Failed Sci-Fi Dramas?: Jericho (2006)

In keeping with our return to roots movement, we're going to take a look at one of my favorite underrated sic-fi shows, Jericho. I'm sad to say that I didn't stumble across Jericho until after it had been cancelled, and at that point, it just stared at me provocatively at the local movie rental store each time that I went in. So my wife and I gave it a try and ended up loving it from start to finish! Throw it on the ever-growing pile of shows that were killed before their time because, as you'll see, this was one wild ride!

Jericho the show takes it name from its primary setting, Jericho, Kansas. The fictional town represents 'typical small town middle America'. Most everyone subsists on agriculture to one degree or another, everyone knows everyone else, and the mayor spends his mornings tending crops the same as everyone else. It's a little on the over-idyllic side, but not so much so as to render the illusion moot. Speaking of the mayor, although the ensemble cast all get their fair share of screen time and development, the definite 'main character' is a chap named Jake Green, played by Skeet Ulrich, who is the mayor's rebellious wayward son. That's going to be important later.

The show opens with a literal bang. As Jake rolls back into town on the wind, and old acquaintances are reunited, we see a kid standing on the roof of his home viewing the mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion:

It became promotional material for the rest of the series run..

At this point, the show has already set up that fact that Jericho is a pretty isolated town. The assumption is that it's close enough to Denver, CO that the explosion can be seen, but far enough away that it's barely going to be a blip on any state or federal run emergency crisis team's radar. I'm sure that the premise becomes pretty obvious after this revelation: What are the people of Jericho, Kansas going to do now that nuclear armageddon has been thrust upon them? Now, this show was running concurrently with shows like Lost, and Heroes and you can definitely see some influence in the way that things are presented. It's rare that the viewer gets information before the characters. In this way, the scope of the story remains extremely limited and that adds to the mystery and suspense of the show over all. Threads and questions are set up as each serialized episode plays out that further feed the intrigue and the excitement of seeing what's going to happen down the road. Shoot, it takes until near the end of the second season before the audience finally gets a glimpse of what's been going on in some of the major cities around the country. The producers teased the show out in an extremely slow and measured way, and for me, that really made the experience that much more fun.

Some of the more notable story lines seem pretty mundane in writing, but play out well within the visual narrative of the show. Obviously, after a nuclear attack, the residents have to reestablish their livelihood. Power is suddenly unavailable, and they need to ensure that they have clean drinkable water. It seems mundane to us, but put yourself in this crisis scenario and try to answer with as much honesty as possible how you would fare. Once things are finally squared away on the home front, leadership from Jericho open relations with a nearby town that can offer windmills for power in exchange for food and salt. This seems like a mutually beneficial arrangement until the sheriff of the other town declares war on Jericho. That's our season one cliffhanger, and it was quite a nail biter as the show makes it abundantly clear that a bunch of mostly conservative middle-American farmers have a ton of weapons at their disposal.

As the second season opens, it's like a layer of an onion being peeled back. Instead of focusing on mere survival, we get a small peek into the general political situation when troops from the Allied States of America roll into town and put an abrupt end to the conflict between Jericho and the other town. The ASA seems like a godsend as the troops implement further structure to the daily affairs of the town and offer protection for seedy malicious groups, however, it doesn't take terribly long before the residents begin to see this repressive force in its true colors. The leader of the troops, Major Beck, eventually gets fed up with how he's being ordered to treat mostly harmless citizens, and orders his troops to stand down and stay out of the way.

Political intrigue grips this season as another bigger player in this show, Robert Hawkins, played by Lennie James, has been trying to get to the bottom of who orchestrated the nuclear attacks. This is a slow burn subplot left over from the first season that gets a lot more development during season two, and it's pretty unsettling given the political climate in which we live. I'll leave that reveal as guarded as I can just in case you wish to give this show a try later. At any rate, Hawkins does eventually solve the mystery, and it all points to certain characters who are now in league with the ASA. In the meantime, The USA is still running and Texas, being the land of infinite ammo, is a neutral state at this point in time, but Hawkins believes that if he can get his evidence to the leaders in Texas, that he can persuade them to take sides with the USA, and that the combined forces can muscle the ASA out of the picture. It's an intense series of events and as the last episode is coming to a close, Hawkins ominously talks about how a second civil war was always inevitable. It's a heck of a cliffhanger to leave off on and then be cancelled, but it made for some great TV watching!

