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441

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F E A T U R E S BATTLE ROYALE 12 It’s the next entry to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a return for the son of Odin. We find out everything you need to know about Thor: Ragnarok. SMALL SCREEN THOR Let’s flashback to the eighties to look at the first appearance of the Golden Avenger in the TV movie The Incredible Hulk Returns.

ASGARD’S MIGHTIEST HEROES! 22 Marvel’s God of Thunder is one of many figures based on ancient myths and religions. We put on our history teacher’s hat to give you a lesson in the Norse legends. BRING OUT YOUR DEAD 26 Rick and co. begin to wage All Out War against Negan and the Saviors as The Walking Dead return for Season Eight. GAME ON: JIGSAW AND THE RETURN OF THE SAW FRANCHISE 30 Beware if you have a guilty secret - you could end up in one of nasty traps in this new instalment of the hit Saw series. THE NEVERENDING SAW-RY: THE STORY SO FAR... Get up to date with the saga of John Kramer and his diabolically murderous contraptions, and naturally we don’t forget the sinister puppet Billy.

WANNA PLAY AGAIN? 38 The malevolent doll is back so we look forward to joining the Cult of Chucky. HORROR OBSCURA Some people would sell their soul to the devil to be famous, so we take a look at the shocking side of celebrity depicted in Starry Eyes.

REMEMBERING TOBE HOOPER 46 STARBURST pays tribute the director of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, who passed away last month. HARMONY? NEVER HEARD OF IT. THE PRISONER AT 50 The history of one of the greatest TV shows comes under the spotlight as it reaches its half-century.

A JAGO & LITEFOOT CELEBRATION Following the passing of actor Trevor Baxter, we look at the audio adventures of the Doctor Who characters.

MY LITTLE BRONY 60 STARBURST uncovers the truth behind one of the most bizarre elements of fandom in preparation of the upcoming My Little Pony movie. STILL TROUBLE AFTER ALL THESE YEARS 63 A look back at John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China plus we chat to Dennis Dun, who played the film’s real hero Wang Chi. BACK TO THE RAZA 66 Find out why you should catch Syfy show Dark Matter as Season Three hits DVD. INDEPENDENTS DAY 71 Kiah Roache-Turner tells us all about his upcoming series Wyrmwood: Chronicles of the Dead, based on his lowbudget hit from 2014. CAN YOU BEAR-LY WAIT? 76 After a surprisingly successful - and entertaining - first movie, the lovable furry immigrant is back in Paddington 2.

BRIAN ALDISS 1925 - 2017 98 We pay our respects to the legendary and influential author.

REgUlARS THINGS TO COME BLUE BOX SECTION

8 54

Outside The Box Watching Doctor Who Too Much Monk-y Business

SAUCER SECTION

Subspace Relay Trekologist

CINEMA

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DVD & BLU-RAY

Reviews

AUDIO

Audiostatic OST Reviews

BOOKS

Brave New Words Coming Soon Obituary Book Wormhole Reviews

COMICS

104

View From The Watchtower Reviews

ANIME

109

Anime-Nation

GAMES

112

Pixel Juice Retro Bytes Roll for Damage Reviews

MERCHANDISE

122

Watto’s Emporium

EVENT PROFILE

124

TV ZONE

126

IT’S ONLY A MOVIE

129

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ISSUE

441 OCTOBER 2017

EDITORIAL

ART

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MARK REIHILL

JORDAN “MIKE” ROYCE

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Lead Writers LIVVY BOOTE, JACK BOTTOMLEY, MICHAEL COLDWELL, DOMINIC CUTHBERT, GARETH EVANS, KATE FATHERS, ED FORTUNE, JOEL HARLEY, CHRIS JACKSON, CHRISTIAN JONES, TONY JONES, JOHN KNOTT, ANDREW MARSHALL, IAIN MCNALLY, KIERON MOORE, ROBIN PIERCE, ANDREW POLLARD, RYAN POLLARD, LEE PRICE, IAIN ROBERTSON, CALLUM SHEPHARD, JR SOUTHALL, NICK SPACEK, JOHN TOWNSEND, PETE TURNER, MARTIN UNSWORTH Contributors

TOM ACTON, JONATHAN ANDERSON, SOPHIE ATHERTON, JENNIE BAILEY, VANESSA BERBEN, PHIL BERESFORD, SIMON BESSON, NICK BLACKSHAW, CHRISTIAN BONE, JAMES BRIDCUT, FORD MADDOX BROWN, LARA BROWN, COURTNEY BUTTON, LUKE CHANNELL, SCOTT CLARK, TONY COWIN, DAVID CRAIG, ANNE DAVIES, ALISTER DAVISON, SPLEENY DOTSON, JENNIFER DREWETT, JONATHAN EDWARDS, JAMES EVANS, KIERAN FISHER, JD GILLAM, JOHN HIGGINS, TOMMY JAMES, ANIMAL JOHNS, ROBERT KEELING, CLAIRE LIM, JAYNE LUTWYCHE, ROBERT MARTIN, ROD MCCANCE, NEIL MCNALLY, FRED MCNAMARA, HAYDEN MEARS, CHRISTOPHER MORLEY, STUART MULRAIN, ANDREW MUSK, MARK NEWBOLD, DOC CHARLIE OUGHTON, JAMES HANTON, SOL HARRIS, PETE HIGGINSON, WARRICK HORSLEY, LAURA ROBINSON, GRANT KEMPSTER, WHITNEY SCOTT-BAIN, DANIEL SEDDON, CHLOE SMITH, MIKE SMITH, ADAM STARKEY, JON TOWLSON, LEONA TURFORD, RICHARD THOMAS, SCOTT VARNHAM, NIGEL WATSON, SAMANTHA WARD, MATT WELLS, IAN WHITE, THOMAS WINWARD, ZACK THE ZOMBABY

EDITORIAL Welcome to STARBURST Issue 441! So here we are. Issue 441. In two Issues time, we reach 40 years of the world’s longest running magazine of cult entertainment with Issue 443. We are all looking forward to sharing the celebration with you. In the meantime, we have another Marvel Studios entry about to take us on a cosmic road trip with two old friends. In the mighty Marvel Comics pantheon, the Incredible Hulk and the Mighty Thor are arguably the two most powerful heroes in terms of raw strength. They have fought many times, but for me, the big one was the rumble in Defenders Issue 10 - way back in 1973. Thor and Hulk literally fought each other to a standstill during a storyline that spanned across The Avengers and The Defenders comics, and saw both teams at each other’s throats. They would afterwards clash many times. The fanboy appetite for watching these two slug it out was limitless. Whilst it was clear that poor old Ben Grimm of The Fantastic Four was never quite up to the job (although he did manage to beat him once), Thor was in many ways the righteous opponent. When old green skin got his own TV series in the late seventies, there was neither the budget nor the ability to allow Thor (or any other fellow Avengers) to turn up and make an appearance. When the series was revived for the first of three TV movies there was still neither the budget nor the ability, but wowzers, Thor turned up, along with his alter ego, Doctor Don Blake. We go into great detail why maybe other than a curiosity, a young Marvel Comics fan may be better off giving this a body swerve. But it was the first live-action appearance of Thor, and would take over twenty years for him to team up with his gamma-driven colleague on the big screen. Avengers Assemble in 2012 did deliver some great comic book moments that rang true to the comic book source material, but when Thor: Ragnarok was announced, and Hulk was on the list of co-stars, it finally looked like fans were going to see these two icons share some quality times (and some blows!). The trailers for Thor: Ragnarok have us all excited, and we give you a preview of what to expect. As previously mentioned, we also take a look at the first appearance of Thor on the small screen, and also delve into the surrounding mythology of the Norse Gods. Despite packing this issue full of gods, it’s still just not enough. We look at the return of The Walking Dead for Season Eight. Chucky is also back along with the Saw franchise, so we have a butchers at Cult of Chucky and Jigsaw. Also, Paddington 2 is about to hit the big screen, and we can bearly contain our excitement. Dark Matter may have been cancelled on the day we went to print but we had already commissioned a feature on Season Three, so we waste your time winding you up about a show that is about to be cruelly taken away from you! Do you like Big Trouble in Little China? Well we do, so why not take a journey through some vintage John Carpenter? Last but certainly not least [drum roll…], The Prisoner is fifty. It’s probably one of my favourite shows of all time. I wanted to see it since reading the amazing article on it by Alan Grace in STARBURST Issue number Two. Five years later, thanks to Channel 4 in 1983, I finally got to see what I genuinely regard as one of the most important TV series ever made. What an impression it made. Fifty years old. Blimey!

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Sadly, I have not managed to get to the end of an Editorial without another piece of bad news. Tobe Hooper is a sad loss, especially when coupled with the recent loss of George. A. Romero. It is the passing of the torch, as a remarkable era of horror cinema gets cemented in legend. So many fantastic movies, but with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Tobe Hooper changed cinema. He was a catalyst for a new era of filmmaking. This magazine, and all of us owe him a debt. Until next time, keep watching the weird and wonderful,

Starburst Magazine is published monthly by Starburst Publishing Ltd. Nothing in this magazine can be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher. Whilst every effort is made to ensure all information in the magazine is correct, prices and details may be subject to change. All photographic material is copyright to the relevant owner and appears with their kind permission. Visuals are used in a reviews context and no copyright infringement is intended. All rights reserved. Starburst is printed in the UK by BUXTON PRESS LIMITED Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6AE Distributed by Marketforce (UK) Ltd, 2nd Floor, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU. Tel: 020 3148 3300 - Fax: 020 3148 8105 - Web: marketforce.co.uk

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FEEDBACK You can write to STARBURST via snail mail: STARBURST MAGAZINE, PO Box 4508, Manchester, M61 0GY or email: letters@starburstmagazine.com

EY UP WhO Well done on another fantastic issue of STARBURST. I have to confess I laughed a little too loud when I read the news item in Outside the Box about Jodie Whittaker being cast as the new Doctor. After seeing all the fuss online about it, it was the perfect pin to deflate the bubble. Mocking the narrow-minded while not offending them too much (I wouldn’t have held back like that, I can tell you!). It showed great wit and summed sPaCe (birtHday) CaKe Happy Birthday to Star Trek: The Next Generation! It’s incredible to believe that the show first aired thirty years ago in the US (on September 28th, 1987). It still looks incredible, especially remastered in HD. When BBC2 first showed the series from Wednesday, September 30th at 6pm, I was hooked. I’d rented the odd episode on VHS, and then started collecting the videos as they appeared on retail. 89 cassettes later and I had the set. The series was fantastic. It had great special effects, engaging characters, a ship you’d want to travel on, great alien races and excellent storytelling. Stand-out episodes include Darmok, The Measure of a Man, The Best of Both Worlds, and The Inner Light. I’ve since upgraded to DVD, and then again to Bluray. I hope Deep Space Nine will eventually follow suit and get an HD remaster, but this

up why I read the magazine every month. You have a great team there, and their character really shines through with the work they do. Keep it up! Jane, VIA EMAIL We must admit to having a little chuckle about that news item ourselves when we were putting the issue together. Some elements of fandom certainly do need deflating sometimes!

is looking less likely as time goes on. However, to The Next Generation, wishing all involved congratulations. Here’s hoping Star Trek: Discovery will be as successful at reinvigorating the franchise as The Next Gen was back in 1987. keith Tudor, Romsey Yes, indeed, it was a landmark show that we all still love to this day. We share your hope about the new series, which will no doubt be either being elated about or slagging off while you’re reading this. Do let us know what you think when you see it. SUPER WRINkLY As if you didn’t know the comic book character Superman is 80 years old next year. Batman is also 80 in 2019. Superman is the first superhero to be created way back in 1933 but it took five years before he made his début. Let’s hope that the new Batman movie comes out in 2019 to

“After the box office failure of Infinity War, the Avengers franchise suffered heavy budget reductions.“ Winner: Jamie McKeller. Head over to www.starburstmagazine.com to enter this month’s caption contest.

celebrate that anniversary. Is there a new Superman movie coming out next year? Villmore Rochester, Peckham

ones. Some of the things they advertised compared to what we can buy fairly cheaply now boggles the mind! Pete, GlasGow

It’s always a pleasure to hear from you Villmore, we’re afraid there will be no Superman movie next year (how’s that for missing a trick?), but rest assured, we will no doubt be celebrating the Man of Steel in our own particular way at some point. As for Batman, all being well, there should be the Ben Affleck-starring film released in time for his birthday. That said, the way things are going at with the DC movies (read the ongoing saga in Things to Come), things might change!

John Brosnan was the jewel in the crown of classic STARBURST, so we’re glad you liked reading his thoughts on the original film. We must say, we have a soft spot for those old ads, too. We’re still waiting for our Sea Monkeys to arrive, though.

FLAShBACk FAN How fantastic it was it to read the original STARBURST review for Blade Runner in Issue 440. As a fairly new reader, I find it fascinating to see how opinions may have changed over the years. While the writer of the piece John Brosnan clearly saw the potential of the film, you mention elsewhere that it didn’t do too well at the box office and with other critics when it first came out. How amazing is that considering most people recognise it as a classic now? I wonder how many people have buried their original reviews and retconned their opinions. Will you be doing anymore reviews from the past? Or maybe a special one-off collection reprinting whole features as they originally appeared - old advertisements and everything? I love flicking through old magazines that I buy from eBay, particularly the American

REST IN PEACE What a sad few months it’s been with the deaths of some truly iconic stars. I know Jordan attempted to make light of it in the Editorial of Issue 440, but it does appear that the Grim Reaper is taking no prisoners lately. There have been a few losses over the last year that have been a shock and they are all very sad, but George A. Romero’s passing truly affected me. I was lucky enough to meet him a few times at conventions over the years and as Jordan said, he was a brilliant and very easy to talk to guy. It’s not often that you get to meet one of your heroes and they turn out to be even better than you hoped. Thank you for the lovely tribute. I did nearly have a heart attack, however, when I saw the piece on Harrison Ford, though. Surely I’d not missed his passing? Then I realised it was just a celebratory profile. Panic over. As you were. Geoff, Via email As you will see in this issue, the Reaper keeps on taking victims. When will it end? Can we have one month obituaryfree, please?

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THINGS TO COME

Another month, another story to inject even further worriment into Warner Brothers’ ever-shaky DC Extended Universe. This time, the big news is that plans are afoot to develop a standalone origin movie for the nefarious Joker. You know, the same fella who part of his major appeal is that he doesn’t particularly have an origin story. Sure, there are varying origins out there for the Clown Prince of Crime, but to construct a film based around giving the definitive genesis of this iconic character is dangerous ground for Warners. Not helping with fans’ concerns is that The Hangover’s Todd Phillips has been tasked with directing the film; it’s described as a “gritty hard-boiled crime film set in an early-‘80s Gotham City” and is aimed to have the feel of Martin Scorsese’s classic Taxi Driver. To add further to that feel, the legendary director is actually involved in a producing capacity, which in itself has added further fuel to who Warners may cast as Mr J. Oh, didn’t we tell you? Yep, Jared Leto won’t be playing the Joker in this origin effort. But before those detractors of Leto’s Harlequin of Hate get too excited, the actor will be back to reprise the Joker role in future outings such as the Suicide Squad sequel and Gotham City Sirens because… well, because… because… yeah, we’ve got nothing. Much like the Joker himself, if it wasn’t so tragic it would be funny. You almost couldn’t make this stuff up, but Warner Bros will be having two different takes on the Joker existing at the same cinematic time. That origin movie is being developed to be a standalone film that will exist outside of the confines of the DCEU, and it’s said that this will be the first of several similar movies that will be happening away from the constraints of the DCEU. Anyway, on the topic of who is being eyed to play the Clown Prince of Crime in the origin story, the current top choice is none other than Leonardo DiCaprio. And that’s where the Scorsese link helps, with DiCaprio and Scorsese having worked on a whole host of films together, such as Gangs of New York, The Departed, Shutter Island, and The Wolf of Wall Street. Given that Leo is a big favourite of many, having him playing the Joker could soften the blow of this whole boneheaded idea, but still, a Joker origin movie?!?! Then again, could it be any worse than giving this mysterious menace a name and having him be the one who murdered Bruce Wayne’s parents that night in Crime Alley? Sticking with Batman’s longtime nemesis, and there’s been some big changes for Gotham City Sirens. Initially pegged as a femaledriven effort that would see Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn alongside characters such as Black Canary, Catwoman, Poison Ivy and possibly Barbara Gordon, it’s now being reported that the movie is being altered to be a “criminal love story” based around Robbie’s Harleen and Jared Leto’s Joker. As such, director David Ayer has departed the film and

A ROUND-UP OF THE BEST (AND WORST) OF THIS MONTH’S MOVIE / TV NEWS

Warners has instead brought in Crazy Stupid Love’s Glenn Ficarra and John Requa to write, produce and direct. Initially, certain reports seemed to suggest that Gotham City Sirens and the Joker and Harley love story would be two separate movies, but it now appears that both are actually one and the same. Moving over to the Caped Crusader himself, and this past month saw some more potential problems for The Batman. After regular rumblings of Ben Affleck either departing the Batman gig after Justice League or Warners deciding to replace him after that ensemble, The Batman director Matt Reeves caused all kinds of chaos amongst those already in shock at some of the stupid decisions being made for the DCEU. This all stemmed from Reeves making comments in an interview that stated The Batman would take place - much like the Joker film - outside of the DC Extended Universe and would act as a standalone entry. That, in turn, then threw even more fire onto the stories of Affleck being replaced in the cape and cowl, and the Internet again lost its shit over what was deemed another ridiculous decision from the powers-that-be at Warners. Fear not, though, for Reeves came out to clarify his initial comments by stating that The Batman definitely, definitely, definitely will be a part of the DCEU, and that what he meant was that the film would be standalone in the sense that it would purely be about Batman and wouldn’t feature cameos from any of his fellow Justice Leaguers. So, The Batman - which is believed to be the start of a new trilogy of Bat-flicks - will indeed be a part of the greater DCEU and Ben Affleck is indeed still set to return as the World’s Greatest Detective. For now, that is, for who knows what other twists and turns lay ahead in the ever-baffling realm of the DCEU. Speaking of Justice Leaguers, this November’s Justice League has now dished out a screenwriting credit to Joss Whedon. Having stepped in to helm extensive reshoots when Zack Snyder left the project to deal with the tragic death of his daughter, Whedon’s work has been major enough for Warners to give him some further official props. And on those reshoots, we’re hearing that one of the big reasons for such substantial additional shoots was to tweak the character of Cyborg. Out of all of the heroes assembling for Justice League, Vic Stone played by Ray Fisher - is easily the least known of the bunch, and even longtime comic book fans often find the character hard to really get behind. If you ask us, ol’ Vic will never be anything more than a Titan, but then that’s maybe just because that’s what many of us grew up with. Either way, the character is certainly one of the weaker comic book JL members, and cinematically, he’s somebody that needs to be handled carefully by Warners if casual moviegoers are to be expected to place him on the same level as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, and Aquaman. Even more so given that the studio still has plans for Cyborg to headline his own movie at some point down the line. From Justice League to the long-gestating Justice League Dark, and this past month has seen two new names in contention to direct. Previously, of course, Guillermo del Toro had spent years developing the project before ultimately having to walk away due to commitments elsewhere. Following that, Edge of Tomorrow’s Doug Liman took over the director’s chair back in 2015 before he also eventually dropped out. Now, though, Warners are believed to be considering Housebound’s Gerard Johnstone and Life’s Daniel Espinosa. While Espinosa is clearly the more well-known of the pair, it’s great to see Johnstone in the running for such a big gig given how we’re all huge fans of horrorcomedy Housebound here at Moonbase Alpha. Hopefully, we can bring you some more solid news on the adventures of John Constantine, Swamp Thing, Zatanna, Deadman and the rest of the Justice League Dark crew over the next month or two. While questions continue to be asked about the cinematic DC outings, things are far more warmly welcomed on the small screen. With Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Gotham and even Lucifer adorning our screens, next year sees the arrival of the hugely anticipated Titans. And on that front, the live-action Teen Titans series has cast two of its biggest characters, as 24: Legacy’s Anna Diop and Pirates of the Caribbean’s Brenton Thwaites have

A round-up of what not to miss this month on...

SEPTEMBER 22ND - JOHNNY MNEMONIC (1995) Keanu Reeves and Dolph Lundgren star in this eye-straining adaptation of William Gibson’s classic sci-fi dystopian novel. Reeves has a cybernetic brain implant that can store information for large corporations and courier it across the world; information far too sensitive to transfer across the net. One of his assignments goes awry and he becomes a target for the data he’s carrying in his bonce. A glorious misfire, it’s certainly visually stunning if a tad muddled. SEPTEMBER 24TH - RAVENOUS (1999) A criminally forgotten and overlooked film, Ravenous is a glorious black comedy starring Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, and David Arquette. Set during the Mexican-American War (the one in the nineteenth century, not the one that’s brewing over the ‘wall’), it’s a tale of survival and meat-eating. Those tasty morsels happen to be human flesh, though. Don’t miss it. SEPTEMBER 29TH - NAILBITER (2013) A fantastic little shocker in which a family have to take cover in a storm shelter during a tornado. The big problem is that a tree has fallen, causing them to be trapped and there’s something rather monstrous in there, too. Directed by Patrick Rea (Arbor Demon), it’s tense, bleak and very well made. OCTOBER 4TH - SKINWALKERS (2006) Underrated werewolf film involving two rival packs of lycanthropes and an ancient prophecy that involves young Timothy (Matthew Knight), who is a ‘half-blood’ and could bring an end to the curse that afflicts the groups. Naturally, some don’t want it to end. Directed by the late James Isaac (Jason X). OCTOBER 7TH - CAT’S EYE (1985) As part of Horror Channel’s celebration of author Stephen King’s birthday, there are a number of adaptations of his work screening. This one was a big hit back in the days of VHS but seems to be forgotten too quickly. The fun anthology has three King stories (the last one being exclusive to this movie) all linked by an innocentlooking roaming feline. Directed by Lewis Teague (Alligator), it boasts a great cast in James Woods (Videodrome), Robert Hays (Airplane!), Candy Clark (The Man Who Fell to Earth), and a still young Drew Barrymore. As well as regular episodes of Star Trek from The Original Series, Voyager, and Deep Space Nine, you can catch the classic series Lost in Space once more from the very beginning. Another show making a welcome return run is the popular adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World. Both can be seen each weekday from October 4th. Horror Channel is available on SKY 319, Virgin 149, Freeview 70, Freesat 138 and TalkTalk 487.

Marvel

As Sony continue to work away on their Tom Hardy-headlined Venom, the Eddie Brock-based picture is in talks with Riz Ahmed for a significant role in the movie. The exact details of the character being lined up for the Rogue One actor are unknown right now, but it’s believed to be a popular Marvel character. With Carnage previously reported to be the villain of the piece, there’s plenty of speculation that Ahmed may well be getting set to play the maniacal Cletus Kasady - although sources claim that isn’t the case right now. At present, Venom is booked in for an October 2018 release, with Zombieland’s Ruben Fleischer on board to direct. When Venom was announced by Sony, the studio quickly followed it up with Silver and Black, a Silver Sable and Black Cat team-up picture that would take place in the same universe as Venom. And now, Silver and Black has finally been handed a release date of February 8th, 2019, which will see the film open against The LEGO Movie 2. At this stage, there’s still no casting news to report, although The Secret Life of Bees’ Gina PrinceBythewood is on directing duties. Silver and Black is due to go into production later this year, and this is just one of several

THINGS TO COME

been brought in as Starfire and Dick Grayson, respectively. An alien princess from a warrior planet, Starfire, aka Koriand’r, ends up seeking asylum on Earth, a quest that eventually sees her become a member of the Teen Titans. Tough-as-nails and straight-talking, Starfire’s main abilities are that she can fire energy bolts and is able to fly. As for Dick Grayson, does he even really need an introduction?!?! A huge comic book favourite of many, Dick, of course, was the first famed Boy Wonder to take on the Robin mantle. From there, as he matured, he went off to become Nightwing, the sworn protector of Gotham’s neighbouring Bludhaven. And more impressively, Dick has stepped up to take over the cape and cowl of Batman at several points over the decades. Even more noteworthy is that Dick Grayson is one of the few comic book characters that everyone seems to universally love! Quite the achievement, no? In Titans, Dick will initially have the Robin moniker before eventually transitioning to the Nightwing role. Already on board for Titans is relative newcomer - although STARBURST Shauna assures us she was in Home and Away - Teagan Croft as Raven, with the series to premiere next year on Warner Brothers’ soon-to-be-launched streaming service. Moving over to the show that kicked off The CW’s shared realm of DC shows, and Arrow has finally brought Richard Dragon to the table. Ever since the Stephen Amell-starrer first premiered back in 2012, many have been eagerly waiting to see just when the series would bring in this rogue, and now 12 Monkeys’ Kirk Acevedo has landed the role ahead of the show’s upcoming sixth season. As Ricardo Diaz, this take on Richard Dragon has him listed as “a hardened ex-con recently released from prison for crimes he didn’t commit” and someone who is aiming to take over Star City’s criminal underworld. Much like in the comic books, Dragon will be depicted as a master of hand-to-hand combat who will surely be causing all kinds of headaches for Amell’s Green Arrow. In the comics, the first person to take on the Richard Dragon name - Richard Drakunovski - was actually a hero who débuted back in 1974 and who has the impressive claim of having helped to train the likes of Oracle, Huntress, the Question, and even Bruce Wayne himself! Since the whole New 52 relaunch, though, Dragon - as Ricardo Diaz Jr. - has been changed-up to a villain most closely associated with the Emerald Archer. It’s not known just yet how big a role Richard Dragon will have in Arrow, but then very little is known about the show’s sixth season right now bar the fact that Lost’s Michael Emerson has landed a major mystery role. Arrow returns to US screens on October 12th, with a UK return expected to follow shortly after that date. In some news that’s sure to bring a huge smile to the face of many a genre fan, Katee Sackhoff has landed a role in the upcoming fourth season of The Flash. The Battlestar Galactica, Riddick and, err, Halloween: Resurrection favourite has joined the Scarlet Speedstercentric series as the villainous Amunet Black, aka Blacksmith. A comic book character who first appeared in 2001’s Flash: Iron Heights tale, in the Grant Gustin-headlined show Blacksmith is described as a “steely and badass boss of an underground black market for supervillains” who will use any means necessary - and the whole host of metahumans under her charge - to make sure that she gets what she wants. Sackhoff will début in the fifth episode of the upcoming fourth season, and she joins fellow new additions in the shape of Hartley Sawyer as Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man, Danny Trejo as nefarious bounty hunter Breacher, Kim Engelbrecht as the hulking, devastating Mechanic, and Neil Sandilands as the ‘big bad’ of the season, the evil genius Thinker. Barry Allen and co. speed back to US screens on October 10th, with a UK return to follow shortly after. With Channel 5 having seemingly given up on Gotham, the show is still being largely well received over in the US as it approaches its fourth season. And ahead of said new season, the series has added Prison Break’s Marina Benedict and About a Boy’s Benjamin Stockham. Benedict will play Cherry, the owner of a shady fight club based in the infamous Narrows, while Stockham will be playing a new pal of David Mazouz’s Bruce Wayne. Gotham returns to FOX in the US on September 21st, although who knows just when and where the show will turn up over here. As mentioned, Channel 5 have the TV rights for the series, yet after airing the first two seasons way, way after their US showings, the channel has yet to even bother airing a single episode of Season Three. Luckily for UK fans of the show, the third season has recently been released on Blu-ray/DVD and has also landed on Netflix. While we’ve already made mention of one new DC show in the form of Titans, also on the way for next year is The CW’s Black Lightning. With Nashville’s Cress Williams long signed on as the titular hero, the series has found the ‘big bad’ of its début season. In an interesting move, rapper Marvin Jones III - better known as Krondon - has been brought in to play the villainous Tobias Whale. The leader of the feared 100 gang, Tobias was originally a corrupt politician who was brought down and locked up courtesy of Alvin Pierce, the father of Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning. Upon getting out of the slammer, Whale will soon be butting heads with the series’ electrifying hero. | AP

POSTER MORTEM

The premise is to bring forth humanity’s darkest fears from a female perspective. There’s no news on when we can expect the show as yet. In the meantime, Barrymore will return in front of the small screen camera for the second season of Netflix’s hit Santa Clarita Diet next year.

Young Han Solo Movie Loses Character

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Guillermo del Toro’s eagerly-awaited horror romance The Shape of Water got even more interesting with the release of the trailer, which gives us a great opportunity to highlight the glorious teaser artwork depicting a clinch between a woman and a very Creature from the Black Lagoon-esque figure. Sally Hawkins (Godzilla) plays a mute lab cleaner who forms a bit too much of a bond with a captive sea monster, which doesn’t look as much like the Gillman as the poster, but it’s close enough. Early word from festival screenings is good, which is a relief following the ambivalence that greeted Crimson Peak. The Shape of Water previews in US cinemas from December 8th, while UK audiences will have to wait until February 16th, 2018.

JUMANJI

THINGS TO COME

Hoping to clip the heels of The Last Jedi, the next instalment in the Star Wars universe, this Christmas is the reboot of the notso-well-thought-of Robin Williams adventure Jumanji. Subtitled Welcome to the Jungle, this new version twists the plot of the original by having those playing the titular game (now a retro console version rather than a board one) whisked into the locale of the critters rather than the other way around. We wonder how long it took to think of that twist. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Karen Gillan (hasn’t she done well for herself after she left that little British TV series?) head up the cast, playing the video game avatar versions of the school kids who chose to play, but the real stars will no doubt be the CGI animals that will cause our heroes nothing but trouble. To be fair, it does look a lot of fun. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle hits cinemas on December 20th. movies that Sony has lined up for their shared Spider-Verse that has no Spidey (for now, at least). Also being discussed are solo movies for both Kraven the Hunter and Mysterio, with the plan, as far as we can tell, seemingly being for the studio to flesh out a shared realm of characters and villains to then ultimately bring Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in down the line. In one brief piece of Marvel TV news, the in-development Runaways has added Julian McMahon to its ranks. The Australian actor is no stranger to genre fans, of course, having made a name for himself in the likes of Charmed and Nip/Tuck before landing the role of Doctor Doom in Tim Story’s Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. More recently, McMahon has been seen in the brilliant Dirk Gently on Netflix. In Marvel’s Runaways, he’ll be playing a character known as Jonah, a mystery figure who will play a pivotal part in the Runaways’ rebellion against their no-good parents. For those unaware of the comic book incarnation of the Runaways, they’re basically a bunch of teenagers who discover that their parents are actually a bunch of evil supervillains. Marvel’s Runaways is set to premiere on Hulu in the US on November 21st, although no UK home has been confirmed for the series at this stage. | AP

Drew Barrymore to Produce TV Horror Anthology

The former child star and Firestarter Drew Barrymore’s production company Flower Films, which she owns with Nancy Juvonen, are working on a new television series for The CW entitled Black Rose Anthology. Jill Blotevogel has been tasked with writing the pilot of the show that, if commissioned, will consist of one-hour stories written and directed exclusively by women.

