Obi-Wan Kenobi is getting his own TV show: Here’s the Story I’D Tell

 Hi!

My name is Pete, and I sometimes like to write down how I would have written a movie or a TV series and post about it at http://petesaves.us.  Sometimes, I write down how I would write a movie or TV series before that movie or TV series is even released--I wrote my own Star Wars Episode 3 screenplay back during the weeks following Episode 2's release, for instance.  ANYway, I am a trained writer with some experience writing in Hollywood (even for pay sometimes!), though I live in NYC now and have a book on Amazon that I self-published.  So have a look at my logline and synopsis for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series as I would write it below.  It is called:

KENOBI: SHADOW OF THE JEDI

Logline: When a seasoned veteran of a brutal war is forced to be alone with the sorrow and pain of losing not just friends and fellow soldiers, but of everything he has ever known, he struggles to focus on keeping a young boy safe. But his mind may not let him...he may even have to go dark.

Synopsis: Dealing with galactic PTSD after narrowly surviving a war that seemed to have turned his best friend to the Dark Side, Obi-Wan Kenobi struggles to keep focus on his duty to protect young Luke Skywalker, while simultaneously trying to lay low, and somehow get over the incredible loss and failure he's just experienced.  He gets a job at what passes for a diner in Anchorhead, not far from the Lars Homestead on Tatooine. Eventually allowing himself to make friends with some locals, and some from out of town, he holds his dark demons at bay, but it is a constant struggle.  In public, he is quiet, does a good job waiting tables and whatever else his boss needs. But at night, he trains to stay fit, battle-ready, and sane all while using the Force as little as possible just in case. It's a challenge, not only because he needs to use it to keep tabs on young Luke, but because nightmares of Anakin's massacres and Kenobi's own failure to save more lives haunt him by night and visions of people he once knew haunt him by day.  One living friend he's made is a female Weequay named Aiiko who is trying to buck the stereotype that all Weequay are roughnecks and thugs by being a successful local real estate broker--the most successful in Anchorhead--at least that is her plan.

If dealing with his demons isn't enough, Aiiko has found “Ben,” as he is now known, to be her good luck charm.  Since he served her that first Ronto Morning Wrap, she's had a string of good fortune.  Things change, however, when a rival developer comes to town to open a casino and in the process brings intergalactic organized crime to Anchorhead. Wanting to keep Anchorhead a safe, reputable place, this makes Aiiko's job very hard to do.  So, Ben pays the developer a visit, telling him politely to take his business elsewhere.  When the developer fails to take Kenobi's advice, Aiiko is distraught, convinced she will lose her business and everything she had tried to do for the town--trying to bring investors and make the lives of our neighbors better.  She asks Ben to talk to the developer again (or maybe more than just talk) but Ben knows he has to lay low and he knows he is just not right in the head.  He is still seeing the dead all around him, some seem so real... but that night, a dark, hooded figure busts up the developer's casino and the developer's thugs.  The next day, word travels quickly that the casino and all related businesses have been shut down and the developer has left the planet. Aiiko is sure it was Ben who busted up the place, but he insists it wasn't him and in fact, is sure it wasn't him.

Soon, there's a new Weequay in town--Aiiko's brother happens to be visiting.  He had a deal to pick up a shipment of spice from a local businessman new to the planet, but his casino and offices are closed--no one knows what happened to him.  Aiiko tells him everything--a story that ends with how her good friend Ben drove the guy off-world, singlehandedly.  He asks to meet this friend--that's when they recognize each other.  But Ben, having grown out a long beard and showing some age, tells Aiiko's brother and old “friend” (and sometime enemy) from the Clone Wars, Hondo, that Ben is not who he thinks he is.  Hondo insists Ben is Kenobi, but Ben doesn't give in. Ben also denies having anything to do with driving the developer from the planet. Hondo gives up and continues his search elsewhere, eventually learning the developer left for Batuu. He lets Aiiko know that he's headed there next but that he's a little worried about traveling by himself--the guys he was supposed to deliver the spice to is probably after him now.  Aiiko begs Ben to go with him, and Hondo admits he could use the help.  Ben and Aiiko go with Hondo to Batuu only to discover it's a trap that Hondo was paid by the developer to set.  Ben realizes fighting back will only raise his profile so he lets them beat him down.  He wakes, chained to a wall in the developer’s office. Only, as Ben admits, he is not feeling himself.  He uses the Force to end the developer and his thugs once and for all but falls short of killing Hondo.  Hondo tells Aiiko a nutshell-version of who Ben really is ending with the fact that "He's got a lot of baggage from the war.  But how many of us don't?"

Aiiko, being disgusted with her brother's betrayal, nurses Ben back to health on Batuu and they board a transport back to Tatooine.  Aboard the transport, they meet two people: Azkaya, a blue skinned Pantoran and Wyshok a pale skinned human.  Both are investors looking for somewhere to put their credits.  Aiiko goes into sales-mode and talks up her new plan for "Little Coruscant"--she wants to turn Anchorhead and then Tatooine into the Coruscant of the Outer Rim but that Azkaya and Wyshok can be in on the ground floor of this exciting opportunity.  "You really are Hondo's sister," Ben says.

