To Watch A Show

 I’m not sure what to write tonight, but I’ve sat down to try to mash out my 150 words as quickly as possible, only because I want to watch the newest episode of the science fiction series Foundation that went live on Apple TV just a few hours ago. 

Is there anyone else out there that fits in the Venn diagram overlap of “Reads Denis’ Blog” and “Watches Foundation”? I never read the books it’s based on, but according to those in the know, apparently neither did the folks that made the series! Fans of the books tell me, while the show uses characters and themes from the novels, it’s like they read a Wikipedia page, got bored after the Principle Characters section and made everything else up. 

And I love it! It’s crazy far future sci-fi, with ships that travel faster than light, empires that span multiple star systems, clones, and math that accurately predicts the future, but only in huge, civilization spanning level, not the actions of individuals. 

The special effects are high budget movie quality, with huge cities, vast wastelands, and elaborate, shiny spaceship interiors. Much of the sets were built and filmed in Limerick!! There are plenty of Irish accents among the secondary cast, and plenty of Irish names in the credits for all sorts of roles. 

The cast is great. I think, among a quality selection, my favourite actor is Lee Pace. I love every time his character appears on screen and I’m excited to watch his plans and plots come together. That, and I WANT HIM TO DIE! I want him to die a slow and horrible death, and suffer for every moment of it. Oh how I’m going to enjoy that episode when it surely happens. 

If you enjoy sci-fi, think about adding Apple TV to your list of streaming services you’re borrowing from a friend. 

Though that might be tough, as there aren’t many of us around. 

Addendum: Well, I watched the latest episode and it was great. Almost no sign of Lee Pace, but with the size of the cast, not every actor gets to be in every episode. Can’t wait to see what happens next week. 

It's All So F.A.B.ulous

Reboots, reimaginings and returning relics are distressingly common in recent years. I understand that one of the big reasons for this is that the children of the 80's and 90's are now the ones in charge of greenlighting new projects today. If I had that power, we'd be starting Season 5 of MacGyver (2011)* around now.

But for all the terrible attempts to bring back the past, there are a handful of successes, and one series stands above all others in recent years.

Growing up, I watched the heck out of the original adventures of International Rescue, Thunderbirds, a supermarionation series by Gerry Anderson. I've seen every episode multiple times. So when I heard that there was a new series on the way from ITV, I was pretty excited. My excitement faltered when I first heard it would be CGI, but grew immensely when I discovered it would have sets by WETA Workshop, the same company behind the sets and props for such massive movies as Lord of the Rings, Avatar and Disctrict 9!

Wait. Is it computer animation, or physical models? Yes.

What? It's both. The sets are physical models build by WETA, and then the characters are digital creations composited into the filmed sets! And it works! Spectaularly. The new series, Thunderbirds Are Go has become my favourite sci-fi show on TV right now, either animated or live action, and joy of joys, this is both!

Here is my top five reasons Thunderbirds Are Go is awesome!

FIVE! The sets are lovingly created in exquisite detail by the masters of modern miniature sets, WETA Workshop. The level of care and attention to detail is astonishing. There is a massive amount of tribute paid to the original sets, from the basic base and craft designs simply getting a modern overhaul, to things like the portraits in the island lounge, or the orange juicer in the wall of the Thunderbird 1 hanger.

But it's more than that. Not everything runs smoothly, and there's a slight jerkiness to some of the sets more mobile aspects. My favourite is the wall panel that swivels back to bring Virgil in to pilot Thunderbird 2. The panel judders just a tiny amount as it starts its rotation, a mechanical hiccup that was either intentionally included or purposely not fixed, because it adds to the heritage of the series.

FOUR! The computer graphic elements are so good they are indistinguishable from the sets. The figures are animated with a wonderful texture to their clothes and skin, making them appear to be miniatures as well. The seams and zips look a little over-sized and the weave in the fabrics look magnified. The skin effect in particular is beautiful, a slightly shiny, waxy look, as if made from the same rubber as the original marionettes.

All this intentional fakeness helps sell the illusion that these are also physical puppets moving within the set spaces. It sounds impossible, a clever idea that could never pay off. Surely the viewer would see the layering of effects? Yet, Thunderbirds Are Go proves that it can be done through cutting edge CG animation, lighting and clever set features. Doors open and close in the physical set, powered by invisible gears and mechanisms, and then one of the brothers is animated in, perfectly timed to the footage. Your brain simply accepts what it sees.

I also love how the characters move. Being CG, they can run, jump and be more active, as well as type without being replaced by live action hands, yet they still can often be seen holding their hands in that classic marionette cupped pose, or they move just a little like they might be on strings. And I still can't believe that the vehicles themselves are entirely CG. They interact with the sets so well, again, totally selling the illusion.

THREE! Scott, Virgil, Gordon, Alan and John. The brothers are so well written and realised. They work well as a team, and there are never any egos. Everyone is working for the benefit of the mission, so when Scott tells Virgil that he needs to back off because he's putting himself and the mission in danger, then Virgil does so immediately. Everyone still gets their moments of heroics of course, but they also have absolute confidence in each other, and never bicker or disagree. Success is a team effort.

That said, I hope to see a lot more of the newest member of International Rescue, Kayo in future episodes. Kayo is the new Tin-Tin, and is much more proactive, having her own ship, Thunderbird S, the Shadow, and joining Alan on rescue missions in Thunderbird 3. But so far, she's only appeared in a handful of episodes. More please!

TWO! The characters are smart. As soon as someone on a video connection starts acting weird, Lady Penelopy spots the inconsistency and warns of a possible trap by the dastardly Hood, Scott agrees, and everyone acts accordingly. When John admits to missing Grandma's cooking, the rest of International Rescue jump to action to rescue their obviously captive brother. Problems are usually solved in clever, action packed ways, that leave plenty of room for drama.

I would like to see them hire a science advisor for future seasons, however. There is no reason they can't stick to some basic levels of science without compromising the tension. In one episode John is subjected to 25 Gs of force as Thunderbird 5's ring spins. A human would blackout at around 8 or 9 Gs. I know 25 sounds much cooler or more dangerous, but Brains could simply have stated "Th-th-the average human can only withstand up to 9 Gs of force before going unconscious" to which Scott could have quipped "John's never been average at anything" as the readouts climbed into the low double digits.

ONE! That theme.

Need I say more. No, I needn't, but I will. It's a great update of the original, making it a bit more action packed and exciting. In a stroke of genius, they opted to retain the countdown from the original theme, intoned by the late Peter Dyneley, who also voiced father Jeff Tracy in the original series. It sends shivers down my spine every time. There are some themes you skip past to get to the action, but not this one. Never this one.

THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!