Disney’s young Han Solo movie continues its production with Ron Howard having now taken over directing, but there’s some unfortunate news for one of the film’s cast. Due to Howard replacing Phil Lord and Chris Miller in the director’s chair, Michael K. Williams has had to step away from the film due to the reworking and reshoots overlapping with his other projects, such as the currently-shooting The Red Sea Diving Resort with Chris Evans. As such, the Boardwalk Empire and The Wire actor will have all of his Solo scenes cut from the picture. As Williams explained, “I felt great about what I created with the directors that I worked with. It is what it is. We created a kickass character, in my opinion. I’m proud of it. When Ron Howard got hired to finish out the film, there were some reshoot issues that needed to be done in regards to my character, in order for it to match the new direction which the producers wanted Ron to carry the film in. And that would have required me on a plane a month ago to London, to Pinewood, to do reshoots. But I’m here, on location in Africa. It’s scheduling. I’m not going to be back on the market until the end of November after Hap and Leonard, and for them to wait that long for me, that would have pushed back the release date, which I believe is in May 2018. They wanted me now; I couldn’t go. So they had to clip-clip-clip.” Howard swiftly recast the role, though, with Paul Bettany (MCU’s Vision and J.A.R.V.I.S.) stepping up to the plate. However, rather than the motion-capture alien that Williams was playing, Bettany’s take will now be human. Which no doubt will save more than a little time in post-production. The still-to-be-titled Solo movie stars Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca, with roles for Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Thandie Newton, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. It’s currently booked in for May 25th, 2018. | AP

AND FINALLY... The Vampire Diaries and Hemlock Grove’s Penelope Mitchell has landed the role of Ganeida in Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen. A character directly from the comic books, Ganeida is best described as an elder witch who looks to put an end to the antics of the nefarious Nimue/Blood Queen. She joins a cast that currently features David Harbour as the titular Hellboy, Ian McShane as Professor Broom, Sasha Lane as Alice Monaghan, and Milla Jovovich as the villainous Blood Queen. Deadpool’s Ed Skrein had been signed to play Major Ben Diamio, but withdrew due to an outcry over the ‘whitewashing’ of the character, who is of Asian origin in the comic book. To be directed by The Descent’s Neil Marshall, Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen is set to go into production in September. William Shatner will star in a feature adaptation of the first book in the Bruce Coville’s Alien Adventures series. Universal 1440 Entertainment hopes to make a franchise from the series of books, which kicks off with Aliens Ate My Homework. The official synopsis is “When a tiny intergalactic starship crashes into the bedroom of 12-year-old Rod Allbright (Jayden Greig), it’s the start of the adventure of a lifetime for him and his cousin Elspeth (Lauren McNamara). Enlisted by the extraterrestrial Galactic Patrol, a group of out-of-this-world lawmen, Rod and Elspeth must race to save the world from Total Planetary Disaster.” Directed by Sean McNamara, the film also features STARBURST favourite Tristan Risk. It recently wrapped shooting in Canada and is expected to be released in 2018. Mark Millar’s Millarworld has been acquired by Netflix. The current plan is for this deal between Netflix and Millar to lead to a whole host of Millar’s famed Millarworld properties being brought to life for the on-demand streaming service. Movies, series, and kids’ shows are all currently planned for the varying portfolio of characters that Millarworld brings to the table. TTC 441 was written by Martin Unsworth and Andrew Pollard. Edited by Martin Unsworth.

by David Craig

The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to knock it out of the park when it comes to superhero movies, and hopes are riding high that THOR: RAGNAROK isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t going to let us down. We find out what you can expectâ&#x20AC;Ś

13 fter two solo movies, which are widely considered to be some of the weakest in the MCU, Thor is returning for a third outing that could well give his popularity a much-needed boost. Thor: Ragnarok burst onto the scene back in April, with a fantastically welledited teaser that became the most viewed Disney trailer ever in its first twenty-four hours. Suffice to say, fans have embraced the zany tone and bright colour palette that Ragnarok has adopted, with indie director Taika Waititi at the helm to ensure the film is far more than just a Guardians of the Galaxy wannabe.

Ragnarok draws inspiration from the much-beloved Planet Hulk storyline, in which the Green Goliath becomes a gladiator on a distant planet, ultimately ruling it before having it snatched away from him. The operative word here though is ‘inspiration’, as while the film does feature Hulk and Thor duking it out in an intergalactic arena, it appears that’s to be the only similarity it has with its source material. First and foremost, this is a story about Thor and his battle with the Goddess of Death, Hela (played here by Cate Blanchett). Facing off against his former Avengers teammate is the least of Thor’s worries when Hela is threatening the very existence of Asgard by preparing to unleash Ragnarok, which is, as he describes, “The end of everything”. Where past MCU villains have proven to be forgettable, efforts have clearly been made to ensure Hela doesn’t fall into this category. For starters, in her grand unveiling in the opening of the Ragnarok teaser, she quite nonchalantly destroys Thor’s iconic hammer Mjolnir. Talk about making an impression. Blanchett is the kind of high calibre actor you can trust to give a good performance in almost any role, and she certainly seems to have embraced her first comic book character. A menacing yet almost likeable presence in the footage thus far, she channels the same kind of charisma that Tom Hiddleston does in the role of Loki - arguably the only truly memorable villain the MCU has seen to date. Appropriately, if early rumours are to be believed, Hela could be charting a similar course to the God of Mischief by landing herself in an Avengers film very soon. With Thanos looming on the horizon and ready to wage an Infinity War, some believe that he’ll be fighting to become the object of Hela’s affections. Seemingly, Marvel Studios has decided that to have their biggest villain be in love with the literal personification of death (as he is in the comics) would be a little bit too Goth for mainstream audiences to

14 stomach. Shifting his attention towards Hela is reportedly their solution, although needless to say, you should take this rumour with a generous helping of salt. After all, early speculation about Ragnarok concluded that the main villain was to be Enchantress, who as it turns out will not be appearing in the movie. However, her frequent henchman Skurge has indeed made the cut, with Karl Urban taking on the role. Urban is fast becoming something of a sci-fi icon thanks to previous appearances in Star Trek, Almost Human and, of course, 2012’s Dredd. This latest role is supposedly more than just that of the minor B-villain, with Urban having talked up his ‘wonderful’ and surprising character arc in a recent interview. Skurge has been known to switch allegiances in the comics, particularly when separated from his beloved Enchantress, but initially at least will side with Hela in her quest to reduce Asgard to ashes. Someone with similarly vague loyalties is the Grandmaster, played here by the legendary Jeff Goldblum. He’s one of the Elders of the Universe, just like his brother, the Collector (Benicio Del Toro in Guardians of the Galaxy), but has a rather different set of hobbies. When Thor arrives on the planet Sakaar, it will be the Grandmaster who forces him to go into battle against the Incredible Hulk, but whether his intentions are genuinely malicious remains to be seen. With a penchant for games of strategy and a serious superiority complex, Grandmaster has frequently used superhumans as pawns in elaborate games and contests (which usually involve punching). For one such game, he went so far as to unite the Marvel and DC universes, but tragically the likelihood of that storyline hitting the big screen is close to nil. Fortunately, the Mighty Avenger won’t have to face these forces on his own, assembling a team of both new and familiar allies. Most notable of the latter is a certain giant green rage monster who, after their arena stand-off, will help Thor put an end to Hela’s evil plans. Having spent extensive time in Hulk form during his stay on Sakaar, the angry alter ego of Bruce Banner has developed more sophisticated language skills than when we last saw him in Age of Ultron. It would be safe to bet that this change will be used for comedic effect, with Hulk already seen quipping in the second trailer, but hopefully will avoid taking away from what makes the character unique.

15 Someone who definitely won’t be looking forward to a reunion with Hulk is Thor’s devious brother Loki, who on their last meeting was smashed repeatedly into the floor of Stark Tower by the Green Goliath. While he is supposedly fighting with the good guys on this occasion, it is always wise to question what Loki’s true motives are in any given situation. Regardless, Tom Hiddleston’s return to his most popular role is highly anticipated, especially given the still-unresolved twist ending to 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, which saw the trickster usurping his father and taking the throne of Asgard. In order to find Odin and restore him as rightful king, Thor will require the assistance of Doctor Stephen Strange, whose appearance in Ragnarok was teased in the mid-credits scene of his début movie last October. It seems they won’t have to travel far to find him, as photos leaked from the set have showed a scruffy-looking Anthony Hopkins wandering the streets of New York, a look which the Internet affectionately nicknamed hobo-din. The reason Thor needs to enlist outside help to track his father down is that Asgard’s all-seeing Heimdall has gone missing. Fear not, Idris Elba fans: the character does feature prominently in Ragnarok. However, he appears to have left his role as guardian of the Bifröst Bridge, and has been spotted in recent footage sporting a rather more unkempt look than we have seen before. One could speculate that Loki’s time on the throne may have cost Heimdall his coveted role, but at the time of writing, the exact nature of his ousting has been kept carefully under wraps. Ragnarok will also introduce a new ally for Thor in the form of Valkyrie (played by Tessa Thompson). A fan-favourite character from the comics, who has featured in numerous iterations of both the Avengers and the Defenders, Valkyrie is one of Asgard’s finest warriors. She was also the leader of the Valkyrior, a team of formidable female warriors who were responsible for taking the souls of fallen heroes into Valhalla, essentially an Asgardian version of heaven where Hela cannot reach. However, by the time Thor meets her in Ragnarok, that life seems to be far behind her, as she instead fills a role subservient to the Grandmaster on Sakaar. The sequence of events that led her there remain shrouded in mystery, although we have seen glimpses of a catastrophic battle between the Valkyrior and Hela, which could serve as this film’s prologue.

16 Valkyrie may well have to fill the void left by Jaimie Alexander’s Sif, whose appearance in this movie is currently in question. There have been a number of conflicting reports surrounding her whereabouts, with some sites claiming she has a small role in Ragnarok, and others claiming she was not able to appear due to a clash with her NBC TV show Blindspot. If the latter turns out to be true, then Valkyrie will have some big shoes to fill, especially given the vocal fanbase Sif has acquired in spite of her relatively short screen-time. Similarly notable by her absence is Thor’s earthbound girlfriend Jane Foster, who according to Natalie Portman has exited the MCU entirely. In a conversation with journalists last summer, Portman stated quite frankly, “As far as I know, I’m done.” One would assume this means her relationship with the God of Thunder, which was depicted as a sweeping romance in the previous two movies, has come to an abrupt end. With Foster out of the picture, her quirky best friend Darcy (played by Kat Dennings) also seems to have gotten the axe, while Stellan Skarsgård has confirmed that he too has no role in the film. This cast shake-up adds to the feeling that this is a very different Thor movie to those that we have seen before, no doubt a response to past entries trailing behind the MCU pack in terms of box office and critical response. The changes are by no means isolated to in front of the camera, with a strikingly different director at the helm in the form of Taika Waititi. A far cry from both the pseudo-Shakespearian take of Kenneth Branagh and the watered-down Game of Thrones that Alan Taylor offered, Waititi’s expertise has always been in the realm of quirky comedy. Having turned heads with the one-two punch of What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, he is the latest example of Hollywood’s poaching of indie talent for their own mega-budget productions. This practice is a gamble that has produced some divisive results in the past (Jurassic World and The Amazing SpiderMan, to name just two), but what we’ve seen so far has presented no cause for concern. Waititi will also have an on-screen role as Korg, one of the rock monsters Thor fought in his very first appearance in 1962’s Journey Into Mystery #83. His MCU incarnation is said to be less

17 antagonistic, and will instead be one of Thor’s allies upon his arrival on Sakaar. Fans of Hunt for the Wilderpeople should also keep an eye out for two alumni from that film, with Rachel House playing an aide to the Grandmaster, and Sam Neill in an undisclosed role. Scripting duties have fallen to multiple writers, as is often the case with MCU movies, with relative newcomers Eric Pearson and Stephany Folsom working alongside The Dark World holdover Christopher Yost. Surprisingly though, while talking to MTV News at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Waititi let slip that about eighty percent of the film had been improvised on set! Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the improvised takes will make it into the final cut, especially with a strict producer like Kevin Feige keeping a watchful eye on the project, but does point to the playful tone we can expect to see in the finished product. As with any MCU film, the hype surrounding Thor: Ragnarok is as much to do with the movie itself as it is to do with what comes next. With February’s Black Panther unlikely to tie in here in any way, all eyes are, of course, going to be searching for those inevitable Infinity War Easter eggs. Chris Hemsworth has hinted that the last of the six infinity stones could show up in Ragnarok, a logical choice given that it is the final space-based Marvel feature pre-Infinity War. However, on the off-chance Ragnarok opts for a more self-contained story, as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 did earlier this year, there’s still plenty to be excited for. With an exciting ensemble cast of characters and a talented director steering the ship, this threequel could end up doing for Thor, what The Winter Soldier did for Captain America back in 2014. As the MCU’s future remains highly secretive post2019’s Avengers 4, there is a real possibility that this could be Thor’s final solo movie. Should that be the case, and if what we’ve seen so far is any indication, this is one trilogy that could well close out with its best film. Scrapping the hammer, the hair and a handful of characters was quite a gamble, but if there’s one company who have proved they can roll the dice well, it’s Marvel Studios. THOR: RAGNAROK will pummel UK cinemas on October 24th.

SMALL SCREEN THOR

By Paul Mount

As Thor is set to be reunited with the Green Goliath once more, we cast our minds back to an earlier time the pair appeared together, in a TV movie spin-off from the series The Incredible Hulk…

t’s nearly time for this year’s most hotly-anticipated blockbuster battle of the behemoths. Forget Batman v Superman (if only we could), November sees the arrival of the ultimate superhero grudge match as two of the most colourful and popular characters in the hugely successful Marvel Cinematic Universe lock horns at last for a full-on battle to the death. Thor: Ragnarok, the seventeenth Marvel Studios feature film (including this summer’s lively Sony co-production SpiderMan: Homecoming) sees Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder stranded on a distant alien world without his trusty hammer Mjolnir and forced to enter into gladiatorial combat with his old Avenger comrade (“He’s a friend from work!”) the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) before he can return to Asgard to save it from the impending Ragnarok. We’ve seen Thor and the Hulk clash before in the MCU, of course, most famously in 2012’s sublime Avengers Assemble. But it’s quite likely that audiences entranced by the extraordinary world - or, indeed, Universe building of the Marvel movies may be entirely unaware that these two comic book legends have actually faced off against each other on screen before. Let’s zip back in time to 1988 and cast an incredulous eye over The Incredible Hulk Returns, a standalone made-for-TV movie that sees Lou Ferrigno’s muscle-flexing, green-skinned rage monster meeting up with a barely recognisable visualisation of Thor in an unashamedly clumsy and cheesy piece of storytelling intended to serve as a backdoor pilot for a proposed Thor TV series. The Incredible Hulk ran on the CBS network in the States for five seasons

and 82 episodes between 1977 and 1982. The series was developed by Kenneth Johnson (V) following Universal’s acquisition of the rights to a number of Marvel Comics’ most popular characters. Johnson substantially reworked the Hulk from his comic strip incarnation, stripping away most of the character’s fantastical characteristics in an attempt to broaden the show’s appeal beyond the obvious comic book crowd. Bill Bixby’s Dr David Bruce Banner became gamma-irradiated during a failed laboratory experiment that unleashed his inner monster in the form of a roaring, angry green-hued monster called the Hulk (played by professional bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno) at times of stress and anger. Johnson wasn’t remotely interested in outlandish science fiction stories so Banner/the Hulk’s exploits tended to be extremely mundane and prosaic with the only fantastical elements in the episodes involving Banner’s transformation - usually just once or twice per episode - into his monstrous alter ego and Banner’s miserable determination to find a way to cure his inconvenient condition. The series ended in 1982 with Banner’s fate still unresolved, but in 1988, the Hulk was back on TV in the aforementioned The Incredible Hulk Returns, the first of three new TV movies that would serve not only as quick nostalgia fixes but also as potential springboards for new primetime superhero series featuring the likes of Thor and Daredevil (who rocked up in 1989’s The Trial of the Incredible Hulk). The Incredible Hulk Returns is set some time after the end of the TV series. Banner is now living a quiet life in a peaceful seaside beach house with his magnificently mulleted love interest Dr Margaret Shaw (Lee Purcell) and his rampaging dark side/green side appears to be under control. “It’s been two years since my Mr Hyde has shown his ugly face,” Banner tells Dr Shaw, who is blissfully unaware of his unusual medical condition and has been led to believe he’s just had a tough time of it in the past. Banner’s now working discreetly at the Joshua-Lambert Institute, developing a ‘gamma transponder’ that he hopes will help reverse his condition. Working in the lab one night, Banner is visited by Donald Blake (Steve Levitt), one of his former students, who tells him the bizarre story of how he found an enchanted hammer whilst vacationing in Norway.

The hammer apparently contains the ‘soul’ of Thor, son of Odin, banished from Asgard and now forced to obey the will of Blake, who summons him in times of crisis. Thor is manifested in Banner’s laboratory and, perhaps not surprisingly as Thor is spectacularly irritating, Banner starts to lose his cool and transforms into the Hulk. The pair set at one another, with Thor wielding his plastic hammer as they push each other across the room and smash up most of Banner’s laboratory kit. The Incredible Hulk Returns really has to be seen to be believed. Even allowing for the fact that the film appears to have a minuscule budget and that the special effects technology available to today’s storytellers just wasn’t available in 1988, it’s a magnificently inept and charmingly hapless effort. Bill Bixby was, at this point, 54 years of age and his best action hero days were clearly well behind him (and yes, some may find his googly-eyed relationship with Dr Shaw a little creepy) and yet he shines like a beacon of brilliance when set against Eric Kramer’s beach-bum interpretation of Thor. Perhaps we can generously give him the benefit of the doubt and suggest that perhaps he wasn’t taking the role entirely seriously - there’s certainly a twinkle in his eye and a smirk on his face during one or two of the more outlandish sequences - or perhaps we’re a bit jaded because of Chris Hemsworth’s more majestic contemporary take on the character. But Kramer’s Thor is an oafish boor much given to spouting dialogue such as “This will send you back to Hell, you ugly troll!” With the Hulk having hoofed it following their first less-than-explosive encounter, Donald Blake (comic fans will recognise the name as Thor’s human guise in the original strips) decides to show the food-obsessed Thor how humans have a good time. In a diversion from what we might describe as the main storyline, Blake takes Thor his bargain basement costume now replaced by jeans and T-shirt - to a strange biker-country hybrid bar where Thor proceeds to drink, dance with the ladies, and arm-wrestle before telling Blake, “You’re basically a good dude, dude.” Meanwhile, poor old Banner is sidelined during these shenanigans, re-entering the rather thin and ropey story when a bunch of criminals working within the Institute try to kidnap Banner

- you can guess what happens when he gets angry - and steal the Transponder. Inevitably, Maggie Shaw is kidnapped and Hulk and Thor must set aside their differences - whatever they were - to save the day, rescue the girl and, in Banner’s case, incapacitate the Transponder and thus ruin his chances of curing himself. As action-packed finales go, the battle between Hulk, Thor and the bad guys is risible, cheap stuff, which at one point involves an attempted escape in a helicopter, thwarted by Thor hanging on to one of its skis before falling nearly three feet to the ground. Poor old Mjolnir looks a bit like one of these cheap hammer keyrings available at all good comic cons and Thor himself doesn’t seem to possess anything especially impressive in the name of superpowers save the ability to shout a lot and overact. In the end, Blake and Thor are at peace with one another and Banner, his cover blown, slopes away into an uncertain future with Maggie gazing lovingly at him as he disappears into the end credits. The Incredible Hulk Returns is, obviously, the product of a different time and it has entirely different aspirations and sensibilities to the big screen Marvel spectaculars we enjoy today. Despite its hokiness, its tacky effects and poorly choreographed action, its ghastly dialogue and hammy performances and its marked lack of any really interesting dramatic dynamic, it’s shamelessly - perhaps shamefully entertaining if only because of its determined naïvety and its failure to in any way embrace the essence of the characters it’s bringing to the screen. But when you settle down with your tower of popcorn and assorted munchies and get stuck into Thor: Ragnarok in November, spare just a moment to remember the first time these two comic book colossi came to blows and marvel, in a very real sense, at how far we’ve come and how shows like The Incredible Hulk and their assorted spin-offs and reunions did their bit to keep these characters alive in the public eye and how, in their own strange way, they’re as much a part of the Marvel legacy as the multi-million dollar extravaganzas we take for granted today.

SEASON THREE

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AsgArd’s Mightiest heroes! b y Ch ristia n B o ne

With THOR: RAGNAROK hitting cinemas, we’re dusting off our textbooks and reading up on the ancient Norse myths and legends. You already know the likes of the God of Thunder, Loki, Odin, and Heimdall from the movies, but now let’s take a look at some other notable Norse gods. The original Avengers, you might say. FREY, KING OF THE ELVES God of: Prosperity, Virility, Sunshine. Powers/Weapons: Frey wields a magical sword that, provided its owner is wise enough, will fight on its own. Animal Sidekicks: A magical glow-inthe-dark boar called Gullinbursti. And you thought Rocket Raccoon was weird. Superhero-Mobile: Skíðblaðnir, a ship that always has favourable breeze and can be folded up like a napkin when not in use. Notable Myth: When Frey fell in love with the female jötunn (otherwise known as a Frost Giant) Gerth, he had to give up his magic sword to be with her. This came back to bite him during the apocalyptic events of Ragnarök, when he was unable to protect himself and was killed by the fire demon Surtur. FREYA, QUEEN OF THE VALKYRIES Goddess of: Love, Sex, Beauty, Gold, War, Death. Powers/Weapons: Frey’s twin sister Freya - the Scarlet Witch to his Quicksilver, if you like - possesses a cloak made from falcon feathers that has shapeshifting abilities. Speaking of Wanda Maximoff, Freya is adept

at magic. She also has an enchanted necklace called Brisingamen, which is often sought after by Loki. What makes Freya so important, though, is that she has first pick of those slain on the battlefield - those she chooses come with her to her realm of Fólkvangr, while the rest go to Odin at Valhalla. Superhero-Mobile: A chariot pulled by two cats. Notable Myth: Freya’s husband Oor would often go missing after he went travelling for extended periods. She cried tears of red gold because she missed him so much and would go on her own adventures to search for him. SIGURD, THE DRAGON SLAYER God of: Every superhero league needs at least one hero who doesn’t have superpowers and Sigurd - otherwise known as Siegfried - fits the bill in the Norse legends. Sigurd wasn’t a god, but merely the son of the great mortal warrior Sigmund, who died when he fought Odin. Powers/Weapons: Sigurd inherited the golden sword Gram from his father. It was

The Villains destroyed in Sigmund’s battle with Odin, but Sigurd’s magician friend Regin fixed it. The warrior later used the sword to slay the greedy dragon Fáfnir. Unfortunately, Sigurd also possesses Andvari’s golden ring that - unbeknownst to him - is cursed to bring tragedy and peril on whoever wears it. This ring later inspired J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings saga. Animal Sidekick: Sigurd’s horse, Grani, is a descendant of Odin’s own horse, Sleipnir. Notable Myth: Sigurd is known for his epic, tragic love story with his beloved Brynhildr. First, the happy couple are bewitched to forget each other by the evil Grimhildr. After she marries him, the witch then has Sigurd murdered by her own son. When Brynhildr remembers the truth, she lunges on Sigurd’s funeral pyre and burns to death with him. Hulk and Black Widow have nothing on this pair. IDUN, THE KEEPER OF ETERNAL YOUTH Goddess of: Apples, Youth. Powers/Weapons: Here’s a fun fact: the Norse gods are not naturally immortal. It is actually the apples that Idun keeps in her golden casket that grant the gods their eternal youth. It is also said that Asgard itself would lose its charm if the Apples of

Idun were lost. In that way, Idun is the one of the most important Asgardians. Notable Myth: Loki was once hired by the giant Thiazi to kidnap Idun. Without their precious apples, the Asgardians began to age rapidly. Luckily for them, the desperate gods figured out what had happened and forced Loki to betray Thiazi and return Idun to Asgard. TYR, GOD OF JUSTICE God of: War, Law, Justice. Powers/Weapons: Due to his extreme wisdom and courage, Tyr decides who lives and who dies in battle. Notable Myth: Long before he got loose during Ragnarök, Fenris was bound by Tyr in unbreakable chains - however, the heroic act came at the cost of his arm. It is also prophesised that Tyr would be eaten by Garm, the guard dog of the underworld. Basically, he should have just stayed away from animals. NJORD, LORD OF THE WIND AND THE SEAS Gods of: Sea, Seafaring, Wind, Fishing, Wealth, Crop Fertility. Powers/Weapons: Njord possessed the ability to calm the wind, seas and fire.

FENRIS-WOLF Also known as Fenrir, Fenris is the wolf son of Loki who was prophesised to kill Odin during the events of Ragnarök. In order to avert this fate, the gods attempted to imprison Fenris various times. Though they ultimately managed it (see Tyr’s entry), Fenris still broke free to fulfil the prophecy. In some versions, the wolf also consumed the sun and the moon during Ragnarök. JORMUNGAND, THE WORLD SERPENT Fenris’ brother and the middle child of Loki and his Frost Giant bride Angrboda (Angrboða), Jormungand (Jörmungandr) is also known as the Midgard Serpent or the World Serpent. Just as his sibling was also incarcerated, Odin imprisoned Jormungand in the great ocean that surrounded the Earth. The serpent grew so long that it could munch on its own tail as it circled the world. It was said that when the serpent let go of its tail, Ragnarök would begin. SURTUR, THE FIRE GIANT As was prophesised, the fire giant Surtur was another key figure during Ragnarök. With his fire sword, he battled and defeated Frey. The flames that resulted from the battle went on to claim the Earth. The Marvel version of Surtur will face off against Hulk and Thor rather than Frey in Thor: Ragnarök, and will be portrayed by voice acting legend (and the Kurgan in Highlander) Clancy Brown. HEL, GODDESS OF THE UNDERWORLD Seeing as her dad was the trickster god and her brothers were a wolf and a giant serpent, it’s not a surprise that Hel - who is sometimes described as a half-blue trollwoman - followed in the evil family business. As her name suggests, Hel was the goddess of the underworld and, when Ragnarök came around, she lent an army of the dead to her father Loki. Thor: Ragnarök will see the villainess - renamed Hela, and with her familial connection to Loki removed - début in the MCU, as played by Cate Blanchett.

22 THE AESIR-VANIR WAR

Seafarers routinely prayed to him before setting off on a voyage. Notable Myth: The giantess Skade (Skaði), the goddess of skiing, was once granted her wish to marry any god she wanted - as long as she only chose them from their feet. Believing she had picked Baldur, Skade was disappointed to find that she had chosen Njord. Their marriage didn’t last long and she later had an affair with Odin instead. Celebrity marriages - they never last, do they?

ULL, THE ASGARDIAN ARCHER Powers/Weapons: You think Hawkeye’s impressive? Wait to you see what Ull (Ullr) can do. The step-son of Thor, Ull is primarily known as a master archer, but is also an expert hunter, skater and skier. Because of this, his name was typically invoked before a duel. Notable Myth: Not many complete stories survive about Ull, but we do have several fragments of his exploits; e.g. he is said to have sailed across the ocean on just his shield. Impressively, Ull took command of the other gods when Odin was temporarily in exile from Asgard. BALDUR, THE MIGHTY MARTYR Powers/Weapons: Baldur is so handsome and beloved by all gods and goddesses that he actually gives off light. Thanks to a spell by his mother Frigga, he was also invincible to all Earthly materials – except for mistletoe. Notable Myth: Frigga had a prophetic dream of her son’s death. In order to prevent this, she made him invulnerable to everything on Earth. However, Loki found out that she had not bothered to protect him from mistletoe, having believed it to be totally harmless. Constructing a spear from the plant, the trickster impaled Baldur with it, killing him. This began a chain of events that led to the end of the gods, Ragnarök. Nice one, Loki. VALE, AVENGER OF BALDUR Powers/Weapons: Vale had a power we’re going to christen ‘Super-Growth’, as he aged to full adulthood within a day of his birth. Notable Myth: Vale is the son of the giantess Rind, who was raped by Odin. He was bred for the specific purpose of avenging Baldur. He did so by binding Loki with the entrails of the trickster’s own son Narfi. In Marvel terms, Vale is kind of like the Norse version of the Punisher. VIDAR, THE WOLF SLAYER Powers/Weapons: Vidar is second only to his half-brother Thor in terms of strength. He also possessed an enchanted shoe that is said to be ‘the strongest of all the shoes’. Notable Myth: It was foretold, and eventually came to pass, that Vidar would avenge his father’s death by smiting the wolf Fenris, who devoured Odin. Vidar used his enchanted shoe to hold open the wolf’s jaw and then

Just like the Avengers came to blows in Captain America: Civil War, the Norse gods had their own bout of in-fighting during the Aesir-Vanir War. The gods were split between two tribes - the Aesir, fathered by Odin, and the Vanir, fathered by Njord. Usually, relations between them were cordial but this was soured when the Vanir goddess Freya came to Asgard to offer her mystical services for hire. Freya practised a form of magic known as Seidr (seiðr) that allowed her to alter destiny. The Asgardians soon began side-lining their traditional values of honour and kinship in their selfish desires to use Freya’s magic for their own ends. The Aesir then blamed Freya for corrupting them, which bubbled over into a hatred of all Vanir. A war soon broke out between the two factions, with the Aesir fighting by usual military combat and the Vanir employing their magic. The conflict went on for some time before the two sides hit a stalemate. They decided to end their fighting, maintaining the armistice by each side holding hostages. While the Aesir treated their hostages with care, the Vanir murdered one of theirs and sent his severed head back to Odin. Rather than begin fighting once again, representatives of the Aesir and the Vanir spat into a magic cauldron. Their saliva then created Kvasir, the wisest being of them all, who would go on to keep the peace between the tribes. Why didn’t Iron Man and Captain America try that? cut its mouth to pieces. He is also one of the lucky gods who managed to survive Ragnarök. VÉ AND VILI, THE FIRST GODS Powers/Weapons: Incomparable strength, phenomenal cosmic power… Basically, Vé and Vili had it all. Notable Myth: Odin and his two brothers, Vé and Vili, killed Ymir, the primeval Frost giant who was the first being in the universe (and the true father of Loki). From his corpse, the brothers formed the Earth and all life on it. While Odin gave humanity their souls, Vili gave them intelligence and sense of touch and Vé provided their physical appearance, speech, hearing and sight.

