Animation nation suffers some casualties

I’ve been enjoying much of the latest wave of animated television series this past year, but nothing last forever. This week, the Cartoon Network announced turnover among its “DC Nation” lineup of superhero shows, and Disney XD and Nickelodeon weren’t far behind.

Both the team-oriented Young Justice and computerized cosmic Green Lantern: the Animated Series have recently developed more intricate and mature plots, and both have been fairly faithful to the pre-“52” continuity of DC Comics. Unfortunately, both will be ending.

Season 2 Young Justice lineup — Young Justice, as of Season 2

On the Marvel side, I’ve already mourned the departure of the fun Spectacular Spider-Man and movie precursor Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Disney XD’s Ultimate Spider-Man is decent, but I still prefer “DC Nation’s” interstitial shorts to the “Marvel Mashups.”

Tron: Uprising is also rumored to be canceled after being moved to various time slots. Not only did that show expand on the setting and designs of the live-action movies, but it also built its own strong plots. At least Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles seems to be doing well, both in terms of writing, voice, and art as well as ratings.

I still need to catch up on direct-to-video releases, including Superman vs. the Elite and Batman: the Dark Knight Returns, and I’ve enjoyed the occasional episodes that I’ve caught of Futurama, Archer, Metalocalypse, and Motor City.

Many of the TV shows that are continuing are fantasy-flavored rather than based on comic books, and I recommend Avatar: Legend of Korra, Dragons: Riders of Berk, and Kung-Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. It’s too bad that the short-lived ThunderCats revival or SymBionic Titan didn’t get a chance to join them.

Janice and I also like the Seinfeld-style Looney Tunes Show, even if we long ago stopped watching Fox’s Sunday night comedies, such as The Simpsons or Family Guy. In addition, there are other popular franchises I haven’t kept up with, including G.I. Joe, Transformers, Ben 10, or Adventure Time. I have caught the cute Lego Star Wars one-shots, of not Ninjago.

Speaking of Star Wars, the Clone Wars has also featured impressive character development, spectacular settings, and a gathering darkness, remedying many of the flaws in the live-action prequel trilogy. If the show gets renewed, it will likely move from Cartoon Network to Disney XD following the Mouse House’s purchase of Lucasfilm.

I’m not especially optimistic that the upcoming Beware the Batman, Teen Titans Go, Avengers Assemble, and Hulk and the Agents of SMASH will be as good as the departing Young Justice, Green Lantern, or Tron. Enjoy them while they last, or catch up on the best of recent cartoons on video!

Star Trek, Star Wars share skipper

One of the biggest items of genre entertainment news last week was the revelation that J.J. Abrams will direct Star Wars Episode VII, sometime soon after he finishes work on Star Trek: Into Darkness. It is surprising that one person will be helming the latest iterations of the two most popular and profitable space opera franchises.

Space opera franchises meet — Universes collide!

As I’ve noted elsewhere, Abrams does know how to handle ensemble casts and lots of action. On the other hand, I hope that his idiosyncrasies — such as lens flares and certain plot twists seen in Lost and the recently departed Fringe — don’t detract from what makes Star Trek and Star Wars great, each in its own way.

Any incarnation of Star Trek ought to have a future that we should strive for and want to live in, following Gene Roddenberry’s idealistic vision. The best Trek depicts diplomacy, scientific exploration, and social commentary, not just a Starfleet captain fighting the existential threat of the week (or movie, even if I enjoyed Abrams’ reboot).

For Star Wars, I expect big battles between good and evil, the hero’s journey, and exotic but lived-in settings. Lucas tried to make the mythic relatable through the Skywalker clan. In contrast to Trek‘s “for the good of all mankind,” Star Wars examines the heroic and villainous potential in each person. (The animated Clone Wars has been very good lately, while Trek has yet to return to television. Both have good comic book tie-ins.)

Fortunately, there’s room in both galaxies for lots of stories and interpretations, and both show the value of friendship, altruism, and wonder. There’s a lot of speculation and unrealistic expectations online, but I’m cautiously optimistic. May the Force be with Abrams, and may we all live long and prosper!

Sleuths and con artists abound in 2012 TV

This past year was a busy one for genre television. I had meant to post my first impressions of the new fall season, but I struggled with how to organize it: short lists, or detailed analyses? By subgenre, night of the week, or network? At least a few additional months have given me perspective on the shows I like most and least.