* - In the Season 4 finale, MacGyver had to rescue friend and regular trouble-magnet Jack Dalton from recurring villain and master of disguise, Murdock after Jack stumbled on to a map to the lost library of Alexandria. In the Season 5 opener, Mac and Jack uncover the location of the library, only to discover that Murdock, presumed dead for a few months now, has gotten there ahead of them. When Jack gets them both trapped inside the ancient site, it's up to MacGyver to get them out, using only the artifacts inside. Sounds easy, but her hands have been badly burned in the cave-in, and she has to rely on Jack to put her plan into action.

No. No, I got the pronouns right.

Almost Sleepy Agents

Ask me six months ago what new show I'd be most excited about watching every week and I would have said Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. without hesitation. Ask me today, and it's a different story.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is set in the shared continity universe of the Marvel Studio movies that include Iron Man, Thor and Captain America. Lead by Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), whose first appearance in Iron Man cemented him into the Marvel universe, the team is made up of two highly skilled field agents, Melinda May and Grant Ward, two scientists, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons, and a civilian computer hacker and activist, Skye. They operate out of a mobile command centre in the form of a huge retrofitted cargo plane, stamped with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo everywhere.

References to the movies are natural and common, with mentions of the greater organisation beyond Coulson's team dropped in regularly. While the series is unable to have regular cameos from the principle actors from the various movies, there have been some nice surprises, including Cobie Smulders in the pilot reprising her role as Agent Maria Hill, that give us hope that Robert Downy Jr. or Chris Evans might drop by for a chat in a later episode.

I'm really enjoying S.H.I.E.L.D. I understood from the before the pilot aired that I should expect something closer to Warehouse 13, and I'm loving that that is what we have. Some people are dissappointed that there aren't super-powered beings leaping all over the screen in every episode, but it's a TV series! And the first season. They don't have the budget to do that. Instead, the team investigate strange artifacts or weapons, and occasionally run into someone with powers.

The cast is strong, and the characters are becoming more defined. The writing is clever and sharp, and there's some great dialogue among all the action and tension. And in true Joss Wheadon fashion, there's a deeper mystery at work for the fans to follow and ponder over. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is lots of fun, and some great weekly viewing.

But it's not my favourite show right now.

Originally, I pretty much ignored Sleepy Hollow outright. I disliked the premise: Injured in his own time, Ichabod Crane wakes up in the modern world and has to defeat the Headless Horseman in a strange, new land. It just didn't sound particularly inventive. But people kept telling me great things about the series, and then Claire started hearing about it and growing interested. Only one male caucasian on the main cast (two, if we assume Headless is one two, I guess), and, pretty early on, the writing staff realised what the fans knew from the seccond episode: Ichabod isn't the main character, it's Lt. Abbie Mills, Ichabods police officer friend who has seen and knows more than she's willing to admit.

So we tried out the first episode, and we both loved it! It's clever, very funny, and wonderfully cast. Ichabod reacts to the modern world in a real way, obsessing over electric windows and the number of Starbuck's within a block of each other. Big things like cars and computers seem almost too much for his brain to handle, so he focuses on the smaller changes, and it's wonderful. At one point, he's handed a pistol for his own protection and told "It's works just like the old ones. Point and shoot." I immediately smiled at the important fact that Abbie took for granted, and, sure enough, after firing once, Ichabod throws the gun away, thinking it spent. A great moment, well crafted.

The show is suitably creepy for it's source material. It's never gorey or downright scarey. It's just that subtle find of creepy that sends shives down your spine and leaves you wanting more, but maybe tomorrow, or next week. The end of the pilot is especially shiver-inducing. If you're a fan of the Dresden Files series of urban fantasy novels by Jim Butcher, then you'll understand when I say that the thing in the mirror at the end of Sleepy Hollow's pilot is how I imagine He Who Walks Behind should be portrayed in a movie or proper series adaptation.

Plus, Sleepy Hollow has Orlando Jones as Captain Irving (a nice nod to Washington Irving, author of the original poem), and he's always great to watch.

And then there's Almost Human, a sci-fi series filmed here in Vancouver staring Karl Urban as Det. Kennex and Michael Ealy as his android partner, Dorian. Rather like Sleepy Hollow, I was unimpressed with the lack of creativity from the trailer for this show. A human cop is injured and his partner killed when their police android decides that they are not a priority based on mission parameters. This leads to him hating on androids, bu being forced to work with one as an active officer. He's given a "defective" unit, an older model that displays too much emotion, and they bond. It sounds like something one of those automated plot generators would spit out:

He's a white cop with an artificial leg who hates androids. He's a black android who feels too much emotion. They fight crime!

And it does hit a lot of the generic clichés: A tough but kind hearted older female superior officer, a young, sexy collegue, a rival officer who thinks the main character is a has-been, and who thinks of androids as lifeless tools, and even a missing ex-girlfriend who may or may not be mixed up in something bigger.

It sounds like it should be unwatchable, but they pull it off. For one thing, it's fun. The banter between Kennex and Dorian is well written and delivered, and I especially liked the discussions on life, love and death from episode two. The "Stop scanning my testicles" was a great character moment between the two. I like their view of a future that is "normal", not a dystopian nightmare, or a utopian paradise, but a world of hope and crime in a big city. The ills of the world have not been solved, but we haven't degenerated into chaos either.

Almost Human is a fun show to switch off and woatch. It has a lot of heart for a sci-fi action show, and, as suggested by the title, it takes a bit of time to discuss the line between human and not human in a world where androids can be programed to be "too human", a "condition" that causes that line, the DRNs, to be discontinued and shelved in favour of more conventional models. I'm really looking forward to seeing more from this series, and hope we at least get a season or two out of it. I think it has glimmers of the fantastic within it's first two episodes, and has a whole lot of potential beneath it's skin. Also, someone must have written fan fiction of how Almost Human is the setup world for Battlestar Galactica![1]

Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D., Sleepy Hollow and Almost Human are all on my weekly viewing, each providing it's own style of entertainment and surprise. If I had to pick one fo the three to recommend, I think it would be Sleepy Hollow right now, though Almost Human has the potential to usurp that given a few episodes of development. Maybe it's my levels of expectation versus my levels of enjoyment on viewing, but S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't left me as excited as the other two shows after each episode. It's still a great show, and I'll be watching every episode, I just think the others, for now, are a little greater.

[1] - I'd love to see one of the BSG Final Five actors appear in Almost Human as one of the creators of the androids, with another appearing as the programmer for the too human DRN line! Actually... excuse me a minute. I have something to start writing...

Applied Correctly, It Could Move The World

A few months back I read this webcomic about an agency to assist the dearly departed who have left something unresolved in this life. I made an off-hand comment that I thought it would make for a great RPG concept: A party of supernaturally sensitive friends that have a Private Investigation firm that caters for the deceased, helping to complete whatever is making their eternal rest restless. The hook was that each week one party member would allow their body to be "rented" by the ghost, becoming a "ghost host" if you will. That player would get to put their normal character sheet to one side and play as someone completely different.