With AMC’s genre juggernaut THE WALKING DEAD getting set to crawl back to our screens imminently, we give you the lowdown on what lies ahead for the evergrizzled Rick Grimes and co. ahead of Season Eight’s October premiere. Shuffling Up to Speed As is so often the case with genre shows these days, the final episode of the seventh season of The Walking Dead was a hard-hitting affair that had audiences gnawing at nails and holding their breaths. Granted, the way that said season finale closed out wasn’t quite as explosive as some previous seasons - with nothing anywhere near as gut-wrenching as Season Six’s cliffhanger of which poor soul’s face was going to get up close and personal with Negan’s trusty Lucille - but it was still an impactful, tense episode for how Sasha’s final moments played out. Tragically, Sonequa Martin-Green’s Sasha won’t be returning for this new season, with the character sacrificing herself in order to make a mess of Negan’s plans, but the rest of the show’s familiar faces will be back to battle the elements that this troubled landscape brings with it. And this time, they’ll be back with a renewed energy and purpose as the various communities of this gone-to-the-dogs world look to come together as a cohesive unit to put an end to Negan’s charismatic-yet-chaotic reign. Of course, last year’s season opener was one of the hands-down biggest episodes in this fan favourite show’s tenure, with poor Abraham (and his magnificent bastard of a moustache!) and Glenn finding out that Negan’s beloved barbed-wire bat had them in her sights. From there, the season was largely a mixed bag as things progressed; for every strong episode,

we were often given three or four dull outings. Don’t get us wrong, we’re all for tender, delicate storytelling and character development, but one of the big accusations directed at The Walking Dead over the past few seasons is that the series has fallen into a formulaic rut of having a big season premiere, a big season finale, and then the rest of the season becomes a little too ‘filler’ and you don’t particularly need to tune in to all that much bar those bookends. For those of that mindset, Season Seven didn’t exactly do anything to dispel that notion, and that’s just one of the concerns amongst longtime fans of AMC’s walker-centric show. While we’ll get to some of those concerns a little later in this feature, the meat of the matter right now is what we know about the upcoming eighth season so far. All Out War While the shocking suicide and reanimation of Sasha clearly dominated the final episode of Season Seven, more importantly for the show is that we finally saw Alexandria, the Kingdom, and the Hilltop come together to unite against Negan and his Saviors. Going forward, that clearly means a change in the dynamic we can expect to see in Season Eight. No longer is Negan necessarily the clear dominant force or able to just casually do whatever he wants, for now the coming together of these communities - not to mention the prospect of a helping hand from the folks at Oceanside - changes the proverbial

BRING OUT YOUR

DEAD

by Andre w Pollar d

27 game. And for fans of STARBURST fave Pollyanna McIntosh, fear not, for Jadis and her Scavengers will be back to help out Negan after double-crossing Rick in the last season. When it comes to the actual key details and plot points of this new season, if we’re being completely honest, very little is known bar the brief news that A History of Violence and Lights Out’s Maria Bello - who is also an uber-fan of The Walking Dead - has landed an unspecified role in the show. Other than that, it seems logical to presume that Maggie will continue to rise to power as the figurehead of the Hilltop, that Dwight’s role will become a pivotal one in how things develop regarding the threat of Negan’s Saviors, and that plenty more guts and gore lie ahead. What we know for sure, though, is that there could and should be a swing in power where the show’s main players are concerned. For those who are familiar with the comic book, you likely have an idea of where things are heading - All Out War. What’s All Out War? some of you may ask. Well, it’s an arc from the comic series where the united communities become collectively known as the Militia, and Rick leads this united front into battle against Negan’s Saviors. While the TV show has not always followed the comic book title beat-forbeat, to go any further into the details of All Out War would be going down a route potentially laced with a whole host of spoilers. As such, we’ll avoid the juicy details of that arc bar saying there’s some deaths, there’s some hugely shocking moments, and there’s weapons given a gnarly upgrade by dousing them in walker guts. So yeah, All Out War is coming to your TV screens, and it should give the series a major shot in the arm. If you’re one of those who need to know what’s around the corner, Google is

your friend. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you about spoiling some of the big twists and turns that lie ahead. Before we lunge ahead to discuss the ramifications of Season Eight going forward, it seems like now would be the perfect time to discuss one of the huge talking points coming out of July’s San Diego Comic-Con. After a trailer for The Walking Dead’s new season was aired - and subsequently turned up online many were left with their jaws agape at the final shot of said teaser footage; footage of an older, weary Rick Grimes waking up in some sort of hospital. Many instantly jumped to the conclusion that the series was pulling a Dallas (the ‘death’ of Bobby Ewing - ask your parents, kids) and going with the oft-speculated - and likely total bollocks - fan theory that the whole of what we’ve seen in The Walking Dead will have been all a dream of Rick Grimes’, and that Rick has just been in a coma this whole time. Again, to say too much here would be to tread into spoiler territory, but trust us when we see that this is not the show pulling a Dallas or any such ‘it was all a dream’ cheap trick. Tread Carefully Whether the eighth season gets off to an immediate bang or not, what’s more notable about the season premiere is that it marks the one hundredth episode of The Walking Dead. For a property that many thought may not fare all that well when being adapted for the small screen, AMC’s The Walking Dead has undeniably proved to be a hit of monumental proportions and will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest TV shows in genre history and likely one of the best shows to ever grace the tele box. But still, Season Eight is a vital moment for The Walking Dead. Without trying to get all doom and gloom

about things, The Walking Dead, while still doing extremely good ratings, has seen its viewing figures steadily decreasing over the past couple of years. In fact, the past season of the series saw it hitting ratings lows not seen since the first two seasons; a time when the masses were still to really embrace the show. Added to that, the finale of Season Seven was the lowest viewed finale for a staggering five years. Don’t be too scared by that, mind, for, as alluded to, the show still tops the ratings as the most watched series in the US despite these falling figures. Of course, excuses can easily be found for these declining figures, with a vast range of reasons being found by fans and AMC execs, from killing off fan favourite Glenn Rhee in the season premiere, to the finale airing on the same day as the WWE’s Showcase of the Immortals, WrestleMania. Even when taking the decline in viewership in to account, The Walking Dead isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Robert Kirkman himself - creator of the comic book and producer of the show - has already stated that Season Eight is going to move at a far faster pace than the past two years, but that could be a double-edged sword in our eyes. Sure, the whole story arc of Negan and his Saviors has maybe dragged on a little too long for some, and it does feel that some sort of resolution is needed sooner rather than later on that front, but what then? What happens when the threat of Negan is neutralised? In the comics, there’s the bizarre and twisted Whisperers group that make Negan and Lucille look like something out of a Tom and Jerry cartoon, but it’s getting to a point where it’s hard for The Walking Dead to push things on too far without that resulting in far too much filler being dished out to pad out the episodes. It’s clear by this point in time that the threat of the undead isn’t really the major worry - man has proven itself a far scarier prospect than any shuffling horde - but how does the show make sure it can continue to dish up intriguing and engaging ‘villains’ as it looks to the future? To date, we’ve seen Shane’s glorious descent into madness, we’ve had the charming Governor and his demented ego, we’ve had the fleshmunching Terminus gang, and we’ve even had the lovable erratic bad guy shtick of Michael Rooker’s Merle, but what happens when Negan is in the show’s rearview mirror? Away from the supposed villains in a world full of tortured, desperate souls, what else can we as an audience really be shocked by? Where the presence of walkers is concerned, we’ve seen pretty much all there is to see by this point in terms of them both being offed and devouring innards. Away from that, after the eye-popping spectacle of Glenn’s demise, the death of Lori after childbirth, the devouring of poor Noah in a revolving door, and the it-stillhurts decapitation of our beloved Hershel, it seems nigh-impossible to really shock us on the death front, and so, when you really think about it, we’re all left pondering just what is left

for The Walking Dead. With the TV limitations meaning that infant deaths are off the table - in the comic book, baby Judith is long dead - and the fact that we all know that a few select characters will never truly be killed off unless the show really is coming to an end, it seems as if The Walking Dead is coming to a pivotal moment where its future is concerned. Sure, the ratings that it draws means that the show is in no trouble of being cancelled, but you have to question where the series can take things in a story sense over the next few years. As mentioned, you want to make any possible new threats seem like a major deal, yet the trick is not dragging arcs and stories out to such an extent that your audience grows tired, realises they can afford to miss a few episodes, and, as such, ratings continue to drop. We know, we know; we’re sounding a little like Oscar the Grouch over these last few paragraphs. It’s just maybe a little food for thought. Like we said, the series is still bringing in plenty of eyes, drawing constantly high ratings compared to its competitors, and it creates enough watercooler buzz to have even the most casual of TV viewers talking about it across the globe. Our point is, while the early parts of Season Eight should prove to be brilliant as we see the united communities engaging in brutal, bloody battle with Negan and his crew, it’s the bit after that is arguably even more important; how the path is laid for what lies ahead, and just what is the path leading to? Regardless of how charming and scenerydevouring Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan is, it feels as if his ongoing battle between Rick really does need to be laid to rest now. Then again, who says that the conclusion of that conflict means that Negan has to be completely taken out of the equation…? To end on a more positive note, the prospect of All Out War, the promise of better paced episodes, and the guarantee of a new Rick Grimes that’s a return to the old Rick Grimes? Bar the shock aspect of Negan’s butchering of Abraham and Glenn, this new season really does have the potential to be the best season of The Walking Dead that we’ve seen in several years. But like the world which the show inhabits, it’s just all a case of ifs, maybes, and learning to adapt to new threats - whether that’s new villains or putting a stop to declining ratings. By this stage of the game, The Walking Dead has easily earned our trust, and now it’s up to this massively popular series to make the most of the fascinating possibilities that lie at its feet and gives fans a season that matches up to the most dramatic, tense, enthralling, and emotive moments that this genre mega power has given us since it first shuffled on to our screens in 2010. Season Eight of THE WALKING DEAD premieres on Sunday, October 22nd in the US, with the show returning to FOX TV on October 23rd in the UK.

while stocks last while stocks last

Jigsaw and the Return of the Saw Franchise By Scott Clark

In the seven years since the games ended, fans have waited patiently for the inevitable resurrection of Lionsgateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SAW franchise and its now iconic villain, Jigsaw. It was only a matter of time but finally, the games are about to begin againâ&#x20AC;Ś

he trailer for Jigsaw was released earlier this year and slid out of nowhere with little hype. It was met with positive response from a fanbase who perhaps underestimated how much they’d missed this gruesome Halloween tradition and all its nasty accoutrements. Because when you think about it, nothing has really stepped up to the plate. In the past seven years, Blumhouse has pretty much seized control of the horror market with an endless stream of impressive independent horror projects benefiting from studio release. Paranormal Activity ruled the roost for a while and Saw creator James Wan hit gold with Insidious and The Conjuring, directing sequels to both. But Saw is a unique property. Saw surpassed its micro-budget oneoff origins to become one of the highest grossing horror franchises of all time. Not only that, but it became a Halloween institution, easily banking massive seasonal profits for seven consecutive years. The films’ dense network of twisting narratives, mystery thrills, hyper-gore, creative deaths and instantly recognisable iconography was a winning formula for genre fans bored with anonymous slashers and spooks.

Game Over

Looking back at the franchise, it’s easy to see where the mistakes were made: overly complicated storylines that relied heavily on backtracking and spontaneous character introductions. The traps were always great and the pure sense of splatter was commendable in a modern world too focused on common sense and ‘realism’. It’s important to remember that however grounded the Saw film’s origins were, the franchise blossomed into a mess of trapcentric story and strained character work. The Final Chapter made a good go at tying up loose ends. All those random little tempting snippets of soon-to-be-resolved mystery were cut as all the secondary and tertiary characters were offed in various

grotesque ways, and Dr Gordon (Cary Elwes) was revealed as the secret apprentice of Jigsaw with his own squad of accomplices. The film ended on about as complete a note as we were ever going to get. For many a fan, early news of the remake was cause for panic. The first Saw film only came out in 2004 so updating those characters seemed a little premature and a whole lot commercial. But then what isn’t? So many of the folks who paid to see all seven films at the cinema (or snuck in because they were underage) have a strong connection to these films and a real passion for its world. The demand for ‘more of the same’ is high for fans but low for potential newcomers and critics. The Saw series is a shamelessly lucrative one, short on logic and long on splatter. It’s a franchise crammed with ret-cons, empty reasoning, shoehorned character work, and hypocritical moral justifications. But the core concept - a dying man tests the survival instincts of those he views as wasting their life - is a fundamentally interesting one for a horror film. It’s the sort of idea that stands out amidst the many things that go bump in the night. So that’s why they’re just shifting things up rather than remaking. Jigsaw picks up ten years after the events of Saw III; John Kramer is long since dead, and yet a new spate of grisly murders has erupted across the city, all of them bearing the calling card of the Jigsaw Killer.

Trust In Him

The responsibility of updating this huge property has fallen at the feet of Michael and Peter Spierig, the brother duo behind dystopian vampire flick Daybreakers. Lionsgate has made a smart move. The incestuously in-house direction of the first seven Saw films is arguably what held it back, swinging from one heavy metalinfused schlock trip to the next without ditching the late ‘90s hangover James Wan and Leigh Whannell had when they

instigated the franchise. Branching out to a pair of relatively new directors with a clean savvy idea of genre filmmaking can only serve the Saw films well. The slick sci-fi slant on both Daybreakers and their more recent Predestination can only serve as a nice contrast to the dark grunge of the first seven films. And as anyone who has seen Daybreakers will attest, these guys are not shy with brutal OTT gore. Since a lot of the series’ issues are down to inconsistent scripts, new writers are integral to the success of the reboot. The first three films were written with the involvement of series creators Wan and Whannell whilst Saw four to seven were scripted by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. Though the films remained lucrative till the end, the major reasons for generally negative reviews and unfulfilled plotting will hopefully be trimmed by newcomers Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg. The pair have already had success in horror with commendably schlocky and relentlessly tense updates of Piranha 3D and Sorority Row and the Spierig Brothers have already promised a ‘less vicious’ Saw film with more fun in its heart than its predecessors. That’s music to the ears of anyone who loves the theatricality of the Saw world. Fixtures like Billy the puppet, the pig masks, taped messages, and obsidian-black humour seem to be going nowhere. Wan and Whannell have cited the titular villain of The Abominable Dr Phibes as a major influence on the Jigsaw Killer, and it really shows. That kind of garish early ‘70s Vincent Price camp is a far cry from the nihilistic world of Saw, but there’s too much inventive bravado and misplaced morality in Jigsaw’s persona to flat-out deny the Phibes-isms. Basically, Goldfinger and Stolberg are probably the perfect people to bring Saw out of its moody millennial phase into the stark self-aware world of 2017, and with a dollop of fun no less.

There Will Be Blood

In keeping with tradition, Jigsaw has banded together a cast of up and coming stars for its dreadful machinations. The most recognisable names include Callum Keith Rennie (Battlestar Galactica, Californication), Clé Bennett (of Heroes: Reborn fame), and Smallville’s Laura Vandervoort. Now, given Rennie and Bennett’s history with bad guys and Vandervoort’s much-loved portrayal of Supergirl, they could be up for some pretty big roles in the new franchise. Brittany Allen (who won the Emmy for Outstanding Younger Actress in 2011) also heads up the cast of new Canadian and American film/TV stars who will end up as trap fodder in the latest round of terrifying games. But when it comes down to the ins and outs, your guess is as good as ours. Jigsaw came together pretty quietly and quickly, with little chance for long-term conjecture and plot leaks. We honestly know very little about the new direction or killers, which is good because Saw could really use a good mystery. Common sense would call to Dr Gordon, but Cary Elwes isn’t attached to the project. None of the original cast are, except of course Jigsaw himself, played once again, thankfully, by the fantastic Tobin Bell. The footage we’ve seen explains how Kramer’s own DNA has been found at the scenes of the new murders, which raises a bluster of rabid queries and fantasies. Jigsaw died back in Saw III, fairly graphically, and only turned up to flesh out the story via flashbacks after that. Chances are that Bell has filmed a new round of juicy flashbacks to validate the new direction, but then... could he have faked it? (Not really.)

You Haven’t Seen Anything Yet

Of course, no Saw film would be complete without a smorgasbord of twisted traps and the trailer promises a collection of macabre delights so awful the fans will surely be satisfied. From the more intimate one-person affairs, right up to a large-scale multi-person

extravaganza, Jigsaw is ticking all the boxes. The new traps definitely have a more industrial feel, which raises questions again about the identity or identities of the new killers. It also points towards a much better organisation than Jigsaw himself ran with Amanda, Hoffman, and Gordon. Considering that this film is set ten years after the death of John Kramer, it’s safe to assume someone has had plenty of time to organise a cult or institution in his likeness. Since this isn’t a remake, consistency is important, so new production designer Anthony Cowley (whose credits with Dexter probably account for some of the clinical realness in the trailer) is joined by a squad of Saw veterans. Production manager Kym Crepin worked on Saw five to seven, whilst Kevin Greutert edited the first five films then moved on to directing duties for the last two. Greutert’s choppy editing style is another hallmark of the franchise but one that could easily cause bother for the new film without someone to keep context. Incoming post-production supervisor Philip Stilman has had a string of successes with recent hits like Jon Watts’ Clown and Robert Eggers’ The Witch, so Jigsaw looks set to be one of the more refined entries to the list. Which is important for the franchise moving forward: that brand of punky scuzz that clung to the first seven films was a symptom of the new millennium. It’s 2017 and we’ve been promised a very modern take on the Saw formula.

Legends Never Die

The Saw franchise gives into the shameless nihilistic impulse for cathartic degradation in a fucked-up world. The Jigsaw Killer targets benefits frauds, the press, corrupt police, cheating spouses, even going after health insurers in Saw VI. Oddly, the franchise has its roots in vigilante justice; its deranged logic aimed at failing US institutions. So, considering everything that’s

happened in the last few years, there’s plenty of new victims out there. It’s a more politically charged world; social media has polarised politics and given anyone with a phone the means to talk globally or organise protest. Those are some pretty interesting developments for a franchise centred on moral high ground and cultish following. Whilst the main poster for Jigsaw exploits the iconography of the pig mask, another renders a crude painting of John Kramer in his theatrical black and red cloak; with a touch of counterculture about it and a dollop of political satire, the poster itself isn’t too far off some of the primary coloured high contrast political posters that popped up in the last US election and again with the build up to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Could Jigsaw be exploring the farreaching consequences of Kramer’s legacy? The Saw films did nothing if they didn’t relay how one serial killer impacted an entire city, starting from the bottom up; how victims and disillusioned cops became willing apprentices, absorbing Kramer’s bizarre logic. It might just be that we are finally seeing a near-religious response to his work. Kramer was always something of a deranged martyr in the franchise, humanised beyond the standard horror villain and actually able to follow through on his promise of rehabilitation - with varying results. Either way, the Spierig Brothers have a lot to live up to and Jigsaw looks set to deliver an energetic restart with a great mystery. Come October 27th, a whole lot of people will be in for a gruesome bout of savvy sadism, whilst a whole lot of other people will experience the Saw franchise at the cinema for the very first time. Tell your friends, tell your family, Jigsaw is back and the games have indeed just begun... The truth will set us free when JIGSAW prepares to traumatise UK cinemas on October 27th.

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A Story So Shocking, So Threatening, It Will Frighten You Beyond All Imagination! THE ENTITY, the ultimate story of supernatural terror starring Barbara Hershey, will be released in a Limited Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) SteelBook

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From director Wolfgang Petersen comes Enemy Mine, a tale of two enemies thrown together in a hostile world where to survive they must become allies. Available in a Limited Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) SteelBook Special features include a booklet featuring an essay by Craig Ian Mann and behind the scenes imagery

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by Jack Bottomley

We want to play a game. Thirteen years ago, James Wan directed a horror-thriller called SAW that sickened with its gory ingenuity and floored with twisted narrative shocks, and a franchise was born. In the years that followed, the sequels grew more bloodthirsty, some would say at the expense of the ideology of the original. Before you lies JIGSAW, the first entry in the franchise for seven years. So will you stick with us as we look back at the legacy to prepare for this upcoming advancement of the grisly series, or will you go in unprepared? Read or die (or, at least be less in the know)... make your choice...

e would be telling porkies if we didn’t say we had missed the mad editing, madder plot twists, Charlie Clouser’s pulse rateraising score and creative death traps that make one question the sadists that thought this up. Back in 2004, Wan and screenwriter/ co-star Leigh Whannell envisioned a short to help them make a mark in Hollywood. They then remade it as a feature and became an important part in horror lore. Shot in 18 days and originally intended for straight-to-video release, Saw was picked up for a cinema run and became one of the most profitable horror films ever, making $103.9 million worldwide on a $1.2 million budget. The story saw (ahem) photographer Adam (Whannell) awaken in a bathtub of water; he unplugs the drain, and a glowing object disappears down it. Soon, he finds that he and oncologist Dr Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) have both been chained to the walls of a disused washroom with vague recollections of how they got there. Between them is a dead body and various tapes/clues left by the headline-grabbing ‘Jigsaw killer’. How will they escape this predicament and survive the painful games of Jigsaw, who pushes his subjects to their limit, giving them a chance to fight for and appreciate their life. Meanwhile former detective David Tapp (Danny Glover) fixatedly hunts down Jigsaw. More akin to Se7en-style smarts than torture porn (though it unintentionally birthed that subgenre boom), Saw was wrapped with themes about the value of life, atoning for the past (all Jigsaw‘s victims have shady pasts) and the human condition. Saw also relished unleashing what would become one of the franchise’s modus operandi: plot twists. It’s revealed that the killer, a hospital orderly called Zep (Michael Emerson), who also kills Tapp, is yet another piece of Jigsaw’s game and in the closing moments, the ‘dead’ body on the bathroom floor rises to life. Jigsaw was there all along and is cancer patient John Kramer (Tobin Bell - in what has become the

role of his career) shown briefly as a past patient of Gordon, and that glowing object at the start of the film was the key to Adam and Lawrence’s chains. Jigsaw then slams the door on Adam’s game, and life, proclaiming “Game Over”. Saw drilled into the audience’s psyche, leaving them perversely craving more, and in 2005’s Saw II, they got more. Despite mixed reviews (the case for all the Saw movies), Darren Lynn Bousman’s sequel was a house of horror endurance jaunt, with merciless moments (see: the vat of syringes) and script shockwaves. Amanda (Shawnee Smith) - a former drug addict who appeared in the first film as the only survivor of one of Jigsaw’s games, claiming it “cured her” - returned in a bigger role. In Saw II, troubled detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) becomes part of Jigsaw’s game, as Eric and a SWAT team catch the cancer-stricken Kramer at his lair. But this was the plan. Kramer reveals Eric’s son Daniel is currently trapped in an unspecified building with Amanda and a whole host of other unwilling participants, who must work through a series of traps to get the antidote to a nerve agent slowly filling the hellish setting. However, Kramer says that if Eric just sits and speaks with him until the two hours are up, Daniel will be returned safely at the game’s completion. Ultimately, Eric snaps, and batters Kramer to the point that he takes Eric to his son. In true Saw fashion, it transpires that Amanda is working with her former tormentor and as the timer ends, Eric’s colleagues find his son safe (literally) and sound, as Amanda jumps Eric (dressed in the now infamous pig person get-up) and leaves him shackled in the that bathroom. “Game Over.” Again. By 2006, the series’ grisly death-defying and viscera-soaked philosophy was brutally established but Saw III was a more overly complex affair that briefly introduced Forensic Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas

Mandylor) and Jigsaw’s wife Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell), two future principal characters (remember them peeps, if you’re keeping score at home). Saw III focused on Amanda’s relationship with John after her ‘test’ and, via flashbacks (another Saw trope), revealed her to be instrumental in events so far. However, Amanda’s fractured psyche - ironically made more erratic by her obsession with John - was collapsing. The movie’s main game focused on Lynn (Bahar Soomekh), a doctor being forced (via an explosive collar linked to Kramer’s heartbeat) to keep a neardeath Kramer alive by any means necessary, until a man called Jeff (Angus Macfadyen) completes a series of games that make Jeff confront his thirst for revenge against those involved in his young son’s death years prior. Naturally, things go badly, as - despite Lynn keeping Kramer alive to the completion of Jeff’s game - a jealous Amanda lets her murderous tendencies take over and she refuses to release Lynn, shooting her instead, only for it to be revealed Lynn and Jeff are, in fact, husband and wife. An angry Jeff arrives on the scene, killing Amanda and Kramer, when (in his dying moments) Kramer reveals that he has Jeff’s daughter and had he resisted his urge for vengeance, she would be safe, as would a still-alive Lynn. Alas, Lynn’s collar explodes and game... you know what... By now, Saw had gone from twisty to near indecipherably logic-stretching for some audiences (how could one guy with an inoperable disease plan all this?). The traps grew ever more gorily inventive as the survivalist debate that surrounded the first three films loosened. With John ‘Jigsaw’ Kramer dead, could the series go on? Oh come now, death is only a slight hindrance when it comes to horror franchises, let alone highly successful ones. Enter 2007’s Saw IV. Saw IV, despite convoluting matters, exceptionally explored John Kramer’s backstory, showing us what created ‘Jigsaw’

(and the chilling tricycle-riding Billy the Puppet, which Kramer uses to tell the rules of his games to the participants). Kramer’s death diagnosis and car accident were just part of his story. Here we find his pregnant wife Jill lost their baby in an altercation at her clinic with a drug addict. These revelations and the flashes of John and Jill’s past made this instalment linger. Lucky, really, as the central story was all over the shop. Saw IV followed Lieutenant Daniel Rigg (Lyric Bent) and his preoccupation to stop those around him dying, as he tries to save kidnapped colleague Mark Hoffman and his - astonishingly still living - partner Eric Matthews (yep, he isn’t dead - a Saw trope - he died in this one, though) from an icy fate. In the meantime, Agents Peter Strahm (Scott Patterson) and Lindsey Perez (Athena Karkanis) piece together this latest string of deaths and wonder if others are involved. In the conclusive moments, we find out that not only do this movie’s events overlap those in the finale of Saw III, but Jigsaw has another accomplice in Detective Hoffman! Who leaves Rigg to die and traps an investigating Peter Strahm in Kramer’s sickroom from Saw III. So, after the last film’s revelation that Jigsaw had a bulkier assistant, the next amputated leg of the story was to come in David Hackl’s exceedingly underrated Saw V (2008), which explored Hoffman’s character and how he came to work for Kramer. The film swiftly followed the last, as Hoffman ties up loose ends and leaves Peter Strahm to die in a water-filled headcase. Regrettably, Strahm survives and grows suspicious of his colleague, who seems to have come out of all this too well as the hero cop saving Jeff’s daughter (remember?). Oh, and a side plot that features a bunch of morally repugnant people learning tough lessons about co-operation, too. Saw V was a detective story akin to the first, as Hoffman used his opponent’s obsessiveness to frame Strahm as Jigsaw’s

accomplice in the eyes of his boss Dan Erickson (Mark Rolston). Come the movie’s culmination, Hoffman traps Strahm in a room of doom; once again leaving as the ultimate survivor. Also worth noting: in this film, Jill receives a box as per the will of John and its contents remains a mystery... until Saw VI! For in 2009, fans received the sequel that thematically came closest to matching the first, as Kevin Greutert’s movie challenged the American healthcare and insurance system in a very on-the-nose fashion. Callous insurance executive William Easton (Peter Outerbridge) is forced to test his calculating business model in a series of traps with his equally unsympathetic employees. Meanwhile, the disappearance (read: squashing) of Strahm and ‘miraculous’ survival of Hoffman has Agent Erickson and the still-alive (after an exploding puppet incident in Saw IV) Agent Perez doubtful, as they seek out the possibility that Strahm may not have actually been Jigsaw’s accomplice. All while Jill puts in motion her husband’s posthumous wishes of a final test; not just for Easton but for someone else, too. Once more, the bloody rug is pulled from beneath the audience’s bruised feet come the apex, as Easton completes his challenges but finds himself at the mercy of two people, Tara (Shauna MacDonald) and her son Brent (Devon Bostick), who throughout have been portrayed as though they’re Easton’s family, but are disclosed to be the family of a man Easton rejected for insurance and thus signed his death sentence... needless to say Easton isn’t judged lightly, as Brent pulls the ‘die’ lever and seals Easton’s acid-aided fate. Hoffman is found out by the persistent Perez and Erickson but kills them, only for it to be disclosed that Jill’s final task was to test Hoffman. She jumps him, locking him in the reverse bear trap and leaves him to his destiny. However, Hoffman manages to escape, albeit facially injured and mightily pissed off!

Onto Gruetert’s 2010 film Saw 3D: The Final Chapter (yes, that old chestnut). Imbued with the spirit of Herschell Gordon Lewis, it’s splattertastic, ridiculous and a fun end (cough) to the Saw saga as well as a trashy celebration of the series. Familiar faces return, most notably a one-legged Dr Gordon (whoops, did we forget to mention he hacked his leg off in the first film with the eponymous Saw to escape, not to be heard from again? Sorry). The main plot of the film focuses on Hoffman hunting down Jill, as she seeks protection from Detective Matt Gibson (Chad Donella) - a cop with an uneasy history with Hoffman. Meanwhile, Bobby Dagen (Sean Patrick Flanery), a Jigsaw trap survivor and celebrity, who’s actually lying about it, is soon forced to see whether he actually has what it takes to survive a real game of his own. In short, he doesn’t. Bobby pays for his lies with the loss of friends and family, Hoffman gains a measure of revenge against Matt Gibson - leading him into a bullet-riddled setup - and finally gets his hands on Jill, whom he kills with the reverse bear trap. Is that it? Of course not. Hoffman’s victory is scuppered by pig mask-wearing attackers led by - drum roll Dr Gordon! Who, it turns out, became close with Kramer, aiding with all the surgical procedures in Kramer’s games. In a dying wish, John asked Gordon to look over Jill and act should anything happen to her. So Gordon locks Hoffman in the bathroom where it all began, uttering one final “Game Over”. Seems fair. So, are you still with us? Say what you like about the series’ ideology succumbing to bloodlust, but this franchise has never lacked the gusto to twist the story and playfully stab at its audience‘s expectations. Saw is the Friday the 13th of the noughties and we’ve missed its creatively designed traps, bewildering turns and stomachturning, meaning-laced slaughter. Which brings us to Jigsaw. But you can read all about that on page 28.

SAW’s Top 10 Traps

Glass Box (Saw V) Strahm throws Hoffman into the bulletproof broken-glass-filled box, but this was the plan all along, as this box - whilst painful - is the only safe haven in the room, as the walls close in and squash Strahm into a bloody, fleshy, pancake.