Now, this may have been where a lot of shows just let out their death rattle and rolled over, but not Jericho, oh no. It's got spunk! I think that Jericho may have been the first to do this, but if not, it was one of the first to continue its story through comic books. In 2011, IDW started publishing a short event comic series that played out the general story that was to have been season 3. I haven't actually been able to read it so I don't know how good it is, but for those of us who were craving closure, it came as a huge relief. But wait there's more! After the success of that series, IDW finishes, I think, everything up with a season four comic arc! So if you end up trying the show and loving it, but want to know what happens after the show's cancellation, you've got options. This ended up extending to a bunch of other shows, Buffy, The X-Files, and Smallville, just to name a few, but in the case of Jericho, it really was a huge treat for the loyal fans.

So how does this show stack up and what led to its demise? Well, I'd say, on the whole, the show was well made. The characters were all well-developed, and interesting to watch. The actors did well portraying the roles, and the chemistry between the various cast members came across well. The plot was intriguing, and moved a pace just fast enough to stay engaging, but slowly enough to really build that suspense as you watched. Set design, camera work, basically all the technical stuff was done proficiently. I could probably find some faults with it, but it would take me a bit of work in order to do so. So why the ax? Basically, it comes down to numbers. The show was competing with a lot of very similar shows all at the same time. The market for such things became saturated, and because all the networks were fighting for a piece of that market pie, all of the audiences lost out. Its time slots didn't help. Its first season is was scheduled for Wednesday 8 pm, right along with Dancing With The Stars. For its second season, it was moved to Tuesday 10 pm, where it had to compete with Law & Order: SVU. Both of these other shows were well established with a well established audience base. Jericho probably didn't stand a chance. But you have to ask yourself, could there have been a slot that would have been accessible and that wouldn't have required it compete with other heavy hitters. I don't think that there were because TV can't slow down. Everything has to be bigger, better, more all the time, and as a result, thoughtful shows tend to get lost in the mix. At least, that's my take.

In all, I see a wasted opportunity in Jericho. It's certainly an intriguing premise, and the presentation left little to be desired. I think that the creators of the show had a well-defined vision driving their decisions, and that definitely shows in how the story played out. It's streaming on Netflix and perhaps a few other services, and if you can't find it there, the DVDs are pretty affordable on Amazon. Give it a go and let me know what you think! And stay tuned for next week as we'll be celebrating our two year anniversary!

Strange Brew: A Strangely Entertaining Movie

We've been reviewing a pretty good mix of media types as of late, but I feel like it's time to take a little bit to return to form somewhat and get back to my roots as it were. There are plenty of films out there that need a critical eye taken to them and we're going to put them under that microscope for a bit. It's been a while since I reviewed a straight comedy and so I want to start there, and what better place to rekindle our relationship with comedies than one of my personal guilty pleasures, Strange Brew?

Strange Brew is a film that almost requires a brief history lesson to fully understand. See, Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas began doing skits on a show called SCTV in Canada in 1980. SCTV was kind of like SNL for Canadians back in the day. The skits that Moranis and Thomas were doing were done under the guise of two dim-witted brothers named Bob and Doug McKenzie. The hallmark traits of the duo were really slow mentally, and would do anything for beer. This kind of set up had been, and would continue to be the main driving force behind network improv shows for quite a while after these two hit it big. The characters, much like those of other improv actors in other shows, became extremely popular, and as tends to happen in the film industry, the Moranis and Thomas were given the opportunity to take their creations to the big screen.

The movie is, for lack of a better way to say it, just bizarre. That's not to say that it isn't entertaining though. It's unabashedly self-aware, self-deprecating, and cheesy, but all in ways that make for a fun watch. But let's start at the beginning. The film came out in 1983. It starts with typical fare for a Bob and Doug skit. The two are talking about this film that they've made. They start showing the film only to have the actual celluloid break. As they're attempting to fix it, they get sidetracked and start talking about how to get free beer. The beer part is a skit that they've already done in the past. You hear jeers, and then the camera pulls out a bit and you realize that they're premiering the film that they've made. It's all been in a vain attempt to procure more beer money. A riot ensues, and they use moths to blot out the projector light so that they can make a hasty escape. However, they're caught by a man and his son. They use the beer money that their dad gave them to pay the kid back for the ticket that he bought, and then get out of there.