This off-hand comment planted itself in my mind and sprouted roots, slowly growing until I knew I had to do something with it. Originally, I had planned on using my system of choice, FATE 3.0 for the game, but on outlining my ideas to a friend, I was pointed towards something that might work better. The ghost would need some help to find who murdered him, or protect his family now that he's gone. Perhaps someone is messing with an artifact connected to the spirit, or one of his descendants has become a dick and needs to be taught a lesson. In short, the adventures were not going to be straight up hack'n'slash affairs. The ghost needed a team that could function without brute force. He needed someone that could provide Leverage.

The Client
Leverage The Roleplaying Game is based, unsurprisingly, on Leverage the hit series from TNT. I had been a fan of the show since the pilot, instantly hooked on the its unique blend of humour, heist and heat-pounding action. The series follows the adventures of a band of ex-criminals and their leader as they try to make the world a better place one problem at a time. The episodes usually open with a Client explaining why she needs their help, which the Crew succeed at through a heist or caper that inevitably requires last minute tweaking, adjusting or all out replanning to overcome unforeseen obstacles.

The roleplaying game follows this mechanic, allowing the players to put together a Crew of skilled experts to solve a myriad of problems that the GM, or Fixer, will throw at them over the course of a session.

The following review is based solely on the book itself and my impressions from reading it. I have yet to play it, so I'll try to avoid making judgements related to actual play here. It's also worth mentioning now that I have never actually played anything using the Cortex or Cortex Plus systems, the later of which is the system Leverage is built on. With that out of the way, on to the meat of our story.

The Caper
The Visuals: The first thing that is obvious about the Leverage RPG is how pretty it is. Everything is clean and bright and I was particularly taken with the choice of blue print on a white background as the primary colour scheme throughout. It's clean, effective and eye-catching. That's just a personal thing. Blue is my favourite colour, and I think plain white backgrounds work well enough that they should be left alone. Photos and screen shots from the series are used extensively throughout the book, breaking up long blocks of text and keeping things interesting.

The System: Prior to reading Leverage I was not familiar with the Cortex or Cortex Plus systems in any way. Years ago, a friend had bought me the Serenity RPG as a gift, but I never really read it or tried it out. I love the Firefly, the series it is based on, but had no real interest in reading the RPG. As it turns out, Cortex Plus is my kind of system!

Like FATE 3.0, Cortex Plus is, at it's core, a system for telling stories and having a good time. It is reasonably light on mechanics, instead allowing players and GMs to focus on the collaborative story-telling side of RPGs than the combat focused, hack'n'slash of other systems. There is no rule for moving 6 squares in order to flank an opponent, but there is nothing stopping you from describing how you managed to use the crates in the warehouse to sneak around him and FLANKED d6 him.

Characters are equally clean, maintaining the tight focus on story driven, rather than dice controlled, adventures. There are six Attributes, five Traits and a handful of Distinctions and Talents, giving you an absolute minimum of things to keep track of and allowing you to concentrate on the task at hand, ruining the baddies day. There are no lists of skills covering most of the page, no weapon bonus' or damage modifiers, there isn't even a health track!

The play mechanics are blissfully simple. Regardless of what you do, you always role at least two dice, one for the Attribute you're using, the other for the Trait. You can role more if the scene allows and players are encouraged to elaborate on the scene for additional dice,like in the FLANKED d6 example above. Regardless of how many dice you role, you only total the highest two in most cases.

Things get interesting, but not complicated, when you start including Assets and Complications and spending Plot Points to effect the scene, but basically the Cortex Plus system is designed to keep everything flowing along and the players having a good time.

So far so good. The system takes the gameplay I enjoy and runs with it. But there's one key element still to come, one unique feature that sets it apart from other games.

In any good caper, and all RPG adventures, nothing goes according to plan. The Crew must think on their feet to solve complications as they arise, avoiding the FBI that just appeared on the scene; dealing with the armed mercenaries that everyone had previously thought were just gym-enthusiast office workers or by-passing the biometric lock on the safe that they were told had been installed in the 1930's!

In great capers, like Leverage or Oceans 11, the seemingly unexpected situation was planned for all along. The Crew had called the FBI to arrest the bad-guys in the act; the lunch everyone saw the office workers enjoying had been laced with a sleep inducing (but not dangerous. We are good guys after all!) narcotic; and the Hacker had uncovered the invoice for the new safe while reading the bad guys private emails, equipping the Thief with the appropriate gear.[1] Events like this are usually explained in TV and cinema through the magic of the Flashback. Now, you can too!

The Hook: When the Crew is stuck in a difficult situation, with the enemy closing in all around, sometimes things just seem hopeless. That's exactly the moment when the Mastermind smiles, looks the baddie in the eye and throws in a new, unforeseen Plot Point. The baddie swings around and, expecting his own band of highly expensive thugs to be at his back, is dismayed to find himself looking down the barrel at a HIGHLY TRAINED d8 POLICE OFFICER d6. Turning back to the Crew, his jaw drops. Where the cornered heroes once sat is the supposedly disposed of crate of baby milk formula containing unlicensed cheap ingredients that have caused nothing but harm to hundreds of babies in the poorer district of the city. The Crew themselves are nowhere to be seen.

How did all this happen? That's what Flashbacks are for. Flashbacks are the Hook that Leverage uses to reel in its players. Linking in to events in the adventure, Flashbacks allow players to go back in time and alter or add to a scene that occurred previously. Remember when the Hitter took out those thugs in the garage earlier? They happened to be the ones tasked with disposing of the evidence. Or how about the start of the previous scene when the baddie walked in on the Grifter talking on the phone. Thought she was talking to the rest of the Crew, didn't you? Nope. Calling in a tip to the local authorities regarding some unscrupulous dealings.

Flashbacks give the players a level of control over the outcome of events that seemingly go against them. Leverage is an RPG where success is always the only option. The question is, how interesting and exciting can you make the journey toward that destination be for yourself and your Crew mates? As in the series, Flashbacks allow you to establish character traits from events that occurred at an earlier point, sometimes earlier that day, sometimes in your characters life before the game, or even as far back as her childhood! Similarly, they allow the players to wrap up loose ends after the Job is completed. How did the Thief know that the head body-guard was sleeping with the baddies wife? These things are story elements that make the game fun and exciting, and very similar to the show.

Again, so far so good. Everything about the game seems to be geared toward my preferred  play-style. The new elements that the game uses to distinguish itself against the competition read well and seem to be enjoyable Assets. But, in the world of Leverage, where there are Assets, there are Complications.