Rib Spreader (Saw III) Detective Allison Kerry (Dina Meyer) is in a device hooked up to her chest that’ll tear her rib cage apart when the time runs out, unless she unlocks it using the key, which she must retrieve from the vat of acid in front of her before it dissolves. Sadly, Amanda tweaked the design so it would kill Kerry... bit unfair.

Shotgun Roulette (Saw VI) Russian roulette meets perverse playground, as six members of William Easton’s ‘dog pit’ are strapped to a carousel that stops at certain intervals. blasting one in the chest with a shotgun. Easton can only save two from being blasted by pressing the button and in doing so having his hand drilled. Talk about a blood sacrifice.

Knife Face (Saw IV) Technically the first Jigsaw trap, as John Kramer straps Cecil (Billy Otis) - the man responsible for his wife’s miscarriage - to a chair with blades opening his wrists. To escape, Cecil must press his face through a wall of knives hard enough to release the mechanisms holding him to the seat. He succeeds but makes a lunge at John and misses, fatally landing in a spool load of razor wire. Oh Cecil!

Pendulum (Saw V)

Sticky Car (Saw 3D: The Final Chapter)

Beakers of Blood (Saw V)

Just as our rather selfish quintet had dwindled down, trap-by-trap, to just two, they are then hit with the realisation they all needed to work together throughout (oops). This final trap encourages them to put their arms in the slots, thus allowing the saw blades to slice their arms and fill the beaker with their blood. With five it would’ve meant a small sacrifice each, with two it means draining each person of half their blood supply. Bloody typical!

The Bathroom (Saw) Adam and Dr Gordon’s game involved many unexpected developments, none more stunning than that final twist or Gordon’s leg-lopping. The bathroom is the most methodical and desperate of all Saw traps.

Edgar Allan Poe would be proud. In this Pit and the Pendulum-inspired trap, the victim has to insert their hands into vices that will crush each hand but stop the blade from slowly swinging down and cleaving them in half before the timer runs out… but Hoffman unfairly alters the rule for Seth Baxter (Joris Jarsky) - his sister’s killer. So Seth gets sliced!

A group of violent racists are put into a devilish domino effect game where their leader (late Linkin Park star Chester Bennington) is glued to the seat of a car and must tear himself from it and pull the lever before the timer runs out and the revved up car is released, thus crushing one member, tearing the arms and jaw off another and steamrolling the last. We car-n’t watch!

Pig Entrails (Saw III)

The judge who lightly sentenced the driver who ran over Jeff’s son is restrained to the bottom of a container, where an assembly line of rotten pig carcasses are blended, each slowly filling up the vat with liquefied rotten flesh to drown him. Jeff must press the button to release him, but this will incinerate his deceased son’s possessions in the process. Cruel and unusual, yet innovative. Glad they didn’t make a pig’s ear of it!

Reverse Bear Trap (Saw) Amanda must free herself from a head-rupturing device by burrowing a (living) man’s stomach for a key before the time runs out. Saw’s most iconic trap.

by James Evans

As we prepare to meet the demonic doll once more, we look into the growing CULT OF CHUCKY…

hildren’s dolls. Awesome when you’re a kid but when you’re all grown up? Creepy little things, exemplified all the way back in The Twilight Zone episode Living Doll. Always a good chance that seemingly benign kid’s toy is secretly out to get you. Back in 1988, writer-director Tom Holland certainly thought so too, when he and Don Mancini (along with John Lafia) came up with the script for Child’s Play. It told of serial killer Charles Lee Ray who, when cornered by police, is shot and about to die. A good thing for him that he had some voodoo skills and so before he dies, Charles is able to transfer his soul into a Good Guy doll that is later bought by single mother Karen for her son Andy. Chucky (as he is now called) reveals himself to Andy in return for a little help, but this condemns Chucky to need to transfer his soul into Andy’s body or eventually die again in the doll’s shell. This kicked off a franchise that, whilst not as big as A Nightmare on Elm Street, for example, still has a lot of die-hard fans and plenty of mainstream recognition. Two years later, the first sequel followed with Chucky rebuilt and still after Andy.

It’s a continuation of this for Child’s Play 3, with Andy once again the target of a resurrected Chucky. However, things went in a different direction for the next sequel, Bride of Chucky. This introduced Jennifer Tilly as Chucky’s old girlfriend Tiffany, who helps reanimate him and promises to help him become human again. The tilt towards black comedy is more pronounced and led into the fifth film Seed of Chucky. Seed went more outrageous and meta in its approach and the shift away from the first films continued. Next up, though, was Curse of Chucky, which swung back towards straight horror as it continued the possessed doll’s mission to make himself human again. And that leads us neatly to Cult of Chucky, the seventh film in the series and one that promises to bring all of the films’ successful elements together. In Cult, Nica (the female lead from Curse of Chucky) is now committed to an asylum and convinced she was responsible for the murders of her family, not Chucky because he was a delusion. Her psychiatrist, being at least in part a movie idiot, brings a new Good Guy doll into their sessions to help with the therapy. Of course, it’s no surprise

when murders start plaguing the institute and Nica begins to think she might not belong in an asylum after all. Andy is out there, too, having returned to the series in the surprise climax of Curse of Chucky and just like Nica, he knows that Chucky is all too real and will kill anyone who gets in his way. But Tiffany is also still around and remains violently devoted to the spirit of Charles Lee Ray. There’s quite a lot of buzz about Cult of Chucky. This is in part due to what was felt to be a renaissance in the series with the previous instalment. A premiere of the film at this year’s Horror Channel FrightFest sold out almost instantly and the film is heading for release on disc and VOD. The trailer hit big with people and the red band version garnered an even better reaction. What is it this time that is building this goodwill with horror fans? There are a few reasons for Chucky’s ongoing success, so let’s consider them each in turn. Firstly, we go all the way back to the original film. It’s a genuine slasher classic and is well-remembered today for good reason. It does a lot of things right that a

horror movie needs to. There’s an iconic villain, which in the franchise-heavy ‘80s was something so many would-be series tried to do. That villain is used sparingly, with much of the film making use of the inherent creepiness of the doll and fleetingly shot glimpses during the stalking scenes to build atmosphere. Andy (as played by Alex Vincent) is a remarkably un-annoying child lead and at no point do you wish Chucky would just get it over and done with and toss him out of the window like his babysitter. It’s tense, well shot, tightly written and leavened by the right amount of humour to give a little release from the horrible things taking place. There’s a great cast headed up by a totally relatable parent figure in Catherine Hicks as Andy’s mom Karen. Hicks is ably supported by genre (and general all-round film) legend Chris Sarandon as the detective on Charles Lee Ray’s trail. Despite the requisite sequel set-up, there’s a satisfying conclusion along with a solid rewatchability to the movie. All of this resonated with audiences who helped it bring back in profit four times its budget before making it a similar smash on VHS and encouraging the sequels that would follow (all of which have managed a reasonable profit, too). It was the start of a series that would expand to include the requisite merchandise that cements a horror film as a classic. Spurious infamy attached to the franchise through a

hysterical ‘link’ to real life crimes (that were both real and imagined) threatened to undo all of this, but thankfully seems to have been consigned to the past. The design of Chucky is one of those instances where there was almost no way a new icon couldn’t come to be. It was inspired variously by any number of children’s toys of the time, which were usually designed to teach kids something. About life, ya know. The stripey jumper and dungarees along with the red hair and blue eyes is a perfectly bland pastiche of the style that could in reality have taken up shelf space in any toy store. But behind that outward blandness is something just off about it. Yeah, you know it’s a horror film series and Chucky is the villain, but even without that, there would always be a creeping dread that those seemingly innocent-looking eyes and happy-happy features are going to change when you look away; something you will catch briefly in the corner of your eye. That’s not to say as well that the films (particularly the more straightforwardly horror-leaning instalments) don’t embrace the absurdity of the premise, too. When Chucky is revealed to be violently sentient and the adults find themselves having to fight with a murderously enraged toy, it’s at once something that can be scary and funny. Chucky is the biggest reason for the

series’ success and there’s no surprise he’s now an indelible part of not just horror but popular culture in general. In fact, Child’s Play was one of those breakout films that appealed to not only those who love the genre but a wider mainstream audience as well. Another vital part of the Chucky franchise is Don Mancini. He was essential to creating Chucky and has stuck with the series all the way through as writer of each subsequent film. Mancini has directed the most recent three films (including Cult) and it’s clear that Chucky is important to him. There were some fans of the early films in the series that weren’t too thrilled as the series took that turn to dark comedy and left the ongoing Andy narrative behind but nevertheless, there was also a huge amount of people who liked Mancini’s attempts to try to not just repeat formula. Mancini is to be commended for knowing when enough was enough of the tongue-in-cheek approach, too. When he took the character and tone back to the more pure horror of the first few films, he re-energised the series with Curse of Chucky and now he’s managed to bring along fans old and new towards Cult. At the core, it shows Mancini is someone who gets what works about the series, is brave enough to try and do new things with it, but can also give people what they want from a series about a killer

doll. This isn’t something to underestimate but is really a signifier of why there is such excitement for this new film. It means a lot when creators stick with a series and guide it through, because it builds trust and confidence that rather than just another attempt at money-spinning (even though that’s an inevitable requirement of filmmaking), there’s someone behind it all who gets it in the same way fans do. Empathetic and non-irritating leads in horror films aren’t really as common as they should be. How many times have you watched a horror film where you’re supposed to identify with the simpering or stupid lead and wished the killer/ monster/whatever would just get on with killing them already. This is another element of the Chucky franchise’s success, in that they have characters both young and grown-up - that we don’t hate but actually root for. That was the case with Andy in the first three films and when Alex Vincent returned for the post-credits sequence at the end of Curse, it was actually welcomed. That film introduced Fiona Dourif as Nica and another sympathetic, relatable, and resourceful lead for the series. Getting them to meet each other for the new film is a great way of bringing together two people who each know Chucky is real and will not stop and is a nice touch from Mancini. When these protagonists are meant to be audience surrogates (as, of course, we also know Chucky is real), it

certainly helps; we don’t want to put them through a meat grinder too. One of the biggest keys to the success of these films is the voice behind Chucky. That voice is provided by Brad Dourif, a redoubtable veteran of both the big and small screen who has played across every genre of film. Dourif is great at villains as well, from portraying Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings series to being the man who gives Chucky his malevolent character. After a brief in-the-flesh appearance at the beginning of Child’s Play as the killer Charles Lee Ray, he has been the voice of the demon doll through all of the films and it’s a testament to his work that you can’t really imagine anyone else doing as good a job of bringing Chucky to life. Since her introduction in Bride of Chucky, we must also show some respect to Jennifer Tilly, who as the unhinged Bonnie to Chucky’s made-of-plastic Clyde has brought character and devilish charm to the series. These two together are an evil power couple to reckon with. By bringing all of the elements together, Cult of Chucky finds the series at its seventh film but very possibly not trading simply on franchise recognition. It seems that it’s genuinely trying to be actually good scary fun and that’s smart. There’s not many of these cult characters and horror franchises that get to this stage

and have audiences excited about the prospect of a new film. It’s a goodwill that Mancini and the others regularly involved in the films seem to really understand and respect, and for that reason we hope this is a cult that will welcome many new members whilst also reminding those who have stuck with it just why that’s been worth doing, and that is something to be reckoned with. CULT OF CHUCKY hits VOD, DVD and Blu-ray on October 23rd.

This month, the traumatic Tony Cowin examines a modern classic that tells an old story that is more relevant than ever...

Starry Eyes (2014) is nothing to do with the singer-impression show hosted by Matthew Kelly in the 1990s. Although, of course, that also made people hide behind their sofas. No, Starry Eyes is a greatly overlooked gem of a horror film by writing/ directing team Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer. The pair have made a film that is your clumsy best friend from high school who you bump into when you’re older and they’ve become hot. There’s echoes of familiarity still beating beneath, but the surface is something shinier and new. There could be an argument suggesting all horror is familiar because it’s pretty much all been done before. While that holds a lot of truth, new films like The Neon Demon, Get Out, It Follows and, indeed, Starry Eyes manage to make something fresh from tired themes. It’s a possession film with a Faustian trade at the heart of the story, like so many films before it. However, this tale of transformed beauty is no Rosemary’s Baby. With this starlet selling her soul for fame, it’s more Rosemary’s Babe. Sarah (Alex Essoe) is a struggling actor waiting to be discovered while working at a fast food dive called Big Taters. Her manager, played by the almost unrecognisable Pat Healy (The Innkeepers, Cheap Thrills), thinks Big Taters is her big break and tries to convince her that’s where her talents are best utilised. However, this

could be due to a more salacious intention than thoughtful career advice. When Sarah gets an audition for a lead role with a long-standing production company, she thinks her potato days are over. But the audition is horrific, humiliating, and degrading. That is, until one of the production staff hears her breaking into an almost feral outburst in the bathroom and asks her to read again using that energy. You often hear actors say auditions are so frustrating it makes you want to pull your hair out. Well, for Sarah this becomes literal with a Lynchian set piece that is as disarming as it is nightmarish. We see the anger that lives beneath the façade. The years of waiting and waiting come screaming out. What follows is a journey to the brink of fame and back, with all the missteps loved by the bitchy and competitive Erin, played by Fabianne Therese (Southbound, John Dies at the End). But Sarah soon realises even her sternest supporters and friends can’t stand in the way of her destiny. Like Stephen King’s Carrie, Sarah see no difference between friend and foe when it comes to what she perceives as collusion to extinguish her dreams. It’s this dark descent that’s at the core of the film and something that gives us that strange familiarity of older horror movies.

As a writing and directing team, Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer certainly understand horror. All the usual tropes are there but only somebody with a true understanding can twist them as they do in this film. As our lead Sarah proclaims in her audition, “I grew up on scary movies”. Which could easily be heard in the voice of the two-man creative team. Even the use of friends struggling to make an indie film as one of the subplots is a meta discussion on filmmaking. If Hollywood is so ugly and difficult, then the only way to join it is to sell your soul to the studio, or some satanic organisation as Kölsch and Widmyer dress it in their film.

The Faustian the Furious Ah yes, let’s talk about those evil film executives. Astraeus Films is a production company that ‘has been around forever’ as Danny informs the group. A foreshadowing of Old Ones that were here possibly before humans. Astraeus is the Greek god of the dawn and that’s exactly what the producer offers Sarah with a once in a lifetime ‘gateway role’. But it’s also the dawning of a new era, or more precisely, a return to a much older era for Hollywood. A cleansing, a ridding of the filth from the unoriginality that has plagued the film industry in the producer’s eyes. “Shallow be thy name” he retorts.

Of course, to become this chosen starlet, Sarah must undertake a transformation through death. Not just her own, either. But basically, anybody she’s ever met is in for a slice or shiv. You could misspell this film ‘Stabby Eyes’ and people may not even think it’s a typo, because once Sarah relinquishes to Astraeus after a disastrous initial meeting, the film starts painting Hollywood blood red. The road to fame is littered with kerbside corpses. The rebirth/transformation reminded us of David Cronenberg’s The Fly (1986) aesthetically and The Brood (1979) on a thematic level, allowing emotion to be literally born and set free into the world. With Sarah, this was dark ambition rather than anger and fear. It also suggests that fame, or at least the inexorable desire to acquire it, can be a monster. We’ve all witnessed this trend in the past decade or so with reality TV. Characters like Sarah’s bitchy nemesis Erin encompass this perfectly. She and her friends talk about creating films and becoming big, but they spend all of their time getting drunk and partying, a flaw that drives Sarah into fury as much as her need to become a star. Sarah proclaims them as venom, a cancer that is feeding off her. This view of hangers-on in Hollywood

being parasites is nothing new, but here, her tone reveals that she thinks it literally. That dehumanising of people plays into the part of a ‘do anything for fame’ character as much as it speaks about certain aspects of the modern entertainment industry. While Andy Warhol may have predicted the fifteen minutes of fame correctly, it was Eddie Cantor who framed it better by saying, “It took me twenty years to become an overnight success”. The rise of Sarah into her gateway role is this urge to jump feet first into anything that will deliver fame overnight. This hunger to feed the Hollywood ego was also explored by Cronenberg in Maps to the Stars (2014), which itself borrowed heavily from John Schlesinger’s love/hate letter to Hollywood, The Day of the Locust (1975). The idea is that Tinsel Town is full of broken people all searching for acceptance even if it means an inevitable destruction. What carries the protagonist throughout all of this turmoil is Alex Essoe’s excellent performance. We’re never truly sure how much of what she’s going through is reality or delusion; Sarah’s fragility is much like Carol in Roman Polanski’s Repulsion (1965), a character flaw and a storytelling device. This unreliability of narrative adds a sharp nervousness to the film. It’s obvious from her first audition that she’s unstable with underlying problems brimming just below

the surface. Yet while back at her flat or at work in Big Taters, Sarah appears coy and lacking in confidence. As her journey unfolds, the transformation isn’t just with her but with Essoe’s performance, too. From playing a nervous actor to a giddy drunk and all the way to a furious killer, she shines. We can’t have deals with the Devil without a bit of sex, right? Sarah oozes a nervous sexiness that’s uncomfortable to watch at times. Though there’s no denying Essoe’s on-screen beauty, it almost feels voyeuristic. It’s a sense that comes back and rattles you with guilt when she’s requested to perform a sex act on the producer as part of her audition process. Another smart technique employed by the directors. After that episode, Essoe plays Sarah with an atavistic desire. A choice of eat or die. The food is fame and the hunting is bloody. It’s an impeccable piece of work from Essoe that really helps lift Starry Eyes from being a throwaway B-movie to something a bit more special. The often minimalist shots and jarring lighting add to the feel of unease throughout the film. Especially when Sarah begins to transform. A normal apartment scene jumps to a surrealist fantasy in the next minute. This dreamlike quality is weighted by the excellent synthesised soundtrack by Jonathan Snipes.

A Musical Interlude

As with a growing number of recent horror films, Starry Eyes also uses a synthesised soundtrack to add an extra depth of foreboding. Imagine It Follows without Disasterpeace’s haunting soundtrack or The Neon Demon without the 1980s-inspired analogue riffs of Cliff Martinez. Yes, they’d still be good films, but it would feel as though their heart had been torn out of them. We asked Starry Eyes composer Jonathan Snipes about this trend and his approach to scoring the film. STARBURST: Was the film always going to be synths only or partorchestrated as we heard? Jonathan Snipes: I originally pitched a synth score with a single lead acoustic instrument - a viola. We were all excited about that, but Ezra Buchla (the viola player I wanted to work with) wasn’t available, so I kept it 100% synth. I ended up working with Ezra on The Nightmare. Did you purposely use analogue and digital tech because the film was a mix of past and present filmmaking? If only my working methods were that conceptually motivated! No, I just like the convenience of modern digital working techniques, and the sound of old analogue synthesisers. I was trying to not make the score just an exercise in nostalgia. Most of the sound sources are old and analogue, but I tried to frame them through a contemporary lens. There are a lot of editing techniques, sounds, etc. that would not have been possible in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The film was a mix of Carpenter, Cronenberg, and Polanski. Did these directors influence you or did you try to go against it all? Certainly, those directors are all influences. Starry Eyes was scored in about three weeks, so I didn’t have time for a lot of second guessing. It was very fast and intense, and there aren’t a lot of second drafts in the score. I had to work very instinctually. What do you feel about the new wave of horror that is now synth-centric rather than the clichéd metal that seemed to have dominated from the 1980s? We must be nearing the end of it, yes? Stranger Things felt like the final nail in that coffin. I love synthesisers, and they certainly aren’t going anywhere. But I hope that we’re finding new ways to use them without just simply relying on references to other movies we loved when we were children. I love the scores of Carpenter, Goblin, etc. And I agree that there are great ideas in scoring horror movies in that style that maybe we lost sight of in the ‘90s and ‘00s... but I really just rankle at the idea of retro and nostalgia for its own sake. We should always be thinking forward... Are we moving forward with this trend? Is this the new horror aesthetic? I’m not sure I’m really equipped to answer that question. I like a lot of scores I’m hearing, and I think there’s a generally progressive and positive movement forward in some less mainstream film music. I love Brian Reitzell, Mica Levi, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Martin Stig Andersen, François-Eudes Chanfrault (who sadly died in 2016), Mark Korven, Brooke and Will Blair, etc. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ scores are quite good. There’s a lot of great forward-thinking film music in general, and horror specifically right now. It’s a good time. Stunning music, haunting photography, a great cast and an impeccable leading actress. Starry Eyes seems to have it sewn up. With the writing and directing team of Kölsch and Widmyer bringing it all together, Starry Eyes is a film that deserves more recognition. Yes, you’ve watched horror metamorphosis before, it’s been around as long as the genre itself. Yes, you’ve seen films that deal with satanic rituals and pacts with old Beelzebub. To the Devil a Daughter (1976) springs to mind, but so do many other films in this subgenre. What we like about Starry Eyes is that it doesn’t just retell these old tales but tells them as a new tale. Compare Starry Eyes’ early twenty-first century setting to the deliberate 1980s aesthetic of Ti West’s The House of the Devil (2009) and you’ll see what Kölsch and Widmyer tried and, indeed, succeeded to do. This is a statement that horror needs to die a little to be reborn. Thankfully, with films like Starry Eyes leading the way, it seems that’s exactly what is happening. It’s clever, brutal and horrific. And not a bad karaoke impersonator in sight. What’s not to like? You can catch STARRY EYES on Horror Channel on September 29th. Sky 319, Freeview 70, Virgin 149, Freesat 138.

Remembering

Tobe Hooper by Ian White

STARBURST pays tribute to the visionary and influential director of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE who passed away in August.

obe Hooper was a filmmaker who deserved a lot more respect than Hollywood ever gave him. Born in Austin, Texas, on January 25th, 1943 (his mother went into labour in the cinema his parents owned - how fitting is that?), Hooper had always dreamed about working in the movies. “I wanted to be an actor or a director since I was a very small child,” he recalled during a 2014 interview, “When I was watching a film, there would be a second or two when I drifted outside of myself. And I knew that was something I wanted to do. I wanted to see how long I could make that feeling go on - if I could take someone outside themselves, outside their body, for a minute, five minutes, maybe even ninety minutes…” After studying film at the University of Texas and working on a fleet of documentaries and television commercials, Hooper made his feature début with

the ‘hippie movie’ Eggshells (1969), a psychedelic slice-of-life drama he once described as ‘a mixture of Andy Warhol’s Trash and Walt Disney’s Fantasia’. Although Eggshells was well received by the Texan crowd, nothing could prepare audiences for Hooper’s next film, an infamous little backwoods horror that was partially inspired by a trip to a busy department store… “I was in the hardware department and I looked down and there was a rack of chainsaws in front of me. There were thousands of people in the store but I said, ‘If I start the saw, these people would just part. They would get out of my way’.” And The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) was born. TCM is a film that was perfect for its time, following in the bloody footsteps of George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left, encapsulating the dread felt by a nation that was at a peak of social and political unrest. When Hooper co-wrote the screenplay with Kim Henkel, who had played one of the leading roles in Eggshells, he immediately knew it was going to get recognition because it was so different, but there was no way he could have predicted

how seismically TCM would reshape the cinematic and cultural landscape. From the moment it was released, censors were aghast, audiences were traumatised, and busybody defenders of moral decency were bleating angrily from their soap boxes. Several countries banned the film outright and the British Board of Film Censors (as they were then) had a meltdown, describing TCM as ‘the pornography of terror’ and refusing to grant it a certificate, although the movie did enjoy a healthy theatrical release in London after the Greater London Council independently granted it an X-rating. Forty years later, it’s hard to imagine what all the fuss was about. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, like Hitchcock’s Psycho, suggests far more than it depicts on screen. In fact, compared to the graphic carnage we’re used to watching now, it’s remarkably restrained. But it cemented Hooper’s reputation as the next horror wunderkind, an expectation that the thirtyone-year-old director would ultimately be unable to fulfil. The slide began with Hooper’s next project Eaten Alive (1977, originally released in the UK as Death Trap), a fun but mean-spirited Gothic horror about a psychopathic hotel owner who enjoys feeding his victims to his pet alligator. On the surface, Eaten Alive bears many of TCM’s hallmarks but has very little of its style, and - although the BBFC passed it theatrically (albeit with cuts) - it is probably most notable for being one of the first so-called ‘video nasties’ to be prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act 1959. Its status as a video nasty probably gives Eaten Alive a cachet it doesn’t deserve, although where Hooper’s career was concerned, far worse was to come. Take The Dark (1979), for example. When Hooper signed up to direct The Dark it was a Halloween-ish thriller about a disturbed child who goes on a murderous rampage after his house burns down. But something went wrong. According to sources, Hooper only worked for two days on the film before the producers fired him and passed the reins to director John Cardos (Kingdom of the Spiders) who eventually delivered a very silly serial killer sci-fi about an eight-foot-tall alien who shoots lasers out of his eyes. Hooper may have been fired, but he’d had a lucky escape. After The Dark, Hooper managed the almost impossible - he helmed an adaptation of a Stephen King novel that the author actually approved of and is still as creepy as hell. So what if Salem’s Lot (1979) strayed from King’s source material a little bit, most notably by turning the novel’s erudite Mr Barlow into a fang-gnashing

nosferatu? Hooper proved that television can be just as terrifying as the big screen when the right director is looking through the viewfinder and Salem’s Lot remains a miniature masterpiece. 1981 was the year when Tobe Hooper made his second lucky escape. He was directing the British horror movie Venom when ‘creative differences’ with the producers caused him to quit (although Piers Haggard, who took over from Hooper, suspects he may also have had ‘some sort of nervous breakdown’). However, Hooper did manage to get one new film into theatres that year. The Funhouse is an atmospheric stalk-and-slasher about a group of teenagers who are trapped in a carnival ride and terrorised by a deformed killer. Although reviews were mixed and its subsequent UK home video release briefly drew the ire of the do-gooding ‘video nasty’ brigade (thankfully, their attempt to ban the film proved unsuccessful) it’s a much better film than most other Friday the 13th rip-offs and, in many ways, is a deft throwback to old-school horror. But the film that came next is where Tobe Hooper’s Hollywood career ground to a halt. We all know what happened - despite Hooper’s on-screen credit as the director of Poltergeist (1982), rumours persisted that it was producer and co-writer Steven Spielberg who had actually occupied the director’s chair. In response, Spielberg commented that “Tobe isn’t a take-charge sort of guy… I thought I’d be able to turn

Poltergeist over to a director and walk away. I was wrong” which only added fuel to the fire. Did Hooper direct Poltergeist or didn’t he? Whatever the truth may be, this is the moment when Hooper claimed Hollywood stopped calling. It was Israeli schlockmeisters Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan who eventually came to his rescue and Hooper’s next three movies: Lifeforce (1985), Invaders from Mars (1986) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) - all produced under the auspices of Globus and Golan’s legendary company Cannon Films - are cult movies whose reputations have deservedly improved with age (Lifeforce is especially genius). But it was television where Hooper’s future lay. In between directing episodes for The Equalizer, Freddy’s Nightmares, Tales from the Crypt, and Masters of Horror (along with many other series) not to mention the music video for Billy Idol’s Dancing With Myself, Hooper only occasionally ventured back into the land of features. Sadly, few of them are worth checking out. In fact, his final movie, Djinn (2013), has been variously described as ‘outright bad’ and an ‘unmitigated disaster’. Still, despite never quite being a cut above the rest, Tobe Hooper was undoubtedly a filmmaker who not only had occasional flashes of macabre brilliance with one slash of a chainsaw, he changed the lexicon of horror forever. And that’s quite a legacy to leave behind.

