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1,284 New Places for our Alien Overlords to call home!

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – Astronomers have discovered 1,284 more planets beyond our solar system, with nine possibly in orbits suitable for surface water that could bolster the prospects of supporting life, scientists said on Tuesday.

The announcement brings the total number of confirmed planets outside the solar system to 3,264. Called exoplanets, the bulk were detected by NASA’s Kepler space telescope, which searched for habitable planets like Earth.

The new planets were identified during Kepler’s four-year primary mission, which ended in 2013, and previously had been considered planet-candidates.

Scientists announcing the largest single finding of planets to date used a new analysis technique that applied statistical models to confirm the batch as planets, while ruling out scenarios that could falsely appear to be orbiting planets.

“We now know there could be more planets than stars,” Paul Hertz, NASA’s astrophysics division director, said in a news release. “This knowledge informs the future missions that are needed to take us ever closer to finding out whether we are alone in the universe.”

Of the new planets, nearly 550 could be rocky like Earth, NASA said. Nine planets are the right distance from a star to support temperatures at which water could pool. The discovery brings to 21 the total number of known planets with such conditions, which could permit life.

Kepler looked for slight changes in the amount of light coming from about 150,000 target stars. Some of the changes were caused by orbiting planets passing across, or transiting, the face of their host stars, relative to Kepler’s line of sight.

The phenomenon is identical to Monday’s transit of Mercury across the sun, as seen from Earth’s perspective.

The analysis technique, developed by Princeton University astronomer Tim Morton and colleagues, analyzed which changes in the amount of light are due to planets transiting and which are due to stars or other objects.

The team verified, with a more than 99 percent accuracy, that 1,284 candidates were indeed orbiting planets, Morton said.

The results suggest that more than 10 billion potentially habitable planets could exist throughout the galaxy, said Kepler lead scientist Natalie Batalha, with NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. The nearest potentially habitable planet is about 11 light years from Earth.

“Astronomically speaking, that’s a very close neighbor,” she said.

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Captain America: Civil War

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

The Avengers have faced some difficult opponents, either as a team or on their own: the Red Skull, Loki, the Mandarin, Ultron. However, in “Captain America: Civil War,” they face a new kind of enemy: each other. “Civil War” divides the Avengers, forcing them to align with either Iron Man or Captain America. Iron Man believes superheroes should sign a government document that will keep them all accountable; Captain America fears the government will abuse that power and it would be dangerous to sign. They are also split on exactly how the Winter Soldier — the Cap’s brainwashed best friend Bucky Barnes — should be brought to justice. This conflict will challenge and even ruin friendships, and it will bring an end to the Avengers as we know them.

“Captain America: Civil War” is a tense, thought-provoking superhero film that is both global and personal in its scope. It ventures into definite moral gray areas and sometimes it’s tough to decide who is actually doing the right thing. Although there are a lot of superheroes, and a lot of subplots, the Russo brothers — who also helmed 2014’s excellent “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” — successfully manage everything that’s going on and never lose sight of the central conflict between Iron Man and the Cap. “Civil War” is a must-see for Marvel fans and shakes up the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“Civil War” starts by examining a theme that, a little surprisingly, is often overlooked in superhero films: collateral damage. When superheroes battle super-powered villains, city blocks tend to get leveled and the landscape gets destroyed. We may not like to think about it, but in these types of epic battles, civilian casualties would be difficult to avoid. In “Civil War,” Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch, inadvertently kills civilians while trying to stop a bomb. This incident appears to be the last straw in a long line of catastrophic Avengers-related events (New York, Washington, D.C., Sokovia), and the United Nations presents the Avengers with a document called the Sokovia Accords, which are designed to control them and keep them accountable.

Normally the rebel but now haunted by his past mistakes, Tony Stark is one of the first to sign. However, Steve Rogers can’t bring himself to do the same. He’s afraid of giving the government this kind of control, and he is concerned the government could abuse this power. He also believes Bucky Barnes is a victim of brainwashing, even though the government has labeled his as a No. 1 priority terrorist and has ordered their agents to kill him on sight. Captain America ends up going rouge with Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and several other Avengers, and Tony is forced to hunt him down with the help of War Machine, Vision, and Black Widow — and a couple surprise allies.

While there’s a lot going on in “Civil War,” the directors keep everything running smoothly, and it feels like every character and plot point gets just the right amount of screen time. It’s a more satisfying film than last summer’s “Age of Ultron,” which remains the only MCU film that I don’t own and the only one that left me feeling slightly disappointed. “Civil War” does a better job of managing its large cast and finding time for some quieter, more character-focused moments, even in the midst of all the action. Marvel’s weak link is sometimes its villains, and you could say this film’s villain, Helmut Zemo, isn’t as dynamic as he could have been. But this film was never really meant to be about the Avengers fighting an outside villain: it’s about what happens when they fight each other, and Zemo is merely the catalyst who facilitates that conflict.

Although this is very much the Cap and Iron Man’s film, there are some great cameo appearances and newcomers here. I was excited to see Ant-Man join the Avengers for the first time, and the revelation of his new “special ability” is one of the best — and funniest — moments of the film. I also really loved Chadwick Boseman as the Black Panther, and I’m excited for his upcoming solo film. He brings an outside perspective to the conflict, and he’s definitely a superhero you want to have on your side. And no review of “Civil War” would be complete without talking about Spider-Man. I was a little nervous about how the character would blend with the Avengers, but the Russos handle his introduction marvelously, sending Tony Stark to recruit the excitable and lovably awkward teenager. It’s also a blast to see him using his powers in the big showdown between the opposing groups of superheroes.

The film ends on a slightly ambiguous note, which I was actually happy about. There’s not a direct resolution to the conflict, and the Russos don’t completely repair the division in the team. I was concerned the film would try to rush and wrap everything up too neatly, and thankfully, it doesn’t do that. The conflict will continue to impact Marvel films in the future. All in all, I was very pleased with “Civil War.” I’m not sure yet exactly where this ranks on my list of favorite MCU films, but it’s definitely in the top 5. I guess I’ll just have to go see it again.

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The Team

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

Season 3 Episode 17: The Team

‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ has so many twists and double-crosses this week that you’d almost swear it was a Shonda Rhimes show. I’m hyperventilating. Did that really just happen?! If this episode is any indication of the caliber of the finale, were in for a ride of epic proportions. Ok, let’s get to this weeks review and apologies for presenting this one out of sequence – it was just too important to pass up, but I promise I’ll catch up on the outstanding episodes ASAP.

With Coulson and the S.H.I.E.L.D. command team trapped aboard Zephyr One as it was hijacked by Giyera and piloted to a HYDRA base, Daisy and Lincoln are left to rescue them. Using a quinjet, they fly around the world to pick up the members of Daisy’s “Secret Warriors Initiative,” which sounds pretty cool and impressive until you realize that it actually only consists of two other people: Joey (the guy who can manipulate metal) and Elena (the speedster who can spring back and forth faster than the eye can see). Elena has (conveniently) been practicing her English enough to carry a conversation now. Joey seems reluctant to get involved and put himself in danger, especially when Daisy makes them all HALO jump out of the jet – something neither he nor Elena has ever done before.

Starting a new chapter in your life is always difficult, and joining a team of Inhumans has to be hella difficult. Good thing Yo-Yo and Joey have each other. They commiserate in rapid-fire Spanish, just before taking the plunge out of the jet. Two newbies, becoming friends is very heartwarming; the conversations in Spanish make them that much better. Especially since not one other “agent” there understands the language. It becomes their thing and anchors them to each other.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Giyera leaves the plane and reports to Ward. A HYDRA team storms the plane to flush out the S.H.I.E.L.D.ies, who hold them off with a gunfight and then lock themselves into a storage room. (How the hell big is this plane?) May was injured in the last episode and is in pretty bad shape, but Simmons is able to stabilize her. Fitz works on MacGyvering a chlorine gas weapon using supplies in the room.

The warriors arrive and split up. Lincoln finds Malick (all of a sudden Lincoln seems like a pretty epic fighter to be honest!), Daisy finds the plane, Yoyo finds the team, and Melty Man… does… something? That really could have been clearer. Anyways, the team leaves on the plane with Malick, only to find that the Inhuman I call Secrets In Their Eyes is hiding on the plane. He eye freezes Lincoln but Melty stabs him with a pipe. This is his first “kill” and he’s rightfully NOT a happy camper about it. As it takes off and leaves the HYDRA base, Ward isn’t too concerned. He tells Giyera, “Now we have one on the inside.” That sounds ominous. Is he talking about Malick, or does he have a mole in S.H.I.E.L.D. now or is Eye guy not really dead?

Completely ignoring the conflict of interest, Coulson interrogates Malick, the man responsible for having Rosalind killed. Protocol is different from organization to organization, but this can’t be okay no matter what. Coulson is still so damn bitter about Rosalind. This may sound cold-hearted, but can we get past this? It’s been some time, they didn’t date very long, he got his revenge on Ward; let’s stop bringing up the dead lady! Anywho, Malick tells Coulson about the death of his daughter – remember that time that Hive killed Malick’s daugher by creepy alien tongue kissing her? – Malick reveals how Hive works and he says that he made a terrible mistake in bringing the Inhuman parasite (whose official name is Alveus, which supposedly translates as “Hive”) to Earth. He explains that Ward/Alveus/Hive murdered his daughter and says, “It is a god, just not ours.” Malick warns Coulson that the Inhumans will all worship Hive, who has the ability to control the mind of any Inhuman. He also suggests that some of Coulson’s own people may have already turned. Coulson isn’t sure if Malick is just playing him, but the seeds of doubt quickly grow in his mind. He asks Mack to quietly lock down the base and instructs Fitz and Simmons to work on making a test to see if anyone is under Hive’s spell.

