A Week on the Jokerside — 25 April 2017
Our regular round-up of the best, boldest and latest bits and bobs from pop-culture has arrived. What’s caught the blog with long-reads, cartoons and a smirk’s eye over the past week?
Well, this time:
The latest Doctor Who review, Kong downsizes, X-Files returns, Wookies retire, Yoda gets mocked, DC clarifies through confusion, Star Trek confounds, Fox’s mutants get busy and we all spend a moment thinking about Silence of the Lambs…
Jokershorts
King Kong swings on to the small screen: Legendary’s Monster Universe has many legs, we all know that, but it appears it also has multimedia aspirations. Intriguingly, this shared universe seems to confound expectations at every turn. With the big screen incarnation packing in nearly $600m, Kong’s reach will be felt for some time to come:
Jokerside’s total lack of X-shock: the X-Files is coming back! We wonder if the new-old generation will be lose something as it’s promoted to a 10-part event:
Bat benefits: To the DC Universe, and there’s Joss Whedon on the appeal of Bat Girl. Excitement factor: High.
Unless you’re a rather cynical Wired that is:
Adding more 00s: The Battle for Bond has begun — y’know, that other battle, against nemeses more nefarious than SPECTRE or QUANTUM, for a prize far greater than total world domination…
Trailer of the Week:
Trailer Kryptonite: Well, it was going to be Krypton... It seemed like there was life in David Goyer’s duelling, Game of Thrones-style (sorry) take on the formative years of Kal El’s grandfather. It seemed that it would cut a line between that Krypton we’ve seen most prominently in the original 1978 Richard Donner film and more recently (Ed. — currently!)The CW’s Supergirl and dazzling in the utterly unfit for small screen budget of Man of Steel itself. Can Kryptonians survive under a red sun ? Unfortunately, as intriguing as the trailer was , SyFy soon pulled it claiming it wasn’t official. Maybe it want to be in the running two weeks in a row?
Because right now, that’s right - this doesn’t exist:
Dark and Light: So then, let’s award it to the latest in Marvel’s renewed television onslaught. It’s all gearing up with Cloak and Dagger — bleached, gritty, unexpected:
DC were close, but let this one slip through their fingers…
Jokershorts
Nobi-wan: We predict that we’ll all get the solo Obi-Wan film we’re looking for:
Wookie bye-bye: And what’s this, the fur balls have been passed. Good old Peter Mayhew bids farewell…
Deifying the deities: It seems Neil Gaiman can’t quite believe the kudos that’s coming the way of his oh-so-imminent series — is Amercan Gods the most important show to premiere this year?
Doctor Hints: Doctor Who’s roared back with level is unspectacular ratings — well, it was a sunny late-Easter weekend. Remember that there could be secrets hidden in plain sight…
Return of Hurt: In comics, Dr Hurt returns after very nearly RIPing Batman last decade. And that’s a jolly good thing for us, but not great news for Nightwing (some spoilers here):
Super New: Meanwhile, over at Action Comics, things are reassuringly baffling as multiple DC realities are aligned. It’s time for another origin, and back in reassuringly experienced hands:
To Boldly Go For: Star Trek just doesn’t seem to be going anywhere at the moment. How can one of the most optimistic of science-fiction franchises be so disheartening:
Wringing Star Wars: Disney thinks outside the screen — Star Wars Land was just the start:
Fracturing the franchise: The repercussions of The Last Jedi’s short teaser continue. Was Yoda just an old fool? Well, he was always (mostly) a muppet...
Missing reunion: No one can seem to shut Mark Hamill up these days, and that’s a good thing…
Cooler scars: Meanwhile, Rian Johnson’s already gone a little George Lucas — moving Kylo Ren’s scar! We all noticed, right?
The Fox strikes back: Fox have definitely caught the mutant bug. Scheduling three films in the X-universe that haven’t started lensing yet for release next year is a mighty bold move…
RIP
Jonathan Demme. Oh dear… Silence of the Lambs would have been work enough. A record breaker. A horror film, packed with perversity, violence and sublime suspense that won an Oscar and changed Hollywood. And that’s just one of his films. See also Philadelphia, the documenatries, the music videos, the television…
Been Watching
Doctor Who: Of course we have, haven’t we all? Here’s our latest review of Series 10 episode 2, Smile:
“Smile was more about reassurance rather than setting a new bar. At the heart there’s a concept too weak to maintain its early promise, and the slightest hint of a lack of confidence in the pre-title sequence. It’s the perfect showcase for the increasingly impressive chemistry brewing in the TARDIS control room, and crucially it features a Bowie quote (Hope you’re happy too…). But the impression that there could have been so much more remains long after the Next Time rolls…” READ THE FULL REVIEW
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead: The first NT Live from The Old Vic apparently, and almost accidentally I was there. Accidental that is, that I was at the first. But it was a treat, especially as we’ve only previously seen the 1990 film. Who knew it was the first? Great camera work, expertly broadcast, and on stage three highly impressive lead, grappling with Tom Stoppard’s sublime punnery, trickery and comedy. As Rosencrantz (or Guildenstern?), Daniel Radcliffe was a wee bit of a revelation. He, Joshua McGuire, David Haig and the rest of the cast are clearly having a wonderful time in a agile and beautifully designed production that stuck it’s neck out from the proscenium arch. In fact, everything about the production oozed definitive.
Been Listening
Voyage: Stephen Baxter’s epic 1996 heavy, heavy science-fiction what if tale that tracked the American space program from the late sixties to the first human landing on Mars in the late 1980s. This was the BBC adaptation from three years after the book’s publication, complete with a wonderful continuity that described it as, to paraphrase, all too believable fiction. Perhaps most fascinating about the alternate universe that spun from the assassination attempt that left JFK widowed and paralysed is how wonderfully unlikeable almost everybody in it is . But this isn’t about the individuals — it’s about humanity, when they first leave Earth’s gravity well, the story transcending and using tragedy and the scars of the 20th century to reach a point where the name Challenger fell to another spacecraft in 1986. Always great to hear a Dirk Maggs’ production, and this one’s ell worth catching.
Same Time, Same Place: Addicted to Gormenghast, well the first two volumes really, we haven’t read any of Mervyn Peake’s short fiction. BBC’s adaptation of his short monologue, of a search for love gone wrong and leading to a horribly satisfying, twisted ending may have kick-started something. Best not listened to on an early commute. No where did we put that copy of Titus Alone..?
That’s been our rolling week… Fill the gap until your next fix with just about 200 long-reads, cartoons and features running the gamut of Pop-Culture at Jokerside.com.