The two investors are intrigued by the possibilities and decide to take Aiiko up on her offer and come with them to Tatooine.  Once back on the desert planet, Ben learns from Aiiko that her new investors are interested in buying up farmland-- farmland that includes the Lars Homestead.  Ben is immediately suspicious and, after nightfall, heads out to check on Luke when he sees Azkaya and Wyshock  approaching the Lars' front door on foot.  Instead, they circle around and head out into the farmland, itself.  Ben follows, using the Force to hide his presence from their senses.  He follows them until they stop and hold their hands out over a spot of sand and seem to use the Force to cause the sand to clear a hole.  Ben is immediately drawn to their side where he begins to help them, holding out his own hand, and using the Force.  They eventually clear an opening to a tunnel carved out of solid bedrock.  "I knew you were like us!" Azkaya says.

Not thinking, Ben follows them down the tunnel and both of his new friends exhibit abilities only Force wielders have.  Finally, they enter a massive cavern, inside of which is an equally massive and ancient temple.  Azkaya and Wyshock are overjoyed, so happy they've finally found it.  "But this is a Sith temple," Ben says.

"We know," Wyshok says as Ben looks down at his had to find a lightsaber in it.  Instinctively, he activates it, only the blade that appears is blood red. Ben's eyes are red with the reflection of the blade as he looks at the others.  "Tell me more..."

END OF SEASON 1

I have a LOT of other details that are left out of the above.  Fun stuff like random customers to the diner graphically reminding him of those he saw die in the war and of Anakin's victims.  I also have this idea that maybe one of the visions of the dead is a real (Force) ghost.  Also, I think my idea for the weapon he trains with and ultimately uses to bust up the casino is pretty cool (hint: it's not a lightsaber).

So, that's the general idea of what I would do.  Hit me up on Twitter if you want to tell me what you think.  If it's just a lot of very negative criticism, I hope you won't mind when I don't reply.  I am open to constructive criticism, of course.

OH and STAR WARS and all the already existing characters I mention above are (c) Lucasfilm and Disney.

TIME TO SAVE HOLLYWOOD AGAIN

So, it’s been a while since I posted on my movie/TV blog at http://PeteSaves.US and it’s been somewhat intentional. There has been such an explosion of good quality TV and movies over the last couple years, I just haven’t felt compelled to write about much. Combine that with my busy schedule working on my own creative projects (http://caffeinated.space, petesfiction.blogspot.com and more), it’s been hard to carve out time to help Hollywood in the ways it still really does need my help. I mean, did you see the last STAR WARS movie? Holy Jar-Jar Binks, Batman! That movie was divisive as a STAR WARS movie, but it also had some issues just as a movie movie.

I know you probably don’t need the above exposition but I wanted to have some sort of explanation available for anyone who notices the massive gap in post dates. I'm a little obsessive like that, myself, which is a good trait for any writer.

Watch for new posts about 2016's WONDER WOMAN, 2017's BLADE RUNNER 2049, and, duh, STAR WARS: EPISODE 8: THE LAST JEDI, coming soon! 

In fact, probably this Thursday!

While you wait, why not scroll back through my earlier posts and see what’s there? Then follow me on Twitter (I’m @nichollspete). Or read what I've been writing (petesfiction.blogspot.com)

Thanks! And feel free to Patreon me at patreon.com/nichollspete or toss some caffeine my way on ko-fi.com: ko-fi.com/A8464B1 (cup.pete.ink)

Here is a quick preview of my take on STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI:

So, if you cut out the bulk of Poe Dameron's scenes and the bulk of Finn and Rose's scenes, would the movie still seem cohesive?  I say yes.  I also say, that makes those scenes not necessary.

See you on Thursday!

Saving STAR TREK from Fragmentation

There is a concept called "fragmentation." I first learned it when I read an opinion piece on why Apple's iOS was a stronger brand and better for developers than Google's Android. The idea was that since there were only a few devices and form factors at the time, customers would have an easier time adopting the devices/brand and developers would have fewer variables to worry about compared to the myriad models supporting Android. Put simply, the Android experience was more fragmented. Apple having a single, coherent look, quality level, and general feature set for all iOS devices gave Apple the upper hand.

I am reminded of this kind of thing when I look at Warner Brother's handling of DC Comics properties (I wrote about this in my last Pete Saves (Hollywood)) and also when I look at what Paramount and CBS are doing with STAR TREK.

Break it down for me, Pete!

Originally, STAR TREK had just one timeline, that weaved together the adventures of Captains Archer, Pike, Kirk, Picard, Sisco, Janeway, and others into a single, cohesive, story universe.  Despite a few big continuity issues that only really matter to the Trekkiest of Trekkies (ex: Khan wasn't ruling the Earth when Janeway went back in time to 1996) this worked pretty well. 

Then, what were originally assumed to be the movie remakes came along.  However, they turned out to take place in an alternate reality from the original "Prime" timeline but in the same story universe. This was not a remake, after all, but alternate versions of the original timeline's characters and stories. Which is confusing to me and I am a geek.

