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matt_zimmerAlso reviews for the 2-part season premiere of Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and the comic The Talisman: The Road Of Trials.
Willow "Beyond The Shattered Sea"
I'm not going to say that the show has totally lost the plot, but yeah, that was pretty meandering.
I think the thing I liked was the pathos at the end with Elora, Kit, and Willow. The drama felt earned.
Eric's stuff with what turned out to be the Crone is sort of interesting on some level, but since it's bad, I don't actually enjoy watching it.
All things being equal, it was only so-so. ***.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch "Spoils Of War"
Pretty good season opener.
The first scene very much felt like a "Season Premiere" scene, so it was effective for that.
Wanda Sykes. huh? Neat.
I liked the episode. Bonus points for the two-parter not ending with one of the Batch (specifically Omega) captured by the baddies and needing to be rescued in the conclusion. That was getting old. ***1/2.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch "Ruins Of War"
Brutal and awesome ending that totally justified the TV-PG rating. The great thing is it's not graphic so the show is still all right for kids.
I like the old guy played by Hector Elizondo.
I appreciate the fact that when Omega laments to Echo she heard him saying their lives were harder because of her, he doesn't either deny it, say she misheard it, or that he was wrong. What he does at the end is suggest the hardship is worth it, and that they all would have been much worse off if she wasn't there. I dig that refreshing level of honesty.
Good start to the season. ***1/2.
The Talisman: The Road Of Trials (Comic Series)
The Talisman: The Road Of Trials 0
I think Robin Furth is great, but I think The Talisman is the weakest of the comic adaptations of Stephen King's novels.
The Chapter Zero prologue is actually the only really interesting issue of the brief run, and since I actually like it, I'll talk about the failures of the miniseries in later reviews.
I think the prologue works because it's the only part of the comic that deals with ostensibly "new" material, or at least stuff discussed by the book, but that happened in the past without Jack Sawyer present. It's interesting for that reason. Perhaps of the comic had continued we would have seen another issue like it. But for now, it's the only Chapter I actually like. ****.
The Talisman: The Road Of Trials 1
The fact that the adaptation tries to do the entire first part "Jack Lights Out" in a single issue is why the comic doesn't work.
The scenes are so truncated and randomly connected, that if one hadn't read the book I suspect they'd be lost. The characters barrel from one major scene to another with barely any pause to consider what is happening to them. The fact that the adaptation makes Jack's goodbye scene with Lily last a single page means we are skimping out on real drama and pathos to save page space.
It's weird how the terrible taste of the magic juice isn't really addressed. Jack actually HATES it in the book.
Not good. *1/2.
The Talisman: The Road Of Trials 2
Osmond's design is all right. I probably would have made it more elaborate and not given him blonde or long hair. But the design is credible.
The rest of the issue is workmanlike and soulless, with little to no effort put into creating a coherent story in its own right. **.
The Talisman: The Road Of Trials 3
The scene at the end of the trees is clumsy at best. But truly the most disappointing thing in the issue is the confrontation between Osmond and Jack. Aside from an inadequate description of his odor (gee, he smells like "old sweat", how awful) there is no dramatic tension to it. Osmond is a mere encounter, not an actual dangerous threat. And Jack never thinks of Lily wisecrackingly telling him not to spill his guts to This Guy, nor promises in his head to get him back simply because he "hurt" him. That revenge motive was so basic and understandable in the book, especially from a kid, it's galling it's gone.
Osmond also has far less personality and speaks far less theatrically than in the book. No extended girlish SHRIIEEEEEEEEKSSSSS!!
In Furth's favor she remembers to put in the scene of Jack telling Farren he was afraid and didn't WANT to fetch the Talisman, but Farren changes his mind so easily there is actually no conflict there or even character development for Jack. This adaptation is wholly inferior to the book in every conceivable way. *.
The Talisman: The Road Of Trials 4
I cannot overstate how terrible that was.
The thing that kills me is the artwork is all right. Elroy's goat form is at least, as is Smokey Updike's design. But The Stand took great pains to center an entire issue around the Lincoln Tunnel scene, and make it scary in comic book form (and damn it, they DID!) and Robin Furth devotes two lousy pages to The Talisman's version of that in The Oatley Tunnel scene. Which was frankly, the scariest scene in the book. It's totally ruined here. They didn't even try.