The Twist
Leverage The Roleplaying Game is based on the hit series from TNT. This is important, and bares repeating here upfront. Not only does it give the RPG an immediate audience of fans who enjoy the show and RPGs, but it also means that there are probably a few sales that will go to fans of the series that have never owned, seen or played in an RPG. This in turn lends itself to my first and biggest problem with the book.

As an experienced role-player, I am familiar with how to read RPG books and how such books are laid out. While I never hold issue with seeing "What is a Role-Playing Game" on one of the first pages in any RPG (in fact, I love reading how different authors try to explain the basics in a single paragraph to people who have possibly never heard of such a thing. Always amusing), I don't feel I need to be hand-held throughout the text. I'm an adult reader, and consider myself smart enough to figure some things out alone. There are several moments in the book where the author stops to explain who "you" is referring to in this section. Other times, I almost feel like I'm being talked down to, having basic concepts over explained, in overly simplified terms. The whole thing comes off rather amateurish feeling at times. It feels like this is written by a fan of the series as a home-brew game, rather than what it is; a thoroughly play-tested, proof-read, professionally designed, published document. There are moments when the author is chatting to the reader in an informal, friendly fashion that make those sections sound like a blog posting.

Should I blame the author for this? Or marketing? Actually, I've chosen neither. I don't particularly like it, but I have to look at it in the light of what this is. A licensed product that needs to appeal to everything from non-role-players, through first-time GMs, to experienced veterans (for the record, I fall somewhere between the latter two).

The other fault I have with the book is related to content, and, like the language used, is a by-product of something else. Leverage The Roleplaying Game is clean, clear and concise, thanks to it's use to the Cortex Plus system. It forgoes detailed charts and situation modifiers for story-telling and genuine thrills. The downside of all of this is that it's surprisingly easy to explain everything in a short amount of time, or in this case, ink.

The Leverage RPG book comes in at just over 200 pages thick. Less than Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide at 224 pages and half of either Spirit of the Century or the recently released Dresden Files RPG, both of which clock up over 400 pages! This is great, right? Yes, and no.

Even at a paltry 200 pages, Leverage has an unprecedented amount of filler. The whole last chapter, The Record, is a synopsis of every episode from the first two seasons in game terms. It is filler of the highest order. It still doesn't beat the Stargate SG-1 RPG level of filler where they produced game supplement books of the series episodes in seasons, but it's pretty close. Add to this seven pages of examples of locations that seem to be just stating the obvious, and you have over 30 pages of material that I don't need for any game I run myself. Not just don't need, I don't have to read over or even look at them!

The question then becomes, should they have printed a book of only 170 pages? The problem is that the less you print, the less you can justify charging, and the less buyers will be willing to pay. At some point you have to charge enough to cover the costs of printing, or cut the quality of printing to match the cut in price. Given the high quality of printing on show in the book, maybe having that filler is a necessary evil (there's a villain for a Leverage game: A company deforesting whole areas just to print books twice as big as they need to be so they can charge more and increase profits!).

The Mark[2]
Having read through the book, I find that Leverage The Roleplaying Game stands as a wonderful, beautiful introduction to the world of criminals, capers and roleplaying games. It has it's flaws, but nothing is ever perfect, and the flaws seem to be easily ignored, or simply don't do much to effect the overall quality of the product. The system is a joy to read and learn about, even if I haven't had the opportunity to actually playtest it myself yet. I look forward to using it either in a game based in the Leverage setting, or in my own world of body renting ghost detectives. If you like telling a great, fast paced, rules light, collaborative story where it can be more important to be cool and funny that effective, then Leverage The Roleplaying Game is for you. Like the show, the book is great fun to look at and belongs on any gamers shelf that enjoys story driven games like Spirit of the Century, Dresden Files and Doctor Who.

The Flashback
Over the course of this review I have mentioned things like FATE 3.0, Spirit of the Century and Dresden Files. FATE 3.0 is the system that runs Spirit of the Century (SotC), the only game I've ever successfully run a full campaign in. I have long been a fan of the system and associated games, owning the limited edition hardback print of SotC, as well as having preordered and purchased the enormous Starblazer Adventures, a book big and heavy enough to kill someone with, and most recently picking up the Dresden Files RPG (DFRPG), the most recent iteration of the FATE 3.0 rules system. FATE, SotC and DFRPG are all by Evil Hat Productions, and I had long been aware of the names associated with them. Fred Hicks, Rob Donoghue and Ryan Macklin are three of the very short list of games designers whose names I would recognise[3].

I purchased Leverage The Roleplaying Game, got home and started reading through it. As is usual, I skipped the credits page and skipped right to the good stuff. It was only after I was most of the way through the book before one of my friends pointed out the crossover in creative minds between Evil Hat and Leverage. I was stunned I had never heard about it before, but there you have it. Sometimes, it's not what you like, but who you like[4]!

[1] - In terrible capers, it is revealed that all the supposed complications and bad luck and events that went against the team were entirely planned and nothing was accidental and the Crew perfectly predicted exactly how the baddie would act, such as Ocean 12. Don't do this.
[2] - See what I did there? The final mark for the review. The Mark. Gettit? Yeah, it was a terrible pun, but I couldn't resist.
[3] - Before anyone says anything, yes, I know there are a lot more people involved in the making of an RPG, but they're just the names that stick out to me. Sorry if you feel left out. Console yourself in the knowledge that even if I didn't name you, I am eternally grateful for the amazing job you did on my favourite games.
[4] - Huge shoutout to the design lead and author of Leverage The Roleplaying Game, Cam Banks. Great job, man! Hope you're not too hurt by my negatives toward your work. Just remember, don't get mad, GET EVEN d10.

New Season Brings Glee

At this point we're well into the new season of television, with the start of a number of new shows, and the welcome return of others. Most shows are hitting episode seven or eight this week, so we have a fair idea of what to expect from the brand new offerings, as well as the season story arcs for the new season of those series we've watched for years.

Smallville has introduced Zod in the awesome form of Callum Blue, a move that almost makes me want to catch up on the series I left way back in season three. But there are just too many other great shows to invest time in, and while I'm sure many people who know me think I spend all my time either playing games on my Xbox or using it to watch tv, I really have more important things to do than sit on my couch long enough to watch everything that's available. How I Met Your Mother, House and Heroes are just three of the many shows I've let slide, while repeated recommendations like Dollhouse, Chuck, Sons of Anarchy and 30 Rock haven't even been given a chance.

There are just far too many good shows to watch right now. Returning Big Bang Theory and Mythbusters are joined by the immensely enjoyable Castle, starring everyone's favourite space cowboy, and the intriguing mystery series FlashForward, which I hate to think will become the new Lost, giving question after question and no answers, but I'm finding myself sucked into regardless of caution.