I love Trek but when Khan Noonian Singh, originally played twice by a Latino actor and portrayed as a Middle Easterner was recast for the remake movies with a white man as a white (?) Khan Noonian Singh (same name! #wth??) I was pretty perplexed. And that was just one of many changes that seemed big enough to lose the heart of the original series but nonetheless created something people enjoyed.

Finally, the announcement of the new STAR TREK show for TV declared a two things that raised more than a few eyebrows. First, that it will only be available via CBS's for-pay streaming service.  Second, it will take place before STAR TREK ENTERPRISE in the Prime timeline but involves none of the characters or ships we know and love.  I guess the idea here is for STAR TREK DISCOVERY to do a kind of STAR TREK VOYAGER but set it back in time, rather than in the future of the TNG era stories.  I guess this is fine, but putting it in the Prime universe just seems confusing since STAR TREK ENTERPRISE already did the prequel thing. 

But that part where STAR TREK DISCOVERY will only be available via the CBS streaming service? What the heck is that about?

I honestly don't know.  It makes limited sense in today's media world to force people to pay for a whole new service just to watch a single show.  What's worse is that everyone already pays for Netflix, Hulu, and an Internet connection.  Now we're expected to pay for the CBS service, too?

Good luck with that, guys!

What would YOU do, tough guy Pete?

For starters, I'd give the STAR TREK DISCOVERY away for free on the Internet.  However, I'd make sure that the writing was good and that I had a complete line-up of great merchandise and license tie-ins to make me tons of money from anywhere but the show.  The show would be a loss leader, but, assuming it's a good show, I'd be making tons of off selling the thing people still don't mind paying for: merch.

But how do you guarantee the show will be good?

Well, I'd do that, as I said, by making sure the story is good by doing this:

I'd make the show about how the world in TOS (The Original Series) came to be that world.  Why does the technology look so different than it does on every other show?  Why does it look so different from our own tech?  I'd answer these questions by telling the story of the war that nearly destroyed humanity and set the stage for the future.  I'd show how Khan rose to power with the help of someone not previously mentioned by anyone in the Prime timeline and I'd start the story toward the end of Khan's reign and the war to end said reign as it causes the descent of humankind into ruin...

..from which humanity does rise again.  This is where the story for STAR TREK DISCOVERY should really begin.

We see how the future becomes, not touch screens and iPod starship designs, but rough around the edges nuts and bolts machines with a DIY vibe that slowly mixes with a new kind of future tech.  A tech that would be invented with new minds and new ideas and new discoveries not made until after the fall of humanity. This will eventually explain why TOS looks so different from the future we expected but eventually got on TNG (The Next Generation).

From there we see the Discovery take her first steps into space and eventually help found the UFP which, by the end of the series, establishes the Constitution Class of starship, one of which is called the Enterprise.

Also, a character is established (mentioned briefly earlier) that takes a secret  discovery back in time to the Era of Khan (1996) and gives it to him. This is what allows Khan to rise to power. This time traveling character should be in the series from beginning to the end and is the chronologically first instance of a time traveler in the Prime universe of STAR TREK. Perhaps he dies at the beginning only to be reintroduced in the form of his younger self, or he lives on, simultaneously with his younger self.  Perhaps they are even friends.  Regardless, him going back in time and spawning Khan's rise establishes that he has splintered away from our literal In-Real-Life reality (the one we actually live in) back in 1996.  This means, that we, ourselves, are living in an alternate reality where Khan never rose to power.

Time to wrap this up...

Ultimately, I think this would be a really fun and pretty epic story to tell.  We've never really dealt with this part of history in TREK and I think it would be the strongest choice.  I also think doing it this way strengthens the idea behind a STAR TREK multiverse and makes all new STAR TREK content more easy to grasp, not to mention easier for the fans to get behind.

GETTING DC COMICS' CHARACTERS BACK ON THEIR LIVE-ACTION FEET

I miss the old "bullet" logo.

In my last "Pete Saves" piece, I wrote about how I would have made BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE.  It's a great candidate for my treatment since it really was pretty rough.  Likewise, the live-action world of DC Comics is pretty rough.  While Warner Brothers and DC have made millions off of recent live-action versions of DC Comics properties, it can easily be argued that they could be making even more if the quality of the stories and characters was more toward the level of Marvel's Cinematic Universe.  This is the key to turning things around for Warner's efforts with DC's characters.

Full disclosure, I've always been more of a Marvel Comics guy.  Something about the real life problems of some of their most successful characters appealed to me at a young age--even before I was aware of why it appealed to me.  That said, I still enjoyed DC's books a lot, too.  I found both the darkness of Batman and the optimism of Superman to resonate with me during my teenage years (depending on my hormones, I am guessing). 

There are also some amazing stories told with quite a few DC characters.  I'm not just talking about the obvious ones, like DARK KNIGHT RETURNS or the myriad other BATMAN titles that seem to catch all the attention.  There have been great story tellers across all of the best DC titles for decades.  Finally, we are at a place in both American and pop culture where comic books are big bucks when translated into the live-action world.  The problem lies in how you adapt the stories and the characters so that they both fit their new media and still capture the essence that made everyone fall in love with them in the first place.  That said, there is a structural issue that can have almost as big an influence on quality.