TOBE HOOPER 1943 - 2017

Harmony? Never heard of it. The Prisoner at 50 by Brian Gorman

As seminal TV series THE PRISONER reaches its half century, actor and playwright Brian Gorman provides a personal history of the show and its influence...

hen I was a kid in the 1960s, I occasionally heard my parents refer to a show that had a man being chased by a big white ball. Apparently, I’d been crawling around on all fours, in my underpants, with a face full of jam, whilst this peculiar man had been on our old flickering black and white telly in our cramped council flat in Wigan. My dad was the most miserable man on Earth and hated everything. He particularly hated people on the telly. He really hated Bruce Forsyth, Jimmy Tarbuck, Hughie Greene and anybody who smiled or looked like they were having a good time. But, occasionally, there’d be somebody he actually did not actively dislike. One such person being Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan was Britain’s highest paid TV star in the 1960s, thanks to the hugely successful ITV spy series Danger Man. Sir Lew Grade, the god of popular television in the ‘50s and ‘60s, had taken a gamble on McGoohan when he gave him the lead role of secret agent John Drake in 1960. Previously, McGoohan had been making little impact in the movies, suffering from being typecast as the psychotic bad guy in such fare as Hell Drivers (1957). The Irish-American actor was an idealist, with little regard for material wealth or the goldfish bowl of fame and celebrity. He fared much better on the stage, winning a BAFTA award for Best Actor reprising the lead role in the TV adaptation of Ibsen’s Brand (1959). Brand had a profound effect on McGoohan, being the story of an obsessed priest, driven to psychotic behaviour by a steely determination to serve (his particular) God. Grade wanted to compete in the American

market with an action-adventure show, and he wanted McGoohan to play the James Bond-esque John Drake. But McGoohan was dismayed with the scripts, which portrayed Drake as a womanising, gun-happy hard man. Before accepting the part, he demanded that Drake would always use his brains before his fists, would never use a gun (unless it was the final option), and didn’t mess around with the ladies. One can imagine Grade choking on his cigar at McGoohan’s cheek. This was the 1960s, after all! What TV hero didn’t get his leg over at every opportunity, smack the bad guys in the face for fun, and riddle the swine full of bullets? But there was something about McGoohan that Grade liked. This guy was different. Unique. He was a true maverick. He didn’t play the game. And guess what? Danger Man was a hit! McGoohan was a success. Two whole years before his exHell Drivers co-star Sean Connery made it big as 007, Patrick McGoohan was showing them all how it was done by making Danger Man an international triumph and spawning a hugely successful period for Grade’s Incorporated Television Company Ltd (ITC). Such outrageously entertaining shows as The Saint, The Champions, Department S, Man in a Suitcase and many more followed. The sixties were swinging, the secret agents were all the rage. Guns, girls and stylised violence were huge ratings winners. But where was McGoohan by now? He was making more cerebral stuff, and capitalising on his newfound success. He was now able to star in such films as Brendan Behan’s classic drama The Quare Fellow, All Night Long (a modern jazz version of Othello, alongside Richard Attenborough and Dave Brubeck) and even

something for the family with Walt Disney’s The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. McGoohan was coaxed back to do more series of Danger Man, this time as 50-minute episodes (the original series only ran for 25 minutes an episode), with greater control over all aspects of the show. From 1964 to 1966, Danger Man ruled the airwaves, and was an even bigger hit in the USA under the rather unimaginative title of Secret Agent (complete with a 007-style title sequence and rock ‘n roll theme tune). McGoohan was huge. His pay packet was huge. He had everything. A happily married man, with three young daughters, and Grade begging him to carry on as the nation’s favourite secret agent. So, what does he do? I’ll tell you what I think everybody else would have done: carry on being Britain’s biggest star. Carry on piling the green stuff up in the bank account. Maybe star in a few big budget action movies with Lew Grade looking after them. Become a huge international heartthrob superstar and live happily ever after. But McGoohan wasn’t like everybody else, was he? When Grade offered him more Danger Man series and more money, McGoohan said no. A big fat NO! Grade begged. McGoohan still said no. So Grade offered him a different show. Anything he wanted (so long as McGoohan was the star, there were exotic locations, fist fights, and action and adventure, of course). McGoohan thought about it. Then, lo and behold, McGoohan said yes. A big, fat YES! So long as he had total creative control over the whole thing. Grade breathed a foggy, nicotine sigh of immense relief. He’d retained Britain’s biggest

star, and he had a brand new action series The Prisoner. What could possibly go wrong? McGoohan met with Grade, showed him detailed plans of sets, episode synopses, etc. Grade was impressed. This was gonna be good! A secret agent resigns his job. He is gassed, kidnapped, and awakens in a mysterious locale -a beautiful Mediterranean village that looks a lot like Portmeirion in North Wales. He tries to escape. He can’t. His captors want information: why did he resign? He won’t tell them. They drug him. They trick him with elaborate scenarios, such as allowing him to escape, getting old friends and colleagues to question him, and then kidnapping him again when he won’t talk. They get an eccentric professor to stick his mind into another guy’s head and vice-versa. They use virtual reality to make him think he’s a cowboy. They try EVERYTHING, but the bugger won’t talk. He irritates and annoys everybody. He snaps at everybody. He can’t escape. Grade hears rumblings from the set. McGoohan has gone mad. He’s hiring and firing people on the spot. He’s cracking heads in fight scenes. He’s rewriting scripts as they’re shooting. The money men are nervous. Grade is nervous. McGoohan doesn’t care. He’s on a mission. He’s obsessed. Some say he’s mentally ill. Some hate him. Some love him. Whatever he’s putting together, it’s not going to be another Danger Man. Grade is now very nervous, and lays down the law. Originally cajoled into producing two series of thirteen episodes (after he’d originally planned

just one series of seven), McGoohan is now ordered to wrap the whole of the second series up in just four episodes. He’s painted himself into a corner now. Throughout the series, McGoohan’s character (known only as ‘Number Six’) has been desperately trying to uncover the mastermind behind it all, the man running the village, the all-seeing, allpowerful ‘Number One’. Now, the viewers expect a revelation. The series is midway through transmission in 1967, but McGoohan now has to shoot the final four episodes, tag them onto the end of the first thirteen, and let the series play out in one seventeen-episode series, culminating in a grand finale. “Who is Number One?” is the question. The viewers demand an answer. Grade expects an answer. Guess what? McGoohan couldn’t care less. He is a man on a mission! He is no shallow, narcissistic TV actor. He is never going to take the easy route. His television masterpiece isn’t mere entertainment for the masses. He will deliver HIS creation, as HE has envisaged it. Free from interference. And he does. When the final episode is transmitted, Fall Out delivers a psychedelic gut punch, throwing in everything from The Beatles to a vertically-challenged butler racing for a London bus, a top-hatted hippy singing Dry Bones, machine gun battles, scuba divers on bicycles, Leo McKern being resurrected, masked figures in robes clapping furiously and going nuts, to… well, you get the picture. Did McGoohan go mad during the making of The Prisoner? Was he on a mission from the big man in the sky? Did Lew Grade make the mistake of his life? The answer is a big fat YES.

Probably. Who knows? All we have is one of the most peculiar, mind-bending, infuriating, thought-provoking and bizarre television series ever made. Transmitted by a major TV channel at peak viewing time, to an audience of millions, on a huge budget. And all wrapped up as a typical ITC action-adventure series, with a classic theme tune, and a guest star roster of every top British thespian of the day. Even Donald Sinden is in it! Has The Prisoner stood the test of time? Yes. It’s as crazy now as it ever was, and thanks to the high production values, and McGoohan’s single-mindedness and determination to deliver his unique vision, it will probably hold up forever. Take a look at Grade’s other ITC shows of the era - The Persuaders! (Roger Moore and Tony Curtis at their flamboyant best) and Man in a Suitcase (with, probably, the most underrated actor of his generation, Richard Bradford) are still great fun. But The Prisoner is something else, man! It’s profound. It’s intriguing. It’s ahead of its time. Yet it still delivers as an exciting, colourful, gorgeously photographed, exotically designed, and superbly acted television classic. The show brought in the viewers, but left many of them angry and feeling cheated by the end. McGoohan revealed who Number One was, but hardly anybody noticed or understood. Soon after transmission of Fall Out, McGoohan scarpered. It wasn’t so much that he minded that people got angry (he later remarked that he was GLAD they were angry, and that he’d made them feel something), but he was fed up with fame, and the endless stream of gawpers peering over his front garden fence. He’d tried to build a wall, but the council wouldn’t let him.

He was tired of idiots watching his wife doing the dishes in the kitchen, so he packed up, and got the hell out.

his somewhat bemused performance in the episode It’s Your Funeral would be inclined to agree with the man.

Apart from a few award-winning guest roles on TV’s Columbo, supporting roles in cult movie favourites Scanners, Silver Streak, and The Phantom, and the odd stage show, McGoohan kept a low profile, and never capitalised on his fame. He could have easily weathered the fallout from The Prisoner, and any number of TV and film execs would have loved to have signed him up for leading roles, but he just wasn’t interested. My guess is that he’d achieved what he’d set out to do. He’d laid his life bare in The Prisoner (many of Number Six’s characteristics, and experiences, were his own, including his stated date of birth in the very first episode, Arrival), and he’d asked the big questions: who are we? Why are we here? Who is in control? He’d stuck to his guns (or lack of them), and created a televisual masterpiece.

I asked Rick Davy of The Unmutual website (the world’s largest website related to The Prisoner) about his views on ‘fandom’. How odd is it?

McGoohan died in 2009, aged 80. The same year that ITV and AMC’s ill-fated remake of The Prisoner was transmitted. Yet he lives on, in the hearts of his many fans and admirers. Every year, The Prisoner Appreciation Society, known as ‘Six of One’, meet up at Portmeirion to honour the man and his creation. Recently, the legendary Derren Nesbitt (the archetypal small screen bad guy of 1970s TV) was a guest, and managed to shock his audience with a rather colourfully worded account of working with McGoohan on The Prisoner. Nesbitt thought McGoohan was bonkers, and the two clashed over what Nesbitt regarded as an incomprehensible script. Anybody watching

“Very! And believe me, this applies as much to any other series as it does to The Prisoner. I guess like any section of society, there are great people, and there are the more extreme element who don’t really ‘get it’. I’ve seen behaviour from fans and groups of fans of The Prisoner that is truly worrying. As with any TV series, there is the cosplay element too, which I don’t find bizarre in youngsters, but do with people in their 40s and older. It’s always struck me as ironic that a show that champions the idea of the individual attracts a group of people who all want to dress the same!” But, I point out, you run a website for a TV show that’s fifty years old! “General oddness just as much applies to me as anyone else, though. I’ve found myself researching scenes that were never supposed to be seen a second time, let alone analysed, indulged in arguments with complete strangers on the Internet about the minutiae of the series, and found myself walking round locations that no longer exist, just because 50 years previously some filming was done there. On the face of it, such behaviour is totally bonkers to most people... except cult TV fans!”

This year being the fiftieth anniversary of The Prisoner’s UK transmission (September 29th, to be precise), there are all sorts of celebrations happening, including a sold-out event at Portmeirion itself, hosted by Network DVD (guests already announced include his awesomeness Peter Wyngarde). Earlier this year, we also had the annual Six of One convention at the same location, which stretched over three days, and included guests Christopher Benjamin (who starred in Danger Man, as well as several episodes of The Prisoner) and Nicholas Briggs of Big Finish Productions. Briggs was particularly popular, following his successful ‘reimagining’ of the show as an audio drama featuring actor Mark Elstob in a remarkable performance as Number Six, alongside guest artistes John Standing and Celia Imrie. Modesty forbids me (“Oh, get on with it ...” I hear you cry) mentioning my own contributions to this anniversary year - Everyman: A Celebration of Patrick McGoohan and The Prisoner (a graphic novel and audio drama). However, for beginners, there’s also Rick Davy’s The Prisoner - The Essential Guide, which includes a full episode guide, and officially licensed (and previously unpublished) photographs. So, does The Prisoner have any relevance today (beyond being a bloody great piece of TV entertainment)? In short, NO! Because we know who we are, don’t we? We know who’s in control, don’t we? And, we know why. Don’t we? Be seeing you! Brian’s graphic novel and audio book based on THE PRISONER and McGoohan can be purchased at invisiblesix.co.uk.

A JAgo

Litefoot

n o i t A r b e L Ce by Tony Jones

February 1977 brought the Victorian gentleman Professor George Litefoot (played by Trevor Baxter) and Henry Gordon Jago (played by Christopher Benjamin) to our screens in the Fourth Doctor adventure THE TALONS OF WENGCHIANG, where they fought the time traveller Magnus Greel. Sadly, Trevor passed away in July, so we at STARBURST thought we’d take a look at their further adventures on audio.

t would be another thirty-two years before the characters were reunited in the Big Finish story The Mahogany Murders. This 2009 story by Andy Lane was soon followed by their very own box set of four stories released in June 2010, and since then they have starred in thirteen such sets, as well as numerous other releases on audio. In around sixty stories, they’ve been reunited with Tom Baker’s Doctor and Louise Jameson’s Leela, met both incarnations of Romana, travelled with the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker), met the Master, and even crossed into modern Doctor Who territory as they encountered Strax the Sontaran (Dan Starkey) and the Tenth Doctor. With such a range of titles to choose from, we’ve picked a few stories that give a sense of just how superb this range is, and to encourage any would-be fans to give them a listen if they haven’t already. By their third boxset, released in June 2011, the world of Jago and Litefoot was well established on audio. Apart from the main characters, each set also featured a degree of involvement from the character of Quick, as played by Conrad Asquith. In Talons, Quick

was a constable; by the time of this set, he was a sergeant and he would later become an inspector. There was also a new character, barmaid Ellie Higson, played by director Lisa Bowerman. This set also features the return of Leela, an interesting idea adding a lot of chemistry, but perhaps moving the range back towards its roots, rather than carving out new ground as it had. The chemistry between Leela and Ellie is very strong, exemplified by exchanges such as: Ellie: Mild and Bitter? Leela: Am I? Writer Justin Richards really sets the scene well in the opening story Dead Men’s Tales, but the story we’d like to focus on is John Dorney’s Swan Song. It’s an emotional tale of the possibilities of time travel that avoids a trite ending. Instead it gives a highly emotional resolution to the tale of future time travel experiments being conducted on what was once the site of Jago’s theatre. It’s a beautiful story and will stay in the mind long after it has been listened to. The third set ends with the unveiling of the

mysterious Claudius Dark (Colin Baker) and the fourth is all about his mysterious plans. By 2012, Jago and Litefoot had met the Sixth Doctor and had a couple of adventures on board the TARDIS. These were the separate stories Voyage to Venus and Voyage to the New World. As an aside, these are each available cheaply to download, and would make ideal tasters for the range. Jonathan Morris’ Voyage to Venus deserves special mention. It conjures a future world in the style, perhaps, of Edgar Rice Burroughs, with lush forests and warrior women. It even explains a piece of Doctor Who mythology - no spoilers! After travelling in the TARDIS, the fifth set of stories, released in 2013, finds our heroes back in London, only it’s now the 1960s! The first story, The Age of Revolution, also written by Jonathan Morris, really conjures up the 1960s and you realise Jago and Litefoot fit straight in. This particular episode is littered with nice references to the time, and sets the mood for a great set of stories. It even manages to get Ellie Higson in, still alive for reasons known to fans, and still running the Red Tavern. The set dips

back into Talons territory, another plus for fans. Of course, our heroes are soon back in their own time, and by the time of the seventh collection of stories in 2014, are happily exploring Baker Street and meeting Arthur Conan Doyle. Space precludes doing this collection justice, but suffice to say the third story, Murder at Moorsey Manor by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris, is a pleasure to listen to, mixing up both Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie. Later in 2014, we had the eighth set of stories, and they kicked off with James Goss bringing back his most entertaining singing puppets in Encore of the Scorchies. The Scorchies were first heard in a Jo Grant story in the Companion Chronicles range, and are a shoe-in for a Jago & Litefoot release. There’s plenty of singing and a little bit of poking through the fourth wall. Fabulous stuff! If the format was, perhaps, a little bit stale with most stories set in London, 2015’s ninth set gave Jago and Litefoot a holiday in the shape of a cruise. The change of location did freshen

things up and both characters were allowed chances to shine. The most important of the four stories was the second, Justin Richards’ The Devil’s Dicemen. In Monaco, Jago falls foul of a certain casino where he ends up playing for his very soul, while Professor Litefoot has become distracted. He thinks a string of murders can be lain at the door of Doctor Luke Betterman (David Warner), and meanwhile, Betterman suspects Litefoot. This all gives Trevor Baxter plenty for his character to do and the sparring with Warner works very well. It was no surprise when David Warner returned to later stories to reprise his character. The set ends back in London, and there (for the most part) they remained. Series Eleven pitched the investigators against the Master, but he was largely a background character, allowing stories to flow as normal. Two stories from this set need singling out, the first from Nigel Fairs. The title Jago & Son gives an immediate sense of where the centre of action might be, but

Professor Litefoot also has a surprise from the past in the form of Jean Bazemore (Rowena Cooper), an old archaeologist friend, and perhaps more? It’s a fun story, whereas the third, The Woman in White is a masterpiece (the title of the fourth!) of crafting, telling how the actor Henry Irving suffered near the end of his career and how his assistant Bram Stoker sought help from his old friend Henry Gordon Jago. Writers Simon Barnard and Paul Morris pack in plenty of emotion and more than a few nods towards Dracula. Jago and Litefoot stepped once more outside their normal range to appear in the Sixth Doctor special release The Last Adventure. Matt Fitton wrote the story Stage Fright, and included not only the Doctor and his companion Flip (Lisa Greenwood), but also the Valeyard. For a title doomed to end in regeneration, this is a wonderfully entertaining slice of storytelling, and one of many highlights of this special release. There’s only enough room to mention in passing the 2016 story School of Blood from the twelfth set. Written by Paul Morris (unaided!) it gives Professor Litefoot the chance to teach at a girls’ school that might be the centre of a plague of vampire murders. In the final box set of stories, the thirteenth, the pace continued unabashed, with the intrepid pair finding themselves in a parallel world. Cue lots of chances for the actors to play two versions of themselves, as well as the return of David Warner as a version of Dr Betterman. Matthew Sweet’s story, How the Other Half Lives, allowed Jago and Litefoot to meet themselves, and we find the Litefoot in this world still owns Magnus Greel’s time cabinet. There’s also a new career for the local Jago, and fittingly it involves a giant rat in the sewers of London. Although left in a parallel world, there was one final outing for Trevor and Christopher when they took over narrative duty in a two-part Jonathan Barnes Short Trips story, The Jago & Litefoot Revival. Released over the course of two months, it took the framing device of a lecture by Professor Litefoot, spiced up with Henry’s sense of the melodramatic. They each chronicle the meeting with another incarnation of the Doctor, and the Tenth Doctor’s silhouette adorns the cover - sadly, there’s no appearance from Mr Tennant, though! Released to mark forty years of Jago and Litefoot, it is as sterling a piece of entertainment as any other in their remarkable portfolio of perfect pieces of Victorian adventuring. Trevor Baxter may be no longer with us, but he will be fondly remembered by audio fans for many, many years to come. Check out the full range of audio dramas at bigfinish.com.

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Classic Companions Cast For Christmas

As we all know from the cliffhanger ending of The Doctor Falls, this year’s Christmas special Twice Upon A Time will see the return of the First Doctor, with David Bradley taking over the role epitomised by William Hartnell. It’s now been revealed, however, that this Doctor’s companions Ben and Polly will also be showing up, with Jared Garfield and Lily Travers filling the shoes of Michael Craze and Anneke Wills. Garfield is best known for appearing in Hollyoaks, and Travers for her small role in Kingsman: The Secret Service. If you’re not a fan of all this recasting, don’t fret too much, as it’s likely their roles will be minimal; the story takes place around the same time as The Tenth Planet, during which these companions were mostly separated from the ailing Doctor. In fact, the episode looks to mostly follow the Twelfth and First Doctors, as well as Pearl Mackie’s Bill, as they solve a mystery involving Mark Gatiss’ Captain. Twice Upon A Time, which also sees Jodie Whittaker’s first appearance as the Thirteenth Doctor, has now finished filming and will air on Christmas Day.

Victor Pemberton 1931-2017

You might think that having written just one story for Doctor Who back in 1968 wouldn’t be a particularly noteworthy legacy, but that’s certainly not the case for Victor Pemberton. Thanks to that one serial, Second Doctor adventure Fury from the Deep, Pemberton will long be remembered as the inventor of the sonic screwdriver! That wasn’t the total extent of Pemberton’s contribution to Who, either. As an actor, he appeared as a scientist in 1967’s

all the news from the worlds of doctor who with kieron moore

The Moonbase. Shortly after, he was brought in as assistant to story editor Peter Bryant; as part of this job, he script edited fan favourite The Tomb of the Cybermen and wrote the emotional scene in which the Doctor explains to Victoria how their lives are different. Almost a decade later, Pemberton wrote the very first Who audio adventure Doctor Who and the Pescatons. His work outside of Doctor Who included The Slide, a seven-part radio serial starring Roger Delgado, as well as episodes of TV series such as Timeslip and Ace of Wands. In his later years, he formed a documentary production company, and just last year, tripped to the Arctic Circle alone to raise money for Help for Heroes. Pemberton’s lifetime partner, the actor David Spenser, died back in 2013. Pemberton passed away on August 13th at the age of 85, but his legacy will live on in Doctor Who.

RTD Gets Lifetime Achievement Award

He’s the man who brought Doctor Who back to our screens in 2005, but that’s not Russell T Davies’s only achievement in the world of television (it is the main one to us, though). The beloved writer, whose other creations include Queer as Folk, Casanova, Torchwood, Cucumber, and The Second Coming, was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Edinburgh International Television Festival in August. On accepting the prize, Davies used his speech to criticise the UK government’s treatment of the BBC: “We actually have a government which is warding off the BBC with one hand while wanking off Rupert Murdoch with the other.” Never a man to hold back his words - which is part of what’s made him such a success! STARBURST congratulates Davies on this muchdeserved award.

FRANCIS MATTHEWS • ED BISHOP

NDS A BRA FEATURE CUMENTARY NEW DO INTERVIEWS W WITH NED ARCHIVE AN INGS! R E CO R D

13 CLASSIC CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE MYSTERONS AUDIO STORIES FEATURE LENGTH AUDIO DOCUMENTARY • ARCHIVE MUSIC AND RARITIES

OUT SEPTEMBER 2017 ON CD AND DOWNLOAD!

W W W. B I G F I N I S H . C O M

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A 7-DISC LIMITED EDITION DELUXE BOX SET!

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WATCHING DOCTOR WHO

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teven Moffat’s career has almost certainly made its last intersection with the journey of Doctor Who. Twelve years after The Empty Child and eighteen since The Curse of Fatal Death, Moffat has finally hung up his executive producer’s hat and his last ‘Int. TARDIS’ is in the bag, waiting now only for its Christmas transmission. With Pearl Mackie’s involvement confirmed by the trailer shown at San Diego Comic-Con, and Jenna Coleman’s almost certain, the chances are that Peter Capaldi’s final bow will incorporate some closure on the two characters who, having finished travelling alongside him, thereafter began similar journeys of their own. Moffat might be the king of the ambiguous resolution, but he’s also a devil for adding full stops further down the line. With Missy almost certainly dead (albeit not so dead she might not in future be resurrected by one of Moffat’s showrunnership successors), Nardole pledged to what looks like a highly probable last stand, and River Song having taken her final leave at the Singing Towers of Darillium, the signs are that when Moffat leaves and Chris Chibnall takes over,

it will be with a cleaner slate than any previous producer has left his successor - including Russell T Davies, during whose tenure Moffat had introduced the aforementioned River Song. With the new regime boasting the most ‘controversial’ change in the series’ eponymous role since Patrick Troughton became the very first replacement Doctor more than five decades ago, it’s a sign that Doctor Who is about to refresh itself in a manner it hasn’t achieved since Davies’ revival in 2005. Bradley Walsh (heavily rumoured as we go to press) is as dissimilar to Pearl Mackie as Jodie Whittaker is to Peter Capaldi. It hasn’t always been the case that departing producers would give their successors such a blank page to work from. In fact, in the 26 years of the original series, it didn’t happen once. The closest the series got was the beginning of Jon Pertwee’s incumbency in 1970, which featured a new Doctor and companion team starting with a brand new format for the programme - stranded on Earth rather than roaming the universe (or as much universe as the series could afford) - but crucially papered over the clean break by including a

an in-dePth look at the whoniVerse BY Jr soUthall

continuity character in the form of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, not only promoted from his appearance in The Web of Fear but having realised that promotion - and foreshadowed the series’ new format - in the interim serial The Invasion. Even the handover between producers was fumbled, with Derrick Sherwin not only casting the new Doctor before leaving, but sticking around to oversee his first story - something that Barry Letts would then go on to repeat in 1975. In the late 1960s, the perception of constancy was, it seems, as important a factor as the publicity shock of the new. Indeed, when Troughton, Frazer Hines, and Wendy Padbury all left together at the end of The War Games, it would have been as much of a shock to the audience as when it turned out that Ben and Polly hadn’t actually left yet at the end of The Faceless Ones. Subsequent to Carole Ann Ford’s departure at the end of Season One (albeit with the episode itself delayed until ten weeks into the as-broadcast second season), the rest of the 1960s saw companions arriving and departing at the whim of their contracts, rather than in synchronisation with the transmission

57 schedules. Doctor Who was, after all, virtually an all-year-round experience, and with producers playing musical chairs every bit as much as the companions, it was quite common for incoming producers to inherit not just the companions of their predecessors, but also the companions of their predecessors’ predecessors. The shortening of the seasons in the 1970s saw the introduction of some stability, with Caroline John doing a discrete year then Katy Manning going on to do three full ones. When Elisabeth Sladen left, it was ahead of a mid-series break that at least allowed publicity to herald her replacement as part of the programme’s ‘new series’ beginning in January, and both the next two companions (plus the first two iterations of K9) departed at the end of the recording blocks that had featured them. If the 1960s had been a production merry-go-round and the ‘70s had introduced some structure to the actors’ comings and goings, the ‘80s returned to the idea that the series regulars might appear or disappear at any random moment. It’s ironic, because incoming producer John Nathan-Turner wanted his term to begin with a completely fresh start - new title sequence, new incidental music, new visual approach - and yet the most visible components of the programme were a Doctor who’d now been present for six years, more than any of his predecessors, a robot dog who’d been around for three and the incumbent Doctor’s soon-to-be wife, another character who was beginning a third year on the series. Thereafter JN-T shook things up - such as when the Sixth Doctor’s first story appeared in the final spot of the twenty-first season rather than in the first spot of the following one - but his motivation seemed to be part of a drive to create mid-series publicity for the programme, rather than to launch a season with something new to entice migrating viewers back into watching. The extremity of this approach came in 1984, when four consecutive stories each featured a different regular cast. For classic Doctor Who fans, the idea of regular cast members arriving at the beginning of a series and leaving at the end might feel unusual - but of course, in

anything but soap operas it’s the opposite approach that would seem odd. Even Clara’s death in Face the Raven could never rationally have been thought to be the end of her narrative; with two more episodes left to broadcast that series, she was always going to appear in at least the latter of them, and, in fact, turned up in both. The only time this hasn’t been the case was when Series Seven was split between one transmission block in 2012 and another the following year - so to all intents and purposes, the same thing was happening. Modern producers also understand two things. Firstly, that the majority of viewers watching a programme will stick with it throughout an entire broadcast series; there may be weekly variations for external reasons, but generally, the viewing figures will remain within a certain margin. But secondly, that the opening episode will

ARTWORK BY SIMON BRETT

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invariably include a relatively large number of extra viewers tuning in out of curiosity. The trick is not just to give them something that makes them want to stick with the programme, but also to include something in that first episode - a new companion or new Doctor being the ideal - that creates enough interest for that initial boost to be as significant as possible. A new companion and a new Doctor, débuting together, is the best way of attracting curious eyes. Doctor Who is almost unique in its ability to change the entire regular cast and yet still reassure viewers that the programme they’re watching is basically the same one - and perhaps relies more than others on being able to find a regularly refreshing pool of permanent characters. With so much choice available for viewers’ attention these days, not just on TV but among many other forms of home entertainment, it’s more important than ever to generate that interest before attempting to maintain it. On Christmas Day, both the character Doctor Who and the series Doctor Who will regenerate - and when they return later in 2018, they will both be ‘the same but different’, just as they had been in 2005 and 2010. It’s a fundamental part of the programme’s modern ideology to make those changes distinct. The casting of Whittaker and (allegedly) Walsh will help pique viewers’ interest, and Chris Chibnall will try and keep them glued to their screens in the same way he did with Broadchurch. Change is crucial to Doctor Who’s success, but it can also be something sad and occasionally painful. But the butterfly cannot emerge from its chrysalis without leaving the caterpillar behind; the inclusion of the First Doctor in Twice Upon a Time reminds us of this. There can’t be many programmes that can flip between mourning and excitement quite the way Doctor Who does, and no doubt will again come Christmas Day.

Too Much Monk-y Business

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good long while before he finally gets chance to show off his inner Jimmy Page, the Doctor’s first encounter with some flesh and blood Norsemen came in The Time Meddler as, to take a bit of poetic licence from Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song, the hardy souls from the land of the ice and snow sporting horned helmets (certainly not designed for cows) swept crashing oar towards Saxon Britain with an eye on invasion; the hammer of the gods driving their ships to new land. “Now, if my memory of English history serves me right, we’re about to have a Viking invasion and very soon. Now, let me think. Harold came north to defeat Hardrada, the Norwegian king. Yes, now that was before he faced William the Conqueror at Hastings. It’s all very interesting. Yes, that’s very, very, very, very interesting.” Quite so, not least as a first appearance by the Monk, a fellow Time Lord (no mention of the name of their shared race, though, until The War Games), who’s rather taken to the trappings of such a spiritual vocation in the process of attempting to meddle with recorded history under the pretence of wanting to guide merry old England towards technological revolution a few years too early, in fact, all for his own gain and seemingly a degree of amusement. The man in the bowl cut and robe has a rather long ‘to do’ list before that can be achieved. He has plenty of work to put in as he contemplates his strategy, which can be condensed into a few easy points now that he’s arrived and has a place of sanctuary to put his mind to it: Position atomic cannon Sight Vikings Light beacon fires

Destroy Viking fleet Norman landing Battle of Hastings Meet King Harold The first three are already dealt with and plans are afoot for the fourth to be attended to, were it not for the Doctor’s then-companions Steven and Vicki finding a crateful of components for the abovementioned atomic weaponry after stumbling across a sarcophagus, which is actually a TARDIS of a newer model

compared to his old friend’s, complete with working chameleon circuit and automatic drift control. Makes Top Gear seem rather pedestrian, eh? At least the wily young curmudgeon gets the last laugh by trapping the meddlesome Monk in the very time period he’s come to play havoc with and a dimensional controlless mode of transport, which simply put means that its ‘bigger on the inside’ status can now hardly be taken for granted. He does at least escape in time for a

The whole point of the exercise in vague familiarity is “To remind me. To hold me to the mark. I’m the Doctor, and I save people.” Hence Lobus Caecilius’ escape from the furies of Mount Vesuvius following Donna Noble’s tearful appeal to save at least someone, David Tennant then elevated to the status of household god as poor old Colin Baker possibly watched on a bit miffed, his Commander Maxil from Arc Of Infinity now a mere footnote amid the fanfare afforded to the latest man to take on the role - one he had taken from Peter Davison in the dark days of the late eighties, whether people liked it or not. Years later, even detractor in chief Michael Grade, who had described Baker’s performance as “utterly unlikeable;

absolutely God-awful in fact” was moved to admit that New-Who was far from the laughing stock he had found the classic series during his time with the BBC, as he described in an appearance on Room 101. Something of a Pyrrhic victory for Colin years after being shown the door, the manner of his exit tarnishing his reputation for some. Much like the Monk, though, new life was breathed into the Sixth Doctor through audio, with his Big Finish work - starting with The Sirens of Time - offering a degree of critical rehabilitation for the chap in the coat of many colours. As Butterworth’s Monk gleefully puts it when he spies that first Viking longship, “At last! At last!” CHRISTOPHER MORLEY

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bit part in The Daleks’ Master Plan before appearing in The Dimension Riders and No Future from the Virgin New Adventures book range and an audio resurrection. Carry On star Peter Butterworth laid the groundwork for fellow comedians and actors Graeme Garden (he of The Goodies) - who gives voice to a Monk heard alongside Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor in the likes of The Book Of Kells and The Resurrection Of Mars - and Rufus Hound, retrospectively inserted into the personal timeline of the man who will later call himself Abbot Thelonious (a reference sure to delight jazz fans). Hound plays a younger version who first meets the Second Doctor in The Black Hole prior to making the Third an all too tempting offer that could lead to an escape from Earth in The Blame Game. He also appeared in How to Win Planets and Influence People alongside the Fourth Doctor prior to a first meeting with the Eighth in The Side Of The Angels, presumably not long before an eventual further regeneration into Garden’s Monk. Four regenerations on, his old foe and contemporary the Doctor will encounter Odin, or at least a being laying claim to the mantle of the master of the halls of Valhalla, in The Girl Who Died. This Odin had been promising a select few warriors seats at this loftiest of tables but was actually draining the strongest residents of the village of their adrenaline and testosterone to feed the ranks of the Mire. The Mire resemble great clanking war machines in their rather cumbersome armour, and now he’s about to lead them into battle against the remaining residents of this particular ninth century village. One of whom, Ashildr (played by Maisie Williams, Game of Thrones’ Arya Stark), is about to gain immortality at the Doctor’s hand. For his part, he will learn the answer to the question of just why his new face already feels so lived-in - for that we need only look to The Fires of Pompeii, Peter Capaldi’s earlier appearance in the series.