But there is another that has taken me by surprise. I never even knew it existed until I stumbled onto it from a completely unrelated article online. It sings to my inner love of cheesy music and cringe-worthy but hilarious situations. It plays on my desire to be a famous singer/dancer (admit it, everyone has that dream, right? ... Er... Right?). Watching it makes me smile and laugh. It brings me great Glee.

Glee is about a music club in an American high school. In the past, the club was popular and successful, but now they are nothing, while cheerleading and football rule the school. The series starts when Will, the Spanish teacher, volunteers to be the new Glee teacher as well, and recruits new members, including the football teams quarterback.

All the clichés are there. The thickheaded bully is a fantastic singer, the bitch cheerleader can sing as well as she dances, in fact, the entire cast is full of highly trained singers and dancers, most coming from Broadway. Unlike Fame, people don't spontaneously burst into song in Glee. Instead, any song is a product of the clubs rehearsal, stage production, or the individuals exorcising their personal demons in front of a mirror. As of the end of the third episode, the only example of someone bursting into song and causing people around her to dance in perfect choreography was, of course, part of a dream sequence.

But it works. I love it! It's hilariously funny. The cast is excellent, both vocally and in acting ability. The dynamics of the characters are fun, and the relationships are interesting. The cast are strong and all seem to be truly enjoying themselves. Thankfully, the network seems to agree. If TV.com is to be believed, Fox has picked up the show for a full 22 episode first season.

In the end, the show is just fun. The songs are fantastic and the choreography is flawless, making the many numbers during each episode fascinating to watch. It's a great addition to the weekly viewing, moreso because of it's core nature. In Glee, life is good. It might be tough sometimes, but ultimately, it's an enjoyable ride. While every other show of television has murder, tragedy, affairs, broken relationships, jealousy and hatred, Glee has songs, laughter, music and dance.

And when the credits roll, Glee leaves you smiling and humming a tune.

Nutshell Reviews: Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

After Mummy 2, I thought the franchise was dead. I really disliked the over-use of CGI effects, particularly during the final scenes versus the Scorpion King. I still can't understand why they didn't do an awesome fight between Brendan Fraiser and The Rock! That would have been cheaper to do than the atrocious fight we got instead.

But the trailer for the new installment, M3:TofDE, actually looked very, very interesting. It had action, humour, cool effects, a neat twist on the concept, a great cast and what appeared to be an interesting plot.

The opening 30 minutes are very boring. A good chunk of this is Rick O'Connell and the new chick playing Evey, who I really dislike, just being boring and very not funny in a "look how funny we are" kinda way. They make an awful joke at the start regarding the change in actress for Evey, and it went downhill fast from there for her. She delivered many of her lines with little flair, and seemed uncomfortable in the role. I really liked how Rachel Weisz managed to play the rough and tough, clumsy damsel, and make it enjoyable to watch. I was really hoping that this new Evie would be used as an example of how bad-ass the Emperor was and get killed. Early. On screen. With no chance for return. I would actually have preferred if Evey's character had not appeared in the movie at all, instead explaining her absence with a signing tour for her new book, or something. Her character did little in the movie to justify her presence anyway!!

But once Jet Li was brought back, things got exciting! The action kicked the movie into high gear, and it was a lot of fun. True, there were still far too many cringe-worthy, soppy moments, and it did get silly a few times. And once again, the CGI was in far too great a supply, but thus is the difficulty of bigger budgets. And the snow in the scenes in the Himalayas was terribly fake looking, particularly if anyone had to run through it, or step in it, or just interact in any way with it. It was clearly a non-sticky, non-melting, non-liquid based powdery stuff. And baddies were, while not quite immortal, ridiculously difficult to kill!

But despite all this, over-all, not a bad movie. It really was fun. I laughed out loud at a few scenes, and it was sufficiently pulp. I won't be rushing out to buy the DVD, and I might even recommend people to wait and watch it on DVD. Mummy 3: Rise of the Dragon Emperor is better than the previous movie in the trilogy, but not as good as the first one, and better than Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but still not as good as the trailer suggests. Pity. And there are just a few changes that could have made it much better! But that's a story for another time, as it requires talking about plot details and the finale.

Television At Top Gear

Recently, I've spent a lot of time complaining about the ills of the newest season of television, suggesting, perhaps, that there was very little worth watching these cold winter nights. That could not be further from the truth, and while I still have to say that I cannot in good conscience recommend Heroes right now, there are some other shows that you should at least try and see if they're your kind of flavour as well.

How I Met Your Mother is a rare treat when it comes to Stateside comedies. In a show that proclaims from the outset to be about relationships, love, life and above all, friendships, all the cliches are avoided. No secret loves (even if there is a season long mutually obvious, but mutually avoidant one), no best friends sleeping with best friends girlfriends, and no "We were on a break" moments. It's hard not to see parts of yourself and your friends in the characters. They are realistically thought out, and deal with situations in a realistic manner... well, almost. This is a comedy after all. Sometimes things just get wacky! Worth watching for Barney alone, an ingenious idea for a character that feels so real, yet I hope doesn't actually exist in reality anywhere in the world!

House. What can I say about some of the best writing on television. Every episode follows an identical format. Patient arrives with unexplainable illness, team look at combination of symptoms and come up with the answer, treat, treatment fails and patient gets worse, team reassess symptoms, come up with new answer, treat, patient gets better for a while, then- OH NOES!!- patient crashes, almost dies, team stabilise patient, Dr. House remembers some random, inane fact from Act One, such as patient doesn't like hospital food, and suddenly the answer is obvious! Team treats patient, patient recovers, everyone goes home happy. What makes the show spectacular is that, despite this, every episode is griping TV, and the few that break the pattern are some of the best 45 minutes of drama you'll ever see. The patient and the treatment are not the important reason for the show, and only rarely for the team. Instead, it is the relationships, interactions and friendships that the extended cast of characters go through. Season four has added a new excitement, as House picks a new team, starting with a class of over thirty and eliminating it down week by week. Wilson still ranks as my favourite supporting character in any series.

Balancing karma has never been funnier than in My Name Is Earl. Jason Lee is almost unrecognisable as the title character, Earl, who, after winning $100,000 on a scratchcard and then getting hit by a car, realises he has to make up for all the bad things he's done in life to everyone. He creates a list, and, in a random order, begins to do good deeds related to the bad in order to cross them off. Some are easier done than others, and as the show continues, the list gets slowly added to, either because Earl remembered something new, or his emotions got the better of him for a moment. My Name Is Earl is kind of like Quantum Leap without the time-travel element. Both have to right wrongs, and both are controlled by God, fate, karma or whatever. I'm gonna leave that analogy there, because some people don't see the genius in connecting those two shows.