The solution is right under their noses...

BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN VS A SIMPLE FIX

The whole point of this movie was undermined by them not having a good reason to go head-to-head with each other.  In my version of this movie, I'd have given them one that was MUCH more persuasive than "Lex is making me do this!"

Now, I could go into how this movie is a mess of crap, interspersed with rock-stupidity, but if you've seen this movie, you already know this.  So, I'll just jump to the part where I explain how I'd do things differently.  I think it's a fairly simple solution, too.  I tried to write something more like my usual thing but there is just so much to say about this film, I had to give up.  So, here we go:

Start over from Scratch... Almost...

The New GHOSTBUSTERS isn't going to please everybody, but it should. That's not the takeaway here.

Never have 4 women playing fictional ghost hunters
caused so many losers with no lives to lose their minds.

So, usually, when I write about how I'd have made a film differently, it ends up being a fairly involved explanation.  However, there really isn't that much to fix with the new GHOSTBUSTERS movie.  It works fine and, I'd say, it's probably a tighter origin story than the original film.  Honestly, I laughed my ass off and the fact that women made me laugh my ass off makes it all the more interesting and fun to me.

Of course, I'm not threatened by women in the least, so maybe I'm unique among men.  But I'll get to more of this in a bit.  For now, I'll stick with the film, itself.  So…

WHAT WORKED IN GHOSTBUSTERS

Full disclosure: I am not a big fan of the original GHOSTBUSTERS.  That's not to say I don't like the film--I do.  I'm just not one of those people that praises it endlessly.  I'd rather watch CADDYSHACK or STRIPES.  The point is, this film didn't have to live up to any any preconceived expectations for me.  All it had to do was tell a cohesive story and make me laugh.  Which it did!  The bonus is that the cast are all really funny people who made the film quite fun to watch.  Usually, in American cinema, women aren't allowed to be funny.  So, this was a real treat.

Also, the warm reverence this film holds for the original GHOSTBUSTERS is wonderful.  If only every reboot had this kind of respect for its source material.  It was so great seeing all of this film's nods to what came before.

Obviously, the FX were amazing, but there really is no excuse for them to not be in today's world. 

 WHAT DID NOT WORK IN GHOSTBUSTERS

Making MIDNIGHT SPECIAL Actually Special

One of the piece of promotional art for MIDNIGHT SPECIAL (2016). OK, first off, telling me a white kid with glowy eyes is "NOT LIKE US." is hilarious because, well, he's a white kid. He's just like us. He's got glowy eyes? So what? Those could be mirrored sunglasses for all we know! Oh and isn't that cute? He's reading a SUPERMAN comic. MICHAEL SHANNON was IN a SUPERMAN movie! And both that film and this one are not so great! :(

From the director of two films you've never heard of (TAKE SHELTER and MUD), comes MIDNIGHT SPECIAL--a film that dares to tell the story of attractive white people who are the parents of a very advanced and equally white young boy who needs to be protected from an evil (?) religious cult.  Starring Michael Shannon, Kirsten Dunst, the guy who played Uncle Owen in one of the STAR WARS prequels, and the guy who played Kylo Ren in a STAR WARS sequel, this film is one of those movies that will make you wonder if anyone read the script before filming began.

Thus ends my audition script for a job writing for Honest Trailers.

What Works in MIDNIGHT SPECIAL

ARG. That first paragraph was filled with the nicest things I could possibly say about that film.  OK, I could add that the cast is great and the effects are fine.  

The X-MEN Movies: The Marvel Cinematic Universe's Idiot Older Brother

The first X-MEN movie was more than fans had hoped,
but less than what should have been.  The X-MEN
comic is positively epic. The movies have not been.

THIS POST IS A SPOILER-RICH ENVIRONMENT.  Please do not read further  if you don't want the X-MEN movies spoiled for you.  It's never my goal to ruin movies for people so, I generally try to avoid being any more spoilery than I have to, but when writing about a movie series, it's kind of impossible to avoid all spoilers.  YOU HAVE BEEN SPOILER-WARNED!

Don't get me wrong--I enjoyed the X-MEN movies.  All of them.  Well, almost all of them (COUGHx-menoriginswolverineCOUGH).  I was overjoyed when the first X-MEN got so much right.  I was still disappointed in how much it got wrong, though.  I mean, come on, it's me--I've read the X-MEN comics.  Sometimes I wonder if everyone who made that first X-MEN movie had.  As far as I can tell, all they did was read the X-MEN issue of WHO'S WHO IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE and then just stuck in the more popular characters.  Which was great, all told.  That was more than I was expecting, to be honest.

What the first X-MEN movie got right.

The plot and dialog for all of the films was pretty good with the films getting better and better as they went (not including the two Wolverine stand alone films which were steps backward in quality, though the one in Japan was the better of the two).  It was nice to see the general dynamic of Magneto versus the X-Men being respected as much as it was.  However, there is one thing they absolutely had to get right in order to capture one of the most interesting and long-running dynamics...