Also Elroy's human form is supposed to look like Randolph Scott. That he doesn't is an artwork failing.
The issue also does not remotely get across how thoroughly Smokey has trapped Jack and made him his prisoner through threats and blackmail. The beautiful Pitcher Plant allegory is entirely missing, so the reader doesn't understand that Jack is his prisoner the moment he sits down, or even why he doesn't ran off earlier.
But really the worst thing is how easily Jack DOES run off. And it's a bit disturbing how badly that turnaround is written. Furth is usually better than this. But Jack saying "I want to go home," only to pivot entirely to say "I have to save my mom! I have to find the Talisman!" is bad writing. That latter thing astounds me frankly, especially in an Mature-Rated comic. It's the kind of hokey dialogue you'd see in an X-Men comic in the 1980's. But frankly, I might actually be insulting the X-Men there. I haven't read a TON of 80's X-Men comics but none of them I HAVE read ever had the characters speak so obviously and badly.
I think the worst thing about the issue is that it SHOULDN'T be this bad, and probably wouldn't be if Furth were afforded the room for the story to breath The Dark Tower and The Stand comics were allowed.
But even the fact that the comic tries to tell too much story with too few issues doesn't entirely explain this level of bad writing. The Adaptation of Sleeping Beauties, was similarly shortened. The difference there is instead of giving the characterization short shrift, the story made certain story points less complicated. The characterization never suffered as much as it does in this adaptation.
Probably the worst issue. 0.
The Talisman: The Road Of Trials 5
The design of The Men In The Sky look all right on the surface, but without the descriptions from the book about how much effort that pageantry takes out of them, the scene is random and pointless.
You want proof the story is being told too fast? Wolf is at the end of the fifth (and last, since it was canceled) issue! That's pure craziness!
Snowball is wisely skipped, probably not just because of political correctness, but also because this adaptation is already confusing enough.
"He escaped to the Territories!" Yes, Ted, that was the joke. Who writes this crap? Certainly not Stephen King or Peter Straub.
The title was canceled due to poor sales. I'm guessing however that the reason sales were poor is because the book actually was. *.
Willow "Beyond The Shattered Sea"
I'm not going to say that the show has totally lost the plot, but yeah, that was pretty meandering.
I think the thing I liked was the pathos at the end with Elora, Kit, and Willow. The drama felt earned.
Eric's stuff with what turned out to be the Crone is sort of interesting on some level, but since it's bad, I don't actually enjoy watching it.
All things being equal, it was only so-so. ***.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch "Spoils Of War"
Pretty good season opener.
The first scene very much felt like a "Season Premiere" scene, so it was effective for that.
Wanda Sykes. huh? Neat.
I liked the episode. Bonus points for the two-parter not ending with one of the Batch (specifically Omega) captured by the baddies and needing to be rescued in the conclusion. That was getting old. ***1/2.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch "Ruins Of War"
Brutal and awesome ending that totally justified the TV-PG rating. The great thing is it's not graphic so the show is still all right for kids.
I like the old guy played by Hector Elizondo.
I appreciate the fact that when Omega laments to Echo she heard him saying their lives were harder because of her, he doesn't either deny it, say she misheard it, or that he was wrong. What he does at the end is suggest the hardship is worth it, and that they all would have been much worse off if she wasn't there. I dig that refreshing level of honesty.
Good start to the season. ***1/2.
The Talisman: The Road Of Trials (Comic Series)
The Talisman: The Road Of Trials 0
I think Robin Furth is great, but I think The Talisman is the weakest of the comic adaptations of Stephen King's novels.
The Chapter Zero prologue is actually the only really interesting issue of the brief run, and since I actually like it, I'll talk about the failures of the miniseries in later reviews.
I think the prologue works because it's the only part of the comic that deals with ostensibly "new" material, or at least stuff discussed by the book, but that happened in the past without Jack Sawyer present. It's interesting for that reason. Perhaps of the comic had continued we would have seen another issue like it. But for now, it's the only Chapter I actually like. ****.
The Talisman: The Road Of Trials 1
The fact that the adaptation tries to do the entire first part "Jack Lights Out" in a single issue is why the comic doesn't work.