Daisy immediately suspects that something is up and that Coulson is hiding something from her. She doesn’t like being left out of the loop. Elena also gets very agitated about being stuck in the base, and Joey disappears for a while. Mack watches all of them (plus Lincoln) on surveillance but doesn’t feel very good about it. Meanwhile, Fitz-Simmons discover the infection in Secrets In Their Eyes and cause the power to go out so the doors will lock for good. They find Malick’s door open with him dead inside laying next to a bomb which goes off and destroys all of the evidence.

At this point, nobody trusts anybody. Coulson and Mack try to round up the Inhumans, but Daisy is adamant that they’re being railroaded. She barricades the four of them into a room, where they even argue amongst themselves, each accusing the others of being traitors. They all take turns accusing each other of being infected and killing Malick, until Daisy tells them they need to stick together. She leads them out via a secret elevator, straight into a containment room, with Coulson waiting. Damn, Daisy, you turncoat. Coulson announces who the infected person is: Lincoln; they found the orb in his locker and they know he’s stolen before. Not only that, he’s been infected since the mission at Transia, and Daisy buys it. Lincoln denies it all and loses his temper on his team, leaving Daisy to take him down. Why would Coulson think he’d been turned at Transia? It’s not like whoever was infected would admit to seeing Hive; but wait, Lincoln did. The wonkiness of the events leading up to it certainly make clear the purpose of the last few episodes. If you thought that Daisy and Lincoln’s relationship was a bit ham-fisted, you’re not wrong, as it was clearly rushed in order to make this misdirection more shocking and emotionally resonant. Unfortunately, the relationship didn’t quite spark the way the writers had hoped, and as such the reveal was a little predictable.

FitzSimmons try to figure out how to help Secret Warriors, but have no real way of doing that outside the lab. So basically, they’re hanging out and mackin’ on each other. They’re worried about Hive, but Fitz says they’ll take care of him. Stuck in that dirty room, they finally have their moment, so they commence to kissing. About bloody time (pardon my french … only been 3 seasons of waiting for them to hook up!)

Coulson breaks the news to Daisy that he’s benching the Secret Warriors, because they can’t be near Hive; they’ll have to stay in quarantine. Daisy is understandably disappointed, but tells him they’ll be stronger next time. No fight at all, Daisy? She escapes quarantine to go see Lincoln. Everyone knows she designed the security protocols, why wouldn’t they alter them if she’s locked up, too? Lincoln maintains he didn’t betray the team. Not to worry, boo, Daisy is there to let him out so they can runaway together. Lincoln doesn’t want to leave because he’ll be proven innocent. Then it hits him: Daisy is the infected. She’s sick, no she’s happier than she’s ever been. She describes the infection as a bond. Lord, she sounds like one of Jasmine’s followers on BtVS. Yep, she killed Malick. Lincoln is equal parts disbelief and bitterness as he realizes she his past against him. Damn, she’s like a combination of Jasmine plus Raven from The 100. She can’t convince him to go, so she leaves, taking the orb and a fair number of crystals with her. It’s not enough she’s a lying liar who lies, on her way out, she disables the locking mechanism so no one can escape and destroys the base.

The last 10 minutes of the episode is the big reveal, as usual, with a pretty big change at the end that should be interesting to see where the final episode of the season goes. There’s still the eventual tie-in with Captain America: Civil War too to deal with.

I’m sad to see Powers Boothe exit the series. Malick was a great character and brought a lot of much-needed menace to the villain side of the equation. (I still don’t care for Brett Dalton as the new Big Bad.) That disappointment aside, this is a pretty terrific episode with lots of suspenseful twists and turns. Daisy being under Hive’s control means that, in a sense, Ward will finally get her as he always wanted. That dynamic should be interesting to watch play out. The episode is one of the better for the season, here’s hoping it keeps it up.

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Better Angels

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

Agent Carter S2 E03 – Better Angels

A bit behind in my Agent Carter and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D posts so I hope you’ll forgive me.  Let’s try and catch up over the next little while – shall we?

Episode 3 of the 2nd season of Agent Carter started to get quite a bit more serious in comparison to the previous episodes.  With the “death” of D. Wilkes’ in the previous episode, we were left to wonder about the potential budding romance between Peggy and Wilkes – well we start to get some of those answers here.  When Peggy and Sousa investigate Wilkes’ home, they find items that implicate him as a Russian spy.  As this show takes place during the time of the McCarthy trials – well probably before them if we want to be historically accurate! – the threat of Russia is very valid.  In addition, it’s another good tie-in to our season 1 storyline and Dottie & the Black Widow institute!  While the rest of the detectives believe the evidence implicating Wilkes, Peggy and Sousa don’t so Peggy gets Howard involved.

Howard is on the set of his latest film and while it’s based on a comic book (quite funny that, all things considered!) his offer to Peggy of a role, is quickly turned down.  Once Peggy manages to get him onside with her investigation, he quickly helps her identify the mysterious pin that we initially saw from episode 1 that Dottie was trying to steal from the bank.  Telling Peggy that it’s for an exclusive men’s only venue called the Arena Club they concoct a plan to break in so that Peggy can get a good look around.  Howard and an entourage of his beauties proceed to “storm” the club and while they are roundly welcomed by the male patrons, they are eventually forced out.  However Peg has managed to get in also and looking around, Peggy discovers that this group has a lot of control when it comes to manipulating things, particularly in the government.

agentBThompson however has arrived in LA also and he’s not too happy about this mission.  When he finds out about it, he berates Sousa (for allowing Peggy to go rogue) and Peggy for being such a difficult agent to handle.  While a lot of this might be Thompson’s natural aggressiveness when it comes to Peggy, he’s actually under the thumb of Vernon Masters – the head of the FBI who’s working for the leaders of the Arena Club!

However – all is not as it seems!  Peggy notices that objects have started floating around her and initially thinks it’s because she’s been contaminated by zero matter.  The truth however is significantly more complicated (and interesting!).  Peggy gets Howard to help her find a solution to her contamination, but they quickly realize that she’s not actually contaminated at all!  Wilkes is somehow still alive – just in an alternate dimension/universe – but Stark creates a “magic” potion that he’s able to spray on him & manages to make him visible again.  Initially unable to talk, Stark proceeds to spray it in his mouth also (which I thought was a bit silly to be honest) so that his vocal chords too are reintegrated and then *boom* he can speak again!  I think the fact that air from the lungs are required to pass over the vocal chords and hundreds of other bodily functions that are missed are somewhat convenient.  It would have made more sense if he could just talk when he was brought back without the whole spray into the mouth thing.  Anyways, moving on!

agentCThis discovery launches a whole new project: make Wilkes a physical being again as while the team can see him, they can’t yet touch or otherwise interact with him.  One thing they do learn however is that he was not alone at the explosion.  Whitney Frost was there too and while she seems unaffected by what happened, after Peggy confronts her, she seems even more imbalanced than before.  “Persuading” her husband that Peggy must die, they hire a hitman to take her out and while it must be said, he’s probably the most successful of all of Peggy’s assailants, he too fails to kill her with the fortunate assistance of Jarvis.  While that might be the end of Whitney’s issues, in reality she’s been affected even more strongly and strangely than Wilkes’ has.

Continuing on from the theme we saw explored in a small manner in the previous episode, Whitney’s manager approaches her and tells her that she was going to be replaced because she was “too old” but he managed to stop it from happening.  When he tries to get a bit grabby as thanks for his assistance, zero matter shoots out of Whitney’s hands engulfing him and in some way decomposes him before sucking him back into her. We also learned this episode that Whitney is actually the mastermind who created Isodyne. I wasn’t sure about Whitney last episode, but now I’m thinking she’s a worthy villain for Peggy.

Final Thoughts:
First off, Peggy continues to kick ass in this show. There are moments where she goes undercover and acts like a girly girl and you can tell she hates it. It’s fun to see her change so quickly from that to the awesome strong character she is and deal with the problems surrounding her. Hayley Atwell gives a fantastic performance and embraces every aspect of Peggy. This season is really captivating so far. I love the diverse characters and that everything is linked in an intelligent way. I also love the commentary on sexism and racism throughout each episode. This show does a pretty good job of combining social commentary, humor, action and an engaging storyline in a fairly neat package.

 

 

 

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D – Among Us Hide

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

Among Us Hide – Season 3 Episode 6

Right missed a couple of these over the past little while so let’s try to get caught up as quick as we can shall we?  If you recall from the previous episode (Devils you Know & not 4,722 as while that was an excellent episode, it doesn’t (yet) do anything for the underlying story), May and Bobbi had managed to track down Strucker and while they weren’t in time to stop his beating, May managed to hear that Andrew might not be dead after all.  In fact, Andrew it  turns out is the Inhuman – Lash that Daisy has been searching for.  Turned out, he was the one who set the building ablaze. The worse part is Skye (Chloe Bennet) is right. The inhuman, Lash, they are hunting can indeed transform into human. To blend into the crowd, the beast becomes Garner.  May is in disbelief with the shocking revelation about her ex-husband.