LITTLE

BRONy

By Sol Harris

With the imminent release of the MY LITTLE PONY feature film, we take a look at the astonishing adult male fan base for the franchise who believe Friendship is Magic… They’re called ‘Bronies’. They’re not quite bros and they’re not quite ponies... but man...

y Little Pony made its début back in 1981. It was a line of toys aimed at young girls that exploded in popularity. To ensure the franchise’s continued popularity, it’s rebooted every ten years or so, allowing Hasbro to update it and keep it fresh. We’re currently living through the fourth incarnation of My Little Pony, which began in 2010 with the animated TV series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The show is currently in its seventh season and has spawned tie-in products ranging from toys to albums to video games. The jewel in its crown is the upcoming feature film My Little Pony: The Movie. If the scale of Hasbro’s output is anything to go by, the current generation of ponies seems to be the most successful to date. This is no doubt due to the inexplicable rise of the Brony. The franchise was always intended for children - specifically girls - but somewhere along the way, Friendship is Magic formed a counterintuitive cult following among adults, including many males. It’s easy to dismiss Bronies as just another kind of weirdo. The stereotype is certainly that of someone who, on the social ladder, ranks several rungs below your average Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast. This writer has first-hand experience of liking something generally deemed to be uncool. When I was younger, there was still a real stigma attached to liking, for example, Star Trek. In the last decade or so, Star Trek has followed in the footsteps of superhero movies and the rise of geek culture to become just about as mainstream a series as you could hope to find. Nerdy is ‘in’ these days and it makes sense that society would eventually open its arms to things like Star Trek and comic books, mainly because they’re great. Surely, it stands to reason then, that perhaps there is something to this whole My Little Pony thing? Maybe it is a genuinely

excellent show and in ten years time, we’ll all be eagerly anticipating the latest instalment in the Pony cinematic universe and pretending we were one of the cool crowd that liked it from day one. For research, we settled down to watch Episode One of Friendship is Magic, Mare in the Moon. Nope. I’m afraid I don’t get it. It’s a show of reasonable quality when compared to the other offerings for little kids, but it’s still a show for little kids. It seems that if you speak to a Brony, they will generally distil their love of the showdown to three points:

1. The animation 2. The writing 3. The voice acting I’m not convinced by any of these. The animation is very high-quality as far as Flash animation goes, but it still pales in comparison to real, hand-drawn stuff. Things are awkward and ‘puppety’ and the aesthetic ultimately feels cheap. The creators presumably agree, given that they’ve switched to more conventional animation techniques for their upcoming movie, thanks to the increased budget. The writing? Well, the plot had structure and made sense, but that’s about it. The jokes felt very ‘kiddie’ and there wasn’t much in the way of a compelling narrative or characters or, really, anything that I watch a TV show for. It certainly wasn’t completely awful but it also wasn’t particularly good. It seemed like a bog-standard children’s cartoon - and I’ve seen far, far better kids’ cartoons with genuine appeal for adult audiences. My Little Pony is no Animaniacs, we’ll tell you that much.

The voice acting? Well, fair enough, but according to IMDb, you can hear the likes of Tara Strong in 476 non-Pony projects and yet no one holds fan conventions for Rugrats or The Fairly OddParents. There has to be more to the appeal of this show. I reached out to some Bronies in the hope that they could help me understand. It proved difficult to find a diverse selection of Bronies to speak to. My sample were all white, American men in their early 20s to mid-30s and all but one of them wished to remain anonymous. When I asked for a basic description of the show, one showed a great deal of self-awareness regarding the perception of the show to the outside world. They referred to its origins as “a glorified toy commercial”, but went on to tell me how series creator and showrunner Lauren Faust had successfully managed to turn it into “A dramatic, witty ongoing saga about the challenges of friendship, teamwork and adventure”. It’s easy to turn your nose up at such an idea, but in a post-The Lego Movie world, is it so hard to believe that commerce can facilitate legitimate art? When asked why they liked the show, we were presented with the usual animation, writing, voice-acting trifecta... except that they kept adding a fourth bullet point: the positive morality. “There are only happy endings, but it doesn’t feel contrived or fake like other shows” one told us. Another told me of “The mix of positive morale, themes of redemption, and growth”. A third spoke glowingly of “the wisdom, philosophy and life lessons” contained within. This was, of course, all mixed in amongst talk of pretty colours and pop culture references, but it’s a very interesting idea. Pop culture overwhelmingly skews towards cynical, from nihilistic comedies like Rick and Morty to full-blown post-apocalyptic fantasy like The Walking Dead. Wonder Woman was

ny Credit: UK Po

recently championed as a rare example of earnestness and sincerity in the movie landscape. These days, most blockbusters fall somewhere between dark and gritty and completely sardonic, yet My Little Pony appears to have been dishing out hope for seven years. One thing that proved incredibly interesting to me was how, without fail, each of my Bronies were introduced to the show through someone else. One was introduced by his friend, one by his sister and, in the case of Drew, my one Brony willing to be identified, through a fellow Sergeant after returning home from deployment. That’s right: Drew is a military Brony - something he tells me is surprisingly commonplace. Talking about the origins of his fandom, he said “I decided to watch an episode or two just so I could poke fun at him more effectively. After the first few episodes, I realised that I genuinely liked it... guess the joke was on me”. This all struck me as unusual. When I think back to my most beloved TV series, the vast majority of them were things I stumbled upon and discovered on my own. If anything, the more my friends keep screaming at me that I simply must watch Game of Thrones, the more I feel like putting it off for another year - I mean, I still haven’t seen The Wire and surely that should take priority? Maybe this speaks more about my inability to socialise with other people, but I think it might be the first sign of what I believe the Brony movement to truly be about. I dug deeper down this rabbit hole, questioning whether the surrounding community or the show itself held more appeal. The response was split down the middle - but even then, the Bronies claiming the show to be the main draw were very open about their huge fondness for the

Con

communal side of things. Whilst one told me that, for him, it was “all about the show”, he went on to tell me how he frequently attends and volunteers at Brony fan-conventions. In fact, he now works directly as a liaison for some of the show’s staff when they attend a number of conventions each year. I asked my Bronies if they had made friends through their love of the show. The results were a unanimous yes, with answers ranging from countless online and one or two offline to it being “the main reason I’ve become friends with any of my friends”. Drew told me of the military Brony community which has allowed him to make close friends in every corner of the globe. He tells me that in his city alone, there are hundreds of Bronies who routinely organise and throw group events from kayaking to camping. When asked about the role that fan art played in their enjoyment of the show, it transpired that all of them engaged with it in one form or another. Some loved the fan art, some loved the fan-fiction - and even those who didn’t appreciate either pointed me towards various fan musicians such as Alex S. and Eurobeat Brony, who apparently produce Pony-themed music in genres as diverse as jazz and metal. As one Brony put it, “There are some really talented content creators in the community, so it’s hard not to enjoy and follow it”. Surprisingly given their desire to remain anonymous, none of the Bronies that I spoke to told me of a need to live a double-life. They all spoke of being completely open about it in their day-to-day lives, with the only caveats being made for the workplace. When pressed for details about negative reactions they may have received, only one Brony had any examples - that he feels as though his parents and sister are embarrassed by him - and even he said that

this negative reaction seems unusual when compared to the experiences of the rest of the community. I was, once again, caught off-guard by the self-awareness on display. The Bronies know how they appear to the uninitiated. “Most people are curious or just think it is funny - but I find it funny too. I like a show about tiny, magical ponies.” My time amongst the Bronies gave rise to a theory: that the fandom isn’t so much about the show as it is about the fandom itself. People want to belong to something and, personally, I can see more appeal in a cartoon than I can in things like sport or religion. And unlike those examples, My Little Pony’s is a community built on subversion and counter-culture. In today’s world, post-biting-heads-off-bats and postthrowing-TV-sets-out-of-hotel-windows, standing up and declaring that you enjoy a sparkly, pink show intended for little girls is about as rock and roll as it gets. Whilst female Bronies exist, as the name implies, the adults watching the show are overwhelmingly male. My Little Pony provides permission for men to engage with a side of themselves that might otherwise be considered off-limits. Things that might raise unfair eyebrows within the cultural norm (such as talking about your feelings or simply liking pink) are par for the course with the Bronies. Drew told me of how his involvement with the community helped him transition back into civilian life after finishing his tour of duty. Where his previous friends had largely moved away or become distant over the years, his fellow Bronies provided him with an emotional support network during a vulnerable time. In other words, friendship is magic. MY LITTLE PONY: THE MOVIE is released in US cinemas on October 6th, while British Bronies can enjoy it on October 20th.

STARBURST takes a look back at classic John Carpenter film biG trouble iN little ChiNA and chats to its star Dennis Dun about the film’s endurance…

Still trouble

by J o h n to w n s e n d

After All theSe YeArS

“I’m not saying I’ve been everywhere and done everything. But I do know this is a pretty amazing planet we live on here. And a man would have to be some kind of fool to think we’re all alone in this universe.” Wise, prophetic words spoken by truck driver Jack Burton at the beginning of what is one of the most iconic, well-loved and significant films of the ‘80s. Rarely does a film capture the imagination quite in the way this one does, combining Chinese mysticism and magic with the modern day and blending the exuberance of a boy’s own adventure with elements of horror, while its cast delivering some of the best oneliners ever committed to screen. In fact, only one film truly does all this: Big Trouble in Little China. If you are unfamiliar with John Carpenter’s masterpiece - we’ll leave that there and come back to it later - this is a film of unwitting adventurers battling an ancient evil; a simple, age-old story in essence. Simply plotted at heart, a tale of largely unprepared heroesin-waiting setting out to rescue two women selected for marriage and/or sacrifice to a millennial Chinese sorcerer so that he may have eternal life. Well, perhaps not so simple, but let’s go back to the beginning. At the dawning of the ‘80s, John Carpenter

could do no wrong. Assault On Precinct 13 (1976) and his seminal slasher movie Halloween (1978) had established the writer, director, and composer as one of the key talents in the genre. While The Fog (1980) received a negative critical response, it still proved a commercial success, and Carpenter carried that momentum into making the cult favourite Escape from New York (1981) and horror staple The Thing (1982), both featuring Kurt Russell. But despite his relationship with horror, the director sought to try a new genre and after the award-friendly Starman (1984), he began to look for a martialarts inspired script to fulfil a long-held ambition. Carpenter sated that ambition with Big Trouble in Little China. “Ol’ Jack always says… what the hell?” Originally conceived as a Western that incorporated Oriental influences by first-time screenwriters Gary Goldman and David Z. Weinstein, Big Trouble in Little China underwent various re-writes and alterations before Hollywood script doctor W. D. Richter was brought in by 20th Century Fox. With essentially everything from the original discarded, apart from the story of bad guy Lo Pan, Fox first offered the script to Carpenter in 1985. With Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, and Dennis Dun now on board, the film finally went into production and was released to a lukewarm reception on July 2nd, 1986. With mixed reviews from the critics,

and an uninspiring box office, how did this mishmash of cultural references and corny gags become one of the most beloved films of the decade? Watching Big Trouble in China now, the answer seems strangely obvious. The first thing you notice about the film is the effortless chemistry between the actors. Reversing the usual trope, Russell’s Jack Burton is more a sidekick to Dun’s central Wang Chi, playing a more incompetent, everyman role than the Indiana Jones-like character you would expect. The plot is driven by Wang Chi’s obsessive search for his kidnapped bride, and Burton is as much along for the ride as he is an able assistant in the quest. The witty dialogue feels as natural as it is funny, and you’re drawn to the true sense of friendship and respect between the pair. Add in a wonderfully overacting, exposition-spouting Kim Cattrall as Gracie Law, part love interest for Burton, part

DeNNiS DuN

Dennis Dun is an Asian-American actor, whose long career includes YEAR OF THE DRAGON (1985) and THE LAST EMPEROR (1987), but he will always be remembered most fondly as Wang Chi in BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA. We grabbed a few moments with Dennis to discuss his thoughts on the film… STARBURST: Why do you think that this is now such a popular and significant movie for Asian-Americans? Dennis Dun: It’s just so much fun; how could you look at this as a depiction of real China? The fan mail and the writings that came in, from both Caucasians and Asian-Americans, you felt that something was crossed here. It was like they’d never seen someone like Wang Chi in a regular film. It was kind of affirmation; this guy’s not so alien, he’s normal - not so fantastical. And largely because of John Carpenter’s touch, it’s so balanced, palatable, and entertaining. And, I mean, you got Kurt Russell acting like John Wayne. That’s what makes it so wonderful. Why do you think it’s become a cult film? I think at the time, John said he thought the

public wasn’t ready for the film, but over time that appreciation has grown. It’s great to see. After Big Trouble in Little China, John Carpenter moved away from studio productions. There was a lot of support, and a lot of excitement. But the film changed hands in the middle of editing, and the powers-that-be didn’t like the film so they pulled the money from the publicity. And then when it became popular it was too late. I think all that made John very unhappy. Despite the failure at time of release, this is now a cult classic. It’s wonderful. You feel good, you know. You put so much into something you love that it’s great. For me, for John and for Kurt, who’s had an amazing career. What are your abiding memories of filming? The re-writes were all done when I came on board, so on set it was very relaxed. John encouraged a fun atmosphere and it was great. I’m sure he felt the pressure, but he had so much energy and it was like playing. It was very organised, though, but we all got on, and Kurt Russell was a blast. It was one of the best experiences of my life. Finally, we wondered if you still had some of your amazing outfits. I still have them all! Although it’s too hot here in L.A. to wear them. The hat, the jacket, all of them. The flight jumpsuit I wear in the film is interesting. Originally, I was in a ninja suit like everyone else, but it didn’t feel right. So, I showed the costume designer a Tom Cruise flight suit I had, and John also liked it so we put it in. It helped connect with the public, because it shows again ‘he’s one of you’. You know, he’s just a guy.

brains of the group, and Victor Wong’s enigmatic local mystic, and you have a core cast that blends perfectly. There is also that extraordinary premise of the story. The early ‘80s was a period of cinema dominated by blockbusters such as Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Ghostbusters (1984), and horror had built on a strong late-‘70s with films such as Scanners (1981) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). The fantasy genre was also experiencing a resurgence with Dragonslayer (1981) and, most notably, Conan the Barbarian (1982) and its sequels. But with Big Trouble in Little China, Carpenter combined key elements from all those genres into a film that defies standard classification and is all the stronger for it. Seat-of-pants action scenes, dark-magic-wielding bad guys, beautiful but strong damsels to be rescued… and, of course, true heroes. This is a film that challenges the conventional and discards traditional Hollywood rules, replacing them with bold, brash and brave filmmaking that, as mentioned, was met with mixed reactions at the time of its 1986 release. Over the past thirty years or so, this outlandish comedy-horror-action-kung fu-thriller has grown in stature, rightly becoming one of the most revered and respected films of the decade. “Sit tight, hold the fort, keep the home fires burning. And if we’re not back by dawn… call the President.” So, what makes this John Carpenter’s masterpiece?

More than any other film he has made, Big Trouble in Little China is a John Carpenter-y film. The themes and tropes we are so used to seeing throughout his films are strikingly present here. A long-time fan of Westerns, all Carpenter’s films feature references to this genre but Kurt Russell’s Jack Burton ‘riding’ into town on his PorkChop Express resonates more than most. The challenge faced by an unlikely band of heroes up against a seemingly invincible foe continues the Western theme. Never has Carpenter’s wry, cynical sense of humour been more present than it is in Big Trouble in Little China, Burton’s endless one-liners hiding both the character’s confusion at the situation he’s facing and offering a bluecollar bravado also present in Carpenter and Russell characters Snake Plissken (Escape from New York) and R. J. MacReady (The Thing). The electric, synthesised soundtrack so synonymous with Carpenter’s films is both pounding and melodic here, with the main theme (Pork-Chop Express) a career highlight. There is so much to relish. But the one, single most significant element that sets Big Trouble in Little China apart from any other John Carpenter film is its sheer, unashamed, unflinching enjoyability. From the opening scene of Victor Wong’s Egg Shen demonstrating Chinese magic to an office full of sceptical policemen, to Jack Burton’s final monologue aboard the Pork-Chop Express, this is a film resplendent in its ridiculousness and revelling in its reverie. Almost every genre is touched by the unstoppably entertaining narrative, and the cultural

importance of how balanced the interracial characters are should not be underestimated. Big Trouble in Little China would be a masterpiece in any filmmaker’s career, but in one as prolific and influential as that of John Carpenter, it is an even greater achievement. So, take care of yourselves out there, always look that big ol’ storm right square in the eye and, as seems fitting, we’ll leave you with the words of the great Jack Burton himself… “When some wild-eyed, eight-foot tall maniac

grabs your neck, taps the back of your favourite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye and you remember what ol’ Jack Burton always says at a time like that.” “Have ya paid your dues, Jack?” “Yessir, the cheque is in the mail.” Get reacquainted with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA when it screens on Horror Channel on September 30th. Sky 319, Freeview 70, Virgin 149, Freesat 138.

Back to the Raza by Paul Ripley

As the third season of Syfy hit DARK MATTER makes its way to DVD, our Production Manager gives his personal view on why we shouldn’t overlook this show…

am always looking for a good sci-fi show that involves spaceships and zooming around the galaxies. So two years ago, I invested my time in what was then a new show called Dark Matter, and it was a wise investment - this show wasn’t a Star Trek clone nor a Marvel or DC-type series, but to my way of thinking, turned into a good old space romp with characters that were wellrounded and interesting. Dark Matter is a Canadian sci-fi series created by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, based on their comic book of the same name. For those who have not caught up with the wonderful world the pair have come

up with, the simple synopsis is a spaceship crew awaken from stasis. Since they awoke on the derelict spaceship with no memory of who they were or how they got there, they have managed to piece together some of their past - but only at the price of becoming ensnared in betrayal, vengeance and deadly interplanetary secrets, culminating at the end of Season Two with the EOS 7 space station blowing up with some of the team still aboard. The survivors must stay alive and find the missing crew members in as the story continues to the third season. In Season Three, Dark Matter took advantage of its strengths of the first two seasons, and concentrated on the extraordinary origins and complex pasts of the crew members of the spaceship Raza. One of the reasons I love the show so much is that it has androids - in fact, two on the Raza in Season One. The first, simply named The Android (Zoie Palmer) is an outsider, constantly searching for acceptance from the crew. She has a child-like demeanour, desperate to fit in. As she engages with

Bendavid, who left the show in Season Two). She later attempted to kill the entire crew, but was decapitated by Ryo, before being partially reactivated when the crew needed information stored in her memory. She was subsequently unplugged once this had been retrieved. During this information retrieval process, the crew also discovered that she had been deliberately placed on the Raza to sabotage it and kill them all. It’s like The Terminator all over again - never, ever trust an android, or should you?

the crew, she both grows and learns to understand human actions and emotions. Sure, she’s not technically alive, but thanks to some upgrades, The Android actually feels - well, sort of. Not altogether unlike Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, then. With the mind of a computer, the curiosity of a child, and the protectiveness of a mother cat for the Raza crew, The Android might be the most human of them all - particularly in Season Three. All I can say is “boobs, boobs, boobs”, but that’s not my quote, but The Android herself. Zoie Palmer’s portrayal of the character gives us so much throughout the seasons you cannot help but admire her every performance. The other android is Wendy (Ruby Rose), an entertainment model that the crew of the Raza found disassembled in their cargo hold vault. They decided to put her back together, and once her entertainment protocols engaged, she quickly set about charming most of the crew through culinary service, a massage for Ryo Tetsuda (Alex Mallari Jr), and even a sexual encounter with One (Marc

But Dark Matter isn’t all about androids. In Season Three, the scattered survivors of EOS-7 battle to regroup amidst the backdrop of corporate war. Ryo Ishida, now emperor of Zairon, makes an enemy of his former allies, while the past comes back to haunt the crew of the Raza. Interestingly, the impending corporate war feels like it could be our future, and like so many good sci-fi stories, you feel that future portrayed may not be that far away from real life. Just when I think I’ve got something figured out, it completely fooled me, and that is one of the many reasons I was hooked. Don’t trust everything you see, even salt looks like sugar. I cannot praise this mid-budget TV show enough, from its entertaining storylines to its crafted acting performances. And, to add, we don’t have that once-a-week different alien approach to the story - of course, there are small issues within the plots that are unfolding, but not enough to stop you buying into all the characters and enjoying the ride on the Raza. I now only hope we get a Season Four, as I am not sure I could handle another Firefly situation - that just doesn’t bear thinking about. [Sorry, Paul it’s already been cancelled. - Ed] As one of the creators of the show Joseph Mallozzi says, “Viewers tune in for the hook, but they stay for the characters. It’s a lesson I learned working on Stargate. As

much as fans enjoy the sense of adventure, the action, and the dazzling visual effects, it’s the characters at the heart of each show that draw them back, week after week. Whether it’s SG-1, the Atlantis expedition, the crew of The Destiny, or the crew of The Raza, fans check in with the characters they love because they’ve formed a connection with them. They are, in a way, extended family members they can visit with every time they watch an episode. I think that one of the things that makes Stargate and Dark Matter special (and you can include Killjoys in this unique grouping) is that they offer science fiction fans something unique and, frankly, atypical of the genre - a sense of fun.” DARK MATTER Season Three and a box set of the first three seasons are available on DVD now.

SUBSPACE RELAY

SAUCER SECTION

Discovery Latest

The latest Trek series is finally with us. Discovery launches on Sunday September 24th in the US, and lands on Netflix in the UK (and worldwide) the next day. CBS has been going all out with trailers and promos recently, but little in the way of actual news other than giving us our first proper look at Discovery’s bridge (and it’s good news for fans of cool, moody-looking bridges).. For those who have been living under a Horta for the last few months (because the Horta are rock-like, obviously, we’re wasted here), here’s the basics: Discovery was developed by Alex Kurtzman and Bryan Fuller, although Trek veteran Fuller left the show earlier this year in acrimonious circumstances. The showrunners are Fuller protégées Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts, with a writing team that includes Wrath of Khan director Nick Meyer and Next Generation/Voyager veteran Joe Menosky. The first season is comprised of fifteen episodes, and is split into two chapters, with the first running September to November, and the second starting in January. Which is a fancy way of saying there’s a mid-season break. Star Sonequa Martin-Green is Starfleet officer Michael Burnham, who starts out as first officer of the USS Shenzhou (the first Trek lead character who’s not captain/commander of their respective ship/ space station). She’s a human orphan raised on Vulcan by Spock’s parents, Sarek (James Frain) and Amanda (no announcement has been made on who’s playing this character as of yet). We’ve also got a pair of Starfleet captains, Lorca (Jason Isaacs) and Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) of the Discovery and Shenzhou respectively, and a main crew that comprises Lt. Saru (Doug Jones), Lt. Stamets (Anthony Rapp), Lt. Tyler (Shazad Latif),

ALL THE NEWS FROM THE WORLDS OF STAR TREK WITH IAIN ROBERTSON

Cadet Tilly (Mary Wiseman), Lt. Landry (Rekha Sharma) and Dr Culber (Wilson Cruz). Heavily (and controversially) redesigned Klingons will also play a major part in the show, chief amongst them T’Kuvma (Chris Obi), L’Rell (Mary Chieffo), Kol (Kenneth Mitchell) and a mysterious character named Voq, who CBS intriguingly haven’t named an actor for. Original Series character Harry Mudd (Rainn Wilson) will also be playing a large part in the show, which is set ten years prior to the adventures of Kirk and Spock. Discovery is the most controversial new Trek series amongst fans since The Next Generation débuted in 1987 (and hey, that turned out pretty good), largely due to several delays, behind the scenes battles (not least the firing of fan favourite Bryan Fuller), and major changes in the show’s concept over the last year. Has CBS’s gamble paid off? We’ll find out shortly.

Farrell and Nimoy engaged

As a general rule, we don’t comment on the personal lives of Trek personnel in here, - because obviously we’re above that - but this one’s cool. DS9’s Terry Farrell (that’s Jadzia Dax, in case you’re somehow oblivious) and Adam Nimoy – son of Leonard and director of For the Love of Spock - have announced that they’re engaged. It’ll come as little surprise to anyone who has seen the pair on the convention circuit together, where they tend to be inseparable (for example, Nimoy recently surprised Farrell by appearing onstage unannounced to interview her at Star Trek Las Vegas). We are, however, a tad miffed considering we’ve been in love with Farrell since 1993 and thought we had first dibs (this is how relationships work, isn’t it?).

Congratulations to the happy couple. We hope you have many great years of counting each other’s spots and playing with pointy bits.

George R. R. Martin was turned down for TNG

Back in the mid-1980s, when The Next Generation was in development, the show’s producers met with many potential writers for the upcoming show, one of which was apparently George R. R. Martin. Speaking at UCSD’s Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination, the author revealed: “I had an interview with Star Trek: The Next Generation for a possible job as a staff writer. I remember coming into the office of this producer, who thankfully did not last long on the show [probably Maurice Hurley] and you can see why when I tell the story. He said ‘I don’t know who you are, can you tell me your credentials?’ And I said ‘I am just coming off The Twilight Zone where I worked for a while, but before that I wrote novels and short stories. I am primarily a science fiction writer.’ And he said ‘Oh really, well Star Trek is not a science fiction show, it is a people show.’ I was fooled by the photon torpedoes and starships. I was misled. Needless to say I did not get that job.” Whilst we’d love to see a Martin-written Trek episode, we’ll satisfy ourselves with the knowledge that the lack of regular work meant we got A Song of Ice and Fire (which has apparently since been turned into a successful TV show).

TREK-inspired BLACK MIRROR episode on the way

Amongst the upcoming fourth season of Charlie Brooker’s brilliant Black Mirror is an episode entitled USS Callister, which looks more than a little inspired by Trek. Whilst the clip in the show’s trailer makes it look like a Trek parody (with an aesthetic inspired by the Kelvin timeline movies) similar to Seth MacFarlane’s The Orville or Galaxy Quest, Black Mirror is a far smarter, bleaker show, so we’re not expecting a barrel of laughs. Starring Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad/Fargo), Cristin Milioti (Fargo), Jimmi Simpson (Westworld) and Michaela Coel (Monsters: Dark Continent), the episode is written by Brooker and William Bridges, and directed by Toby Haynes (Doctor Who/Sherlock). Considering Black Mirror’s version of sci-fi is a world away from Trek’s more optimistic outlook, it will be interesting to see how Brooker incorporates a Trek-inspired episode into his show. We’ll see how it turns out when it arrives on Netflix later this year.

Write script. Send script. Script gets read. Script is liked/disliked. Straightforward. But times change. Finances change. So strategies must change, too.

nothing. That’s the script’s name. Its author is Chris Bryans.

Tag line: Alzheimer’s in reverse.

SAUCER SECTION

Downloading the script is two clicks away. Another click for feedback. chrisbryans.wixsite.com/nothing

Teaser: Suddenly, nothing was what everybody wanted. Thank you.

FROM THE DESK OF THE STARBURST TREKOLOGIST B. JONES

Mudd by Name and by Nature!

SAUCER SECTION

ar-court! Harcourt Fenton Mudd! A rogue, a swindler, a con-man and an unabashed unreformed trickster, but honestly, who doesn’t love this guy? Actually, there a few in that number, it would seem. A buccaneer for the 23rd century, who steals a spaceship and swashbuckles his way onto the Enterprise in the form of a lastminute rescue. Dressed in a large orange flouncy shirt, breeches and knee-length boots, Harry Mudd appears to be every inch a pirate, albeit a really well nourished one. All he needs is a sword and a parrot. We first meet Harry when he is accompanied by three gorgeous women that he intends to sell as wives to lonely miners. Woah! What’s that? He is going to sell people? Surely that’s called slavery and even more surely, there is probably a Federation law about that. Then he says the women are cool about it ‘cos they are lonely’. Oh, that’s alright, then. With the help of these three beautiful and enticing pieces of merchandise, Harry Mudd literally charms his way around the ship and into negotiations with the planet below. The Venus drug, it would seem, is very persuasive - especially if you’re a Rigellian miner who hasn’t seen a flesh and blood female in far too long. Oooh pretty! Captain Kirk is the first member of the Mudd anti-fan club after his beloved

Enterprise is held hostage based on the outcome of the negotiations between Mudd and the miners. After learning of Mudd’s extensive criminal record - read out by Spock Kirk is literally spitting feathers. We meet the second entry into the Mudd non-fan club during the Season Two episode I, Mudd in the form of Stella, his estranged wife. Mudd appears as the omnipotent ruler of the planet ‘Mudd’. The planet was inhabited by more than 207,000 Andromedan androids, who made Harry their leader, Emperor Mudd the First, granting his every wish but refusing to let him leave. Harry has even remade a nagging Stella android so that he can tell her to “Shut up”. However, at the story’s conclusion, the planet becomes Mudd prison and Stella his jailer. How he evaded the triumvirate of irate Stellas in last scene and, indeed, the 497 other Stellas that were parading around the planet is unknown. It’s like being in a prison run by a bad drag act. His final appearance on screen was in Star Trek: The Animated Series. In Mudd’s Passion, he slips Spock a love potion… But much to Nurse Chapel’s annoyance, it has no effect. It does, however, start a multi-species love fest aboard the ship! The things you can get away with in animation! Rapscallion Mudd was proposed to emerge into The Next Generation’s 24th century by having him among those revived from cryogenic suspension in The Neutral Zone. That would certainly have been more

interesting than the greedy banker, the wailing country singer and the maudlin mother that we actually ended up with. He was also considered to appear as a character witness at Kirk’s trial in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Good job he didn’t appear as Kirk would have been bumped down to ensign, let alone ever being elevated to a captain again. Harry still turns up again and again in the DC Comics adaptations of Star Trek. His adventures, or should we say misadventures, keep the crew tied up over many stories. He also makes for some excellent cover artwork. The new show Star Trek: Discovery has also teased us in the trailers with snippets of a new incarnation of Harry Mudd. We wonder how long it will take the new crew to regret meeting Harcourt Fenton Mudd. Har-court?!!!!