The two get in trouble for not getting more beer, and promise to get more then next day. They try one of their old gags to get free beer from the dispensary, putting a tiny mouse in a bottle and sealing the bottle back up. The attendant at the dispensary tells them that they'll have to take the issue up with the distributor and so they make a trip out to the Elsinore brewery where their favorite brand of beer is made. They talk to a receptionist who tells them that they'll have to wait to talk to someone, and they end up having to wait for quite sometime, but they get to talk to management, and as a result of the conversation, they're given jobs working as QA techs on the bottling line. This means all the free beer that they could possibly drink. Their dad is ecstatic when he hears.

In the meantime, John Elsinore, the owner of the company, has passed away quite unexpectedly. This leaves ownership and operation to his daughter, Pam. She's not keen to run the operation to start with, but John's brother and Pam's uncle, Claude, has been pushing her gently to sell her stakes to him so that he can 'carry on the legacy'. In actuality, Claude is working with an evil scientist, Brewmeister Smith, who has concocted a formula that he can mix in the beer that makes people easily persuaded by suggestion... so alcohol. The formula allows Brewmeister to use music to issue commands that make the drinkers do his bidding without question. The two men are planning to use the beer to take over the world.

The mystery that eventually unfolds is that Brewmeister had been using patients from the Royal Canadian Institute for the Mentally Insane as his test subjects. One of those patients was NHL player, Jean 'Rosie' LeRose, who Bob recognizes on the brothers' first visit to the brewery. Uncle Claude and Brewmeister killed John Elsinore because John was blocking their efforts to develop the mind control beer. Bob and Doug inadvertently get tangled up in things when they save Pam, who Claude and Brewmeister were also trying to murder in order to spare themselves having to buy Pam out of the company. Bob and Doug also unwittingly stumble across the only evidence that links Claude and Brewmeister the murder of John Elsinore. As a result, Brewmeister send the two brothers and Pam on a 'delivery run' after cutting the brake lines of the van that the brothers drive. Rosie follows the trio, and it's a good thing too because they end up running their van into a frigid body of water. Rosie saves them, and after a brief intermission, it seems as though he's perished in the effort. However, he manages to survive by breathing air from empty beer bottles.

The police finally put all of the pieces together, and realize that Claude and Brewmeister are going to unleash their nefarious concoction on an Oktoberfest celebration. With the help of the police, Pam, Rosie, and their dog, Hosehead, the McKenzie brothers save the day and foil the evil plans of Brewmeister and Claude. And everyone lives happily ever after. Yay!

So what's to say about this movie? First, it makes almost no sense whatsoever. It's plot fits together loosely, and that's being pretty generous. The flip side of that is that the plot really isn't the focus of the film. For better or worse, it's the hi jinx that take center stage in this movie. As with most films based on improv personas, the actors who created the characters are trying to give the audience the experience that said audience gets when watching whatever show the actors work on, only more. As a result, the plot tends to be connected somewhat tenuously in films like this, but generally, it tends to work. And it's definitely worked well in other films as well. Wayne's World is a prime example. This film offers some of everything that film has to offer. There's romance, intrigue, surrealism, comedy, and so much more. Some of the sight gags are totally over-the-top, but again, they work because of the film in which they're being presented. 

Bottom line, this is not necessarily a film that's going to find a place on your classics, or favorites list. But, it is a film that will be good for some laughs during one watch through, especially if you've enjoyed films like Wayne's World, Caddyshack, or older Adam Sandler movies. That's not to say that you won't enjoy it if you didn't enjoy those other films, but trust me, it really pegs this movie if you liked those. It's wacky, it's strange, and it's delightful in the most subtly enjoyable ways. If you can track it down, give it a watch, and stick around to see what we review next week!

Speed Racer: Show VS. Film

We've looked at a few shows throughout our glorious run thus far, and a surprising number of them have film counterparts so I may do a few of these in the future because I personally think it's interesting to see how a film adaptation stands up to its TV show counterpart... and so do you. Just kidding. Well, if you're reading this article, then maybe you do, and you just never knew that you did. At any rate, we'll start it off with an underrated film that's based on a show that has managed to win the hearts of many for over fifty years!

