Review: The Cape

The last couple of nights I’ve been watching “The Cape”, I’m about halfway through the series. (Well Technically I am exactly half way through having watched 5 of 10 episodes). And since this show is starting on UK television next week, I thought I’d review what I’ve seen so far to aid people deciding if they want to watch it or not.

For those of you who have not seen any of the trailers, or heard anything about this show I guess I better give you a quick plot outline.

The series follows Vince Faraday, a police officer in the fictional Palm City, who is framed for a series of crimes committed by a mysterious villain named Chess and is left for dead after being caught. He is taken in by Max Malini, the ringleader of a circus who trains him with the special abilities of a superhero. Determined to clear his name and be reunited with his family, Faraday takes on the guise of his son’s favorite comic book hero, the Cape

Basically Good cop in a city of dirty cops, gets disillusioned and tries to make a difference. He’s set up by his best friend, framed as the master villain, and left for dead. Luckily he is rescued by “The Carnival of Crime” a bunch of circus performers who use their skills to rob banks. They teach him their skills, equip him with a almost magical cloak, and help? him clear his name and bring down the real criminal mastermind.

Now as I stated I am half way through the series and I am enjoying it immensely, it has both the necessary action mixed with the correct amount of comedy to make it a very enjoyable series. For example, The cape foils a stickup in a store, the owner thanks him and asks is he some kind of super hero, to which the Cape replies “I’m The Cape!” the store owner looks at him and replies “you can work on the name“.

Anyone who likes action shows, or superhero shows will Like this show a lot. Unless maybe you are a worshipper of the Dark Knight, where you may see this as a poorly done rip off. You disagree? Lets compare :-. (more…)

The Curse of Summer Glau

 

Has anyone else noticed the Curse that is Summer Glau?

Now don’t get me wrong, I think she is a great Actress, and very easy on the eyes 🙂 not to mention she has been in some shows I loved, and will happily re-watch.

But the question is :-

has anyone else noticed a trend with the shows she is in?

Its almost to the point where I’m asking myself should I bother starting to watch any show staring her.

Below is a list of all the shows Summer has been in as a recurring character, I am not counting one off guest roles like Big Bang Theory, Chuck, Etc.

  1. Firefly – CANCELLED
  2. The Unit – CANCELLED
  3. The 4400 – CANCELLED
  4. Terminator – The Sarach Conner Chronicles – CANCELLED
  5. Dollhouse – CANCELLED
  6. The Cape – CANCELLED

And that’s every show she has been a recurring character in. Not a one that’s just run its course, or finished its arc. Every one has been cancelled.

 

From The Bookshelf: Heat Wave

What a brilliant piece of MetaFiction this is:

For those of you who have been kept locked in a box for the last few years, or believe Television is the work of Satan’s minions and as such avoid the evil gogglebox for more spiritual activities, I guess I should start with a quick recap of what Castle is.

Castle is a TV show about Richard Castle, a best-selling author who decides to tag along with a NYPD team as they investigate cases, since he is using Detective Kate Beckett as his inspiration in a new series of books.

Since in the TV show Castle (Played by Nathan Fillion) is writing a book inspired by Beckett, the book gets mentioned a lot in the first season, even to the point of showing the proposed Cover, and its launch/release. You even see the characters reading the book in some episodes, as well as discussing a certain sex scene that’s a bit raunchy.  There is nothing special in this, since a lot of TV shows make mention of Books, Films, Etc. that are apparently going on in the background. And there are a lot of shows that will do spin off books.  What the producers of Castle have done, and done brilliantly is to release a bit of metafiction.  They actually released the book that was supposedly written in the show. The covers the same, the plot,s the one mentioned in the show, the sex scene on page number 105 is there, and even better the Thanks page, bio, writers name, everything is written as if the character Richard Castle wrote the book. He thanks his daughter & mother, the guys from NYPD the works. All in all this is a brilliant bit of meta-fiction,

But what about the book itself?

It’s actually a good book, its very similar to an episode of castle, only its about a newspaper reporter who is travelling around with the NYPD gang solving a crime. The style is like the show, comedy mixed with action, mixed with chemistry. The only real difference is the book is darker, more violent, and more explicit (but not in a bad way) Hell there is no way you could get away with the female lead being totally naked and using an iron to melt half the face off an armed assailant intent on raping her, but in a book? alls fair.

This book is an enjoyable read even if you are one of the people who have never watched an episode of Castle. And I would recommend it as a read to anyone, you will enjoy it. In fact I will give it a 7/10 as a generic book.

But if you watch the TV show, and can appreciate the work gone into linking the book with the show, then I give it a 9/10.

Happy Birthday Geek Legend William Shatner

Born:William Alan Shatner; March 22, 1931 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

William Shatner Star of Star Trek, TJ Hooker, Shit my Dad Says, Tek War, Boston Legal (& The Practice), And way too many other things to list here turns 80 today. Yes that’s right Kirk is 80, and I wish I look as young/good when I hit 80.