I like giving credit where credit is due, and I can safely say that as someone who has been a fan and viewer since season 1, tonight’s game-changing reveal was on par with the great “Ward is Hydra” turn of 2014. I didn’t see it coming, and maybe I’m alone in that. But when a show can blindside me completely with a narrative that is interesting and unsuspecting, I have to give it props.

agents-of-shield-02Before we get to those big moments, though, let’s start with something important: Andrew Garner is alive. Not only that, he’s alive enough to talk and give May and Coulson the rundown on what happened when Werner von Strucker tried to kill him. He tells them about the men who followed him, who Coulson correctly calls out as being HYDRA. Turns out that Coulson had his own S.H.I.E.L.D. agents tailing Garner, which is how he got lucky: The agents gave him time to find cover, but just barely. (The way this scene was shot, with May watching the medics work on her husband, was incredibly reminiscent of Black Widow, Cap, and Maria Hill watching a dying Nick Fury in Winter Solider…at least for me.)

May’s still pissed at Hunter for putting Garner’s life in danger, and her anger’s not unwarranted. Unsurprisingly, Coulson pulls Hunter off the assignment while May puts herself on, because now she’s going after Ward, hell or high water. At least there’s one positive thing that comes out of Garner’s near-death experience: May’s back. I mean, really back. She’s got the Hunter “out for blood” thing going and takes it to the next level by “recruiting” Bobbi to help her in the way only S.H.I.E.L.D. agents can: by forcing her into a sparring session. Bobbi and Melinda make an amazing team, because they’re both total badasses, but watching Melinda mentor Bobbi and encourage her to see her pain and suffering as “experience” that makes her stronger is pure gold. And that’s an example of good therapy, that makes you more capable instead of making you doubt yourself—as Bobbi proves at the end, when she uses her “experience” to take down Ward’s right-hand man. As much as I enjoyed Scientist Bobbi Morse, I cannot express how happy I am to see my favorite character back in the field, kicking butt, and being an active part of the team again. (And those fight scenes in this week’s episode just proved that. Give me an entire episode of Bobbi and May undercover, please.)

It makes sense that Lash was someone with inside knowledge, and this may even explain why Andrew was so opposed to letting Inhumans go out into the field—since he’s apparently got a lot of issues with his own kind and sees it as a vital mission to hunt them all down and perforate them.

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Batman vs Superman – A Marvel Fans point of view

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

Right – let’s get the negative stuff out of the way first shall we?  Was this the best movie in the world?  No, I guess not, it had some flaws which I’ll detail below.  However, it definitely was not the horrible pile of steaming tripe that other reviewers are painting it as.  To be clear, I’d in fact normally agree with the opinions expressed on some of these sites & by some of these reviewers – one of them is our very own Valentin & his post: Batman vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice: Review.  Their thoughts and opinions generally echo my own, however, I think this time they were perhaps being a bit too harsh and critical and I think that might be a function of their own choice of fandom – DC or Marvel – vs. the quality of the film itself.  As an avowed Marvel fanboy, I have only a passing familiarity with the DC Universe so if I get anything blatantly wrong, please don’t hesitate to (politely) correct me!

  • The Dream/Fore-shadowing Sequences – OK I’ll agree here with the commentary that these were somewhat unnecessary.  I’d be the first to admit that I almost groaned out loud when the movie started with Batman’s backstory once again.  I really didn’t feel that it was at all necessary to watch his parents – once again – get gunned down in the street.  While I understand the juxtaposition of the names (now) it was annoying to see it as we’d already seen it so many times before and it just felt painful to go through it all once again.  Batman-V-Superman-Trailer-Flying-ParademonsMoving on from this is more visceral fight sequence in a destroyed world that sees Superman & his acolytes carving up Batman and his group of resistance fighters.  Now I’m not sure if the flying bug things are meant to be in actuality the minions of Darkseid?  I think they are & they are obviously presaging his eventual arrival as DC’s answer to Thanos in the Justice League Movie.  While we are led to believe that Batman’s dream is all about Superman, in reality based on the appearance of the Parademons – it’s really about Darkseid.  As the foot soldiers of Darkseid their participation in the battle clearly tells fans one things: Darkseid is coming. Now were they (the dream sequences) necessary for THIS movie?  No, probably not … they did however serve as a good tie-in to the larger DC Universe though which is I think the overall intent and purpose.
  • Lois & Clark – While this show from the 90s had our TV screens almost melting with the chemistry between the characters, the love story between our modern day iteration of Lois & Clark is nothing more than tepid.  Here too I’d have to agree with the sentiments voiced by others as surprisingly the most wooden elements of this film were the portrayals by Adams and Cavill.  Considering how vivacious Amy Adams is as a character and how she can literally bring the screen to life, it’s a real pity that she wasn’t given that opportunity here.  Henry Cavill definitely LOOKS the part of Superman … it’s just somewhat disappointing that in this movie he was not given an opportunity to portray a normal human being also.  In all honesty – DC could have gone the route of Marvel here quite easily when they removed Thor’s love interest in between movies instead of having her act as just a bit player.  While Lois’ role had some importance in villanizing Superman, the task could have been accomplished just as simply through another plot device, reducing the number of characters on the screen and also tightening the movie as a whole.

Parademons are the foot soldiers of the space tyrant Darkseid – think of them as the orcs in Lord of the Rings, a marginally intelligent, fiercely loyal to their overlord troop that’s bred only for war.  Either way, this is clearly saying one thing to fans: Darkseid is coming. 

  • Conflict but not enough – This was perhaps my own personal hate point and the one that I really think needs the most focus.  The whole movie was a set piece about how much Batman doesn’t trust Superman and fears that he is going to become a despot.  Despite Alfred’s continued insistence that he’s not actually done anything wrong, Batman states that his legacy will be the destruction of Superman.  When the actual conflict happens though … its stupid!  Not the fight itself – that seemed to take some elements from the classic Frank Miller book, but rather how and why the fight happens.  Superman travels to Gotham (by the way, did you know that the two cities are on opposite sides of the Bay?) to persuade Batman to help him search for his mother and after initially stating that he needs Batmans’ help, the instant that they are actually face-to-face, he proceeds to shove Batman across the roof?    They hadn’t actually even started talking yet and he’d already jumped into fisticuffs??  Proceeding further in the fight, Batman has Superman on the ropes and the instant Superman mentions his mom’s name (another aside here … I’d not really put the two Mom’s names together before … nice juxtaposition), all hatred against Superman is forgotten and they are instantly on the same team?
  • Wonder WomanLaughter is the best medicine! – Not really mentioned by too many reviewers, but something that I thought worth speaking to was the lack of humor in this film.  While the films in the DC Universe seem to (generally) be darker in tone vs. the Marvel films, I think a smattering of jokes sprinkled throughout the movie help keep the audience engaged.  They need to be the right ones of course and unfortunately the only one that I recall (“Superman asks Batman if he brought Wonderwoman and he replies that he thought Superman did”) just didn’t work for me.  It was forced and considering the threat they are facing, it didn’t make sense at the time.  I guess you could also include the introduction of Clark and Bruce by Lex but I feel that this was ruined by the trailers more than anything else.  By contrast the interaction between Iron Man and Captain America in both Avengers movies was flawless.  Guardians of the Galaxy had a ton of jokes and don’t even get me started on Deadpool!

Now to the positive!  While I think I’ve spoken to some of the complaints mentioned by others, I think the key here is to realize that DC really had no choice.  Marvel has created a Universe of films and is able to call upon all of their characters from decades of comics for stories.  If DC wants to remain relevant, they NEED to somehow bridge the gap between stand-alone features to a more cohesive and larger story arc.  Could they have done this slower over the course of many years?  Yes they could have, but in some ways they alluded to it by Batman witnessing the destruction caused by Superman in his most recent incarnation/debut in the 2013 feature Man of Steel.  I think that particularly, was well done as there have been many movies – Marvel included – where you’re left to wonder where all the other superhero’s are during the course of a massive slug fest.  When this movie had Bruce witness the destruction that Superman caused and in fact, be personally impacted by it – well that for me was one of the high points of the movie.

The other high point of course was Wonder Woman!  Portrayed amazingly well by Gal Gadot the scenes that contained her were excellent.  Her fight sequences with Doomsday were particularly well done as she attacked not just with strength but also with intelligence.  I loved the fact that she didn’t try to stab with her sword but rather sliced through tendons and muscles to weaken her foe.  I also loved the fact that when she got knocked down – she seemed to relish the challenge.  She almost had me grinning with her when she jumped back into the fray and her enthusiasm for the battle was infectious!  I could only wish that Lois had the same joie de vivre!

As an (already stated) Marvel Fan, I don’t know the DC Universe as well, however I think there are elements to this movie that could let DC have something special when they eventually build out their own creation. Affleck actually made a decent Batman and a particularly imposing (elder) Bruce Wayne.  While he doesn’t have the same brooding nature as Christian Bale, I think he’ll do well in the future as the leader of the Justice league and while we’ve so far only seen him as a fighter, perhaps we’ll eventually get to see him as the intelligent Detective he is also.  It’s a pity for DC that the Green Lantern didn’t do as well as it should have – although I guess in some ways I’m glad as if it had, we’d never have had the Deadpool we’ve all fallen in love with!  It does make me wonder though how the Justice League is going to fight Darkseid and all of his minions with only 5 members (6 when Superman returns)?  I mean from what I know he’s not HYDRA but rather more akin to a God!  It should be an interesting little tussle is what I say!

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Flagship – A Captain’s Crucible

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

Loved it!