Top Gear is the reason I originally started this post. Claire and I watched episode five of season ten last night and both of us almost died of laughter and excitement! What other show could follow up a mind-blowing trek across the spine of Africa with a trek across London in rush-hour Monday morning traffic and have the London episode come out tops on the "Edge-Of-Seat" scale of television viewing?!? If you have yet to see it, the episode involves a race between James May in a four-wheel drive people carrier, the Mercedes GL, Richard Hammond on a bicycle (skin tight shorts and t-shirt included!), Jeremy Clarkson in a Cougar sport racing boat on the Thames, and finally... well, some say, when he was born, his heart was replaced with a miniature Formula One engine, and that because all he knows is speed, he has no concept of money or mobile phones. All we know is, he's called The Stig, and he took public transport. The race was from the extreme west of London, Knightsbridge, to the extreme east, at London City airport. It was riveting viewing, side-splitting all the way, and totally unpredictable in it's craziness. Favourite moment: The Stig stares blankly at his mobile phone, seemingly with no idea what this funny little noisy thing is for. The ring tune is the Coronation Street theme. But who won?!? You'll have to watch for yourself. The results are just too good to give away here!

So there's a selection of viewing material to watch while it's dark and wet outside on these long nights. Have I missed anything? Is there something I should be watching? I know there are lots of other good shows out there, but I only have so much free time. I need to blog too, you know!

Fall Of The Heroes

NaBloPoMo has been running now for just 10 days, one third of the month, and I have had a post a day at least, and more some days!

Anyway, to keep things moving without break, let's just mention Heroes, 'cause, you know, everyone else is!

Season two, in my humble opinion, sucks. Thankfully, I'm not the only one to think so! In fact, so many have agreed with me, that Season Two may well finish with the December episode. Ok, so the Writer's Guild Strike is a factor as well, but seriously, the creative staff obviously know that they've failed to meet any potential. I found this article which summarises the contents of an interview in The Los Angeles Times, as well as my feelings on the show. Unfortunately, I've lost the link to the source of this particular piece. Sorry for the shoddy reporting, but here you go (emphasis by me):

Tim Kring not bugged about criticisms of hit NBC show, says episodes seven to 11 are "best episodes we've ever done."

Heroes has been on the tips of television-viewers' tongues a lot this year, but not for the same reason as last season. The superhero show was a breakout hit last year, but this season it has been the target of critics who cite disjointed storylines, too many characters, and a lack of direction for disappointing fans. Viewers have also tuned out; last week's episode rang in the worst numbers in the key 18-49 demographic ever for the series, according to Nielsen Media Research.

But there's one man who isn't fazed and thinks fans shouldn't be worried either: series creator Tim Kring.

Speaking with The Los Angeles Times, Kring dismissed the numbers much like many other television executives have: DVRs, online episodes, the Internet. What's more, ratings drops are taking their toll on almost all shows, not just Heroes.

As for the rest of the criticism, Kring is promising that it will all make sense. "It will all be paid off by episode 11," Kring said. "From seven to 11 are the best episodes we've ever done." The Heroes crew has always said that this current season would be split up into "volumes," with the current one, titled "Generations," concluding midseason.

"One of the things that we found is that, by the end of the (first) year, we were dragging a tremendous amount of story behind us that had to be paid off in that final episode," Kring said during a conference call, according to Salt Lake City's Deseret News, "which made for an episode that the (audience) expectations are so high that it's hard to meet everybody's expectation."

But that didn't stop the writers from adding several new characters in the offseason, and the result is too much story to pack into one hour of television per week to satisfy everyone.

"Part of what happens on any show is that you enter a relationship with your viewers where you teach them how to watch your show and they teach you what they seem to be responding to," Kring said, reports the Deseret News. "And we, I think, are in this process right now of teaching the audience how to get used to the idea that not everybody is going to be in every single episode."

Some think that Heroes is just undergoing a sophomore slump. However, Kring may be thinking that viewers are looking at season two a bit too harshly by elevating season one unrealistically. "People tend to look at last season and see things in it that were not in it. We haven't deviated that much [from last season's formula]."

Now the "last week's episode" they mention at the start is actually Episode 6, from two weeks ago. The article is a bit dated. Anyway, I find the last line, "We haven't deviated that much [from last season's formula]" hilarious!! He says this like it's a good thing! That's one of my biggest criticisms about the show. Why am I watching the second season if it's gonna be just the first one again?!? I should go back and watch that. At least that had a focus right from the opening episodes. This season is all over the place, and I have little to no idea where the show is going. Also, the special effects are atrocious. Everything is poor green-screen sets with either dull stock photography or awful photoshopped images! In particular (related to Episode 6, so spoiler hidden just in case), Peter in the empty "future New York" was laughably bad! I've seen better quality green-screening on Bosco's Magic Door!

And this week, creator Tim Kring admitted as much! He actually apologised to the fans for Season Two. Now, I have to give the man credit for admitting he's wrong, but this is ridiculous! NBC have spent millions upon millions on six, possibly more, episodes of tripe! Despite hoping to start "Volume Three" on a clean slate, I have an uneasy feeling that the ride is over. The only reason they still have a chance at Volume Three is because they are with NBC. If this was Fox, we wouldn't even get the resolution to Volume Two!

Intro Four: Blue

Stepping out into another time was a really weird feeling. It did not matter if it was your first time doing it, or the last. It always felt odd.

The air was different. John breathed it in in deep gulps. A noticeably higher level of oxygen per breath. Not just that, but it smelled different too. This air lacked the additives and nutrients that home had. And the ultraviolet radiation was greater. The control centre had been right to advise him to wear a sunblock and carry vitamin tabs.

John looked up to see that the sky was blue. Heh. Now that was something that people at home had not seen in a long time, he thought, and felt an unexpected jump in his heart-rate. He missed the old sky of home already. This was going to be a long trip.

Intro One: Drip
Intro Two: 6,000
Intro Three: Storm

Intro Three: Storm

The lightning flashed in the night sky, illuminating the thick clouds below. Sam stared out the window and counted slowly. The thunder clap reached the station, and Sam guessed that the flash was roughly 10 miles below. The lights in his quarters were off, not for any safety measure, just to avoid any glare on the window and provide a clearer view of the storm.

If they had been on, he probably would never have seen it. A tiny shifting of the clouds, visible against the flashing storm further below. It could have been mistaken for an air current causing the clouds to churn from their resting place, except that, as he watched, it took a ninety degree turn and started towards the station.

"Shit." Sam reached for the siren.

Intro One: Drip
Intro Two: 6,000
Intro Four: Blue

Intro Two: 6,000

The Empire was over 6,000 years old at this point. It's creation was bloody, the final outcome of a civil war across six planets and two star-systems. But it had dominated for so long that its age was now meaningless, a group of digits to celebrate whenever the last two were "zero-zero".