Speed Racer the show was one of the first anime shows to be brought over from Japan to the US. Astroboy and a couple of other came around in 1964, but then Mach GoGoGo was brought to the US as Speed Racer in 1966, putting on the front end of a wave that's still going strong today. The show features the Racer family, consisting of Pops, Spritle, Speed and Mrs. They're joined by Trixie, Speed's girlfriend, and spotter during races, as well as Sparky, who serves an assistant mechanic to Pops. Together, the team get into hi jinx, win races all over the world and thwart the diabolical schemes of the evil men of the world. And that's Speed Racer in a nutshell. There are a few stand out episodes that I'll talk about in a bit more depth in a minute, but you now know the basic formula of the show.

Before I get into highlight episodes, let's talk about some technical stuff. I know, I know, it's kind of boring, but I think it deserves a little time. I have not seen any of the Mach GoGoGo series as it was broadcast in Japan. I've looked kind of halfheartedly, but I've not found a viable means by which to view it so we'll just stick to the Americanized Speed Racer. There were a few animating techniques that I found interesting and effective. One that stands out a lot because you see it so often is the use of looping animation, especially on backgrounds. It looks like the animators would animate whatever they needed in the foreground, and then plate that over the backgrounds, which they would often loop in order to suggest that the things in the foreground are moving. So you'll often see things like roads, mountains, and desert mesas moving in a particular way for a few seconds, and then doing that same thing over again on a loop. It was most likely a cost and time saving measure, and it's really not too noticeable unless you're looking for it, but it speaks volumes to the ingenuity of the people making the show at the time. They also did a lot of this with the race cars. Obviously, it would take a lot of man hours to animate each car in every frame by hand so they would animate a block of cars, and then loop it to give the illusion that there were a lot more cars than there actually were.

Another neat technique that I noticed was the use of abstract backgrounds. This is something that you see in a lot of US shows from the 70s, and into the 80s, but Speed Racer is the oldest show that I've seen that does this. You'll notice that when there are more organic landscapes that the detail will trail off toward the background to abstract shapes with complimentary color pallets to add contrast. It's simple, but effective, and it really adds to the style of the show. 

Finally, I want to talk about the acting. The voice acting overall is really good. The inflection usually reflects the emotion needed for the scenes, the pronunciation is clear and easy to understand, and each character's voice fits the image that you're seeing on the screen. I really enjoy the show primarily because of the voice acting. Yes, it can be cheesy, but on the whole, it really helps to set the tone for the show and as a result, you just know when the show is on because it's very distinctive. The one minor gripe I could bring up is that the producers here in the US chose one guy to voice pretty much every villain in the show and so episode to episode you hear the same voice representing the villain. As an adult, I find that it's unnecessary, but having discovered the show as a kid, I can say that it actually helps younger audience members to keep up with the narrative more easily. As a result, it becomes a facet of the style for the show, and because of that, I really can't knock it too hard.

I said that I would talk about a few of the more notable episodes. Just realize that that's kind of hard to do as there were only 52 episodes, and most of them do something for the meta plot. However, most people remember the Race Against the Mammoth Car episodes. In these episodes, Speed joins a race against a mammoth vehicle that has been designed to kill the most talented racers in the world. It's got a huge power plant, a vast arsenal of gadgets, and it's manned by ruthless thugs. Of course, Speed manages to beat it, but it's a fun ride, and it's become such a staple of the franchise that the episode has been rehashed at least once in other iterations of the show. The Great Plan, being the first two episodes, sets the stage for the entire show. Pops was working at a plant building cars for another company, but decides to leave his job in order to pursue building the iconic Mach 5. Lastly, The Trick Race is kind of a big deal because it's the episode where we finally find out the truth of Racer X's real identity. He is, of course, Speed's older brother Rex. Just about every episode is more than a little entertaining, but those three stand out just a little bit above the rest.