So we here at the Ninja Temple want to wish one of the big names in the Geek world a Very Happy 80th Birthday, and we look forward to seeing you on our TV’s for many more years.

 

Sherlock – Bringing the classic into the Modern age

Originally Posted at http://rockthelan.com

The BBC have just finished showing a new three part mini-series call “Sherlock” which brings the Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes detective stories into the modern day, with modern technology. You have Holmas armed with smartphones, the Internet, modern forensic labs and all the benefits of modern technology. While Watson who’s just back from serving in Afghanistan no longer writes in leather bound journal, but instead has an online blog. Even the famous phrases from the books have been updated, Holmes’s statement when struggling with a hard problem of “This is a three pipe problem” now calmly states “This is a three patch problem” London is mostly no-smoking these days.

Episode 1: “A Study in Pink”
The first episode in any series (even a mini-series) is basically all about introducing the characters, and setting everything up. This can occasionally lead to a slightly slower “starter”. This was not the case with Sherlock, Yes they introduced the characters of Holmes & Watson, and showed their meeting for the first time, and moving into 221b Baker Street. While that was going on they also had time to show shadowy groups, secret criminal masterminds, and one of the best games of Russians roulette you could imagine. (With strong leanings to the princess bride)

Episode 2: “The Blind Banker”
Another brilliant episode that’s starts simply with Watson making Holmes take a simple case (They need the money) from Holmes’ old school friend. A simple “how did someone break into a secure room” case. It’s not long before the case expands into hidden codes, Chinese Triad assassins, Ancient Artifacts, Murder & Romance. With a very tense ending. Theres no relaxing in the middle episode.

Episode 3: “The Great Game”
WOW. What can I say about the season finally that will not give away any spoilers? It starts with a double case, Mycroft Holmes requests help investigating a suspicious suicide and some missing top top secret plans. Meanwhile after a suspected gas explosion across from Holmes flat a locked strong box is found with a letter addressed to Holmes inside. This leads Holmes on a series of challenges set by some mysterious person. Holmes gets less and less time to solve cases before some innocent gets  blown up.  This all leads to a climatic meeting in a swimming pool, and the most annoying “I NEED to see how it ends” endings you could hate to witness.

Basically this show is one of the best things I’ve seen on BBC for a long time, and the way they have brought such a classic character into the modern day is amazing. And I am now waiting for a Second and longer series to begin filming.

GN

Originally Posted at http://rockthelan.com

The Guild – Why You should be Looking forward to July 13th

This Article was 1st posted @ rocktheLAN.com on Mon, 2010-06-28 13:31

The release date for the fourth season of “The Guild” has been announced as July 13th.

Now it is possible that this means nothing to you, Maybe you have never heard of the Guild, Or heard just bad things about it, or just that you saw the logo in this post and thought. “Nope. Not for me!“.  Well Read on dear Reader, allow me the chance to change your mind!

The Guild is a Comedy Web Series, written by Felicia Day (Yes her from Doctor Horrible). Its a series about a group of Gamers who play WoW as a guild. And get themselves info some very odd situations.  The best part is its broadcast on Xbox-Live, Zune, MSN, etc before being released on youtube and its own website http://www.watchtheguild.com/.

So put simply it is a Free web comedy you can watch on your xbox, and its about a group of geeky gamers and the problems that can cause in the real world. What’s not to like? Season 3 even had the Internets Wil Wheaton playing a evil character (Is anyone else spotting the tendency to put him as the badguy? it’s like he’s an English actor :o))

I will admit to having heard a few reasons not to watch the show, and I will address them here.

Reason: “I don’t play WoW, So I won’t get it!”

Answer: I have never played WoW either and I still enjoy the show. You don not have to be a WoW player to “get it”. Any internet gamer who plays multiplayer games should find themselves recognising situations and people, wether your an WoW Guild, A FPS clan, or whatever. Its more about Gamers and less WoW specific.

Reason: “Its got that red head from Buffy in it. I hate Buffy”

Answer: Seriously ? You refuse to watch a very funny show because you did not like Buffy? Madness, Yes Felicia Day had a part in the final season of Buffy, but why hold that against her. She’s an intelligent woman (she writes the guild shows, the comics, etc), She is a real life gamer, and if i dare to be sexist a nice bit of eye candy!.

Reason: “I don’t really have the time”

Answer: WTF? the episodes are like 10 minutes long if that. you can watch a whole season in under two hours. You can make time for that. And all the back episodes are online for you RIGHT NOW!

Now that we have dealt with the negative people out there, I suggest everyone else go to http://www.watchtheguild.com/the-guild/auto-tune-the-guild/* and go watch the Season 3 recap.

And on a final note we here at Rock The LAN Three-Ninjas would like to wish Felicia Day a Happy Birthday for today.

GGN

 

*: Note Auto Tune the Guild Link is No longer working.