The DVD Extras
Now that the column has reached the all-important second anniversary, it was important for me to celebrate appropriately...so I went to the forums and asked. Although there were some great ideas, it sparked an even better idea. Although we've had twelve months of pretty cool writing, there were a lot of ideas that went by the wayside for whatever reason - more pressing news, better writing opportunities, not enough material for a full column. Like many writers, I tend to scribble thoughts and notes into a small notebook which I carry around with me.
So this month, I'm cleaning out the notebook, and touching base on a variety of topics. Consider this TV Party: The DVD Extras - a look back on the past year of this column on the things that weren't written about...but that deserve a second chance. Topics could fall by the wayside and that really deserve even a small amount of attention...if only to help me settle things at the end of this column's second year.
Like Dollhouse. I am not a hardcore Joss Whedon fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I am disappointed by Fox's decision to allow the series a full second season...only to end it. Although it was a great premise, and I think it hits on many themes (not only those identified by Whedon in terms of accepting the consequences of one's actions, but also some deeper ones about the nature of identity)...I do wonder about the creative wisdom of having "Epitaph One" as a DVD-only first season ender. I also think this series had a very shaky start in its first season. Perhaps this is a lesson in realistic expectations, and that some series may (necessarily) have a short shelf life...and that television networks might want to reconsider the traditional "season" schedule structure...
Speaking of business, I really wish that I had the foresight to write a column about two game-changers: the Disney purchase of Marvel , and DC's reorganization into "DC Entertainment" . (And that, I believe, is the first ever occurrence of the phrase "game changer" in Comic Related) Granted, others have commented on this, but these two events have some serious implications for comic-related movies and television. On the one hand, it means greater opportunities and improvement in production, script development, distribution, and marketing. (For some reason, a Pixar version of Guardians of the Galaxy, or a CGI version of Metal Men keep popping in my head). It also means greater "continuity" between (as Marvel plans to do with its upcoming Iron Man 2/Thor/Captain America/Avengers movies). On the other hand, it also means that comics lose a little less luster, as they become more "media properties" to be exploited, with a slight loss in comics for their own sake. Fortunately, indie and small press comics can help drive innovation, but this news seems to bring mixed blessings...
...Speaking of which, the column that I was planning to write before learning of Barry Letts' passing would have focused on the Dino DeLaurentis production of Flash Gordon. Taken from Alex Raymond's strip, admittedly, it is campy...although not embarrassingly so (the screenwriter also wrote for the 1960's Batman series), and lacks a lot of the go-for-broke energy of the Buster Crabbe serials (now public domain and available for download via torrent and archive.org). Some of the acting is a little questionable in the movie, but one actor stands out, and makes this movie almost necessary viewing.
Two words: BRIAN BLESSED. And you can only speak of him in all caps and in bold . I'll let his IMDB entry speak for itself. The movie is worth it just for him alone.
Shifting gears a little, I really wanted to go at length about DC Animated's Green Lantern: First Flight, which (in my opinion) is one of the best DC animated entries since Justice League: The New Frontier. Although others have remarked on it being "Training Day in space", I personally liken it more to "Law & Order: Green Lantern Corps ." (So much so that I think casting Christopher Meloni as Hal Jordan is akin to typecasting...and wonder why he wasn't considered for the live action version. No, I'm not kidding, why do you ask?) And although Victor Garber does a great job as Sinestro, let me just point you to the IMDB entry for this disc , in order to show off the surprising talent in this disc). It actually adds some interesting nuances to the Green Lantern mythos, and manages to make the case that Green Lantern deserves the "big screen" treatment. Personally, this is becoming my favorite DC animated disc.
As far as favorite movie of 2009, that honor belongs to a movie that, personally, I really wish I had focused on...and that's Star Trek. Being a long term (and continually disappointed) Trekkie, I entered into this very reluctantly - no, it wasn't the casting changes, it was fear that I would only see the same old same old...and JJ Abrams sure as heck didn't deliver the same old same old.
What he gave us...wasn't our father's Trek - it was Star Trek for the 21st century. It managed to re-use a staple Trek cliche and turn it into a way of "rebooting" the franchise (much like Russell T. Davies did with Doctor Who). Whereas several fan film series (and you know who you are) hold onto the conventions of the 1960s show, this took the best of Trek and did a simple rethink. It reminded us that, for all those fanboys who worship William Shatner (and who really need to place their focus on where it belongs: BRIAN BLESSED ), Trek was never about the actors, or the episodes, or the settings....but about the thinking behind it. About how Trek, at its core, is now about the actors, or the setting, or the tech...but it's about the human adventure, and truly going where no one has gone before
And there you have it - the DVD Extras section. But now, for feedback - please feel free to comment in the forums , message me on Facebook , or follow me on Twitter . In addition, you're also more than welcome to visit my blog for more personal writing (especially since in November, I'm part of the NaBloPoMo initiative).
Until next time...keep watching!
Read More! For more of Gordon's writings, insights, and
general information, please visit his blog at blogthispal.blogspot.com.
TV Party Columns: Gordon's previous TV Party columns can be found here
and you can discuss this or anything TV Party related in his TV Party forum.
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