Let me preface by saying that I've not watched any other Wachowski films that have really impressed me. Also, this was the first one I ever saw, and yes, I've seen the original Matrix, but that's a conversation for a different day. I'm really glad that this was my introduction to the Wachowski sisters as this is a seriously good film! It's imaginative, it's well cast, it's well directed, and it's just fun to watch from start to finish. It chock full of excitement while taking just enough time to fill you in on the story elements that you need to know about. It's quirky, and at times a bit goofy, and it captures the spirit of the show perfectly. Just take a look at this:

The movie is so colorful! And it just exudes character. I'm not usually one to gush over special effects, especially digital special effects, but these are used so well! Also, it knows its source material exceptionally well so you can probably guess what the plot is all about. Here's a recap anyway. Pops leaves a job at a car company to focus on building his own race cars. His son, Rex, disappears and is presumed dead. His son, Speed, takes over driving the family car in order to win prize money to keep things rolling. Speed has a girlfriend, Trixie, who spots for him during races, and wants to have his babies. They all get mixed up in a kerfuffle when a rival company tries unsuccessfully to recruit Speed. At that point, the rival needs to take the Racer family out in order to pad the bottom line. There's Inspector Detector, who is investigating claims of some pretty serious, and deadly cheating within the racing community, and he enlists the Racer family to aid in that investigation. Speed and company have some hi jinx, win some races, and thwart the plans of the bad guy.

What I really love about this movie is how well the characters are fleshed out. They could simply have been carbon copies of their animated counterparts, but time was taken to make them just a little bit more robust. Pops feels the weight of ditching a sure thing for self-employment. Speed in turn feels the pressure of being really good at what he does. Mrs worries about everyone and serves to play peacemaker within the family. We get a lot more depth to the relationship between Rex and Speed because Rex mentored Speed and taught Speed how to race until he, Rex, disappeared. Speed has to disobey his dad in order to pursue the truth behind his brother's disappearance, and there are parallels there that weren't drawn in the show that just add a great layer to the film adaptation. As with Space Battleship Yamato, wish more anime movie adaptations could be this good. And yet, for as great as this movie was, we don't hear much about it. I wonder why that could be. Oh yeah... This happened:

Iron Man was also a really good movie, and it had so much hype behind it, that even with a week's buffer, Speed Racer just couldn't steal away the audience from Iron Man. It's kind of tragic really because I would have loved to see some more of that world, but like Firefly, I kind of feel like what we got was the perfect amount, and any attempt to add to it would run a high risk of upsetting that homeostasis that's been painstakingly created. I can't recommend either of these enough! Both are extremely fun to watch, and both are just terribly entertaining. They're also friendly for family members off all ages. Give them a watch and stick around to see what we drum up to look at next week!

Critical Mass Entry 100: Night of the Living Trekkies

Wow! Can you believe that I’ve been at this for one hundred entries?! It’s been a wild ride so
far, and I’m sure that there are many more wild and interesting adventures to come! Being as
it’s our 100th entry, I had hoped to do something extra special for all of you special supporters
out there who continually bring a smile to my face by slogging through my pedantic rhetoric.
And indeed, I have some stuff in the works that I think will be pretty exciting, but that also takes
some time to get rolling. Here’s a hint:

I can’t make any predictions as to when this might happen, but it had always been my intention
to eventually and gradually shift from mere written word to the technicolor wonder of video.
However, there’s a lot to be learned, and equipment that needs to be obtained, and an endeavor
of this scale requires more time than I have at this juncture so for now we’ll stick with my dry wit,
and singular charm in written form. Just know that by the end of the year, I intend to do at least
one companion video to at least one of my blog reviews.

Okay, big news out of the way, I still managed to wrangle up something extra special for you guys
for our extra special milestone this week. I’ve had a month off of school, and I also managed to
set a record for number of books read in the shortest period of recent history for me personally.
If we count Jurassic Park, which we definitely do, then I’ve finished three whole novels in the last
four months. Believe me, that’s a record for me in recent years. However, I just got a good run
of books that hit some sweet spots, and kept we wanting for more. One of these novels, Night
of the Living Trekkies, I got as a holiday gift from some beloved friends. The timing seemed
somewhat convenient as I had just finished the previous novel that I had been working on. I
was concerned though that with as slowly as I read, I might not be able to find adequate time
to jump in and enjoy this new acquisition. But, left with only a couple of options that really
intrigued me, I decided that I’d see if I could finish the book in the 10 days that I had left of my
break. I finished it in two. I rarely ever get that engrossed in a novel! So when I say that it was a
great read, you can bet the farm that it was truly a great read! Without further delay, let’s see
what all the hubbub is about.