Janice and I tend not to watch a lot of reality shows, situation comedies, crime dramas, or serialized soap operas, so you’ll have to look elsewhere for reviews of those types of shows. In live-action TV, we do watch some procedurals, with Masterpiece: Mystery and the second season of the modernized BBC/PBS Sherlock as favorites.

Matt Smith and Benedict Cumberbatch — Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes

The competing Elementary is decent, if not quite as brilliant as its British forebears. Castle has managed to balance humor and drama, as has White Collar, even though both have occasionally veered too far into gruesome melodrama on the one hand or silly romance on the other. At the same time, I look forward to the goofy shout-outs to the 1980s and ’90s in Psych.

I’d put do-gooder capers such as the original Mission Impossible in a closely related category. This includes the recently canceled Leverage (whose tabletop role-playing game is the best implementation of the Cortex system) and Hu$tle. I haven’t been following popular detective shows such as Bones and the remake of Hawaii Five-O.

In the related genre of supernatural crime fighters, I thought that the canceled Awake was decent. I prefer Grimm, which has inherited some of Buffy: the Vampire Slayer and Angel‘s writers and style, to the fairy tale soap Once Upon a Time.

Fringe is in a league of its own, with the mind-bending perspectives of Farscape and the procedural style of The X-Files. I’ll miss Fringe, which is at least going out strong. I haven’t been following Supernatural.

On the slightly more realistic side, thrillers such as Homeland, Person of Interest, and Last Resort have been pretty good, but I dropped Nikita, which of course outlasted much of its competition. What have you been watching?

Coming soon: More SFTV, animation nation returns, and books and games!

Star Trek: the greatest generation

On Thursday, 29 November 2012, I met former co-worker and fellow blogger Ken G. and members of the Boston Sci-Fi Meetup for dinner, drinks, and conversation at Boston Beer Works near Fenway Park. We then went to the screening of Season 2 episodes of Star Trek: the Next Generation that have been remastered in preparation for the Blu-Ray release. I enjoyed the camaraderie, the special features, and the look back at one of the best space opera TV shows as it reached its prime 25 years ago.

Cast photo for ST:TNG Season 2 — Command crew of the starship Enterprise, NCC 1701-D, as of Season 2

“Q Who?” introduced the Borg, who would become one of the franchise’s greatest villains. John de Lancie’s nearly omnipotent mischief maker played off nicely against Patrick Stewart’s Capt. Jean Luc Picard and the rest of the command crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC 1701-D. The remastered special effects were clean, although the colors and lighting seemed a bit too dark at times. The audio was excellent, with the starship sounds more pronounced during the opening credits and space battles.

“A Measure of a Man” included 13 minutes of restored scenes from Melinda Snodgrass’ thoughtful script. Jonathan Frakes as Cmdr. William T. Riker, Stewart, and Brent Spiner as Lt.Cmdr. Data all got to shine in their roles exploring android Data’s legal rights as a sentient being in the United Federation of Planets. The episode included references to the original 1960s TV series (TOS) and held up remarkably well. I’m glad that Snodgrass’ character moments were added back in.

Both episodes showed the crew of the Enterprise growing more comfortable with one another as the storylines improved. While I disagree with the producers and many fans who wanted darker, more conflict-driven episodes in defiance of Gene Roddenberry’s wishes, I think Next Gen‘s (TNG) middle seasons did a great job of balancing character, episodic plots, and Roddenberry’s hopeful vision of the future.

The interviews with cast members, bloopers, and glimpses at the restoration process for Seasons 1 through 3 of TNG added much insight. It was nice to see the actors still joking around, learn about why Gates MacFadden was really fired (for protesting sexist scripts), and whet our appetite for remastered versions of “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” “Sins of the Father,” “Best of Both Worlds, Part 1.”

Reunion of ST:TNG cast — Reunion of the cast of Star Trek: the Next Generation

Star Trek, including The Next Generation, helped set the template for many other genre television in the decades that have followed. Like Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, and Babylon 5 had an initially successful military space opera — TOS, the 1970s show, the 1980s movie, and the 1990s TV series, respectively. The best of these showed teams of co-workers become friends as they saved humanity and the galaxy time after time.