The Trouble with Trailers

We all know what trailers are.  When's the last time you saw a really good one, though?  I can't remember.  I'm shocked when I see a trailer that doesn't make me roll my eyes at least once.  Even movies I like have trailers that are stupid.  When I saw TERMINATOR: GENISYS, every single trailer I saw before the film either gave me too much information in the form of spoilers or stupidity, or they gave me not enough information to determine whether or not the movie would be any good at all.  Is there a solution to this problem?  Or is it just really really hard to make a good trailer?

Saving FANTASTIC FOUR: Break the Formula

One of the big problems with Hollywood has always been its urge to make it easy for itself.  Why actually take the effort every time to write a good script when you can plug variables into a formula and BANG you have a shootable script people will put their butts in theater seats for?

Put simply: Formulas don't work.  Not by themsleves.

Sure, they may seem to work for some films, but how likely are those "success stories" to be rewatched?  The key to a crowd-pleasing movie that is also a good movie is to have a formula guide you as a writer, but not to have it dominate your choices.  

FANTASTIC FOUR can be boiled down to an equation.

Young White Male + Problem that Needs to Be Solved + Complications + Implementing the Solution = Climax

Aside from the most basic of backstories given to two of the characters (Ben and Johnny) there is nothing of ANY interest included in this film.

No spoiler alerts for this piece: There is nothing in FANTASTIC FOUR that could be considered a spoiler

The Problem with Pilots and How Solving it Will Make All TV Shows Better

Unlike a lot of pilots, the first episode and the first season of
BEING HUMAN did not suffer from Not Enough Planning
Syndrome.  Sadly, later seasons did. :(

There is a general understanding in Hollywood that TV pilots just aren't very good.  There's a saying in screenwriting circles that says "always start your script as deep into the story as you can."

In Hollywood, today, the former is embraced while the latter is ignored.  At least, that's how it seems to me. I've seen several first episodes of series that seem to have no idea what they're doing.  When ever I mention this to other writers, what I usually hear back is the excuse: "Well, pilots always suck because they haven't figured out what the story is or who the characters are."

I wish so many of us writers weren't so eager to defend half-ass writing.  I get that all that really matters is if people watch, but aren't your story and characters things you should work out before you hand in your "finished" script?  And if you have a clear plan for them in mind, don't you think that will make your pilot and any episodes that follow stronger and more likely to get an episode order?

Seriously: how can you defend the idea that it's OK to flesh out your story and characters further into the series?  Too many shows suffer from Not Enough Planning Syndrome.  It's so easy (though it's also time consuming) to just sit down and answer questions about your story and about your characters.  Just make choices.  Your bosses/fellow writers will let you know if they don't work or if they are just horrible directions to go in.  Figure out where your plot is going beyond the first episode and even beyond the first season.  The question to ask yourself is this: what is the long arc of both my story and my characters?

When Not Enough Planning Syndrome Strikes, We Are All the Victims!

POWERS that (Should) Be (Better)

I am finally getting around to writing up my take on the Sony Playstation Network series POWERS.  For anyone who is not familiar, this is a show that is based on the Brian Michael Bendis comic series of the same name.  It's a comic I am unfamiliar with, so I won't be talking about it's adaptation, but I will talk about how the show adapts the general super-hero idea to the small screen.

"REAL POWER LIES WITHIN" a better script. :(

One thing I won't be doing is praising it.  This show falls prey to a number of common problems.  The biggest is giving into the syndrome I described in my piece about the Wachowskis SENSE8 (read it here).  Internet First Syndrome, put simply, is when producers and writers behind the show decide they can take advantage of the no-commercial structure of Internet-First TV shows and just take everything slowly--too slowly.  In too many cases, this manifests itself in the form of padding. In this case, it takes POWERS about 7 episodes of not much importance to get to a big plot point.  Remember how Netflix's DAREDEVIL took what should have been a pilot episode and stretched it out into nearly an entire season of episodes?  Yeah, like that.

POWERS in a nutshell

Sadly, POWERS comes across like a show on a budget--gritty, but featuring weak-looking gore, no FX make-up,  props that look hokey, featuring a very simplistic, predictable story.  There were no surprises, no interesting characters, and action that looks like a fan-film.  Actually, I recently saw the fan film, PREDATOR DARK AGES, and it had better action and FX than POWERS.

POWERS left me wanting so much more.  I will never read the comic if this is how good it is.  The show tries to be tough and gritty, but it fails on almost every practical level.  It tries to say important things about the nature of fame and power, but does so in a way that is not compelling.

Ultimately, it felt like a show that didn't know exactly what it wanted to do beyond that one huge (and hugely obvious) plot point that takes forever to actually happen.

Look--even they seem underwhelmed by this show and they're
starring in it!

