know there is ice there, but they don’t know if it is safe to drink.

Then, in 2024, they’ll be sending humans in an Orion vehicle. The first woman and the next man will set foot on the moon. They’re also going to build an orbital space station above the moon, called Gateway.

And then from 2028 into the 2030s, they plan to make moon habitation sustainable. That means they’ll have a base where people can actually live on the moon. Not just go in for a quick visit, but to stay.

This stuff is amazing. I mean, it’s like science fiction is actually happening around us. This isn’t just fictional space exploration, it’s real space exploration. It’s an exciting time to be alive.

Shatner’s excitement was infectious. He was so into it and kept interrupting them just to marvel at what they were saying.

The NASA people talked about how science fiction had inspired them into their fields.

Which is interesting, because as a science fiction writer, their real-life endeavours inspire me.

So that was my first comic con experience. Lots of cool stuff going on at the moment.

Did you watch any panels? What did you find most exciting? I’d be interested to know. Leave me a comment on youtube, or wherever you listen to the podcast or even drop me an email at adam@adamdavidcollings.com

Next time, we’ll be talking about Wonder Woman, and then the episode after that, we’ll look at Justice League, the theatrical cut.

I’ll catch you next time, out there, in nerd heaven.

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