INDEPENDENTS DAY by J.D. Gillam

Kiah Roache-Turner With the recent teaser video released online for the upcoming TV series of WYRMWOOD: CHRONICLES OF THE DEAD, we sat down with director Kiah RoacheTurner to talk about the show, the original film, the genesis of ideas and his favourite zombie kill…

STARBURST: Some horror fans complain that the zombie subgenre has been oversaturated, so what made you decide to make a zombie film? Kiah Roache-Turner: Yeah, people complained that the zombie genre was ‘oversaturated’ back in 2010 when we started this thing, said the same thing in 2015 when we released it and they’re still saying it today, but the fact is that if you make a good film with a cracking story, interesting ideas, lots of action, laughs, thrills, chills and spills, it doesn’t matter what genre you are working in, odds are there will be an audience out there willing to watch it… and besides, zombie films are pretty easy and cheap to make! All you need is a bunch of mates who are willing to get muddy, bloody, have prosthetics glued all over their body, fall down a lot and wear contact lenses! Luckily, we have a lot of friends who are willing to take a lot of punishment in the name of art. What was your budget for the film and how did you raise it? You mean the original feature? We got it in the can for about a hundred and sixty thousand, then needed about 250 grand worth of finishing funds, which Screen Australia kindly gave us. Then after everybody on the crew was paid their deferrals, I think it was just a smidgen over a million, which is basically the catering budget on a Michael Bay film. Although a million dollars would get you some really nice catering. Were there any guerrilla tactics used during the filming? All of the guerrilla tactics were used in the making of the original film. ALL of the tactics. I mean, our production company is called Guerilla Films, so that kind of tells you how we like to work, I could regale you with all the stuff we did but some of it is borderline illegal so that might not be such a great idea, but as the great Werner Herzog said: “The only way to make films is to break laws!” Then again, he also said that anybody who uses storyboards is ‘a coward dog’, so Werner might not be the best person to turn to for advice when

WY R MWOO D : RO AD OF THE DEA D

trying to make an action movie … Were you surprised by the critical acclaim that Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead received? Of course I was! Me and my brother were totally prepared to just have to upload our film onto the Internet for free in the hopes that it might lead to some work someday, so for our crazy little film to end up touring the world and winning awards and becoming number one on Netflix and iTunes was mental! Not to mention being one of the most pirated films of 2015! That was mind-boggling! That last one was actually a bit of a dubious honour, but hey, it’s still nice to be loved, isn’t it? There are some wonderfully comic moments of dark humour in the film. Were they deliberate? Me and my brother Tristan have a sense of humour that can only be described as pretty bloody dark, so yeah, I guess it was pretty deliberate. We grew up on films like Bad Taste and The Evil Dead, so exploding heads are just funny to us. Luckily, a lot of other people out there agree, so we get to be filmmakers instead of being locked up in

the loony bin, which I’m sure a lot of people out there would like to do to us! Where the hell did you get the idea from to make the zombie’s breath and blood replacements for fuel? I believe that was Tristan’s idea. My brother has an insane, twisted brain that comes up with a lot of the craziest shit in our films. I like to call him my ‘Wildy’. Back in the days of silent films, they used to have teams of writers who would write up the scripts for these little ‘one reel’ silent comedy and action films and they would come up with these wild, crazy set-pieces involving car chases, cops and robbers, and stuff. They would always have what they would call a ‘Wildy’ on hand, which was usually a totally mental drunk guy sitting in a corner who would yell out things like “Put in a gorilla!”, so they would put in a gorilla and that would always end up being the most memorable scene in the film. That’s my brother. Which is not to say that he’s a crazy drunk dude! He’s actually really smart and really fun to write with but he definitely comes up with the most bat-shit ideas between the two of us and those always end up being the best bits in

our flicks. What was the question again? Oh, where did he get the idea from? Um, I think it was from a documentary called Food Inc.; there’s a whole section on cows farting methane that’s killing the earth or something, and he put that together with the idea of methane-running cars and, boom! When he suggested that, I knew we had a movie. And the idea of having a character control the zombies is something pretty new and fresh. Where did that come from? Oh, I thought of that one! When Tristan came up with the zombie-methanerunning-vehicles thing, I knew I had to try and top it so I just channelled all those X-Men comics I used to read when I was a kid and came up with the coolest power you could possibly develop inside the world of a zombie apocalypse, which would be to control zombies, of course! What else? It’s a bit of a no-brainer actually, when you think about it … Will the series match the tone and spirit of the film? Fuck yes, it will! It’s gonna be even more

insane than the original because hopefully we’ll have a bit more cash this time around so we can blow some more shit up! If you watch the teaser that we put out, you can see that the aesthetic has changed a bit, though - no more handheld camera, better sets, much better lighting schemes, etc. We’ve finally been able to actually work with proper gaffers and grips and stuff so the content is looking a bit sexier, you know? We used Alexa cameras and proper anamorphic Cooke lenses on the teaser and, my god, does that make a difference! But basically, we are hoping to produce the TV series in much the same indie spirit as we made the first film with. Just go out and shoot it! Small crews, lots of setups, very runand-gun, and shoot fast; that’s how we like to work. I think if we stick to our roots we can guarantee a more original ‘look and feel’, a TV series with a bit more ‘grit’, you know? Not to say that we don’t want it to be slick as fuck, we do! We just want to retain that late ‘70s, early ‘80s Mad Max 2 edge to it! Sexy with a hint of dirt!

We’ve written a really detailed series bible, which is industry speak for a series treatment. It basically sets out the entire show and has lots of pretty pictures and awesome concept art and stuff, kind of like a ‘heavy-onthe-text’ graphic novel. It is so cool, I wish I could share it with you guys! We were a bit worried about how the story continuation was going to shape up, but once we made the decision to go long-form and started batting around ideas, it really flowed out of us very, very quickly. Practically wrote itself. Lots of new characters, new concepts, and all the crazy stuff that made the first film so memorable is still there, but we’ve been able to really elevate the material into places that even I was like, “whoah, how the hell are we going to do THAT?” The story is very cool. Can’t wait to start filming again - it’s going to be offtap!

How are you planning to stretch your story over a 10-episode arc, rather than a straight-up sequel?

Anybody who was left alive at the end of the film will make their way into the new series, which is to say that

Apart from Bianca Bradey - who we see in the teaser for the series - are any other characters from the film due to return?

Bianca Bradey and Jay Gallagher will be in it, because, let’s face it, we killed everybody else, right? No, those two will be back but unfortunately, none of the rest of our amazing cast will be returning because they were all pretty definitively killed in the first feature. It’s kind of hard to come back from a bullet (or a nail) in the head, you know? The zombies in Wyrmwood are a mixture of fast and slow - what’s your preference? Both. Obviously. What’s it like working with your brother? Do you have any creative differences and, if so, how do you work past them? It’s awesome working with my brother! We have a complete and unquestioned trust in each other, which is pretty rare in any collaboration and because we both grew up watching the same movies, reading the same books and comics and stuff, we are both totally coming from the same place creatively. Mostly. I tend to get a bit arty for him sometimes and he tends to favour shotguns over emotional subtlety for my tastes on occasion, but we make it work.

74 What were your influences growing up? There are obvious ties to insane scientists and road movies such as Mad Max and its ilk within the film. Yeah, Mad Max was a big one for us, both the original and The Road Warrior were films that we used to watch obsessively over and over again as kids. The way that George Miller created such a visually rich and totally kinetic and exciting ‘world’ that you could lose yourself in on such a tiny budget and very much outside of the mainstream film industry was a huge inspiration to us. Mad Max, to us, was almost like a religion, and unlike Star Wars, it was ours! It had been shot in Australia with Aussie actors and Aussie stuntmen and it had been so long since anybody had just gone out there and put crazy mask-wearing car-psychos up on the silver screen like that, so me and my bro just said “fuck it” and decided to do it ourselves. We took the ‘post-apocalyptic leather-clad warrior’ world that Miller had set up with his films and melded it with another horror exploitation favourite of ours, George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, and off we went! So I guess you could say that we owe a large portion of our careers to the ‘Georges’ of the cinema world! What’s your favourite zombie kill of all time and, if you had a ‘budget was no issue’ situation, what is the ultimate zombie kill you’d love to see realised? Umm… that’s a really good question! Off the top of my head, I’d have to say the opening scene of Dawn of the Dead when those SWAT dudes kick open the door and just completely blow that zombie guy’s head apart with absolutely no hesitation at all. His head just explodes like a watermelon with a grenade in it! I remember that as being very shocking to me when I was a kid, I yelled like a crazy person and probably spilled my popcorn. And the ultimate big-budget zombie kill? I dunno… killing a massive zombie horde with an atomic explosion would be pretty sweet… possibly a bit of overkill there, but sweet nonetheless. How about that? What are your plans for future projects? We’ve got a sci-fi horror feature called Nekromancer that we’re looking to shoot at the end of the year that’s kind of ‘The Matrix meets The Exorcist’. Obviously, we’ve been developing the shit out of Wyrmwood TV, which is going to be insane if they ever let us shoot all the stuff we’ve been planning. My brother and I have an alien invasion movie that is SUPER-COOL but we’ve only just started writing that - it’s kind of like Alien Nation meets Blood Simple - and I’m writing a really cool little film about witches with my wife, so we’ve got heaps of projects coming up! I need to cut down on the coffee because I’ve got more stories on the backburner than I can handle! There’s no bloody stopping us! Find out more about Kiah and his brother Tristan’s films at roache-turner.com.

REVIEW

WYRMWOOD: ROAD OF THE DEAD CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: KIAH ROACHE-TURNER / SCREENPLAY: KIAH ROACHE-TURNER, TRISTAN ROACHE-TURNER / STARRING: JAY GALLAGHER, BIANCA BRADLEY, LEON BURCHILL, LUKE MCKENZIE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW Following a stream of foreboding shooting stars, life in the Australian outback is turned on its head as everyone wakes up to find their friends and neighbours have turned into screeching flesh-eating zombies. But not all have succumbed. Sensing that a foul stench has filled the air, mechanic Barry tools up and hurls gas masks onto his wife and daughter before making a break into the bush while his similarly ill-fated sister Brooke fights for survival in a barn filled with the evil dead. As both siblings struggle for survival, the living and the undead do their best to make the end of days as barbaric and bloody as possible. While the story may sound familiar, director Kiah Roache-Turner adopts the Australian rules approach by sticking his survivors in full apocalyptic body armour and creating as much damage as possible while throwing in some hilariously typical Aussie traits, too. Sitting somewhere between Resident Evil and Mad Max, Wyrmwood (named after the falling star that heralds the rapture) punches the accelerator hard and doesn’t hit the break until the final credits roll, running over a horde of exhaust-spewing zombies along the way. And therein lies the most ingenious part of Roache-Turner’s zombie apocalypse: not only did the falling stars turn the living into the dead (unless you happen to have a rare blood type), but it also rendered all combustible liquids useless while at the same time turning the zombie’s blood into burnable fuel. You can see where that is going. Wyrmwood may be lacking in certain areas, but the ballsy direction coupled with Aussie humour, zombie engines and copious amounts of blood and gore means this is well on its way to being the best Australasian horror film to appear since Peter Jackson’s Braindead. Perhaps the most commendable aspect of Wyrmwood is that it exists largely as a result of a crowdfunding campaign, taking around three to four years to make as the crew (who worked for nothing more than the passion of filmmaking) shot as and when they could. This prolonged period is documented in the 47-minute Wyrmwood Diaries that assembles fast-paced clips of the entire production process, from initial set-up for the crowdfunding to the shoot and beyond, all of which is delivered with the same irreverent humour that burns through the veins of the film. The original seven-minute teaser scene is also included on the DVD release, along with two further crowdfunding videos, which laid out the filmmakers’ (brothers Kiah and Tristan Roache-Turner) plans for the film that they wanted to make along with a thank you video to the funders (with the siblings in full zombie make-up) asking for help with post-production. Finally, storyboards accompanied by crazy ‘70s funk music can be found, along with ten deleted scenes totaling nearly ten minutes and the prerequisite Director’s Commentary, which is definitely worth a listen given the nature of the production. Grant Kempster

Can You BEAR-LY WAIT? by Jack Bottomley

As everyone’s favourite Peruvian bear and his adopted family the Browns get ready for another charming adventure, we look at what PADDINGTON 2 may bring, aside from marmalade sandwiches...

he expression ‘a live-action and animated adaptation of’ is often rightly feared by cinemagoers. They conjure up anxieties that are all too well founded because, while films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Space Jam fondly married the two visual media of storytelling together, when this mash is used to adapt beloved source material, the results have not always

led to stellar offerings. We’re thinking of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Yogi Bear, The Smurfs 1 and 2 and Garfield... and we still have the James Corden-starring Peter Rabbit to come. However, it is not all doom and gloom, for occasionally, you can receive a heart-swelling shock, a giddily eccentric treat, a slice of family filmmaking that exudes British silliness and endearing humanity; sometimes, you can get a film like Paddington. Back in December 2014, many feared the worst about Bunny and the Bull director Paul King’s take on the adored Paddington Bear, a creation of the recently dearly departed British author Michael Bond. From Colin Firth dropping out of voicing the character due to accent mastery difficulties to early revealed images of a CG Paddington Bear being labeled creepy, which led to a small trend of memes that placed Paddington in films like The Shining, The Omen, El Orfanato, Ringu, Cabin in the Woods and even IT, bad buzz was brewing. And then, the reviews hit the Internet, and a horde of clearly flabbergasted writers revealed that

not only was the film good, it was pure joy translated into cinema, which came along at just the right time for many viewers. Paddington’s critical acclaim, $268 million worldwide takings, award nominations and, indeed, winning quality may have come as a shock to some audiences before viewing the film, but after seeing it, nobody could be surprised at such a warm reception for dear old Paddington. At face value, Paddington was an engaging, whimsically written, colourfully directed adventure; but there was more to it in the form of some timely themes of acceptance, cultural tolerance, and refugee issues. Above all else, though, with kookiness, a vibrant energy and a collection of lovable characters, Paddington was just full of magic. Starting off strong with some cute and smile-raising scenes in ‘the deep jungles of darkest Peru’, as an explorer discovered a family of intelligent speaking bears, the film only got better. An early heartbreak - the loss of Uncle Pastuzo in an earthquake - was followed by scenes of brimming happiness as Paddington made

77 the journey across the seas to London, where he met the Browns, became one of the family and in the process fended off the taxidermy terror of Nicole Kidman’s brilliantly ice-cold villain. The film ended as our marmalade-loving bear had a home with the Browns and all was right in the world and the cinematorium. Now, we have reminded you of what came before, we now prepare for what comes next, as Paddington Bear is back and judging from what we have seen so far, he is as politely adorable and clumsily irresistible as ever. In the sequel, Paddington Bear has settled in with the Brown family and become quite the local personality. In his daily travels he sees a unique pop-up book that is simply perfect for his Aunt Lucy’s 100th Birthday and to afford the item, he does a few odd jobs (we see how well the window washing goes in the teaser trailer!). And then disaster strikes, as the book is stolen and it’s up to Paddington and the Browns to investigate and find the thief. As stories go, this just feels so warm and cozy, much like Bond’s source material and the 1970s TV series; it is the perfect minimalist foil for this sweet-looking sequel to the highest grossing independent family feature of all time.

More details are being kept under the hat but from the looks of things, King is certainly not tinkering with a winning formula. However, that’s not to say there won’t be plenty of surprises. The screenplay is being written by King and The Mighty Boosh star Simon Farnaby (co-writer of this year’s Mindhorn and who briefly appeared in the first film as security guard Barry), which really should indicate mass tomfoolery, slapstick, nutty set pieces and a plot that never lets up on the funny. It will certainly be interesting to see where this simple set-up goes in a sequel that looks to be going even barmier with its talented cast of characters. The crime/ mystery plot is at the centre of the story, as the Browns are going full-on sleuth (watch out Sherlock) to solve this mystery of the stolen pop-up book. Lord knows what this nefarious pop-up pilferer wants with it but we imagine there will be far more to this mystery than meets the eye; judging by what we’ve seen, there certainly seems to be. Ben Whishaw is back once again to lend Paddington his warm, unreservedly pleasant and utterly charming voice, while Hugh

Bonneville and Sally Hawkins return with their boundless chemistry as Henry and Mary Brown, as do Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin as their children Judy and Jonathan Brown. Not only are the leading ensemble back, but much of the supporting team are reprising their roles too, with the ever-fantastic Julie Walters returning as housekeeper Mrs Bird, Peter Capaldi once again portraying the curmudgeonly neighbour Mr Curry, Jim Broadbent reprising his role as Mr Gruber the shopkeeper and Imelda Staunton again the voice of Aunt Lucy. However, what of the new faces? Well, first we have Hugh Grant, who looks to be as off the wall here as an old roll of wallpaper, Grant plays Phoenix Buchanan, a former actor and a ridiculously egotistical one at that. Accompanying him is Brendan Gleeson - no stranger to playing mad characters - as safecracker Knuckles McGinty, rounding off a talented assemblage of actors bringing to life another adventure for Michael Bond’s treasured creation. Speaking of which, we would certainly expect to see a tribute of some kind to Bond, who actually appeared in a wonderfully placed cameo in the last film and who sadly passed away this year. In fact, it was on the final day of shooting for Paddington 2. As sad as this may be, it is also appropriate

that the dates should coincide, as Bond saw this adventure for his cherished character right to the end and he would be proud to know that there will be more to come, as a third film is already being planned. Over the years, it is incredible to see how much the public has come to adore seeing this polite, coat-wearing bear munch away at his sandwiches and get in a few sticky spots himself. Through it all, never has our admiration wavered for this most delightful character (at least it hasn’t for this writer). Paddington, like these films, is a throwback to a time when children and adults could both enjoy the commonplace being made magical by the presence of a character who defines friendliness, good values, and all around kind-hearted entertainment. The first film may have left some mighty big wellies to fill, but we are sure that this latest escapade with Paddington, with its colour-splashed comedy and Wes Anderson-esque whimsy, will yield another adventure that enthralls viewers of all ages. After all, in the character’s near 60-year history, and with every new tale that has come along, he has always managed to do just that. Prepare your marmalade sandwiches, as PADDINGTON 2 will arrive in UK Cinemas on November 10th.

REVIEWS

THE LATEST BIG SCREEN GENRE RELEASES REVIEWED AND RATED

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Cert: 15 / DireCtOr: anDY MuSChietti / SCreenPlaY: ChaSe PalMer, CarY FuKunaga, garY DauBerMan / Starring: JaeDen lieBerher, JereMY raY taYlOr, SOPhia lilliS, Finn WOlFharD, Bill SKarSgÅrD / releaSe Date: Out nOW A single red balloon drifts up the New Line Cinema logo, a starting wink to those who know. Director Andrés (Andy) Muschietti’s first of two adaptations of Stephen King’s story of the clown-shaped entity who terrorises a town does the Tango with everything you love about horror… and makes changes so horrible to the source material that you’ll love IT even more. The story starts in Derry, a place of jolly picket fences, lovers’ lanes and disappearing-presumed-dead kids. A group of young outcasts known as The Losers notice and set about trying to stop the evil in their midst. So, are they any good? The answer is a resounding ‘waka waka!’, as Richie ‘Trashmouth’ Tozier would say. The standout is newcomer Sophia Lillis as Beverly. She can play terror, amour and weary knowingness beyond her years and hers are the scenes that skate closest to the adult content in the book. Her intensity is balanced by Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard as Richie. Wolfhard’s slapstick is fantastic. This kid makes the most inappropriate jokes at the worst possible times in such a throwaway and exuberant fashion that he is utterly hilarious. Group sequences feel like a modern, hardcore version of Stand by Me. Jack Dylan Grazer’s Eddie has feisty inner steel, Jeremy Ray Taylor is an insightful and beautifully humorous Ben, Chosen Jacobs is the dependable (if

slightly underused) Mike and Wyatt Oleff’s Stan perennially sits on a knife edge of sarcasm and terror. Midnight Special’s Jaeden Lieberher invests Bill with a deep sense of loss and thrusts in with the character’s dynamite strength at the mid-way point. The adults are sadistic without becoming stock types. King’s Constant Readers can rest (un) easy knowing IT gives new surprises in well-loved ways, with a Nightmare on Elm Street-ish vibe running through set pieces that are seat-jump scary, verbally delightfully daft and deeply unnerving. It’s like Stranger Things on steroids. A further horror is Nicholas Hamilton. His Henry barely hides the broken boy behind the ripped-shirt swagger and cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung’s well-used camera pauses make the narrative arc make sense. While key psychological and canonical aspects of the novel remain, things that would seem out of time to today’s teenagers are gone. IT is scary partly because the action is more realistic and the magic of the story takes more than mouthing a few words to summon. Oh, and Pennywise? Bill Skarsgård bites himself a chunk of history. The clown plays like an overgrown kid gone wrong. The jokes are loving and spiteful, the movements joyful and mechanical. He is supported by a Guillermo del Torro-like set and an array of monsters including Mama’s

subtly-shot Javier Botet to give the Losers a run for their money. The pacing is perfect, the soundtrack sublime and varied from rock to other acts on the block. Muschietti’s IT is classic King but without the twee that sometimes tiptoes into adaptations of his work. IT is horror with heart and high jinks. If taking on a killer clown and all IT’s compadres leads to the adventure the Losers have, you’ll float, too. Charlie OughtOn

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THE DARK TOWER Cert: 12a / DireCtOr: niKOlaJ arCel / SCreenPlaY: aKiVa gOlDSMan, JeFF PinKner, niKOlaJ arCel, anDerS thOMaS JenSen / Starring: iDriS elBa, MattheW MCCOnaugheY, tOM taYlOr / releaSe Date: Out nOW “Ka is a wheel, its one purpose to turn” is what Stephen King allowed us to believe throughout his epic fantastical book series The Dark Tower. This has similar implications to our very own ‘circle of life’; yet after assessing Hollywood’s highly disappointing adaptation, it’s clear that the wheel ran off-course a long time ago. With fleeting references to the broader themes, characters and scope of The Dark Tower novels, director Nikolaj Arcel never manages to lay down a potent foundation for the screen. If

you’ve marvelled within the pages of King’s macabre, bittersweet creation, following Roland the Gunslinger and his beloved katet, then you may too raise an eyebrow at the 90-minute runtime of this adaptation. With eight books in total, all set within the barren and mystical landscape of Mid-World, King’s material has already been tried and tested by far superior filmmakers; the impressive roster of directing talent to come and go includes Ron Howard and J. J. Abrams, in addition to would-be acting

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS: THE FIRST EPIC MOVIE Cert: u / DireCtOr: DaViD SOren / SCreenPlaY: niChOlaS StOller / Starring: KeVin hart, eD helMS, thOMaS MiDDleDitCh, niCK KrOll, JOrDan Peele / releaSe Date: Out nOW more interesting and fascinating than what’s happening in your own boring normal world. When children do this, the stories they create are more likely to be crude, ridiculous, and stupid, but even the silliest of stories can have imagination and joy in them, and that is certainly the case with Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, based on the popular book series by Dav Pilkey. With a name like Captain Underpants, the first thoughts that’d come to mind would be that of ridicule and rejection due to the inclusion of juvenile names

find moments of authentic torture in Elba’s performance, but overall he becomes just another mundane man of action. Walter o’Dim (The Man in Black), the series’ antagonistic wizard, is brought to scorchingly dull life by Matthew McConaughey. He is Roland’s sworn enemy and plans to disrupt the balance of reality by toppling the Dark Tower itself. What waits beyond this notion is a legion of dark forces that could change the face of the universe. Jake and Roland spend their time together attempting to nullify Walter’s vicious ploys, only for blood and death to accompany them. Unfortunately, this adaptation fails on almost every conceivable level, whether it’s from a fan’s perspective or a newbie’s. The characterisation is string-like thin, the majority of the acting is wooden and in some circumstances, laughably theatrical. In this day and age of technological advancement and mind-bending cinematic possibilities, even The Dark Tower’s special effects are instantly forgettable. You’ve been warned.

and potty humour, however, this movie is incredibly self-aware of its own brand of humour and completely embraces it to its full advantage and that’s what makes it so ridiculously enjoyable. The tone may be child-like, but it’s not annoying or cynical, rather, it’s heartwarming, full of life and energy and packed with gags that’ll leave both adults and children laughing with glee. It’s clear that the filmmakers (particularly director David Soren and screenwriter Nicolas Stoller), have put in real effort, care, and attention to every scene in the film, which is more than could be said of some recent animated movies (Norm of the North, anyone…?). The animation on display is fun, vibrant and crazy, yet cohesive and fluid, which goes to show that real skilled professionals have worked hard to make every scene pop in a certain style. Speaking of which, there are actually different animation techniques shown throughout a few times, including childlike 2D comic-strip animation, cardboard cutouts and even an amazing scene of sock puppetry that makes for one of the most memorable laugh-out-moments. Another aspect that works really well is the voice actors, and that is really surprising considering this is another case of celebrities involved in animation. Both Kevin

Hart and Thomas Middleditch are excellent as the mischievous duo of George and Harold with Hart especially being surprisingly restrained and all the better for it. Ed Helms perfectly nails both roles as the dimwitted titular hero and the grouchy Principal Krupp, while Nick Kroll totally hams it up as the ridiculously named Professor Poopypants. Plus, that theme song by ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic is catchy as hell. Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie may be silly, stupid, and ridiculous, but it’s incredibly creative with its humour, animation, characters and story. This silliness makes it all part of its charm. It has real heart and soul, which is something that has been sorely absent in the big mainstream animated movies released this year, like Despicable Me 3, Cars 3, and especially The Boss Baby. This is the kind of film that will appeal to all audiences, and even the most cynical of adults will probably find enjoyment in what is the real unexpected gem of 2017 so far. Everyone should put their pants on and give this a watch. Tra-la-la!

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There are many ways children’s imaginations can be ignited; intellectual inspiration, random coincidences, the people surrounding them, reminders from shows they enjoy watching, and so on. Yet, ironically, boredom can be the core reason for children to create their own creative worlds, like when your mind wanders when you’re bored in a history class at school (admit it, we’ve all been there). You feel so disinterested that you’d want to produce a world filled with imaginative characters and stories that would be so much

leads Javier Bardem and Viggo Mortensen. This adaptation concerns Jake Chambers (Taylor), a school kid who has nightmares featuring an evil warlock, beasts hiding in human form and a roguish gunman. When Jake relays these disturbing dreams back to his mum and step-dad, they have him see a psychiatrist. Now this is understandable, their son’s wild ramblings become a prominent feature in their lives - but what if such monstrous villains were real? With the discovery of a magic portal in New York City, Jake enters the alternate reality of Mid-World - where his nightmarish visions are, in fact, living, breathing entities. Here he meets Roland Deschain, a legendary gunslinger, portrayed by Idris Elba. This was initially a shrewd casting choice but the British actor isn’t fed much of a script here, cursed with cheesy (not the mild kind) dialogue. Readers of King’s Westerninspired fantasy/horror mash up may suffer heartbreak in this instance. Blasting his way off the page, Roland is a melancholic anti-hero whose caring nature acts as a counterpoint to his true calling - the world’s deadliest sharpshooter. Arcel’s film may

ATOMIC BLONDE

Cert: 15 / DireCtOr: DaViD leitCh / SCreenPlaY: Kurt JOhnStaD / Starring: CharliZe therOn, JaMeS MCaVOY, SOFia BOutella, JOhn GOODMAN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW Ever fantasised about having a female amalgamation of James Bond and John Wick? Well, look no further as Atomic Blonde delivers what you want and maybe a little more. Having first made his mark through the John Wick movies, rising director David Leitch joins forces with producer, leading star and all-round badass Charlize Theron to deliver an adrenaline-fuelled thrill ride, albeit with a few stumbles along the way. Set during the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall, MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton is sent into the heart of Berlin to retrieve a priceless dossier and take down a ruthless rogue agent known as ’Satchel’. Once there, she teams up with anarchic fellow agent David Percival to navigate her way through a deadly widening web of lies and deceit. But more importantly, this movie is one relentless

bloody ballet of gunfire and fistfights, and you do feel the pain and batterings that are unleashed throughout. It’s just as powerful and edgy as the John Wick movies, if a tad rougher and bloodier, as those movies felt more precise and clean in their balletic fight sequences. One particular standout sequence comes towards the end of the film where our main anti-heroine takes on a gang of hitmen in a hotel as she attempts to get out of East Berlin, and it is shot and choreographed in a way that’s very physical and visceral. Whenever filmmakers attempt to create a world set within a specific time period, they occasionally drop the ball by assuming that all you need to create an authentic setting is to throw in some retro songs and some goofy clothes, but

ANNABELLE: CREATION

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Cert: 15 / DireCtOr: DaViD F. SanDBerg / SCreenPlaY: garY DauBerMan / Starring: StePhanie SigMan, talitha BateMan, lulu WilSOn, PhiliPPa COultharD, graCe FultOn / releaSe Date: Out nOW There’s something inherently creepy about dolls. Be it Fats, Chucky, Billy from Saw or the bastard clown doll from Poltergeist, there’s something just not right about them. Then there’s the evil porcelain dolls that used to stare at you from their glass cabinet prison at your nan’s house. Annabelle

definitely falls in that category. The ‘star’ of The Conjuring is back, in a sequel to the selftitled Annabelle and a prequel to the franchise as a whole. It all begins with dollmaker Samuel Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia) and his wife (Miranda Otto) losing their daughter Annabelle (Samara Lee) in a

here, the ‘80s setting is created to perfection. Everything from the costume and set design to the neonsoaked colour palette (kudos to expert cinematographer Jonathan Sela) is nailed, even right down to the simplest of touches like Pan Am planes at Berlin Tempelhof Airport. The soundtrack is utilised well with terrific uses of songs ranging from ‘Blue Monday ’88’ and ‘99 Luftballons’ to ‘London Calling’ and ‘Under Pressure’, which all complement the ‘80s surroundings. The environment looks and feels right, managing to capture the zeitgeist perfectly, and in a way, this succeeds where films like the recent X-Men: Apocalypse failed. Building upon the success of Mad Max: Fury Road, Charlize Theron proves herself to be one of the most unique and talented action stars of this generation, just like Keanu Reeves did before her in John Wick. She manages to convey an array of emotions seamlessly throughout, ranging from vulnerable to alluring to dangerously vicious in the blink of an eye. Theron also handles the physicality with ease, and she throws herself into those action sequences with a believable dedication and tenacity, which further solidifies her as one of the most convincing action heroines in recent cinema. The supporting cast are equally terrific with James McAvoy bringing out the crazy and unhinged as the seemingly corrupt agent, while Sofia Boutella is simply phenomenal as the undercover French agent who gets involved with Theron in

more ways than one, which totally redeems her after the terrible reboot of The Mummy. However, while the film is relentless in its action and manages to maintain its sense of pace for the most part, it does go off the rails towards the end, which starts right after that significant action sequence. Once we get past that, the movie completely hinges on the final act, which attempts to fill in the gaps and missing pieces of the puzzle, but only ends up raising more questions than answers. This is the kind of film that won’t appeal to everyone’s tastes, especially since it never truly reveals why some characters act in certain ways or whose side they were on at certain points throughout, which will either fascinate or frustrate the most casual of viewers. For the most part, Atomic Blonde is an atomic blast, delivering on the action and allure with style and panache. Theron is one cool action badass, and David Leitch proves that he’s the right guy to handle the upcoming Deadpool 2. True, it may not be as smart as it thinks it is, and the direction the story ultimately takes at the end is sorely underwhelming, making it ten minutes too long, but if you want to experience a visceral action flick that’ll leave you breathless, then this may be the movie for you.

tragic accident. twelve years later, for reasons relatively unknown, they allow a nun (Sigman) and a group of orphans, including best friends Janice (Bateman) and Lina (Wilson) to move in. Mrs. Mullins is confined to her room after a mysterious accident, and there are strange noises and occurrences at night. Cue creepy doll, and we all know what happens next... There are plenty of jump scares, loud bangs, creative special effects and innovative uses of props. There’s even an out of place cameo from a franchise character, seemingly only to set up another film. The two child leads do a great job but you find yourself not caring as much for the others. If it’s character depth and a lasting narrative you want, you’ll be disappointed. If you want something that delivers highly on scares and makes you spill your popcorn, this is the film for you. While slightly better than

Annabelle, it’s still not as strong or engrossing as The Conjuring films. However, the end ties up things rather nicely and leads the way for a franchise that, like producer James Wan’s Saw, shows no signs of stopping for a while - The Conjuring 3 and further spin-offs The Nun and The Crooked Man are already on their way.