What worked in POWERS

Not much.  The universe of POWERS is developed, but boring.  The budget, I assume, keeps the story in Los Angeles, and it's an LA that looks a lot like real LA--not like an LA that would change due to having super-powered people around.  That said, we know there is a world beyond the borders of the story.  That's cool and interesting and not something other shows get right.  ARROW and FLASH never give the impression that there are is a culture evolving around super-heroes.  POWERS nails that and it's the most interesting thing about the show.  Sadly, that's not the focus of the show.

Another thing that worked, but was also not the focus of the show, was Retro Girl's place in the universe.  I really understood where she was in her life and career as a super-hero and I got her conflict.  I also liked what they were going for with the African-American partner.  The dynamic between her and the lead white guy was interesting, but really underdeveloped, sadly.  I really wish the show had been about that partner because her character is far more interesting than a washed-up, ex-super-hero-turned-police-detective.  I mean, that is a pretty old character archetype, isn't it? This doesn't mean it's an inherently bad choice, but it sure as hell doesn't make it instantly a good one.

One last thing that (sort of) worked for me was the gritty violence.  I thought it looked not-so-great, but I got the point. When there is violence, it's a mess and it's brutal.  I got the sentiment, even if the budget wouldn't allow for it to show like I felt it should have.  Seeing blood splattering everywhere is cute, but not all there is when making disturbing visuals.

What Didn't Work in POWERS: IT'S SPOILER TIME, KIDS!  You've been warned!

Making a Better TOMORROWLAND

I remember being so excited when I first heard
about this movie. I remember reading that the
script was based on objects found in a box from
Walt Disney's old office. Pretty sure that was just
PR BS now, since I didn't come across any reference
to this box in reviews or interviews with the director.

I know--this seems like an easy target, but nothing frustrates me more about a bad film than if it's a missed opportunity to do something that could have, and in this case should have, been amazing.  When it comes to optimistic science fiction films, I'm in the camp that believes we need more of them (despite the fact that I generally prefer dystopias and post-apocalypses in my stories).  In that sense, I agree with this film's message, but not how it goes about expressing it--as everyone who has seen it knows, this film does damn near everything wrong.

No, that doesn't mean I'm going to write a ten-part series on the failings of this film (though, I could).  What I am going to do is explain how I would have recut and reshot portions of TOMORROWLAND so that it would make a better, more watchable movie.  I usually focus on how I would have rewritten the script, but this time, I'd have rewritten the entire thing from scratch, making it pretty much unrecognizable, compared to what Disney let reach the screen.  It really is that wrong-in-the-head.  After the spoiler alert, I will go into a short explanation of the thing biggest problems I had with the film and then I will get to how I'd retool the final cut.

SPOILER ALERT: YOU ARE ABOUT TO HAVE TOMORROWLAND RUINED FOR YOU (if you haven't already, by watching it)

OK, so, one of my biggest problems is...

Saving SENSE8 and a Few Other Internet-First Shows, Too

In case you haven't heard of it, SENSE8 is a new genre show from The Wachowskis and it's available on Netflix.  I feel like there really wasn't very much publicity for this show.  I hope this show does well despite the lack of ads.  Is it perfect? Well, I'm writing this, aren't I?  That means it needs some kind of saving and it needs more than better advertising because I almost gave up on it several times and would do so no matter how much it had been hyped.

First, what works?

The premise of SENSE8 is that eight people, around the globe, from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, discover that they are somehow psychically connected. Not only that, they can temporarily take over each other's body, kind of like Scott Bakula's character in QUANTUM LEAP.  It's a pretty neat concept, but there's a catch and I call it Internet-First Syndrome.  I'll explain that in a bit.  Before that, more of what worked.

The premise.  The premise worked really well and it is a fascinating concept. I don't want to go into too much detail without a spoiler alert (keep reading for that), so just trust me when I say that it is a great premise for a show about people (as opposed to shows about specific conflicts).

The acting is largely perfect.  I think every single actor on the show seemed to really get where their character was coming from.  What I loved the most about the casting was the diversity.  Anyone who knows me, knows I'm tired of seeing white faces everywhere.  Especially white male faces.  While there are a couple of them in this show, there are also Latino faces, African faces, Asian and Indian faces, and even a trans woman's face.  She is also played by a trans woman, as well, which is nice.  A trans character is not the only non-traditional story element in this show.

The themes explored are varied and fascinating.  This isn't just your typical, X-FILES rip-off where there is a single through-line and we spend the entire series in service of it like Sony Playstation Network's POWERS.  While there is a general level of predictability in it, there are plenty of surprises and really, really, wonderful moments for both the story and the characters.  I did find certain aspect of the story to be lacking, mostly in the main plotline that ties them all together.  I'll get to more on that in a bit.  I'm still gushing...

The story isn't just diverse in themes, it actually veers away from the main story quite a bit into really interesting corners of human culture that mainstream genre shows and movies really don't venture very often.  This is simply not a show that would ever be made via traditional Hollywood channels (literally and figuratively).  It's so much of what I long for in American storytelling.  I'm glad I stuck with it, though it really was frustrating for the first four or five episodes.

So far, you might wonder where the bout of IFS is involved.  Well, right here.

Can TERMINATOR: GENISYS Save the TERMINATOR Franchise? (Answer: No, it's too late.)