OK that’s it – you can stop right here if you want the pure unvarnished truth about my feelings on this book.  However if you want to know why … well, continue reading! 🙂

I think you all know by now that I’m a bit of a geek and a SciFi nerd.  I’m no NASA scientist but I generally am able to catch the obvious elements that detract from a story and while in some cases they don’t ruin a story – they pull you out of the universe that the author is trying to create.  In this case however, I’m very happy to state that not only did that NOT happen – I actually found myself wishing for this level of detail in some of the other books and series that I’ve read.  The science and advancement postulated simply makes sense and it is something you would EXPECT to see.  Let me give you an example –

Capture

See what I mean?  Something like this makes sense – I mean this is just an extension of Google Goggles isn’t it & while I have always thought of a bridge matching that of the Enterprise (as I’m sure you have to), if you really think about it, that doesn’t make too much sense when it can all be virtual.  By the same token – having a “Holodeck” really doesn’t make too much sense either when each individual could have their own virtual environment.

This book continues in the same vein with ships utilizing planets and other satellites for speed boosts via slingshot instead of a sub-light drive or other futuristic technology.  Robots and cyborgs are prevalent in the marine contingent of the ships’ forces but again here to the weaponry is a simple extension of our current armament and not some laser or plasma weapon.  It’s good – this verisimilitude keeps you in the story and with the characters and I can only applaud the author (Isaac Hooke) for making that extra effort!

The Captain’s Story

So you’ve heard my enthusiasm for the book, but you’re probably wondering what’s it all about?  Well – I’ll be honest … once again the blurb on Amazon really doesn’t do the book justice:

Capture

Let’s be honest … you probably wouldn’t pick that up unless you were truly desperate for something to read would you?  Let’s see if we can spice it up a bit!

Captain Jonathan Dallas leads a small task force on a critical mission against hostile SK (Sino Korean) forces.  However when a research vessel under his command disappears his investigation uncovers a much more serious threat.  A hostile alien race has captured his ship and while his superiors believe that these ships are merely SK forces in a guise not seen before, Dallas knows that he has stumbled across a significantly more dangerous foe.  If his armada continue their planned attack into SK territory, not only will they be starting a war between human forces, they will also leave themselves open to a war against an unknown alien foe – one with their own agenda.

What do you think?  I think it makes it a bit more interesting and intriguing?  Not perfect perhaps but definitely better than the one earlier – in my opinion anyways!

CHARACTERS & STORY

Some really good and interesting characters here.  Dallas was really good & believable and his motivations were well described too.

WRITING & LANGUAGE

As mentioned at the start – this part of the book was for me the best.  It simply worked and you could see that the author made an effort not only to ensure that they minimized the use of jargon, but that their overall technology worked.  I really liked it.

PACE

Good too – this isn’t one of those massive fleet battle books that I’m so fond of as the largest encounter I think was restricted to about a 1/2 dozen on each side.  It was well portrayed though and the other elements of the story also made good sense.

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A View in the Dark

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

Agent Carter – S2 E02

We ended the previous episode with the revelation that Sousa is in a somewhat serious relationship which seems to put to bed all of our hopes and wishes for an eventual joining between Peggy and Sousa.  Really a pity as they would have made an excellent couple and while it seems that Sousa moved away from New York to get some distance – there was definitely an attraction between the two.  Season Two of Agent Carter continues at the same breakneck pace we’ve come to expect and this episode delivers in spades.  The episode never loses sight of the characters and spends a lot of time dealing with Peggy having trouble adjusting to life in L.A. as well as finding it difficult to accept that Sousa has found someone. Ultimately seeing how nice a person Violet is causes her to suck it up and be happy for Sousa rather than giving us a tired love triangle.

Continuing the trend of adding more women to the show, we’re also introduced to the very lovely Ana … Jarvis’ wife.  Ana walks in on what other shows might consider a compromising position but she isn’t phased by it at all. This shows how much she trusts her husband as well as Peggy’s platonic connection with him. The scene was pretty amusing but got a little cartoonish at some points.

Speaking of that connection, I loved seeing Reggie Austin, who plays Dr Jason Wilkes, and Hayley Atwell in this episode. I, for one, enjoyed their relationship in this episode, more than I’ve enjoyed the will-they-won’t-they nature of Peggy and Daniel’s friendship.  The whole person of colour angle too is one that suits this show and era and I think it’s treated quite well overall. One thing that works really well is how the episode tackles the issue of race in the 1940s. Jason’s loyalty to Isodyne makes sense on a character level as they allowed him to carry on with what he wanted to do without caring about the colour of his skin. The racial issues aren’t sensationalised in any way as the facts speak for themselves. I will say, though, that I liked seeing Sousa become upset after hearing Peggy was lost.

Whitney being the big bad though is probably the best part of this episode.  In the first episode, her involvement is alluded to although it seems her husband is the driving force.  However, we learn here that she’s got some significant brain power of her own & was the creator and inventor of many of Isodyne’s key projects. She’s someone that could possibly give Stark a run for his money as while he’s a paramount engineer, there are some questions about the ownership of his creations!  In addition to her brain power though is the way she’s portrayed as an aging actress in a Hollywood focused purely on beauty.  Sadly this is one of the things that hasn’t changed despite the time that has passed.

 

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Freezing – More Netflix Anime

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria
Freezing Volume 1

I saw this one quite a while ago and while the overall story is interesting & the graphics as always are excellent … the gratuitous nudity in this one initially caught me by surprise.  In all honesty, I think this is one of the first anime on Netflix that I had this experience with, and after that I was quite a bit more careful in my selections!  If you recall from my previous post – The Top 5 Anime on Netflix – I covered other shows that are equally if not more interesting, however, this show does bear mentioning as the underlying story itself isn’t that bad.

In Freezing – the Earth has been attacked and decimated by extra-dimensional aliens called Nova.  These aliens that resemble the monsters from Pacific Rim (by the way Pacific Rim 2 seems to be back on track!) can only be stopped by genetically modified girls (called Pandoras) and their male partners (Limiters).  Together the Pandora/Limiter team is able to freeze and attack the Novas and help to drive the menace back.  However, no-one knows when the next attack will come so schools are set up around the world to train these gifted individuals and help preserve humanity.  

JUN161862
Reminiscence Kwang Hyun Kim Freezing Illust SC – $31.99
Retail Price: $39.99
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from: Things From Another World

So far sounds like Attack on Titan or something like that doesn’t it?  You’ve got your titular (no pun intended) hero named Kazuya Aoi, whose late sister was also a Pandora and the super powerful Satellizer el Bridget as your primary characters.  You’ve also got a host of other girls and boys with similar abilities all in training to grow and develop their powers.

However, clothes are literally blown off the female characters when they get into conflict with each other (hence my comment about gratuitous) often leaving them nearly nude in the process!  If you recall from my Top 5 Anime post mentioned previously, there was one on that list that had the women becoming unclothed – that one was called High School of the Dead & in that case, yes there was nudity but it was when the women were having a bath or at the end of the series when the whole group was under the influence of drugs.  In Freezing, by contrast, the cut scenes leave very little to the imagination, and then there seems to constant conflict between the girls at the academy too leading to multiple fights where clothing gets torn and removed … for no real reason or justification!

Now the fights themselves are quite interesting and very well done and when they meet the real enemy – the Nova – it just gets better.  While I expect that the Manga it is based upon has similar graphics, I really think they could have made this so much better if they’d just focused on the underlying story without the titillation.  It’s actually quite interesting and the whole school setting is well done too.  There is an underlying conspiracy at play which adds even more detail to the story and the characters are quite appealing.  Just skip the nudity next time!

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Moon Wreck: Fleet Academy (The Slaver Wars 3)

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

Probably the book I enjoyed the least in the series as while it continued the Slaver Wars story very closely & kept our favorite characters close, it had too many elements that just simply didn’t make sense and were completely illogical.

As I’ve just mentioned this one has the same core key characters however the focus is more on their offspring as they have progressed with the advancement of human science after the discovery of the survivors on Ceres from the previous book Ceres from the previous book.

This time the focus is all about the first human interstellar vessel and its launch into space. While the coverage of that part of the book is really good and in all honesty I think makes sense with the testing that they are conducting. What doesn’t make sense is the plot to take over the ship and settle in another part of the galaxy.

Simply put anyone with even half a brain would realize that a population size of the ship of that size isn’t simply enough to create a viable colony. In addition considering that they didn’t have a destination planet in mind the chances of finding a place to set up such a colony without intensive research just doesn’t make sense!

While I realize that some conflict is necessary this just seemed forced and didn’t really do anything for me in terms of the real underlying story.

The special four or five with the addition of Katie definitely has a big place in the future of the series and I could see why they were introduced, but here too some of these characters really don’t do a significant amount and are just hangers-on.

Having completed the series at this point (up until the Lost Fleet series of books anyway) I can tell you that it’s well worth continuing so even though you might feel that this book is dragging and find the same flaws that I did I can only warrant that it is worth the pain and effort.

What I liked and didn’t like

Let’s start with the worst 1st!

I think have made it quite clear that the whole conspiracy angle was something that just didn’t sit well with me. The sad fact is that any space program and especially one with the importance that this one must have, a psychological survey is part of it and to miss that part of it just seems obtuse.

In addition, even if the megalomaniac could sneak through the site survey they can’t be as stupid as they are portrayed here and be someone with such cardboard feelings!  The villains are just too black and white with threats of rape and abuse seeming obtuse!

What do I like?

  • Well, I did enjoy the fact that the humans on series continue to develop their technology and the Kocklyns Slaver Empire also continue to advance in terms of the size of the empire.
  • I actually quite like the character of Jeremy and also enjoyed the fact that the survivors on Ceres had placed some covert assistance on the expedition.
  • I liked the character of Ariel although here too I think that she was portrayed a little bit too childlike and innocent although Katie, by contrast, was quite a good character.
  • Kevin and Angela, however, didn’t really do anything for me & to be honest throughout the series, they are more filler than anything really important.

