Animation Review: Wolverine and the X-Men

Wolverine and the X-Men, if it follows through with its great first season, has the potential of being the premiere X-Men animated series around. Time will tell.

Let me put it simply.  If you like western animation, you should try this.  If you like X-Men, you should to watch this.  If you like Wolverine, you MUST watch this.

Any fan of the X-Men would instantly see the quality given to this series by Marvel.  And it is by far, one of the best (if not the best) written and the best animated Marvel flick out there.  This animated series gives everyone, fans or otherwise, a healthy dose of action, drama, and superheroics.  I was honestly surprised at this series, since I did not expect much from an animated series titled “Wolverine and the X-men.”  (They could honestly have done better than that… it sound so UGH!)  But the series was surprisingly mature, well-written, well-paced, and quite faithful (yet remaining original) to the source material.

TV Review: Legend of the Seeker

I have been directed to this new Fantasy series by a friend, both as a warning and as a recommendation.  I also heard that it was written by novelist Terry Goodkind (Sword of Truth series) – and I see his books quite often each time I stumble upon the bookstore.  Eternally curious at what makes fiction tick, I gave it a go.

Come on, who doesn't feel a tingle of their inner fantasy geekness in seeing this poster?

Legend of the Seeker has visuals I’ve previously thought impossible in TV however, sporting graphics that can immediately make you relate it to the fantasy masterpiece Lord of the Rings.  Kahlan Amnell, a ‘confessor’ (a band of holy women dedicated to pursue truth wherever they saw it) is charmingly played by the beautiful Bridget Regan, who was, according to fans of the novel,portrays her as true to the book as possible.  And in the pilot, she was the only one worth watching.  Honestly!  Richard Cypher, who begins the series as a ordinary woodsman… but with abs of steel ( I kid you not!  The starting sequence made me feel icky, like I was watching a fangirl’s dream) soon becomes revealed to be the ‘chosen one’  – the one called The  Seeker destined to defeat the evil sorcerer-tyrant Darken Rahl.

TV Review: Better off Ted

“Veridian dynamics.  Everyday, something we make makes your life better.  Power, we make that. Technology, we make that. Cows… well, we don’t make cows, although we have made a sheep.”

Finally! A comedy without a laugh track.  From the very first line of the show, I knew I was going to like this comedy.  A sharp, witty, Douglas Adamsish comedy that makes you think, think, then laugh your boots off.  And in that regard, Better off Ted more than delivers.

An office comedy unlike other office comedy.  This show is about Ted Crunch, an executive for the scientific corporation Veridian Dynamics who cares very little about morals and ethics and cares more on money and profit, and perhaps the only sane man within the organization.  This is about a lighthearted comedy about science going wrong, and a corporation hiding the truth about it… but delivered with dry, rib cracking wit.

Each episode we see Ted encounter and approach the corporations numerous but hilarious (and socially wrong) problems… from exploding pumpkins, cryogenically frozen employees, cameras that ignores black people, or even accidentally deleting someone’s existence.    Its moderately realistic, and doesn’t cross the line through impossible science like Eureka did.  And that’s what makes this comedy all the more funny.  It’s not the science that’ll make you laugh, it’s the office dynamic, and it’s the brilliantly idiotic people involved.

TV Review: Merlin (BBC)

Forget the Merlin you knew who had white hair, a pointy hat, and a goatee. Apparently, this is the new Merlin.

A brother of mine had suggested this title to me, and has said much praise about this hip new series.  This british-made series is an adaptation of the popular Arthurian legend, changed and rewritten for a modern audience.  BBC had previously made a similar stunt back in 2006, in their release of a modernized Robin Hood – which was a large success.  So, how did Merlin do?  For one, everyones beloved Magician from Sword in the Stone fame, had undergone a single great change:  His age.