Full disclosure: I didn't think there should have been a single sequel or spin-off in any media after the original, 1984 TERMINATOR film.  I enjoyed each of the films to varying degrees (they got more and more forgettable as they multiplied) and I never read any of the comics because I felt they violated the premise of the original film: that Skynet had sent one Terminator back in time to kill Sarah Connor. Comics were just starting to climb in price back then, and I figured, I could afford to see a Terminator sequel film every once in a while. However, keeping up with the comics, just in case they were good, would be too pricey.  So, I stuck with the live action stuff.  I'm glad I did, but even the best of the bunch left me a bit "meh."

Yep, I'm going to say it: TERMINATOR 2, left me a little flat.  Sure, the liquid metal Terminator was cool, but the original film explained that only one killer robot was sent back, not two (or more).  Sure, I overlooked it just to enjoy the movie, but with all the awkward sentimentality mixed in, I kind of wish I hadn't. I mean, the "bond" young John Connor and the "good" T-800 developed was hokey and cliché. 

"Asta la Vista"? Really?

The other films had some interesting ideas, but ultimately, they were just poor excuses for making some cash off of the TREMINATOR brand.  So, when I first heard about TERMINATOR: GENISYS, I quickly questioned the wisdom of the money-people behind it.  This just seemed like an almost shameful attempt to squeeze the last drops of cash out of this stone.

Then I saw the trailer.  

Saving AMERICAN HUSTLE

So, "AMERICAN HUSTLE" got nominated for some Oscars, right? The acting in it was superb, right? Loads of people saw it, right?

So, what's to "save"?

The whole damn movie, that's what.

You may have enjoyed it for the acting. Or the great period costumes. Or Amy Adams' precariously placed breasts. But one thing I did not enjoy was the pacing. Wow. I started zoning out once the relationship between Adams' and Bale's characters was established. I never really zoned back in after that. Well, that's not entirely true. I made myself pay attention once the story seemed to be reaching the climax.

The thing is, the climax is pretty anticlimactic. In fact, I have to struggle just to remember what it is. I guess it was the part where we discover how Bale's character turns the tables. That whole scene has such a calmness to it, that it felt weak to me.

Netflix's DAREDEVIL should be Cast Out (part 2)

This is part two of "Netflix's DAREDEVIL should be Cast Out" (read part 1 first! It'll make more sense!). Do I still think that since I wrote part one? Well, as I wrote both parts as one giant thing over the span of a few weeks, yes. Of course. This is not because I felt the acting was bad or the production or anything else was bad--aside from the script.

If you haven't already read part one, go read it now. It includes a nice little spoiler-free mini-review that covers the basics of the mess that I think Netflix's DAREDEVIL really is. It also covers:

Spoiler-rich, What Worked in Netflix's Daredevil
Netflix's Daredevil is a Man without Sense
Time to Pick a Couple Nits
My Problem with the Kingpin of Crime

In part two, we will cover:

Enough with the Origin Stories, Guys!
What really got my Blood Boiling About Daredevil
World Building and How Daredevil Screwed it Up
How I would have Written the first season of a DAREDEVIL show

OK, here we go with part two! Remember This is a SPOILER-RICH ZONE... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Enough with the Origin Stories, Guys!

What is probably the biggest problem Netflix's DAREDEVIL has, is that it's lead character's arc is too long and too boring.

Netflix's DAREDEVIL should be Cast Out (part 1)

OK, that title may be a bit strong, but I do feel that way, if for just one reason. I'll get to that one reason in a bit. Other than that one reason, I still think Netflix's DAREDEVIL series is a mess. Obviously, it entertained a lot of people, but for this comic book reader, it was tedious and meandering and, honestly, pretty misleading.

As this is a series that is effectively 13 hours long, there is a LOT to say. So, I'm breaking this up into two posts. This post will cover the following:

My spoiler-free mini-review
Spoiler-rich, What Worked in Netflix's Daredevil
Netflix's Daredevil is a Man without Sense
Time to Pick a Couple Nits
My Problem with the Kingpin of Crime

Part two will explore:

Enough with the Origin Stories, Guys!
What really got my Blood Boiling About Daredevil
World Building and How Daredevil Screwed it Up
How I would have Written the first season of a DAREDEVIL show

Already read Part 1? Check out Part 2 which is live now!

Spoiler-Free Mini-Review

My mini-review is that, as an action show, it was really well made. The action sequences were realistically staged and felt more like real life than anything else in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The acting was nearly perfect. I had a few issues with both Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio's choices, but I stopped caring about the ones with Cox as the show progressed and the ones with D'Onofrio only got worse as the show went on. More on that, also, in a bit.

Honestly, I was left a little flat by the show, both as an adaptation of the DAREDEVIL comic and as a TV show. When I said it was misleading, earlier, I meant that this show is called "DAREDEVIL" but it really should have been called "MATT MURDOCK" because of how not like the comic character he was.