Final thoughts

Overall the weakest in the series but it does have some key elements and some key characters that are worth meeting. A quick read if you have the time, but you could almost skip it and still enjoy the remainder of the series.

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Moon Wreck: The Slaver Wars (Book 2)

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

Continuing on from the quite interesting Slaver Wars: Alien Contact, Moon Wreck takes us in a completely different direction than the one I was expecting.  This time, we’re not exposed immediately to a resurgence in the war against the Hocklyn Slave Empire – instead we’re exposed to an Earth not too far in the future from today.  In Moon Wreck we have private industry taking us out into space instead of NASA and it is one of these missions that stumbles across the hulk of a destroyed spaceship.  A ship from the Federation of Humanity!

41Dv8SKV-UL._SX311_BO1,204,203,200_I have to commend Mr. Weil on his misdirection – the first book (The Slaver Wars: Alien Contact reviewed here) in the series started as a simple multi-empire battle between Human’s and their alien enemy but by the end of the book had transformed into a Battle Star Galactica like flight from a rampaging horde to a long lost and forgotten sanctuary called Earth.  In Moon Wreck, by contrast, the story is not really of those survivors but is instead somewhat smaller and simpler in scope.  The story this time, is more of a treasure hunt and perhaps a search for understanding.  It’s probably something we’d all like to see and are all hoping for – a quick leg up into space!

A private space mission to the Moon finds a single survivor – the AI Ariel – on a damaged spaceship and it is left to her to instruct humanity on the coming conflict.  With some compelling characters that help tie the books together into a cogent whole, this one while not as action packed as its predecessor does a really good job of continuing the story started in that book and keeping us in the Universe.

Overall Thoughts

I expected this book to continue the story started in Alien Contact, but instead (as we learn) the survivors of that flight were themselves decimated by the lowly germ (ala the War of the Worlds).  When this flu virus decimated their population on Earth the survivors had to flee again and while a small contingent managed to survive, it definitely impacted their plans to inform humanity and continue the struggle against the vicious Hocklyn and their AI overlords.

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The Slaver Wars: Alien Contact by Raymond L. Weil

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

What do you get when you combine BSG with Stargate?  Perhaps somewhat surprisingly from the title and from other books this author has written, you get exactly this exact combination from The Slaver Wars: First Contact.  Now it definitely doesn’t start down that path … in fact the early chapters of the book are more of a standard Military SciFi story similar to other books reviewed on this site:

Now I don’t want you think in any way that this is a bad thing … after-all they do say that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” … & if you’ve read any of the other reviews on this site, you know that I love those series’ that are seemingly based on the Master Of Orion game & its massive space battles which is what I thought I was getting when I first started reading the book.  It took a drastic and dramatic change in the latter half of the book though and set us up for a quite compelling series of books to come which was an extremely pleasent surprise for me!

The book starts with a fleet in deep space looking for details about the size of a vicious alien enemy that had just recently decimated a series of Human colonies.  We get a very large and extended flashback about the actual first contact itself as well as a look at the battles that took place before we’re once again returned to this fleet and its search for the enemy.  While I wanted to get to the action quicker, I actually appreciated this flashback as it gave a very good insight into the character of the leaders of the human fleet and to some extent the motivations of the invaders also.

Returning to the present, the fleet manages to dispatch some cloaked scout ships into the heart of the alien Empire and it is here that they learn the disturbing truth.  Not only are they facing a Slaver Empire thousands of planets strong, it is controlled by vicious AI’s with their own, unknown agenda.

Returning to the Human Federation, this fleet finds itself the only remaining viable force left as in their absence the Slavers had returned to the Federation and decimated all of their worlds leaving only a handful of civilian and naval vessels unharmed.  The survivors however learn a secret however – one known only to a handful of people in the Federation.  Tellus was not really their homeworld – they came from a planet far away called Earth!

Fleeing from the Cylon Slaver tyranny, the last Battlestar Galactica Federation Fleet leads a rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest… a shining planet known as Earth.

What I liked

  • The fleet battles were very well written – while the weaponry as mentioned below is not really on par with what you’d expect and in some ways pulls you out of the story, the actual conflicts between ships are described well.
  • I really liked the Admiral and his crew.  Quite a few of the supporting characters are also well written and I hope to see quite a bit more on them or their progeny in future stories.  There is no immediate romance, but a gradual building up of affection over time which makes sense.
  • The enemy – again lots of similarity to other similar foes from both Television and fiction – is interesting and believable.  They seem to have their own story also which it would be interesting to get more information on in the future.

What I didn’t like

  • I’m a bit on the fence in regards to the originality here.  I have to admit that the way it was done was good – in fact the whole introduction of Earth v.s. Tellus was not only unexpected it, in some ways made sense.  However, it almost didn’t need to happen at all … another excellent series in a similar vein is the Exodus: Empires at War series.  Here Earth is decimated by a larger alien fleet and humanity flees to escape the purge only to have to face those same enemies thousands of years later.  While I’m not suggesting that Mr. Weil would have been better served to copy Doug Dandridge, my point is that there are other solutions to get to the same place.
  • It’s been pointed out by some other reviewers and I won’t belabor it here, but the weaponry seems to be significantly underpowered considering the overall technology of the fleets in question.  Nukes in the multi-kiloton range and lasers as primary weaponry do not really give the fleets the firepower they deserve.
  • While I know there needs to be a stupid politician – it’s almost a necessity in books of this nature it seems! – again you almost didn’t need that to get to the same point?  While the military is (of course) perfect and blameless, a little bit of snooping on the part of the enemy would have got them to the same place?

Overall Thoughts

I know I’ve harped on a bit about how this book riff’s from some of our most popular fictional universes, but overall it was a good, fun read that I quite enjoyed.  I’m really looking forward to seeing how we eventually kick the Hoklyn’s and their Overlords back to the center of the Universe and I’ll be picking up the next one in this series soon!

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The Martian

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

This movie is on my list of favourites. It has a hint of action, but it is mostly about survival. The martian is an inspiring movie in many different ways. It has inspired me to think ‘above and beyond’ just like the ‘martian’ did in times of crisis. The ‘martian’ was a very brave man and survived on mars for 414 days! He got stuck on Mars without his crew mates because of a huge storm. Soon enough he realizes that he is a ‘farmer’, and as part of his training he was taught how to grow fruits and vegetables on a different planet. Through all the chaos and crisis, Mark Watney (the martian) stayed brave. He is a great example of what we can accomplish in life.

 

Pros Cons
-He stayed brave -NASA didn’t tell the crew until long after they found out
-He didn’t give up -Some parts were gross/disgusting
-Wasn’t violent at all
-Has a great sense of humor

 

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The Lady in the Lake

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

Last night’s episode of “Agent Carter” titled The Lady in the Lake (Agent Carter Season 2 Episode 1) introduced a ton of amazing new mysteries for its second season. They brought back Black Widow baddie Dottie Underwood, they teed up the mystery of a frozen, radioactive woman, and they revealed a secret society that looked way too much like Hydra.  Now it must be stated upfront that while I expected Dottie to be back at some point this series, I didn’t expect to see her so soon!  Carter as I mentioned in my previous reviews doesn’t waste time and while the short seasons somewhat contribute to that, I expect another reason is the lessons learned from Season 1 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D which just dragged.

Season two of Marvel’s Agent Carter begins the same way season one did: with a sassy brunette in a red hat. But this time the brunette is Russian super-spy Dottie Underwood (Bridget Regan) dressed like everyone’s favorite SSR agent — Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) — and she and her goons are robbing a bank. Just when you think they might get away with it too, Peggy pops out of the safe with a shotgun and gets into a showdown with Dottie and while we don’t have one of the epic fight sequences that May made famous in S.H.I.E.L.D we still do have a quite exciting showdown between the two girls.  The brawl ends when Peggy smashes a bag of coins into Dorothy’s head, and having the bag burst as it smacks Dorothy accentuates the impact of the finishing move, using the explosion of coins as a visual representation of the force of Peggy’s hit. Managing to capture Dottie, Peggy is in the midst of her interrogation … and you can tell that things have changed at SSR as the other agents obviously hold her in extremely high esteem which Thompson is not too appreciative of.

The SSR’s new west coast chief Daniel Sousa (Enver Gjokaj) is in Los Angeles, and let me say that he’s never looked better. The SSR gets called in to help the LAPD because there’s a frozen lake in the middle of a heat wave and a dead girl at the bottom of it. But Sousa is the only agent in LA and he wants backup for what he thinks will be a huge, high profile case. Thus the east coast chief, Jack Thompson (the very angry Chad Michael Murray) sends Peggy to the west coast, interrupting her Dottie interrogation. The main reason he does is because he thinks this will annoy Sousa and Peggy, which doesn’t give me much confidence in his leadership abilities. And then he proves incapable of interrogating Dottie — whose lipstick remains perfect while in custody — before the FBI swoops in and takes her away, so all in all, not a great day for him.

