Categories
Nostalgia Review Video

Rewatch: Terra Nova

Terra Nova Cover

When folks speak of unjustly canceled shows, they often speak of Firefly, but I’ll always speak of Terra Nova. Premiering in 2011, the show takes place in the year 2149, when the Earth is so ravaged by pollution that mankind has no choice but to roll the dice on time paradoxes and begin evacuations to the Cretaceous period. That’s right, future humans and dinosaurs! What’s not to love?

The series is packed full of folks you may recognize from their later work. The Terra Nova colony is lead by benevolent military dictator Commander Nathaniel Taylor, played by Stephen Lang. While Lang may not be a household name, he’s practically a household face. Lang is a great actor, and by this point in his career, you’ve seen him in something. Our lead protagonist is Jim Shannon, a police detective who stows away with his family to Terra Nova. It would seem that the colony would have no need for a detective, but circumstances quickly launch him into a leadership role. Shannon is played by Jason O’Mara, whose voice you may recognize as the voice of Batman from DC’s latest animated films. You may also recognize Shannon’s son (played by Landon Liboiron) as Peter from Hemlock Grove, and Shannon’s daughter (played by Naomi Scott) as Jasmine from the Aladdin remake.

The series follows our characters as they learn to survive in a past rich with new adventures and dangers, ranging from dinosaurs to a corrupt future corporation that wants to “control the past to control the future” and their agents in the past (lead by Mira, who’s played by Christine Adams, whom you may recognize as Dr. Lynn Pierce from Black Lightning). This is basically Jurassic Park, but humans are the ones in the wildlife preserve, and they’re from the future. With Steven Spielberg serving as executive producer, and bringing over some unused sets from the Jurassic Park franchise, the show will feel incredibly familiar to any fan. The cinematography is gorgeous, the overall story is great, and the actors and characters are outstanding. My only complaint is that some of the side-plots can be a bit cliché, but what do you expect from the first season of a network show? Oh yeah, and there was only one season.

Terra Nova didn’t end on a standard cliffhanger, it ended on the worst cliffhanger of all, the world-building cliffhanger. Not only was the new enemy still out there, the world and situation were far grander than we ever knew. And we won’t know any more than that, because the series was too expensive for pre-Disney Fox to continue. It’s a shame, really, the show had a lot going for it. While I have seen many canceled shows in my life that I’ll never recommend because of that, this is one of the few that I do recommend regardless of the cancelation.

Despite the cancelation, Terra Nova was a great show and it deserves to be seen. Maybe one day we could even crowdfund a continuation of some kind, or at least share our own ideas of how it would have continued. Terra Nova is not available on any streaming platform, but you can purchase the entire series from Apple TV or from Amazon for just $9.99.

Categories
Photo

Hawaii in January

Last time, Sarah and I went to the big island of Hawaii during the late December holiday season. We wanted to avoid touristy things this time around, so we opted for mid-January. It turns out, that’s still peak tourism season, but there were less cruise ship arrivals this time, and we were avoiding tourist things anyway, so it all worked out.

Overall, it was great to see Mom and her friends again, and to hang around the Kona district again. Here are some of my favorite photos:

Yellow Tang
Parrotfish
Kealakekua Bay
Kealakekua Bay 2
Kealakekua Bay 3
Honaunau
Honaunau 2
Honaunau 3
Kona at Night
Petroglyphs
Categories
Nostalgia Review Video

Rewatch – Tron: Uprising

tron uprising cover

Tron: Uprising was an animated series which attempted to bridge the gap between the films Tron and Tron: Legacy. Premiering in 2012 on Disney XD, the series ran for 18 episodes (and a prequel web series, which you can watch on Youtube) before it was canceled. As you know from my review of Stargate Universe, I’m usually not a fan of canceled series, but like Stargate SG-1, this series re-shaped my appreciation of the Tron films.

The series stars Elijah Wood (yes, Frodo Baggins) as Beck, a mechanic being trained by the original Tron (voiced by original actor Bruce Boxleitner) as his replacement. They face off against the occupying forces, lead by Lance Henriksen (yes, that guy from everything) as General Tesler and Paul Reubens (yes, Pee-wee Herman) as Pavel. There’s also a tenuous love interest between Beck and Emmanuelle Chriqui as Paige, one of Tesler’s occupation commanders, who doesn’t know that Beck is the new Tron. Other familiar voices show up throughout too, including Reginald VelJohnson (yes, Carl Winslow), Tricia Helfer (yes, Number Six), Aaron Paul (yes, Jesse Pinkman), Lance Reddick (yes, Phillip Broyles), and Olivia Wilde reprises her role as Quorra from Tron: Legacy.

Besides the impressive visuals that you get with any entry in the Tron franchise, the overall story is very well thought-out with only one cliché episode (protagonist amnesia, my least favorite cliché), but that episode gives the original Tron a chance to shine, so I didn’t complain (much). The series also has some impressive animation, particularly the fight choreography. And, the music is outstanding, composed by Tron: Legacy soundtrack composer Joseph Trapanese (available on Apple Music and Spotify).