The scenes are so truncated and randomly connected, that if one hadn't read the book I suspect they'd be lost. The characters barrel from one major scene to another with barely any pause to consider what is happening to them. The fact that the adaptation makes Jack's goodbye scene with Lily last a single page means we are skimping out on real drama and pathos to save page space.
It's weird how the terrible taste of the magic juice isn't really addressed. Jack actually HATES it in the book.
Not good. *1/2.
The Talisman: The Road Of Trials 2
Osmond's design is all right. I probably would have made it more elaborate and not given him blonde or long hair. But the design is credible.
The rest of the issue is workmanlike and soulless, with little to no effort put into creating a coherent story in its own right. **.
The Talisman: The Road Of Trials 3
The scene at the end of the trees is clumsy at best. But truly the most disappointing thing in the issue is the confrontation between Osmond and Jack. Aside from an inadequate description of his odor (gee, he smells like "old sweat", how awful) there is no dramatic tension to it. Osmond is a mere encounter, not an actual dangerous threat. And Jack never thinks of Lily wisecrackingly telling him not to spill his guts to This Guy, nor promises in his head to get him back simply because he "hurt" him. That revenge motive was so basic and understandable in the book, especially from a kid, it's galling it's gone.
Osmond also has far less personality and speaks far less theatrically than in the book. No extended girlish SHRIIEEEEEEEEKSSSSS!!
In Furth's favor she remembers to put in the scene of Jack telling Farren he was afraid and didn't WANT to fetch the Talisman, but Farren changes his mind so easily there is actually no conflict there or even character development for Jack. This adaptation is wholly inferior to the book in every conceivable way. *.
The Talisman: The Road Of Trials 4
I cannot overstate how terrible that was.
The thing that kills me is the artwork is all right. Elroy's goat form is at least, as is Smokey Updike's design. But The Stand took great pains to center an entire issue around the Lincoln Tunnel scene, and make it scary in comic book form (and damn it, they DID!) and Robin Furth devotes two lousy pages to The Talisman's version of that in The Oatley Tunnel scene. Which was frankly, the scariest scene in the book. It's totally ruined here. They didn't even try.
Also Elroy's human form is supposed to look like Randolph Scott. That he doesn't is an artwork failing.
The issue also does not remotely get across how thoroughly Smokey has trapped Jack and made him his prisoner through threats and blackmail. The beautiful Pitcher Plant allegory is entirely missing, so the reader doesn't understand that Jack is his prisoner the moment he sits down, or even why he doesn't ran off earlier.
But really the worst thing is how easily Jack DOES run off. And it's a bit disturbing how badly that turnaround is written. Furth is usually better than this. But Jack saying "I want to go home," only to pivot entirely to say "I have to save my mom! I have to find the Talisman!" is bad writing. That latter thing astounds me frankly, especially in an Mature-Rated comic. It's the kind of hokey dialogue you'd see in an X-Men comic in the 1980's. But frankly, I might actually be insulting the X-Men there. I haven't read a TON of 80's X-Men comics but none of them I HAVE read ever had the characters speak so obviously and badly.
I think the worst thing about the issue is that it SHOULDN'T be this bad, and probably wouldn't be if Furth were afforded the room for the story to breath The Dark Tower and The Stand comics were allowed.
But even the fact that the comic tries to tell too much story with too few issues doesn't entirely explain this level of bad writing. The Adaptation of Sleeping Beauties, was similarly shortened. The difference there is instead of giving the characterization short shrift, the story made certain story points less complicated. The characterization never suffered as much as it does in this adaptation.
Probably the worst issue. 0.
The Talisman: The Road Of Trials 5
The design of The Men In The Sky look all right on the surface, but without the descriptions from the book about how much effort that pageantry takes out of them, the scene is random and pointless.
You want proof the story is being told too fast? Wolf is at the end of the fifth (and last, since it was canceled) issue! That's pure craziness!
Snowball is wisely skipped, probably not just because of political correctness, but also because this adaptation is already confusing enough.
"He escaped to the Territories!" Yes, Ted, that was the joke. Who writes this crap? Certainly not Stephen King or Peter Straub.
The title was canceled due to poor sales. I'm guessing however that the reason sales were poor is because the book actually was. *.