Meanwhile, everyone’s favorite sassy butler Edwin Jarvis (James D’Arcy) has also moved to Los Angeles because Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) has decided to start making movies. Unlike Sousa, Jarvis has not changed his wardrobe at all, and he’s annoyed that Californians “eat avocados with everything.” Never change, Edwin. When Jarvis brings Peggy to the Stark mansion, Peggy finally meets his wife, Ana Jarvis, who last season seemed to maybe be a figment of his imagination. Those expecting a dowdy housewife for Mrs. Jarvis will be surprised by Ana’s effervescent disposition, and her personality carries over to her bold wardrobe of dresses in brightly colored floral patterns. She’s a housewife that has clearly spent her free time keeping up with the latest fashions, and Ana’s expertise comes in handy when Peggy needs help getting ready for a date with Dr. Jason Wilkes (Reggie Austin), a scientist working for the company directly connected to the murder Peggy is investigating.

Peggy Carter is relocating to Hollywood for Agent Carter’s second season, but it’s far from the only big change for the series. As expected from the new setting, the visuals are brighter and the fashion is more glamorous, but there’s also an influx of new female characters, a love interest of color, and a story that pulls Peggy away from the workplace misogyny that defined so much of the first season.  But back to our Jane Doe, who’s not only frozen, but glows in the dark. The dumb LAPD detective Sousa and Peggy work with keeps trying to stop them from following leads, as his main investigatory strategy is to leak the story to the press. This is so ridiculous it’s clear that he’s up to no good. Later he’s outright racist toward hot black doctor James Wilkes (Reggie Austin), so you can tell he’ll be gone soon.

Right, racism! Season one (rightfully) faced criticism from fans for its very white cast, but this season adds hot Dr. Wilkes, a scientist at Isodyne labs, where the dead girl — he tells us her name, Jane Scott — worked. Rumor has it she was sleeping with the boss, Calvin Chadwick (Currie Graham), who’s also running for Senate. It’s clear from his first moment on screen that Wilkes is supposed to be her new love interest, but Peggy seems sort of uncomfortable about it. It’s unclear if this is because, as Peggy says, he’s a person of interest, or if because Peggy might be a little racist herself.

Peggy and Jarvis go to feel out Chadwick and his wife, actress Whitney Frost (Wynn Everett) at a horse race, where Jarvis poses as an executive at Stark Pictures Productions and Peggy impersonates an American. I love when British people do American accents, so this was great. Chadwick gets defensive very quickly, joining the other characters doing a bad job hiding their evil intentions & Carter realizes immediately that he’s somehow involved.  When the dumb LAPD detective gradually starts to freeze also, he decides that the only person who can help him is Dr. Wilkes – perhaps he knows something? – and kidnaps him.  Peggy and Sousa are in immediate pursuit and while they are able to corner, him, he is shot by another police officer – one who claims that he didn’t hear the no fire order.  It looks like team is left with very little to go on now, although they’re going to dig further into Isodyne that’s for sure!

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Dark Matter Episode 8 Review

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

 

Slowly the first season of Syfy’s Dark Matter is developing to be the space opera that can actually replace Firefly and Stargate. After watching 8 episodes, most of the six characters as well as the Android have a backstory that is interesting and meaningful while none of them have their memories from before they were wiped. So far Joseph Mallozi’s show also resembles Farscape in that details of the wider universe of Dark Matter are known, but there is no clear overall picture. Mallozzi has so far been careful with providing answers to the mysteries revealed throughout its run without first providing character development and more mysteries.

 

In Episode 8 the crew of the Raza once again visit a space station. Six (Roger Cross) uses the opportunity to use Transfer Transit. With TT a clone is made somewhere else in the galaxy and your mind is transferred to that clone. Six intends to go after the resistance leader that made him complicit in the deaths of ten thousand people when a space station was blown up. After Five discovers his intention the rest of the crew decide to go after him, to help him and to get answers.

 

Meanwhile, Three is uncharacteristically silent, as he still is resentful of the loss if his life and the failure to retrieve his memories. It is One and Four that go after Six. Both are forced to bribe the employee at Transfer Transit to uncover where Six is headed. Once there Four (Alex Mallari Jr.) discovers One looks different forcing One to admit he may be a fake Jace Corso. Six manages to confront the leader of the rebels but after killing him, he discovers it was a clone just like Six.

 

Two (Melissa O’Neil) and Five also attempt to re-integrate The Android (Zoie Palmer) into the crew after she was damaged in last week’s attack by the fake entertainment droid. Both Two and Five realize The Android has emotions that are not otherwise attributed to androids. None of the crew have yet speculated whether The Android knows more about the memory wipe than she lets on, or about the possibility she is a full member of the crew. Two confides in the Android that morale is low onboard the ship. She blames it on all the secrets they have been carrying. The Android suggest Two reveals her secret to the crew, Two leaves with a look of shock on her face.

 

After everybody returns to the Raza One is confronted with his unwitting deception. He states he doesn’t know why he is impersonating Jace Corso. The crew has no choice but to accept the status quo. During the last few scenes, the story for the remainder of the season is set up. Four contacts his brother regarding the murder of their father, the emperor. Five tries to reconcile with Six about her spying on him. Six continues to struggle with his part in the destruction of the space station. One discovers more of the person he was before he impersonated Jace Corso. He was the CEO of a company whose wife was murdered. A small video fragment shows a news article discussing the perpetrator. It is Four.

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20 Animes to Watch if You’ve Never Seen Anime (part 1)

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

sao

Sword Art Online

I wrote quite a bit more about this anime on my post the Top 5 Anime Shows on Netflix, however if you don’t have the time to read that post, I hope you still make the time to watch this Anime.  It’s not ground breaking or earth shattering in its artwork, but it is definitely enjoyable and it has a really good story that you will enjoy watching.  Not only does the story offer everything from adventure to romance, it’s full of nods to RPGs that gamers will love. Plus the music and action sequences are absolutely sick.

Great if you like: World of Warcraft, Dungeons & Dragons, RPGs

titanAttack on Titan

Another one that I covered in significantly more detail on the Top 5 post mentioned earlier.  In a nutshell, though – people live in walled cities hiding from giants that eat humans. Legions of knights who fly around like Spiderman with grappling hooks, hoping to stop the giants from eating people. A lot of people get eaten.  With a recently released live action version of this Anime, you know that it’s hot.

Recommended if you like: Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, very sad things constantly happening

238786

Blood+

If you thought vampire mythology couldn’t get any darker, think again. Blood+ offers a creative twist on the creation and destruction of bloodsucking demons, along with badass fight scenes starring one of the most engaging and sympathetic heroines in anime.

Great if you like: Vampire mythology, dark fantasy, horror

9067Fate/Zero

Every 60 years a bunch of mages summon a great hero from the past, like Gilgamesh, or Alexander The Great, and make them fight each other. To tell you anymore would probably ruin it. Has some of the best fight choreography you’re bound to come across. Plus, it has a slew of insanely cool female characters!

Recommended if you like: Alias, Merlin, magic, and fantasy, coming-of-age stories

18872Aldnoah Zero

I just watched this one and the one thing I have to state without ruining anything is the ending is a complete shock.  My jaw literally hit the floor!  Aldnoah Zero is a bit confusing in its overall mythology – basically, in the 70’s a hyper gate to Mars was found on the surface of the moon.  Those early astronauts also found a mysterious property (power?) called Aldnoah that gave them the ability to enhance normal mechanical tools and weapons and gave them a devastating advantage over the rest of humanity.  After a short war that saw the Moon destroyed in an event later referred to as Heaven’s Fall (not shown in the series), an uneasy truce exists between the Terran’s and Martians.  However when Princess Asseylum is seemingly assassinated while on a diplomatic mission to Earth, the truce fractures and all out war ensues between the two planets.

Great if you like: Giant Robots, Aliens, Mech Combat

 

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S3E4 – Devils You Know (AoS)

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

Missed one here – many apologies … read this one before you read 4722 although considering the context of that episode, it won’t really matter in the grand scheme of things!  Anyways if you recall at the end of the previous episode, Hunter had made a failed attempt on Wards life & Coulson has removed him from the task.  With May now all hot and bothered due to the death of Andrew, she’s more than eager to pick up the slack and sets out to see how Bobbi is doing.  Bobbi sidelined all season due to Wards torture still feels somewhat tentative but when May comes at her all guns blazing she’s forced to step up her game and defend herself.  Now while this fight isn’t at the same quality or intensity as the May vs. May fight from Season 2, it’s still quite cool.

Once May “persuades” Bobbi to join her, they quickly figure out that transfer student “Alex” is actually von Strucker’s son. He’s alive and on the run, having cleaned out a recent Hydra bank account, and May correctly thinks that if they find him, they can find a link to Ward. Turns out Werner is actually hiding out in a penthouse in Portugal with Gideon Malick (Powers Boothe), a powerful Hydra menace who once worked with his father.  The poor kid doesn’t know where to turn, but don’t worry — Malick will handle everything.  True to his word, Malick calls up Ward, who isn’t at all intimidated by Malick’s Hydra past. Malick offers him a chance at redemption, a chance to fix the mistakes he’s made in the game by involving unprepared people like von Strucker’s son. A confident Ward rejects Malick’s proposal, even when Malick says he knows where he can find the kid, who S.H.I.E.L.D. is also conveniently looking for. “Sometimes,” he tells the budding Hydra leader, “you sacrifice a player to play the game.”

Meanwhile, Daisy and Mack are working on Daisy’s pet theory that Lash can transform into a human and their first suspect is Rosalind’s right-hand man, Luther Banks.  With Hunter’s help (who lets be honest is beside himself worrying about Bobbi and frustrated with nothing to do) they decide to stake him out. Daisy and Mack soon realize that they have no idea how to really track this guy, other than waiting to see if he randomly shapeshifts. While Mack and Daisy want to be stealthy (especially with Coulson currently embedded in the ATCU), stealth has never been Hunter’s way of doing things. He takes matters into his own hands and runs out of the van and ices the guy. (“Come on!” Daisy yells, and I laugh because I would have yelled the exact same thing.) No one thinks shooting Rosalind’s No. 2 is a particularly good idea, but Hunter’s actually being smart for once: Inhumans have markers in their DNA, so if they test Banks’ blood, they’ll know whether or not he’s Lash. Even Daisy admits that’s kind of smart though she almost takes the compliment back after Hunter punches Banks in order to get the blood sample.