I'm not a huge fan of the comic, but I read it for a few years back in the late 80s/early 90s. I know the character's abilities and origin story and really thoroughly enjoyed how he was a kind of blue-collar Batman. To be clear, I am no expert on the comic character. That said, the show does stray from the comic that I remember in many places, so using "that's the way it was in the comic" should not be used to excuse a weak choice in the Netflix version. Honestly, I found the comic book version much more fun and intriguing. His powers were much more developed and understandable in the comic than in the Netflix version. I understood how he could be fearless. In the Netflix version, he just came off as kind of an idiot.

I know Daredevil got his ass handed to him a LOT in the comic. The thing is, somehow the Netflix version didn't manage to make him seem dauntless, so much as stupid. To go into more detail, I need to take you into a spoiler-rich zone. You have been warned.

SPOILER-RICH ZONE BEGINS NOW: Enough with the Comic Comparisons, What Worked with Netflix's DAREDEVIL?

I loved the relationships. I got where everyone was coming from and genuinely enjoyed seeing them interact as humans. The really nice thing about the Netflix-model for episodic storytelling is that you don't have to break for a commercial. You can let your scenes run a little longer and it's great. In the first few episodes I LOVED Matt's discussions with Claire and Foggy. I really dug D'Onofrio's choices early on. Loved loved loved them. More than that, I ADORED Vondi Curtis Hall's take on Ben Urich. Urich is probably my favorite non-powered Marvel comics character (SPOILER ALERT: it is how the show treats this character that makes me think Netflix's DAREDEVIL should be tossed in the trash and done over--more on this in part two of this review).

I don't have a problem with the general idea of the series--to be a sort of DAREDEVIL: YEAR ONE kind of thing. The problem with that is, it ultimately doesn't work. And that's my biggest general problem with Netflix's DAREDEVIL. It was the most boring, repetitive origin story EVER. It made me long for the runtime of Ben Affleck's DAREDEVIL movie. My wife, at one point, looked up the Netflix DAREDEVIL hashtag on Twitter and found many tweets echoing the following sentiment:

What is Wrong with CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER? Oh, a few things...

With the new AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON movie coming out this weekend, I thought it would be a good time to ask the question: What is wrong with CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER?

What isn't wrong with it? I'll answer the latter first, the former later.

As usual, Hollywood churns out generally entertaining stuff.  The "Captain America" sequel is definitely a blast and is very entertaining and for that reason, in my opinion, is even more insidious as it manages to include quite a bit of character development without upsetting it's ridiculously break-neck pacing.  It helps that the first "Captain America" film did an amazing job of adapting the original comic's premise for the big screen, so we are ready to like this film.

The first film was paced so well that there was essentially no aspect of the movie that was given short shrift.  Story, character, editing, effects, music, it was all nearly perfect.  The sequel, however, manages to sell everyone short except for Cap and Black Widow.

Again, on the surface, it seems like the perfect movie.  It opens with Cap meeting a young veteran while jogging.  It's pretty much a perfect sequence and makes for a good character dynamic for later, when Cap needs a second teammate (not sure why he didn't just call Tony Stark or Bruce Banner or Thor--well, Thor probably doesn't have a mobile phone, but you get my point).  Likewise, the character moments Cap and Natasha share are really great.  Two competent people dealing with what their competence doesn't prepare them for: real life.  It's a really nice dynamic and super rare to see.  When is the last time you saw a male and female character of any competence level have a non-sexual relationship in movies or TV these days?   And this one was even based on mutual respect.

I should also say that the score is utterly amazing.  It's totally creepy and almost mind-bending compared to most scores done for action movies.  This music has moments where it screams at you: SOMETHING IS WRONG and it's wonderful.  Listen to the score by itself and you'll see what I mean.  It's one of my favorites.  Henry Jackman deserved an Oscar for it, in my opinion.

So, that's pretty much what worked.  Now for what didn't.  Remember, this is a spoiler-rich zone.

First, the Story.

As the story progresses, we learn that SHIELD, an 80 year-old government organization, has been utterly infiltrated by HYDRA.

Really?

Saving "SAVING MR. BANKS" (from #Sexism and the Deification of Walt #Disney)

Sticky-note ink drawing by me.

What a sentimental, oversimplifying, disrespectful, sexist, and at times nonsensical, mess, Disney's "SAVING MR. BANKS" is.  I understand that, when telling a true story, said story needs to be simplified.  However, it was what was simplified and how it was propagandized that bothered me.  For starters, a wildly successful female author was distilled down to a caricature based on her nationality and gender.  What's more fun to laugh at than a stuck-up woman from Britain?  Not much, apparently, since that's where most of the laughs came from in this film.  But, I'll get into more of this in a bit.

SPOILERS AHEAD.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

What was Wrong with "SAVING MR. BANKS"

To start, the story structure was confusing as hell.  The flashbacks that served only the most superficial of functions to try to explain how Travers became such an eccentric, annoying person plagued the entire film. Meanwhile, a much better structure kept being suggested every time we saw the film refer to the audio recordings Travers demanded be made of their development meetings.

These should have been used as the structure--unless they prove she wasn't anywhere near as obnoxious as she is made to look in the film.  In which case, perhaps a more balanced portrayal of both Travers and Walt Disney would be in order.