It’s hard to pick a stand-out star here, everyone in both the main and recurring casts is brilliant. Disney did a great job here. With that said, this is the first time I’ve heard Paul Reubens as anything other than Pee-wee Herman, as a villain nonetheless, and I was constantly impressed. He has some serious range as Pavel, and it’s practically a case study in why you should avoid typecasting.

I’m conflicted on the ending. It’s not a gentle cliffhanger, like Stargate Universe, it’s quite harsh. Furthermore, despite being developed to bridge the gap between Tron and Tron: Legacy, the ending left me bewildered as to how that could even happen. How does Tron become evil before Tron: Legacy? Where’s Beck and his resistance movement in Tron: Legacy? These seem like important questions that this series is responsible for answering. There’s a pivotal moment in the final episode, events could only go one of two ways. If they went one way, it would have more than answered those questions and the series would have flowed effortlessly into the film, but they didn’t, which is very confusing. Maybe it’s just better to think of that moment as one which spawned an alternate universe. Despite the cliffhanger ending though, the series is well worth watching.

If you’re a fan of Tron, or just a fan of great animated action in general, you’ll love Tron: Uprising! You can stream it on Disney+ or buy the complete series on Apple TV for $39.98.

Categories
Technology Video World

Happy New Year! the 2020 edition

2020 begins today, so it’s a great time to start using some basic privacy tools, make sure your browser is up to date, update all of your passwords, and setup two factor authentication wherever you can.

The theme this year was apparently themes, since the top two posts were Twenty Nineteen Tweaks and A Search Shortcut For Any Theme, the only two posts about themes. I guess I’ll need to get to work on some tweaks for the Twenty Twenty theme.

We’ll need more people sharing their voices and experiences this year, so please considering launching your own site with WordPress (and Jetpack) or WordPress.com, or start posting again if you already have one!

Now, let’s all have a great 2020!

Categories
Nostalgia Review Video

Rewatch: Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger

Zyuranger Cover

You may have heard me mention it before, but I grew up loving the Power Rangers, and while I tried to get back into it for this Rewatch series, I couldn’t get through anything but the 1995 movie. I think I’ve just aged out of it. Fortunately, I was introduced to Super Sentai and its stark differences. It turns out that removing all but the action sequences from the original series results in a choppy uneven experience. Earlier, I watched Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger (read the Rewatch review), the Super Sentai counterpart to Power Rangers Wild Force. It was the last Power Rangers series I saw (and gave up on), so it made sense to start there. Now I’ve seen Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, the Super Sentai counterpart to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the series I remember the most.

Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger translates as “Dinosaur Squadron Beast Ranger” and follows our heroes as they awaken from a 170-million year hibernation to defeat the recently awoken witch Bandora, played by Machiko Soga.

Fighting Bandora with various weapons and mecha, our heroes are from five ancient tribes that lived alongside the dinosaurs, not “teenagers with attitude” thank goodness. Yamato Tribe Prince Geki (Red), played by Yūta Mochizuki and suit actor Hiroshi Maeda, leads the team. Sharma Tribe Knight Goushi (Black), played by Seiju Umon and suit actors Naoki Ofuji and Yasuhiko Imai, is the conscience of the team. Etoffe Tribe Knight Dan (Blue), played by Hideki Fujiwara and suit actor Shoji Hachisuka, is the reckless member of the team. Dime Tribe Knight Boi (Yellow), played by Takumi Hashimoto and suit actor Hirofumi Ishigaki, is the youngest of the team. Lithia Tribe Princess Mei (Pink), played by Reiko Chiba and suit actor Kiyohito Nakagawa, is the heart of the team. And later, Yamato Tribe Knight Burai (Green), played by Shiro Izumi and suit actors Seiji Takaiwa, Yasuhiro Takeuchi, and Hideaki Kusaka, joins as the team’s last-minute savior for a while after being a misguided villain. They follow the guidance of the mysterious sage Barza, played by Jun Tatara, in their quest to stop Bandora.

In comparison to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, everything is better. The story flows far better, because we aren’t dealing with just disconnected action footage. The music is by far better, because we aren’t dealing with an electric guitar that seems incapable of stopping. The fights are better, because they seamlessly move from fights with the main actors to fights with the transformed suit actors. The cast is excellent too, but if I had to pick one standout, it would be Shiro Izumi as Burai. His story is intense and dramatic. Is this a great show? No. Is it entertaining? Absolutely!

Whereas Gaoranger felt like a live action anime, Zyuranger feels much more like classic martial arts films. There’s a warmth to it that’s not as bright as Gaoranger, but the story is just as intense. There are some very goofy moments, it doesn’t strike as good of a balance between humor and drama as Gaoranger did, but this is a show for children, and it’s nowhere near as goofy as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Oh yes, and Bandora likes to sing about herself … a lot. It’s odd, but I’ll allow it.

I recommend starting at the beginning, but if you want a smaller set of episodes to try out, I recommend Burai’s arc, which starts on episode 17. It’s a particularly goofy episode, but gets quite intense in the last few minutes, and you should be hooked for the remaining arc.

You can stream all of Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger for free on ShoutFactoryTV. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, and while you’re there, check out the other Super Sentai counterparts to the Power Rangers shows that you grew up with!