After snooping through Banks’ things, the three learn about a secret lab called Endotech.  Using a new (invisible) spy drone that Fitz has created they break into the lab and realize that it’s chock full of boxed up iHumans that the ATCU has been capturing.  They also see Coulson seemingly having a normal conversation with Rosalind and not throwing a hissy fit which is what Daisy expects him to do.   Daisy is definitely not happy – there’s no way she’s working with the ATCU after this, so good luck, Coulson. Unfortunately while they might have made this grand discovery, their hunch about Banks is incorrect as Simmons contacts them to give them the results of the blood test and Banks’ doesn’t have any iHuman markers.

But all is not what it seems, and this is part of why Rosalind didn’t want to tell Coulson about what they were doing. Rosalind and the ATCU are treating the Inhuman gene like an illness, one that they’re trying to find a cure for, so people can live their lives in peace. Plot twist! Turns out this all comes from a personal place: Rosalind’s own husband died of cancer a few years ago, and this a way to try to help others when she couldn’t help him. Coulson is unexpectedly touched by this show of humanity, and I think it’s interesting to see the two leaders displaying different sides of the coin when it comes to how to survive in this industry. Rosalind is doing anything she can not to cut herself off because she believes it’s important to have feelings while Coulson thinks the only way to get the job done is to stop feeling entirely.

May and Bobbi show up at the bank under the guise of wanting to open Ms. Wong (May’s) safe deposit box. (The two most important things about this scene: Bobbi’s undercover glasses, and May and Bobbi trading conversations in Mandarin.) But when Bobbi uses one of Fitz’s devices to find the actual safe deposit box belonging to Hydra, they trigger an alarm that has the bank manager and the guards cornering them in the vault. May’s first instinct is to fight, but Bobbi takes the opposite route: Using information Fitz is feeding her through her glasses, she sweet talks them long enough to almost get out of trouble. When May sees a guard going for his gun, though, the channel gets changed to the Melinda May Badass Hour. Later on, May corners Bobbi about why she chose the safe route rather than the attack route back at the bank. She assesses that Bobbi is hiding behind her medical tests and holding back because she doesn’t think she’s strong enough to fight anymore. May rallies her confidence by telling her about how she scouted her at the Academy before she became an agent (and I really need THAT backstory now) and shares her own Bahrain experiences. She knows what it feels like to regress due to a personal loss. And she’s not going to let Bobbi go there.

Thanks to Malick, Ward has gotten to Werner first, but May and Bobbi easily interrupt the love fest that is Hydra beating the crap out of the kid and gloriously disarm all the agents in a sequence that reminds me why I love these ladies so much. Bobbi finally gets her due, and for all her fighting skills, it’s experience and smarts that help Bobbi succeed — she uses her batons to electrocute Kebo in the pool. May, meanwhile, is trying desperately to get Werner to tell her about Ward before he either passes out or dies.

Werner tries to apologize for what happened, telling May, “I didn’t know he changed into that thing.” And as we watch May’s horrified face, we get the actual story of what happened the day that Garner was attacked and the reason behind why he ultimately survived a little too well.

Garner. Is. Lash.

I’d like to say that I saw that coming, but just like Ward and HYDRA, I have to admit this reveal did surprise me.  I will admit that I was surprised with Andrew’s character as he did seem so incidental considering the quality of the actor & when he was killed off, I really was a bit confused as it seemed such a waste. Obviously, now everything makes sense: the fact that he hasn’t yet killed Daisy (something Daisy asks him about point blank, along with asking about his shapeshifting skills) and also the fact that he’s so interested in finding Lincoln. (That last scene, where we see Daisy willing to offer up Lincoln’s whereabouts because, as Garner notes, “he’d be safer here,” made me cringe. Don’t do it, Daisy!) Much like when we learned Ward was Hydra, looking back at all the interactions and choices Garner has made in light of this new knowledge suddenly adds a different perspective to our stories. How will this affect his relationship with May? What about the fact that he and Simmons have been bonding over therapy and PhDs? Is Garner really, truly evil inside, or is just Lash that’s the problem? (We’ve already done the Jekyll and Hyde thing, so I’m guessing we’re not going to go there twice.) Moreover, if Garner has been vetting Inhumans since the beginning, how many has he actually killed or put on a list when he realizes they’re not “worthy” enough? Do we even want to know?

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Anime – More of the best on Netflix

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

Saturday morning cartoons were all the rage when I was growing up as I’m sure they were (or are) for you too.  However what many people are now watching aren’t just cartoons that we were used to, where Bugs managed to defeat Daffy or the Coyote continually chased but lost out to the Road Runner.

With multi-episodic story arcs, these new “cartoons” are significantly more intricate, artistic and detailed.  In addition, many of the really good ones are surprisingly violent and sometimes quite erotic also!  They definitely aren’t suitable for your typical preteen (& in some cases post-teen!) that’s for sure!!

I’ve written a previous post already on the top 5 Anime episodes on Netflix which you can find here. However, I wouldn’t want you to simply restrict yourself to these titles as there are many more both on and off Netflix that are absolutely worth looking at.

The ones I previously mentioned are – Sword Art Online (now with 2 seasons), The Irregular at Magic High School, Attack on Titan (now also released in Live Action!), Highschool of the Dead & Knights of Siddonia (also up to Season 2).

Some new ones that I think you should consider for your viewing pleasure are:

aldnoahAldnoah Zero

I just watched this one and the one thing I have to state without ruining anything is the ending is a complete shock.  My jaw literally hit the floor!

Aldnoah Zero is a bit confusing in its overall mythology – basically in the 70’s a hypergate to Mars was found on the surface of the moon.  Those early astronauts also found a mysterious property (power?) called Aldnoah that gave them the ability to enhance normal mechanical tools and weapons and gave them a devastating advantage over the rest of humanity.

After a short war that saw the Moon destroyed in an event later referred to as Heaven’s Fall (not shown in the series), an uneasy truce exists between the Terran’s and Martians.  However when Princess Asseylum is seemingly assassinated while on a diplomatic mission to Earth, the truce fractures and all out war ensues between the two planets.

Freezing

Another of those slightly erotic (lots of female nudity) titles, this one still had a really interesting story and was fun to watch.  When Earth is the target of an alien invasion by beings called Nova’s the only defence is genetically altered girls (Pandora’s) and their male partners (Limiters).  Freezing tells the story of Bridget and Kazuya Aoi who together combine to be the best and strongest.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Back in 2013, Fullmetal Alchemist made the list of top anime series on Netflix. That’s still available via streaming, but, now, we’re suggesting that you add Brotherhood to your queue as well. This is a reboot rather than a sequel and it’s one that aims closer to the manga source material. The essence of the story is that two boys attempt to bring their mother back from the dead and, in the process, lose huge chunks of their physical selves. That leads them on the road in search of The Philosopher’s Stone.

Gurren Lagann

At times controversial and often deceptively raunchy, this smart, fast-paced anime is beloved for its wide-ranging plot, its gorgeous animation, its take-no-prisoners plot twists, and its character development.

While many anime series in the mecha genre tend to turn off newcomers because of all the talk about giant robots, Gurren knows how to plunge you into the middle of the action while getting you emotionally invested before you know what’s happening. Even if you’re not up on your Japanese sci-fi tropes, this is an excellent, accessible series. Don’t miss it.

Stay tuned however as Netflix is now also launching another title called the Seven Deadly Sins.  Similar to Knights of Sidonnia this series also exclusive to Netflix & while Knights was definitely SciFi in scope and tone, this one is more of a western.

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Arrow S2E1 – City of Heroes

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

With the conclusion of the previous season, we had the syndicate and the members of the conspiracy actually being successful in their plans which was very unexpected!  With a significant portion of the city in ruins, Oliver felt that he’d not lived up to the promise he’d made himself and his father and ended up fleeing back to the island.

While he now considers the island something of a sanctuary vs. a prison, when Felicity arrives to get him to return back to the city, he reluctantly agrees.  Especially when she tells him that they don’t want him to come back as the Vigilante but rather as Oliver Queen as that’s who the city now needs.

As an aside, this does kind of make you wonder why no one else could find the island before when Felicity and Diggle seem to find it so easily, but let’s put that aside for now.

However, when Oliver does return to the city, he finds his company is now a takeover target and his family is literally considered to be the cause of the all the cities woes.  Oliver decides that he is the only one that can save the company and save all of the employees from the “evil” Summer Glau (let’s be honest, her character name doesn’t really matter does it?!) and her plans to decimate Queen Industries.

Meanwhile – Thea’s boyfriend is fighting to protect the glades similar to what Oliver did as the hood, however, he simply doesn’t have the same level of skill and while he is able to rescue someone, he also ends up beaten up quite nicely.

Thea has managed to take over the running of the bar but she has not gone to see her mother in prison and while she seems more mature than the first season she still obviously has some serious problems and demons in her own house that she needs to deal with.

