Game of Thrones S7 Trailer Analysis

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One of the curious things about the new age of perpetual media is the way franchises, and series persist well past their definitive moment in time.  The most obvious example of this is, of course, The Simpsons, a series that passed its moment of genuine relevance decades ago but has continued on as a part of the pop culture oxygen supply regardless.  That’s kind of the place where a lot of big name franchises have ended up in their final installments, like Harry Potter at the 8^th film or the last 2 Hobbit movies- they still made money but they didn’t set the trend or a significant impact and mainly existed so that all the confirmed fans could see how things ended. 

That feels like the best description of where Game of Thrones is at this moment in time, a series entering its final cycle well after its days of relevance have waned and basically just throwing all the fireworks on the screen to celebrate actually making it to the finish line.  There’s nothing overtly wrong with that approach, it’s a worthwhile goal, and I’m hard pressed to blame any series for just running out the clock after doing as much as Game of Thrones has.  There are, however, risks about getting too complacent and they shine through a little too clear in this first trailer for the penultimate season of Game of Thrones. 

Zack Snyder Bringing Watchmen to HBO?

One of the great struggles of the modern geek age has been DC Comics continued quest for mainstream interest and relevance.  This battle has been raging more or less continuously since 1986 when The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen hit stands and transformed the comics landscape forever.  Since then DC has been desperately working to claim permanent cultural dominance through movies, TV, games, and all manner of other methods. 

This has come with obvious ups and downs but recently they’ve hit something of a major snag.  While Marvel launches themselves forward with hip new comics that showcase diversity and accessibility DC has floundered in numerous reboots and branding initiatives along with some fairly bad film failures like Green Lantern and Man of Steel. 

The only place DC seems to be winning its cultural battle is on TV as Arrow and Flash have cemented themselves as major superhero hits alongside blossoming success like Gotham and Supergirl and upcoming shows like Lucifer, Preacher, and Legends of Tomorrow.  Even though Marvel has its own successful TV shows and Image has tested the television waters a number of times this is where DC has really planted its flag.  So, I guess it then makes sense that they would try and wed their new success to their old success, by which I mean of course a Watchmen TV show.

Hank Johnson: Agent of Hydra #1 Review

David Mandel, one of the best Seinfeld writers and the upcoming showrunner for HBO's VEEP, has written a comic tie-in to Marvel's Secret Wars...it's very strange, check out the review over on Front Towards Gamer.com
 

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/08/28/hank-johnson-agent-of-hydra-1-review-comics/

Static Thoughts - True Detective Season 2

Edited by Robert Beach

Follow-ups are always difficult. It’s a rule of life that a 2^nd installment of anything is severely hit or miss. The general logic behind this is sequels are faced with a number of difficult choices: whether to provide more of the same or take a different approach, for instance. 

Even if the creators decide to simply produce more of what’s already proven successful, there’s the question of what worked so well in the original piece. A story is made up of so many individual parts it can be hard to pinpoint the exact aspects of it that resonates with an audience. This is where True Detective season 2 goes horrible, terribly, catastrophically wrong.  

Game of Thrones Season 6 Casting

Game of Thrones has a reached a seriously bizarre plight in its latest season.  Despite ratings for the show being very good and a lot of audiences enjoying the excellent action episode ‘Hardhome,’ the series has hit something of a brick wall in terms of cultural capital.  The biggest take away I’ve had from most folks over this last season is a sense of exhaustion over the show’s direction and tone, especially after the slew of very alienating “shocking moments” that punctuated this latest season.  What’s more this year just didn’t seem to have the same fanfare and clamor that accompanied previous seasons. 

Some people might argue it’s because of how dark this season’s big moments were but previous installments like the Red Wedding or the Death of Ned Stark were thoroughly dark and audiences still found them to be exciting and compelling.  Personally I think it has more to do with the audience and creators clashing but that’s an article I’ve already written.  Regardless HBO seems aware that change is in order for Game of Thrones season 6 so they’ve announced both Max Von Sydow and Ian McShane to the series.  In addition HBO execs have actually set a time limit on the show, saying that it will most likely not extend beyond 8 seasons.  

Spawn #254 Review

More Spawn bashing as I take a look at the latest and terrible issue, this one is the not so compelling story of Spawn doing nothing for 27 pages, don't believe me?  Check out my review on Front Towards Gamer:

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/07/31/spawn-254-review-comics/

Static Thoughts - The Thick of It, In the Loop, & VEEP

A couple of weeks ago HBO’s VEEP concluded its 4^th season.  This marks the end of showrunner and creator Armando Iannucci’s phenomenal work on the series as season 5 will see the show enter a period of new leadership.  This also marks the conclusion to a 10 year cycle of Iannucci’s in the realm of televised political comedy.  Iannucci first entered this domain in 2005 with The Thick of It, a political comedy show that revolved around a minister in the fictional British cabinet position of Secretary for Social Affairs.  The show proved popular, lasting for 3 seasons and 2 specials from 2007-2009 when it spun off into a feature film called In the Loop. 

In the Loop marked the first shift over from Iannucci towards American politics in addition to the previous British focusing, revolving around the misadventures of Simon Foster, secretary for international development, who is caught up in pre-war fervor surrounding the launch of the Iraq War.  After a fourth season of The Thick of It co-produced through Hulu Iannucci made the full transition to American politics with HBO’s VEEP in 2012.  With VEEP’s conclusion now seems like a good time to examine Iannucci’s ultimate commentary on American politics compared to England. 

Static Thoughts - Game of Thrones S5

A little over two weeks ago HBO’s Game of Thrones concluded its 5^th season.  It was a very divisive season with an even more divisive conclusion; with a lot of folks I’ve talked to finding the season’s ending unsatisfying and alienating.  Personally I found the entire season to be rife with problems though they weren’t necessarily unique to this season of Game of Thrones.  More this season is just the time when the show’s many issues finally boiled over onto the surface, and I say that as a pretty dedicated fan.  However, even though I know exactly what it is I found so problematic and distasteful about this season of HBO’s hit fantasy show I can’t help but feel a strange sense of reservation in my dislike and wondering if the problem really is Game of Thrones or if it’s more on my end as a viewer.