Much had happened in those years. Technology had moved beyond anyones wildest dreams, new planets had been colonised, and older planets had been abandoned. The Empire had spread to sixteen new stars and dozens of planets.

But none of that mattered now. Nothing for the last 6,000 years matter once war starts again within the Empire. 6,000 years mean nothing when you are grateful to have survived the last five minutes and are praying to survive the next five.

Intro One: Drip
Intro Three: Storm
Intro Four: Blue

Intro One: Drip

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The summer sun glared through the window. Outside, the seasons flowers were in full colour. Despite the location, there was little sound from any nearby animals. Presumably they had all found some shadow in which to sleep off the worst of the midday heat.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The thick red fluid fell from the table, making a loud sound in the empty room. A puddle of blood was slowly spreading across the wooden floor, and the sun was doing its best to dry it out before it spread further.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

James stood over his own body.

"Dammit. Now I know why I should have gone with the cheaper floorboards."

"I feel as though I should have warned you", replied a voice to his left.

Drip.

Intro Two: 6,000
Intro Three: Storm
Intro Four: Blue

Call Me, Beep Me

I just finished watching the finale to the fourth season of the Disney Channels Kim Possible. If you haven't heard of this amazing cartoon, then you really have missed out on the show that has set the standard for all childrens action entertainment. Like Gargoyles, another Disney property, Kim illustrates how a cartoon aimed at a younger audience can build an astounding, passionate and vocal fanbase among older viewers.

For the uninitiated, Kim Possible is a 30 minute cartoon series following the adventures of high school cheerleader and part-time world saver Kimberly Ann Possible, known to friends as Kim, or KP. Tagging alone by her side is best friend Ron Stoppable, and his naked mole rat, Rufus. Ron is well meaning, lovable and clumsy, and bears a huge crush on KP, though never really does anything about it, instead, helping her ask the guy of her dreams to the ball, or comforting her when things go bad. Ron also has a habit of losing his pants at every available moment, much to his annoyance.

The colourful cast of villains are the true strength of the show. While most cartoon series can manage to have a strong, well written main character or two, Kim Possible manages to also have incredibly well written villains as well. It's almost impossible to not love Dr. Drakken and his far more capable female sidekick, Shego, Senior Senior Sr. and his son Señor Senior Jr., or the nefarious fashion orientated evil doers, the Fashionistas, among others. While the writing and character developments go a long way to making these fun villains, the voice actors can claim a lot of the credit themselves. Dr. Drakken is voiced with obvious relish and joy by John DiMaggio, Futuramas Bender, while Señor Senior Sr. is voiced by Ricardo Montalbán, Star Treks (arguably) most loved villain, KHAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!

One of the greatest aspects of the series, and also that which sets it apart from almost 100% of every other animated series I can name is the character development throughout the four seasons. Over the first three seasons, Kim and Ron attend Middleton High, with the final episode of season three not only mentioning that they are moving into their final year in high school, but also dramatically altering their relationship. At the time, the third season finale was to also be the series finale, the TV movie So The Drama. The new relationship would not be an issue, as there would be no more episodes to deal with it. But when season four was green-lit, the creators promised no backing out, and better yet, no soap-opera drama. This has the previously unheard of, entirely unique result of the two main characters in a childrens cartoon series by the Disney Channel remaining together throughout the new season, and not only that, they have locked-lips on-screen more than once! Mature writing and an insistence on the part of the creators to not "write-down" to children meant that this was pulled off with grace, and proved once again that a childrens show does not have to ignore certain real-world issues to succeed. Kim and Ron are high school seniors, and their actions within the newest season are realistic and believable.

By the close of season four, Kim and Ron are still the happy couple. They continued to have crazy adventures, while exploring the new territories of their relationship. Not once throughout the 22 episode run was their relationship ignored in favour of plot, nor did they break-up in favour of drama. While the relationship did allow for some new areas of comedy, Kim and Ron stayed not only as a couple, but also as best friends through to the end. And while Kim and Ron are now old hat at the dating thing, the final two-parter ended with love blossoming rather unexpectedly for two of the other characters.

It will be interesting to see if KP ever gets a fifth season. Kim and Ron are on their way to college, allowing for new friends, new situations, and new settings. The creators were smart enough to wrap everything up for the end of the season, while allowing room for more TV movies, or even, so many fans now hope, another season. And as unlikely as a fifth season might sound, it is clear that the Disney Channel love Kim as much as the fans do. In order to celebrate the last episodes, they ran a megamarathon of every episode and TV movie ever made, over three days at 18 hours a day, culminating with the first airing of the series finale, Graduation.

Daily Double Homicide

I was at home for a few days from Sunday through to Thursday of this week. Originally planned as just a nice trip home to see the family and chill out with no commitments or pressures, it would seem some higher force felt otherwise. However, more of that later.

While I was at home I got the chance to catch up on some television viewing. As some of you know, I don't have a television in my house, or to be accurate, I do, but it's not plugged in to any aerial, so technically I'm only short on channels, not the physical box. Anyway, the one show I enjoyed most while I was at home was an old favourite of mine, Murder, She Wrote.

RTÉ One are currently airing two episodes a day of J.B. Fletchers adventures in Cabot Cove, from 3:30pm in case anyone wants to catch it. I remember when we were really young my brother and I were let stay up to watch Murder, She Wrote when it was considered prime time viewing. My mum loved, and indeed still loves, this show, and we all watched it together. I often asked why we never saw any of Jessicas books in the bookstores, as I really wanted to read some of her stuff! Ah, the innocence of youth!

Watching it again, I know why I loved it so much back then, and I still do now. The show is incredible! When it's hitting its stride, the plots are clever and suspenseful, the dialog sharp and witty and the acting strong and engaging. The style and look of the show is classic, and even walking in during an episode, before Angela Lansbury appears as the master-mystery-writer-turned-detective, you can name the show simply by the framing of the shots, the colours and the movement of the camera. There is something distinctly unique in it.

Angela Lansbury is riveting to watch on-screen. She has a power that few actors possess, and her presence is powerful, yet never seems to overshadow the accompanying actors. Speaking of which, in the five or so episodes I caught of the show over the time I was home, Jessica was in three of them for less than five minutes each! Instead, master-thief-turned-detective (pattern emerging) Dennis Stanton headed up the case, getting into mischief along the way! Although I enjoyed this character, played with flair by Keith Michell, he wasn't Jessica. A little research into the matter proves I'm not the only one who thought that. Episodes like these I saw, as well as a few narrated by Jessica as one of her novels, and one or two other master-whatever-turned-detective were used to give Angela a break from the hectic shooting schedule, however, negative fan reaction meant that they were dropped in later seasons.