Another group of vigelantes however have echoed Oliver’s mantra also and determined that they need to take on his job now that the Hood is no longer there.  They kill the mayor and capture the new district attorney who also happens to be Laurels new boss but she manages to fight them off and they depart empty-handed. We also find that in Oliver’s absence Detective Nance has now been demoted to a beat cop  is no longer able to question Laurel or anybody about what has happened

When the new vigilantes attack Oliver during the course of his board meeting he cannot act in the way he would like to and orders Diggle to keep him safe.  He does however jump out a window and swing down to another floor thereby saving Felicity’s life.

Oliver goes to prison to visit his mom in the effort to get some help and assistance and gaining the funds he needs to save the company from hostile takeover she manages to point him in the right direction.

When the vigilante’s attack the nightclub that Thea is managing, Roy (her boyfriend) manages to incapacitate several of them, but they are still able to capture Thea and escape.  This is the catalyst that Oliver needs to resume his activities as the true vigilante and the true Hood.

Oliver manages to track down the vigilantes to the church but they are unwilling to listen to reason and he is almost forced to kill them even though he does not want.  However he manages to stop them and himself and leaves them tied up so that officer Lance can find them.

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D – A Most wanted (Inhu)Man

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

A Most wanted (Inhu)Man – Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (S3E3)

The president’s ATCU (Advanced Threat Containment Unit) begins hunting down inhumans across the country. Meanwhile, Simmons begins her rehabilitation after her extended stay on the alien world.

While the title for “A Wanted (Inhu)man” referred to Lincoln, and his story was solid, the episode’s most notable content dealt with Simmons, as she was back, but hardly back to her usual self.

Elizabeth Henstridge was terrific here, as Simmons seemed on edge and often almost in pain from being around, well, nearly everything. Mundane things like a cell phone ringing got under her skin and Henstridge did an excellent job showing her trying to put on the best face she could, but struggling so much underneath. It was touching seeing Fitz trying so hard (yes, I it was “Aww”-worthy how he had held that restaurant reservation for them, hoping she’d return), but he just couldn’t help her – at least not yet.

Cover from Inhumans trade paperback (2001).

Cover from Inhumans trade paperback (2001). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A Most Wanted (Inhu)Man starts off pretty fast-paced. We meet back with Lincoln, who is being chased by a small military squadron. They pursue him through the woods until he escapes after creating a blinding wall of sparks via some steel towers. He continues throughout the episode in a similar fashion, having to give the slip from the ATCU using his powers. Eventually, he seeks refuge with his old friend, John, but he ends up turning Lincoln in after seeing a news report falsely exposing him as a fugitive. Though it was a bit silly (and cliché) to do the “close confident sees news report about friend and freaks out without trying to get explanation” route. However, the fact that Roebuck’s character actually died from his heart attack, despite Lincoln trying to use his powers as a defibrillator – and that Lincoln didn’t redeem himself to his friend or anyone else by saving him – was effective.

 Superpowers should theoretically make a person more interesting, but the Inhuman characters on Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. are the blandest members of the cast. The writers of this series have struggled to give Chloe Bennet a character that brings out the charisma she shows in her public appearances, and while Skye/Daisy has gone through a significant transformation, it’s not one that highlights Bennet’s natural charm.  Right now, Daisy’s entire life is dedicated to S.H.I.E.L.D. and rescuing Inhumans, but it wouldn’t hurt to get a glimpse of what she does outside of work. What is her personal life like? Does she wish she could just be a regular woman in her early ’20s, trying to find her way in the world without alien powers and government organizations at her back? Now that she has control over her superpowers, does she ever have any fun with them?
While Daisy attempts to convince Lincoln to come along, Coulson meets with Rosalind Price. He’s attempting to find the reason her task force is hunting inhumans, particularly Lincoln. While her response is inconclusive, Coulson’s focus shifts when he informs her that he’s aware she knows about Daisy, who happens to also be on her hit list. Realizing neither side will get anywhere if they keep attacking each other, instead of focusing on the bigger struggle at hand, Coulson suggests a temporary partnership with Price.Lance Hunter
May finally decides to team up with Hunter in their mutual pursuit of Grant Ward. They make their way to Boston to meet with an old friend of Hunter’s who is in league with a mysterious arms dealer, suspected to be the new Hydra. It was a lot of fun seeing Hunter and May teamed up and on their own, trying to get Hunter infiltrated with Hydra. As a big Spartacus fan, I loved seeing Dan Feuerriegel as Hunter’s kinda/sorta buddy, “Spud”, they needed to cozy up to in order to get close to Hydra – a comic highlight of both the episode and the show in general was when Hunter and Spud got drunk and their slurred, thick accented dialogue – that May was struggling with – was subtitled. After a few rousing rounds of lager, Hunter agrees to fight his way up the pecking order…literally.  It’s a painful episode for Hunter, but it’s a great one for Nick Blood, who gets to goof off when he’s not being beaten to a bloody pulp.  Blood plays up the comedy even when Hunter’s getting pummeled, giving the character an endearing scrappiness as he fights a much larger, stronger opponent. May also finds herself in an uneven fight against three imposing men, but she’s far from scrappy. She’s ruthless as she quickly takes out her three would-be attackers, and gets the best line of the night as she walks away from the fallen bodies:
“How about I do you a favor and not tell anyone that a tiny little Asian woman kicked your ass.” 
Somehow managing to withstand a pretty hefty beating, he finally decides to go by Hydra’s rules to play as dirty as possible, pulls out his knuckle dusters, and reigns in his victory. Barely able to keep himself upright, he’s taken to finally face the man he set out to kill.
When Bobbi finds Simmons still analyzing the fragments of the Monolith, she tries telling her its been completely disabled and she has nothing to fear anymore. Much to Bobbi’s surprise, Simmons tells her she’s not afraid of being sent back, but for some reason, actually needs to go back.
Meanwhile, despite their differences, we got some more amusing banter between Coulson and Rosalind (them I feel chemistry between) and her “eyes up here!” as he eyeballed her car was a very funny bit.
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A GALAXY UNKNOWN

by Hutch Morzaria
written by Hutch Morzaria

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I started doing a lot of reading for self published books?  Well one series that I came across recently is called a Galaxy Unknown and is by Thomas DePrima.  Now this series isn’t necessarily the best or most riveting but I have to admit it suited my frame of mind just fine and was a nice, easy and engaging read.  While I think DePrima was cribbing a bit from David Weber and his Honor Harrington series (another series with a female protagonist who starts out as a lowly ensign and eventually grows to become an Admiral) its a cheap and good read in and off itself.

BOOK 1 – A GALAXY UNKNOWN

OK as the first book in a series, this could have been written easier, but the concept is fairly simple and straightforward:

A life-pod containing a young ensign, missed by rescuers following a shipboard explosion a decade earlier, is discovered adrift in deep space. Awakened from a long stasis sleep, her personal knowledge of the past makes the seriousness of the current situation seem all the more horrific. But before Jenetta Carver can rejoin SC, she’s captured by pirates. At first she fears for her life, but when she’s indelibly marked as a pleasure slave, she gets mad; fighting mad. And when they tamper with her DNA to make her appear sultrier, she gets even madder; killing mad.

Jenatta Carver eventually finds a life pod and manages to escape her ships destruction, but is left floating in space for decades before she’s eventually discovered by a passing trader.  The universe in which she awakens is a much more hostile and dangerous place than the one she fell asleep in and while Jenatta might have been meek and timid in her previous life – that sort of attitude will only get you dead now!

This book sets you up for all the rest to follow as Jenatta’s “enhancements” are provided to her by the Raiders.  These enhancements (improved healing time, lack of aging, enhanced strength and beautiful body) while provided for nefarious reasons come to be an underlying principle throughout the series and while they seem somewhat unnecessary at this time, they do come into effect in later books.

Quick Recap?

Jenatta doesn’t do well in her Academy education as while she’s a genius, she’s timid and unsure of herself.  She gets assigned a role as a science office on a ship which is the best she can hope for even though she would have loved to have a command role.  Her ship explodes and her escape pod is sent hurtling into space – with no hope of rescue, Jenatta puts herself into stasis (after playing a strategy game over and over and over) and sleeps for a decade before eventually being rescued.

The universe in which she awakens is a changed place from the one in which she fell asleep and Jenatta is stunned to discover that Pirates are prevalent throughout the sector.  Jenatta takes over as Captain of the ship that rescued her after the previous Captain is killed in a Raider attack on the ship.  Managing to successfully defeat another attack, she then takes her ship to the defense of a fleet of merchant vessels also under attack by Raiders and is again successful.

Jenatta then decides that she can infiltrate the Raider base to gain vital information about the organization but is subsequently captured and tortured by having her DNA re-written to make her an immortal sex slave.  Managing to escape, she blows up the Raider base but on the way steals two of the largest Warships ever built which the Raiders had previously stolen from Space Command.  She eventually makes her way to the local starbase.

Overall Thoughts

One big complaint about this book and in fact all of the others, is some of the words.  DePrima seems to like having you guess what you are reading at times (or have you check a dictionary) as he often uses very long and confusing words when simpler sentences and phrases would have sufficed.

The second major complaint is the stupid villain syndrome, in which pirates are repeatedly defeated because of their own stupidity. The evil pirate leader and mastermind has quite a lair for himself and has managed to discover the secret of immortality but he decides to gift this to one of his enemies as a punishment so that he can have an immortal slave girl?  What’s the point of that really – it just doesn’t make any sense … why not just keep it for himself and outlast everyone else and just kill his enemy?

There are other negatives but the underlying fact is that there is enough fun stuff in here to keep you engaged. While I wouldn’t rate it with any of the greats, if you’re stuck for a read and have nothing better to do – give it a try.

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