Let me just preface by saying that I’m not the biggest fan of the zombie horror genre. I can see
the allure, but it usually just does nothing for me. That said, this book is a zombie horror book
that just happened to appeal to me in all the right ways. The basic premise of the book is that
a young man named Jim, who served two tours in Afghanistan, has taken a gig working as a
bellhop at a hotel in Houston, Texas. The hotel, aptly named the Botany Bay, is hosting a Star
Trek convention the weekend that the book is supposed to take place, and the entire staff is
running around all crazy like trying to make sure that all of their guests have an enjoyable
weekend. This is really the crux of why I enjoyed this novel so much. It’s not that the novel
tried to innovate in any real way. It just did what a novel of its genre is supposed to do really
well. It also doesn’t hurt that all of the chapter titles are titles of Star Trek episodes from
various series. In the prologue, we get a taste of what’s to come when a secret installation
near Houston has a malfunction that unleashed several biological hazards.

Jim is kind of a slacker who avoids responsibility due to some traumatizing experiences that he
had while on tour. However, as a result of his experiences, he’s developed a talent for perceiving
dangerous situations. Another aspect of this book that I enjoy is that it unfolds pretty slowly. It
all starts small. For example, one of Jim’s coworkers that Jim has a crush on got bitten by a
child, and the security guard on duty at the hotel got attacked by a mime. Amongst the guest,
several guests start to get inexplicably sick. Little things like the homeless people who normally
loiter near the delivery area have disappeared. To complicate matters a bit, Jim’s sister Rayna
and her friends are going to be attending the convention. It’s maybe a little bit cliched, but in
this case, it works well. Yet another thing that I noticed about this novel is that the characters
get just the right amount of attention based on how integral they are to the story. Jim obviously
gets quite a bit of time invested in development. HIs sidekick, Leia, who earns money making
appearances as a model at nerd conventions, also gets some good development. Rayna, Jim’s
sister, gets a bit less development, but benefits from sharing in a lot of the character
development tools that coincide with Jim’s. The rest of the cast is rounded out with Rayna’s
friends, Matt, Gary, and T’Poc, a Trekkie who’s the last surviving member of at cult of
Redshirts named Willy, a Klingon weapons dealer named Martok, and a scientist named
Dr. Sandoval. As I said, the less part they play in the plot, the less attention is paid to
developing the character, but this really doesn’t detract from connecting to each of these
characters as they’re all pretty lovable.

Once, the crap really hits the fan, the book becomes pretty hard to put down. I started just
yesterday on about page 40, and I read all the way to the end because it was just so hard
to not read. I just wanted to know what was going to happen next! The story is pretty typical
of the genre. Jim first saves Leia, who ends up being an equal in the ability to destroy zombies,
and also ends up becoming a love interest. Then he needs to save his sister and her friends.
There are some minor twists in how this aspect unfolds that I really enjoyed. Every story needs
an adversary, and Matt ends up becoming that for this novel, but that’s okay because he’s a
jerk anyway. The twists were inspired by Star Trek, which makes them appropriate to the context,
and therefore, just that much more enjoyable to read. The antics are zany, but not too zany.
Everything about the novel walks a fine line between flat out comedy, and serious horror and
it does so exceptionally well. I laughed, and I gasped, and I thoroughly enjoyed every second
of the read.

There are a lot of twists by the end of the novel, and unlike other books that I’ve read, there really is no cooling off period after the climax. It does tie up nicely, it just does so pretty abruptly. I kind of enjoyed this aspect as it meant that the book was a nail biter until the very end, and it left me wanting more after I was done. I can confidently say that I would recommend this book to anyone. It’s tons of fun to read! It reads surprisingly fast, and as a full-time college student, I can really appreciate that. It does great service in paying homage to both Star Trek and the zombie horror genre. The setting, focused though it may have been, is well developed, and it really sucks you in as you read. I really have to say that this is probably one of the better novels that I’ve read recently, and I recommend that you check it out! In the meantime, welcome to 2018! I’m looking forward to more exciting things as we examine media old and new this year, and I hope that you’ll continue that examination with me! Tune in next week to see what I’ve got cooked up!