Each was followed by a ship-based TV revival (TNG, Ron Moore’s BSG, and Stargate SG1), a darker and more intricate stationary show (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Caprica, and Stargate: Atlantis) and a weaker return to a ship-based action series (Voyager/Enterprise, Razor/Blood & Chrome, Stargate: Universe, and Crusade, respectively). All had episodes featuring time travel or flashbacks, shared hallucinations, foes turned friends, and many other speculative fiction tropes codified by Trek.

Even space operas that didn’t have spinoffs owe a heavy debt to Roddenberry and crew, such as Andromeda, Farscape, and Firefly/Serenity. I’ve been a fan of all of these shows, but the familial relationships of TNG and Roddenberry’s heroic idealism still resonate with me more than many of that show’s peers, spinoffs, and successors.

Now that more information is becoming available for the sequel to J.J. Abrams’ reboot, I’m still cautiously optimistic. I’d prefer a less villain-driven plot, which looks to use Benedict Cumberbatch’s Khan Noonien Singh or Gary Mitchell as an analogue for Osama Bin Laden. Star Trek‘s final frontier still beckons. Live long and prosper!

Super MegaFest 2012 con report

On Saturday, 17 November 2012, I met former co-worker and fellow fan Ken G. at the Sheraton Framingham for the tenth annual Super MegaFest. We had a good time at the genre entertainment convention, which had an even stronger lineup of celebrity guests than usual.

I thought the show‘s organizers did a decent job of handling crowd control, since attendance has grown and space is limited. On the other hand, I did have to wait in several long lines, and I heard some complaints about guests having to wait for rides at the airport.

In addition, the pop culture portions have squeezed the space available to vendors and comic book artists. I’ve noted previously that support for tabletop role-playing games has all but vanished from such multimedia events, and DVD and toy sellers aren’t far behind. I have to admit, though, the assorted actors and artists were a strong draw for me this year.

I had met Kevin Sorbo, the lead of Hercules: the Legendary Journeys, Andromeda, and Kull the Conqueror at a previous con, but Ken and I got to join his joking conversations with other fans and Bruce Boxleitner, who sat at the next table.

I’ve watched Boxleitner in Tron (including Tron Legacy and Tron Uprising), Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Bring ‘Em Back Alive, and Babylon 5. During his panel discussion, Boxleitner gave us insights into Tron and B5, balancing his bitterness toward meddling network TV executives with kudos for his fellow actors and fondness for history. I agree with his statement that there should be more heroic, idealistic space opera on television, continuing in the tradition of John Carter, Star Trek, and Stargate SG1.

I was happy to meet Adrian Paul, star of Highlander: the Series, one of the best modern fantasy TV shows of the 1990s (or indeed any time, in my opinion) and one of the strongest parts of that swashbuckling franchise. He has aged nearly as gracefully as his immortal Scotsman. I told Paul that his former castmate Roger Daltrey was in town performing with The Who. I was surprised that relatively few people sought Paul’s autograph, but he was a last-minute addition to the roster.

Dean Cain, best known as Clark Kent/Superman in Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman, was smiling and pleasant to everyone, just as any Superman fan could hope. A bunch of models ran over to get their photos with the beefy actor, who had one of the longer autograph lines at the MegaFest.

Like Boxleitner, Cain was complimentary of his fellow actors during his panel. He talked about being a single father, his own love of history, and how he and Sorbo had both auditioned for the role of Superman. Cain also talked about his and Christopher Reeve’s cameos on Smallville and wished Henry Cavill good luck with the upcoming Man of Steel.

Speaking of TV superheroes, I found John Wesley Shipp from The Flash to be very friendly. It’s hard to believe that close to 20 years have passed since that wave of live-action superheroes on TV, which arguably paved the way for more recent cinematic blockbusters such as The Avengers.

The guest of honor was Stan “the Man” Lee, co-creator of Marvel icons such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men. After waiting in long lines, Ken timed my photo op with him at 6 seconds, but it was nice to exchange words with one of the most recognizable comic book creators.

At the Boston Super MegaFest 2012 — Greetings, true believers! Excelsior!

I was out of cash after getting various autographs, so I didn’t buy anything else at this year’s con. (Not to mention, I’ve had a busy year, from the Boston Comic Con and Steampunk City to the Rhode Island Comic Con.) There were lots of other actors, models, and fans in costume to see and talk to. See also Ken’s review of this event.

Coming soon: More belated game updates and Skyfall review. Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!