Watching Murder, She Wrote at home again was a joy. After seeing it I did some research and discovered the following:

• Angela Lansbury is the only one to appear in all 263 episodes of the series, during its 12 seasons, from 1984 to 1996, on CBS, as well as the four subsequent TV movies.
• On it's 12th season it was moved from it's Sunday evening slot where it had been hugely popular for over a decade to Thursday evenings, putting it against Friends. This was because CBS was trying to make Sundays more teen-friendly. The show floundered and was announced to be finishing on that season. The last four episode returned to the Sunday slot, receiving high ratings once more, the final episode being the 16th in the ratings and the most viewed show on CBS that week!
• None-too-subtly, the final episode is titled Death By Demographics and sees a station head changing the stations focus from classical to rock'n'roll to reach a younger audience. The experiment fails, and he ends up dead! Hmmm...
• Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski spent time as producer on the show, writing a number of episodes. He is credited as spending the most time emphasising Jessicas career as a writer, making deadlines and such a part of the episodes.
• I read somewhere that Straczynski attributes his time on Murder, She Wrote as invaluable in helping him learn how to write mystery's with effective foreshadowing. Apparently, writing for the show allowed for no short-cuts, as the audience had to be able to see all the clues in the episode, and potentially piece them together themselves. Straczynshi has said that this helped him in crafting story elements that would pay off much further down the line for everything from Babylon 5 to Rising Stars and even his run on Spider-Man!
• Angela loves Ireland, owning a home in West Cork. Because of this, there are a number of episodes based in Ireland, particularly in the south. Two of them are titled A Killing In Cork, and Another Killing In Cork. How imaginative! The most recent TV movie is also based in Ireland, The Celtic Riddle.
• And finally, in 1986 there was a cross-over with Magnum P.I., which began in Magnum and concluded in Murder, She Wrote with the episode Magnum on Ice! Sweet! Two of my favourite shows!

Sorry if all that was a bit long winded! I just loved reading about the show, and wanted to share! Besides, if you don't like it, tough! My blog! I get to write what I want! Ha! Anyway, thanks for reading, as always. I'll be putting up more over the next few days, including why my time at home wasn't all fun and games, what I thought of The Bourne Ultimatum (I'll save ya reading that one! Freakin' awesome is the summary!) and one or two other interesting bits and pieces that are itching to get onto the internet! Until then, have fun!

Nutshell Reviews: Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix

Stop! In case you haven't read it, I've put up a post on the rest of the Harry Potter books and movies, so read that one first and then come back.

The Order of the Phoenix had a lot going for it before the opening credits even rolled. I knew the cast were back, and I liked them. I was very happy with the edit done to the last book on translation into a movie and I had confidence that the same might be done to this one. And I had read an interview with the director of this and the upcoming sixth movie due in 2008, and he is a huge fan of Bill Nighy, so I liked him too.

Fiennes was once again astoundingly good was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and looks dashing in a tux! The Wesley twins, played with style and conviction by James and Oliver Phelps once again seemed to steal any scene they appeared in, even if neither ever open his mouth! My favourite character in the book, Sirius Black was wonderfully portrayed once more by the equally wonderful Gary Oldman, and new addition Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge can only be described as the written words on the page given life and committed to film! She was incredible. While we're here, the rest of the cast were wonderful too, without a single weak link. I must give a big congratulations to Irish actress Evanna Lynch who played Luna Lovegood. As a character I had forgotten completely about from the book, she was memorably played by the young talent in her first role in anything ever! That's what happens with open auditions!

Moving on from the cast, the music was great! So too were the special effects. Clean, vibrant CGI made the big moments a joy to watch. The scenes of Dumbledores Army (pictured to the left) practicing in their private hide-away made for great character moments, as well as awesome special effects. Broomstick flying along the Thames sent shivers down my back, and the final showdown between Voldemort and Dumbledore was spectacular eye candy.

So the movie was great, right?

Wrong.

Everything I hated about the novel was in the movie. Harry spent most of his time whinging and whining, acting more like a spoilt brat than the shy, reluctant character he was previously. Communication between characters was worse than on the Lost island! If people were just upfront with Harry almost everything could have been avoided! Worst of all is Dumbledore, who distances himself from Harry to "protect him", but that very act causes Harry to run head first into the Death-Eaters trap!! The prophesy everyone is after, either to hear or protect tells us a fact that we have known since book one, page one! Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot!! This is worse than a poorly written DnD plot!

And the "important character" death! Arg! When I got to that bit in the novel I threw the book away I was so frustrated! It was random, stupid and pointless, and done to a character that had itself proclaimed in that very book how useless it felt! Due to the possibly spoilery nature of the following paragraph, I'm writing it in white, so if you want to read it, just click around here, then, keeping the left button pressed, move the mouse down to highlight the paragraph, revealing the hidden text (it's better done than the blasted prophesy was!). Yes, I know most of my readers were aware of how this works, but I'm erring on the side of caution here!

The killed off character is of course, Sirius Black. Now while I admit bias on the previously mentioned fact of him being my favourite character in the series, it was obvious that Rowling had no more use for him. After his book, Prisoner of Azkaban, he only ever appeared to throw out a piece of advice to Harry or be a sounding board for Harrys frustrations. His purpose was done. His last act was to let Dumbledore use his house for their base. And then he suffers a ridiculous death. Hit by a knock-back spell that would hardly have bruised him in any other situation, he stumbles, stumbles back into a mysterious veil with mysterious voices of the dead. Could this veil be a not-to-subtle reference to the "veil of death"?!? Oh god. Yes. What a stupid way to remove a character, just so she could announce an "important character" (yeah, right.) death in the newest novel. Awful. The movie actually makes it even worse, as the scene where Sirius laments his uselessness doesn't have 400 pages of fluff to make you forget it before he meets his demise. Instead, he tells Harry how useless he is and a few minutes later, *poof* he's dead. Didn't see that one coming, did ya?!?

The Order of the Phoenix was the book that turned me off the whole Harry Potter franchise. While I was never one of the "queue for the midnight launch" kind of fans, I read and enjoyed the novels. Until Order. It was ridiculously long, padded out with more fluff than ever before. I've mentioned the flaws just a bit ago, so I don't need to here... but I will anyway, cause they were terrible and should be emphasised! Whiny Harry, useless prophesy, unhelpful secrecy and pointless death. And the movie has them all. In fact, by successfully exorcising the fluff, the bad points just get crammed together, one running into the next!

The Half-Blood Prince is the first of the novels I have yet to read, and most likely will not have by the time the movie adaptation comes out. But where Order put me off the books, the movie hasn't entirely put me off the movies. Sure, I'm not going to be preordering tickets, and I might grab a matinee to save on the entry price, but if the effects and acting are as strong and enjoyable to watch as they were in this one, it'll be worth seeing once.

But only once.

And I still won't read the damned book.