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JOnathan anDerSOn

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Journey to the Center of the Earth,

the sci-fi adventure extravaganza based on Jules Verneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s classic novel will be released for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK, as part of the Eureka Classics range. Special features include 1080p presentation from a definitive 4K restoration, a new video interview with Kim Newman, a featurette on the filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s restoration plus a booklet featuring an original review of the film from 1959.

Website: www.eurekavideo.co.uk Twitter: @eurekavideo Facebook: EurekaEntertainment

AVAILABLE FROM

CINEMA

Available September 2017

REVIEWS

THE LATEST HOME VIDEO RELEASES REVIEWED & RATED

THE SLAYER (1982)

DVD & BLU-RAY

BD / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: J. S. CARDONE / SCREENPLAY: J. S. CARDONE, WILLIAM R. EWING / STARRING: SARAH KENDALL, FREDERICK FLYNN, CAROL KOTTENBROOK / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW Long abused by home media releases, The Slayer thankfully arrives uncut and with a glorious new scan on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video. Hiding behind a generic slasher flick title, this relatively unsung classic concerns an ill-fated trip to a deserted island for troubled artist Kay, her husband David, Kay’s brother Eric and his wife Brooke. Kay has always had ‘bad dreams’ but recently they have become increasingly bleak and disturbing. David and Eric hope a break will snap Kay out of it, but they could not be more wrong. Once on the island, and with no one else around, a storm moves in and strands the group. They initially try to make the best of it but Kay’s dreams of death and violence start to seemingly come true. Someone, or indeed something, is on the island with them and Kay is convinced it is a presence from her dreams breaking through into the real world. There’s an ambiguity about what is happening, which

helps The Slayer stand out from other contemporary films. There’s multiple ways to read the movie if you so choose. What isn’t ambiguous is that it’s an absolutely beautifully shot film (DOP Karen Grossman is a star), tightly controlled by director J.S. Cardone and deliberately paced. It makes fantastic use of the Tybee Island locations and, rather than a cheap slasher, is actually an elegant, haunting horror. You could argue not much actually happens if you wanted to be critical, but it certainly doesn’t harm the film. As for this release, to complement the restored print that shows off how visually arresting the film is, Arrow has packed in substantial extras that make this essential. We get two audio commentaries, one with Cardone (plus cast and crew) and one with The Hysteria Continues. If that’s not enough, there’s an isolated score and audio interview with composer Robert Folk. This is a welcome addition as Folk’s score is another reason The

Slayer is so good, a wonderful soundtrack that becomes another character itself. If you want more, there’s an audience reaction track and Q&A from when the film was shown at the island’s theatre, restored to its glory and far from the dilapidated mess that features in the movie. There’s a 10-minute-plus interesting revisit to the locations on Tybee Island (like the score, the location is integral to the film’s success) and a near-hour-long making-of documentary that features contributions from many of those who made the film, including Cardone. First pressings also come with a booklet featuring liner notes. This is a welcome release that finally does The Slayer belated, deserved justice. Very highly recommended. JAMES EVANS

THE HORDE DVD / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: JARED COHN / SCREENPLAY: PAUL LOGAN / STARRING: PAUL LOGAN, MATTHEW WILLIG, COSTAS MANDYLOR / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW A gigantic meathead of a man goes camping with his teacher girlfriend and her photography class. There, they are beset by a tribe of hillbillies and violent ex-convict cannibals cooking up meth in the woods. When his girlfriend and the kids are dragged off to the monsters’ grisly rape dens, it’s down to jacked John Crenshaw (Paul Logan) to save the day. If only the missus had

allowed him to bring his guns, eh? Ashley Williams, Ellen Ripley and Lefty Enright aside, the legitimate horror badass is a relatively rare treat in genre cinema. After all, it’s easier to get on with the plot if your hero spends most of his or her time running away or hiding – usually before a little burst of competence, right at the end. And then you get a film like You’re Next or No

THE EVIL WITHIN

BD & DVD / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: ANDREW GETTY / SCREENPLAY: ANDREW GETTY / STARRING: FREDERICK KOEHLER, SEAN PATRICK FLANERY, DINA MEYER, BRIANNA BROWN, MICHAEL BERRYMAN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW itself as the work of an amateur. Conversely, it’s one of the most lavishly produced and expensivelooking horror films of recent years; the final budget, entirely out of Getty’s pocket, is thought to be $4m, almost bankrupting him. It is, unquestionably, worth seeking out and experiencing first-hand. The premise is barely worth mentioning. Dennis shares a house with his brother John (Flanery, giving a forgivably slightly disjointed performance), whose girlfriend Lydia (Meyer, looking unsurprisingly barely any older than she did in 1997’s Starship Troopers) is trying to persuade him to have

mumble-y Costas Mandylor (remember him?) at least give Crenshaw something to stumble against, however briefly. What should be a fun blend of action movie and slasher flick is, sadly, tainted by its idiot politics and repulsive use of rape in lieu of actual scares or atmosphere. ‘There’s no rush,’ the film tells its pretty young nervous virgin. ‘Wait until you’re ready’, it says, before having her gang-raped ten minutes later. Crenshaw’s intended is spared, at least: will she get raped before her cut-price Captain America saves her? These are what pass for the film’s stakes, like Liam Neeson trying to rescue his daughter from sex slavery in Taken. This, combined with the film’s stupid infatuation with its own leading man, leaves something of a sour taste in the mouth. The Horde is fun, but, just as the whole school trip is taken over and undermined by a bulky dick who does more teaching than his teacher girlfriend (because macho), it tends to be bullied into submission by its own worst inclinations.

Dennis committed in order for John to have something resembling a normal life. But the gift of an antique mirror proves the undoing of all, bringing Dennis’ inner demons vividly and homicidally to life in the form of The Hills Have Eyes’ Michael Berryman. The Evil Within was filmed across five years beginning in 2002, Getty’s self-penned and self-directed attempt to reproduce and perhaps understand his own nightmares. Subsequent to wrapping on the principal photography, Getty spent the rest of his life on the post-production, creating a lucidly hallucinogenic universe out of both digital and actual effects, such that it’s virtually impossible at times to tell what is meant to be real or imaginary – an approach signalled by a very effective prologue. If these were genuinely Getty’s dreams, it’s easy to see why he was so obsessed with recreating them. The fantastical landscape of the film is also forgiving of its flaws, as any shortcomings in the script or direction simply feed into the sense of things being not as they should be. Badly drawn characters and minor illogicalities feel a natural part of the story rather than issues of Getty’s inexperience, but elsewhere he’s put enough thought and effort into his project to thoroughly

mark it out as both original and substantial. The sequences of Dennis talking to himself in his mirrors are very simply, but also very chillingly and convincingly mounted. Koehler, here and elsewhere, is simply stunning. Sadly, the disc is presented with no extras or background material documenting the film’s production, but fans of psychological horrors and symbolism in cinema will have no end of fun unpicking the dreams within dreams and puppetry allusions. In a beautifully sharp print that presents Getty’s nightmares as cleanly and unforgettably as he would have intended, this Blu-ray is a mustbuy to be revisited again and again.

JOEL HARLEY

JR SOUTHALL

DVD & BLU-RAY

If it wasn’t for the genre, manner of release and bizarre production history of The Evil Within, Frederick Koehler might well have been looking at Dustin Hoffman-sized awards for his performance as Dennis, the young, mentally challenged man whose dreams persuade his waking self into becoming a killer. But Andrew Getty’s only film is such a strange story in itself; it probably won’t receive a quarter of the attention and plaudits it very likely deserves. ‘Very likely’, because reclusive oil heir Getty’s fifteen-year project (of which Getty himself only survived thirteen; he died in 2015) is enough of a mess to betray

One Lives, which subvert that victimisation wonderfully, turning the hunters into the hunted. Or The Horde, the hero of which is such an ass-kicker that he needs a literal horde of cannon fodder in order for the film to not be over in about twenty minutes. Also, a lack of guns, which would have ended it in even less time than that. Crenshaw may have been forbidden from bringing his automatic weaponry, but there’s no separating him from his other guns – a truly hefty set of biceps he wastes little time in putting to good use. Ex-Navy SEAL turned condescending boyfriend Crenshaw is the sort of man who brings MMA techniques to a bar brawl, shrugging off local yokels and vicious ex-cons alike, rarely breaking a sweat. Entertaining as it may be to watch our low-budget Rambo tearing out throats and shooting fiery arrows at people, this inevitably means that there’s a lot less tension than there should be. Even Wrong Turn 2 had the good grace to hamper Henry Rollins’s game, while Leatherface saddled Ken Fioree with a bent rifle. No such fairness here – just Crenshaw breaking limbs and drop-kicking people all over the woods. An even bigger Matthew Willig and typically

BLOOD DINER (1987) BD / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: JACKIE KONG / SCREENPLAY: MICHAEL SONYE / STARRING: RICK BURKS, CARL CREW, ROGER DAUER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW Just a couple of minutes into Blood Diner, Uncle Anwar breaks down his sister’s front door to pass a mystical amulet down to his infant nephews, before heading back outside where he is gunned down by waiting police officers. Fast forward twenty years, and nephews George and Michael set out to dig up and reanimate the remains of Uncle Anwar so that he can instruct

them on how to prepare the Lumerian Feast, an ancient ritual that will summon the goddess Sheetar. We’re not entirely sure why they want to do this, but we’ll go with it. A passing security guard takes a whack on the back of the head from a shovel, and his eyeballs fly out of his head and roll across the ground. The rest of the movie takes in plenty of killings, mass

SHOCK TREATMENT (1981)

DVD & BLU-RAY

BD / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: JIM SHARMAN / SCREENPLAY: RICHARD O’BRIEN, JIM SHARMAN / STARRING: JESSICA HARPER, CLIFF DE YOUNG, RICHARD O’BRIEN, PATRICIA QUINN, CHARLES GRAY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW Richard O’Brien’s sort-of-butnot-quite-sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show has pretty much flown under the radar ever since it was first released in 1981. A musical featuring several Rocky characters and cast members (although only one actor is re-cast as their original RHPS counterpart), Shock Treatment joins Brad and Janet several years after their encounter with Frank-N-Furter. Coerced into taking part in a marriage-guidance game show, it soon becomes apparent that the entire town of Denton is

actually a massive TV set in which every single citizen plays their part either in front of or behind the scenes. And one of them, in particular, has a more sinister motive than others... While not as well-known as Rocky, Shock Treatment features all the hallmarks of Richard O’Brien’s madcap genius. Crazy characters are played with glee by a host of familiar faces, including two turns from Cliff de Young (Brad) who is almost unrecognisable as the main villain Farley Flavors. The strikingly colourful

cannibalism, a foul-mouthed talking brain in a jar, nude areobics, a wrestling match, questionable acting, even more questionable accents, projectile vomiting, naked karate, and one of the wildest and most riotous final acts of the ‘80s. If you enjoy your horror with a huge helping of goofy tongue-in-cheek humour, Blood Diner absolutely needs to be on your list. This Blu-ray edition cleans up the visual quality of the previous DVD release, although there are still a few grainy scenes (particularly the darker shots) and the audio often seems to go a touch out of sync. Neither of these are ultimately too distracting although the picture and audio are occasionally as inconsistent as the acting, it’s easily the best version of Blood Diner we’ve seen up to now - but anyone who expects their Blu-rays to be flawless from beginning to end might be a little disappointed. The extras on this disc, however, are anything but disappointing, with plenty of interesting material that fans of the film are sure to enjoy.

Director Jackie Kong gives a rare on-camera interview as part of an hour-long ‘making of’ feature which also includes interviews with key members of the cast and crew, interspersed with behind the scenes photos to add an extra layer of interest. Kong also provides a solo commentary track throughout the entire movie, although a lot of information is repeated between this and the ‘making of’ feature. We’d recommend starting with the making of, and saving the audio track for a rainy day. Add in the usual TV adverts, stills gallery, radio spots etc, and we’ve got all the ingredients for a fine main course. Blood Diner is a hugely entertaining film in its own right, and this package makes a very attractive proposition for both owners of the previous DVD edition as well as newcomers with an interest in the sillier side of horror. Just don’t think too hard about the snacks you’re eating while you watch...

visuals are brought to life on this Blu-ray transfer, with details that we hadn’t picked up on despite seeing the film on DVD countless times in the past. The soundtrack - included here as a bonus audio CD - has a more mature edge to it than Rocky, but is just as memorable. The default stereo audio track is as clear as you could want it to be, and there’s an isolated music and sound effects track for those wanting to act along at home. Surely someone must do that sort of thing? Unfortunately, though, we must report that the 5.1 track features the same audio dropout during the opening song that has plagued older DVD releases, which is a shame for those with big fancy speaker systems. Despite not fixing that audio blip, Arrow Video has gone allout with this release, furnishing

us with more extra bits and pieces than you could have imagined. All of the previous DVD ‘archive’ featurettes, interviews and commentaries are included, as well as a brand new commentary by Patricia Quinn and ‘Little’ Nell Campbell. Quinn also appears elsewhere in conversation with Mark Kermode, and there are new features about the soundtrack and cover songs, as well as ‘fan-made content’ of slightly dubious quality, but we’re fine with that. There’s also that bonus soundtrack CD, as well as a double-sided poster, mix and match cards, and a collector’s booklet.

CHRIS JACKSON

BACCHANALIA

VOD / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: GARY MEYER / STARRING: EDMUND DIGBY-JONES, KYLE CALDERWOOD, MARIANA PEÑALVA, LUCINDA RHODES-FLAHERTY, KIM SØNDERHOLM / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW Rural horror is always fertile ground for filmmakers, and firsttime writer/director Meyer goes to town with the peculiar and disturbing residents and visitors to a weekend wine tasting retreat in the South of France. We all know the French love their wine, but there’s much more in store for the mixed bag of people who find themselves in the midst of what can only be described as a wine orgy - with added line

dancing. John (Sønderholm) and Samantha (Flaherty) are having relationship problems - the main one being John is a real jerk and are desperate for a child; Dave (Digby-Jones) and Kevin (Calderwood) are British lads on a wild holiday, only interested in getting stoned and laid; while the academic Dr Rogers (JC Montes-Roldán) and his partner are looking into the gods of the region, particularly convinced that the shrine of Pan is in the

DEATH NOTE VOD / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: ADAM WINGARD / SCREENPLAY: CHARLEY PARLAPANIDES, VLAS PARLAPANIDES, JEREMY SLATER / STARRING: NAT WOLFF, MARGARET QUALLEY, WILLEM DAFOE, LAKEITH STANFIELD, SHEA WHIGHAM / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW the mysterious and seemingly omnipotent killer. It’s a hell of an idea: a book that can give its owner the power to kill anyone. It’s packed with thematic potential which the film does have a chance to explore. Central to the film is the idea of morality, and whether it’s ever right to kill someone, no matter what they’ve done. Is it justice? Religion is also touched on as Light’s killer pseudonym Kira becomes seen as a god. It’s a shame that these themes can’t be more deeply explored as the cat and mouse game between L and Light pushes the plot along. Death Note does feel like it’s a chance for Wingard

rather than see it. Meyer’s direction is solid, and even though most of the action takes place at night, it’s lit well enough without feeling too false. The acting is variable, but that might come from the various accents (it’s a multilingual cast performing in English); as such, one might find it a struggle to hear some of the dialogue, but it certainly doesn’t distract too much and it’s easy enough to follow and figure out what’s going on and who the antagonists are meant to represent. Originally entitled The Winedancers - a much more relevant and accessible title Bacchanalia is an accomplished if slightly overambitious film. However, it delivers some fun moments and is never too predictable. Well worth seeking out, but you probably won’t want to hear the old country folk ‘favourite’ Turkey in the Straw ever again.

to set himself loose, and the cinematography and camerawork is definitely showing off, especially after the rigorous confines of the found footage structure that made up his disappointing Blair Witch sequel. You can feel his fingerprints on it through the pumping electronic score reminiscent of The Guest and the blood splattering gore akin to You’re Next. He also feels like a director who’s evolving; he’s working on a bigger canvas than previously and for the most part handles it. Where he falls down is in trying to wrangle a multi book property into a manageable film, and bringing a manga into a real world setting. Both the characters of Light and L feel like they’ve come in from somewhere else, especially when pushed up against the serious acting of Shea Whigham as Light’s dad, James. Light is often shrill (not at Chris Tucker in The Fifth Element levels, but you don’t want to hear him screaming for very long) and L speeds along on a constant sugar high and has difficulty using chairs properly. Margaret Qualley’s Mia Sutton is even more difficult to come to terms with. She gets more to do than just being ‘the girlfriend’ but her switching between genuine love for Light and an intoxication with the book leaves her with unresolved characterisation. The rules of the Death Note also cause problems. We’re told there are over ninety, and gladly we don’t hear them all, but when

they start playing major roles in the plot towards the end, it’s confusing what is a rule and what isn’t, as some seem to be overridden just for the service of the story. However, Death Note is rarely anything less than entertaining and compelling, and its hour and forty minute running time doesn’t drag. It manages to pack in more ideas than most movies of this type, even if it can’t fully commit to exploring them. It’s probably not going to win over the manga faithful, but Death Note is entertaining fun despite its failings.

MARTIN UNSWORTH

COURTNEY BUTTON

DVD & BLU-RAY

Adam Wingard’s American adaptation of the wildly popular manga comes to Netflix. Bright but bullied Light Turner (Nat Wolff) comes across a mysterious notebook, entitled Death Note. The book gives him the power to kill any human being as long as he knows their name and face. But the book doesn’t come on its own; it’s looked after by a death demon called Ryuk (Willem Dafoe, perfectly cast). As Light realises the power he now wields, he embarks on a killing spree, but only of criminals. This gets the attention of law enforcement, and genius investigator L (Lakeith Stanfield) is brought in to track down

area, and the Roman gods may well be living there. They all end up invited to a strange wine tasting extravaganza, where the vino is free-flowing, but has the instant side effect of lowering the recipients’ inhibitions even more than usual, and the grapes have an even more addictive quality. The party isn’t completely free, though, since the guests have all been chosen for a reason - their blood type. Bacchanalia (which basically means drunken celebration, but in keeping with the theme is derived from a Roman god) is an odd mixture of ideas. Not quite as extreme as Alex Chandon’s Inbred and not as ponderous as Jean Rollin’s The Grapes of Death, it takes some well-worn tropes and runs with them, and while the result isn’t wholly successful, it hits the mark more than it misses. While the proceedings do get rather debauched, there’s no nudity (apart from people in their undies) and the gore is kept to a restrained minimum. That’s not to say it doesn’t deliver some shocks - there are a few moments where you’ll feel the mayhem and murder

ERIK THE CONQUEROR (1961)

BD / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: MARIO BAVA / SCREENPLAY: ORESTE BIANCOLI, PIERO PIEROTTI, MARIO BAVA / STARRING: GIORGIO ARDISSON, CAMERON MITCHELL, ANDREA CHECCHI / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW Mario Bava is well known as a horror master of Italian cinema, but much like his fellow countryman Lucio Fulci, Bava moved across numerous genres including science fiction, thrillers, comedies and, in examples like his Erik the Conquerer, historical action. Erik is at its core a loose remake of Richard Fleischer’s

1958 classic The Vikings, made just three years later in 1961. It’s a similar tale of Viking brothers separated in youth, here during a battle between English and Viking forces, with one (Erik) being raised by the Queen of England and the other (Eron) becoming a Viking leader. Some two-plus decades later, the men are destined to meet again

C.H.U.D. 2: BUD THE CHUD

DVD & BLU-RAY

BD / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: DAVID K. IRVING / SCREENPLAY: M. KANE JEEVES / STARRING: BRIAN ROBBINS, BILL CALVERT, TRICIA FISHER, ROBERT VAUGHN, GERRIT GRAHAM / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW C.H.U.D. 2: Bud the Chud (a title that just rolls off the tongue) is firmly a product of the ‘80s, including questionable hairstyles, VHS aerobic workouts, a soundtrack that consists of slap bass and electric guitar solos and feels like it’s going to give way to a Huey Lewis and The News song at any moment, and its very own rock pop theme song. The plot has one of the weirder set-ups this writer has ever had to describe. Deemed too catastrophic and expensive to continue, the C.H.U.D. (which stands for cannibalistic

humanoid underground dwellers) experimental military programme is discontinued. A chemical trial that reanimated humans, it had the nasty side effect of making each infected host a cannibal, along with the ability to pass on the infection through their bites. Disappointed Colonel Masters (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’s Robert Vaughn) keeps their last test (the eponymous Bud, played by Gerrit Graham) subject frozen until he can have the programme reopened. Meanwhile, friends Steve (Brian Robbins, curly mullet,

when Erik becomes leader of his Queen’s navy and Eron becomes leader of a new raiding party. That events do not entirely go well for either is unlikely to come as a surprise. Things start unpromisingly in a programmer-style action sequence, but that quickly changes when we go back to the Viking homeland. Unable to shoot on location, Bava displays he was a master of invention and makes it a visual spectacle that harks back to his previous film Hercules in the Haunted World, full of grisly motifs and vivid colours. From then on, the film competes with itself, the script and performances mostly never more than fine (except for Cameron Mitchell, who is a force of charisma even when not trying), but the shot framing, use of colour, design and scale very much Bava. It’s not a particularly outstanding film, but the touches Mario brings to it make it something more and whilst perhaps more appealing to Bava completists, still generally entertaining. This new Arrow release has enough added in to make it worthwhile for those who follow the director’s work. First up is

a new restoration scan of the print, which in releases like this is vital to showcase how Bava used his cinematographer’s eye to enrich his films. It’s in remarkable shape for a film that was almost meant to just be shown in theatres and then forgotten about, and does credit to Bava. There’s a very fine updated audio commentary by Tim Lucas, who knows a staggering amount about Bava and shares it here. For those interested, there’s a ‘visual essay’ on how Erik stacks up against its inspiration, and an audio-only interview with Cameron Mitchell from the late ‘80s, which is a nice addition. For early purchasers, there’s also a booklet with writing by Kat Ellinger on the film. It’s an average but fun action epic enlivened by a great director. The Arrow release provides a fine print which complements those important visuals along with some interesting extras to earn a recommendation.

double denim - the lovable but troublesome funster) and Kevin (Bill Calvert, big glasses, major curtains hairstyle - the lovable intellectual) get detention during science class. While kept back to tidy up, they accidentally lose the corpse that the class were going to dissect next lesson. Instead of telling the teacher and getting in trouble, they decide to steal another corpse, heading to the disease centre to find a frozen replacement. Guess who. After accidentally waking him up, Bud goes on a flesh-eating rampage, Chudding the townspeople (including a young(ish) Rich Hall). Steve and Kevin, along with their best friend Katie (Tricia Fisher, smarter than the other two, contractually obliged to appear in a bikini and be bait) have to save the town from the acronymed menace. C.H.U.D. is by now a largely forgotten entry in the B-movie horror genre from the 1980s. The sequel moves away from the horror aspects and towards teen comedy, not entirely successfully. It’s only sporadically funny, raising a few chuckles here and there but nothing that you’ll remember after it’s finished. The tar-slicked monsters of the first film are jettisoned for humans with bad skin and sharp teeth, with the performances turned straight towards slapstick.

It’s entertaining enough but it’s hard to see how much of an audience still exists for C.H.U.D. 2: Bud the Chud. It might get some nostalgia mileage but we can’t imagine many people are fondly speaking about it with the warm glazed expression of someone recalling their youth. As for cult status, it’s not genuinely good or weird enough, nor enough of a sobad-it’s-fun B-movie, for it to register any impact. In the end, we think C.H.U.D. 2: Bud the Chud, will disappear back into forgotten history.

JAMES EVANS

COURTNEY BUTTON

KUNG FU YOGA

DVD+BD / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: STANLEY TONG / STARRING: JACKIE CHAN, AARIF RAHMAN, ZHANG YIXING, SONU SOOD / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW A co-production between Chinese and Indian studios, Kung Fu Yoga goes full tilt as an action-adventure with plenty of comedy. In it, Jackie Chan plays Jack Chan (full marks, writers), a world-renowned professor of archaeology heading up a team learning all about the Terracotta Warriors. He’s also an expert on the interlinked history of

China and the Indian empire of Magadha from centuries ago. It’s for this reason that an Indian professor brings to Jack a long-lost map that is meant to tell of the location of an even more long-lost treasure that belonged to the empire, and Jack agrees to help lead the search. He also brings him in on the hunt the adventurer/tomb

A DARK SONG DVD / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: LIAM GAVIN / STARRING: STEVE ORAM, CATHERINE WALKER, SUSAN LOUGHNANE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW occultist Joseph Solomon (Oram). When we meet Sophia, she is forking out a large amount of cash for a secluded old house in the Welsh countryside and asking the letting agent for privacy. Soon, Mr Solomon (as he is strictly to be called) arrives and the torturous process of invocation can begin. Sophia has been prepped for the difficulties that lie ahead, but is fully committed to submitting to Mr Solomon’s authority and abuse, as he has assured her that she will be able to speak to her son again.

also making it look as handsome as possible. He handles the numerous action sequences as well as one would expect, too. It’s an at-times odd mix of family-friendly adventuring with an occasionally strong level of violence, so is not for youngsters no matter what the posters might suggest. Chan remains a likeable presence and anchors the film in his good nature. Some things really don’t work (like the computer-animated flashback that opens the movie) and it’s shameless in taking ‘inspirations’ from other films, as well as being mercilessly cheesy. It has a needlessly convoluted plot, with awkward performances at times, and is perhaps best suited for fans of Jackie himself (imbued as it is with his signature knockabout style of action). However, for what honestly amounts to a pretty cynical ‘great idea’ some besuited marketing types had, it’s actually not that unlikeable. Qualified recommendation: you could do much worse.

A Dark Song is a film full of promises, and like Mr Solomon, you can never be too sure that it’s going to completely deliver. Again and again, Mr Solomon tells Sophia, “Things will start to happen now” and like Sophia, you may just find your patience tested. But actually it’s in the early details of setting up and beginning the occult ritual that A Dark Song hits its highest notes. The interplay between these two focused but flawed characters is disturbing and dark, with Steve Oram showing a far nastier side than usual. Their motivations are revealed to be murky, with Sophia particularly offering up a number of different reasons for her desire to take part in the long-lasting ritual. The build-up is incredibly brooding, with Ray Harman’s score all rumbling drums and low strings reminding of Sicario’s similar score. Cathal Watters’ cinematography also makes the most of the great location and occasional shots of the countryside under foreboding clouds. But it’s in the climax where A Dark Song fails to live up to all this promise. Mr Solomon may deliver on his, but writer/director Liam Gavin falls short on providing a truly terrifying final chorus. There are definitely

some creepy moments, but after such an intriguing and painstaking setup, the descent into darkness and religious iconography conjures up something not entirely fulfilling. Whether it’s creating a circular seal of salt around the house, or drinking blood and eating toadstools, the devil is in the details. A Dark Song is magic for much of its running time, but much like its protagonist’s willingness to have ceremonial sex with a madman, it loses the plot in its final scenes.

JAMES EVANS

PETER TURNER

DVD & BLU-RAY

Not since Fifty of Shades of ‘Bloody’ Grey has a woman had to so willingly give herself over to such perverted and humiliating suffering for the benefit of a bit of an odd chap. Forget ‘Mr Grey will see you now’; A Dark Song has Sightseers’ not-quite-as-sexyas-Jamie-Dornan, Steve Oram as Mr Solomon, a man who bends a grief-stricken mother to his will with alarming ease. Sophia (Walker) lost her son three years ago and is now determined to make contact with him by hiring alcoholic

raider son of an old colleague who had searched for the treasure his entire life without success, plus his researchers and other help along the way. The group set off and quickly discover that wherever the journey takes them, there are others that would find the treasure first, and this is only the start. Western comparisons can be made with the likes of the Indiana Jones films, but also with movies like National Treasure and undoubtedly the Fast & Furious series. Kung Fu Yoga is glossy and globetrotting with almost everyone in it seemingly stepping out of the pages of a fashion magazine. Add to this they’re all ridiculously flexible, thanks to either the kung fu or the yoga of the title. It’s, of course, nothing that original, though it is certainly interesting to have a nonAmerican (or British for that matter) film attempt the same approach to universal global appeal as the above-mentioned franchises. In this it’s actually somewhat successful, and although not nearly as expensive as the F&F films this is not low budget with director Tong

AUDIOSTATIC

THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF AUDIO ADVENTURES BY TONY JONES

died aged 92, could pay tribute to his great career as they listened to The Expensive Delicate Ship, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra on August 28th (and still available on iPlayer). Several of his stories have been adapted for radio over the years, the most notable perhaps being Hothouse, read by Gareth Thomas.

The Coming of the Martians (It’s Here!)

After much effort from Sherwood Sound Studios, their audio adaptation of The War of the Worlds is out in September in various formats, with a great cast including Colin Morgan (Humans, Merlin), Ronald Pickup, Dan Starkey (Doctor Who) and Olivia Poulet (The Thick of It).

MYSTERONS and other Big Finish Releases

The King is Dead!

Bafflegab surprised fans of the award-winning Paul Magrs series The King of Cats with a major cast change. Tom Baker is no longer leading the way at Baker’s End and has regenerated. Bafflegab teased this with a Capaldi/Whittaker-style graphic of a grooved stone on which rested a cat’s collar. The new King of Cats was revealed to be none other than Colin Baker, so the series can still be set in Baker’s End (or should that be Bakers’ End?) and fans only have to wait until October to hear Colin in the part with the release of The Happenstance Pox.

Fighting Fantasy

Back in the early 1980s, there was only one series of fantasy books for any self-respecting fan, and that was The Warlock of Firetop Mountain by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingston, which started in 1982. To mark 35 years since this classic was released, FoxYason Productions is bringing The Warlock of Firetop Mountain: The Hero’s Quest to audio. This fullcast, 60-minute story stars Toby Longworth (voice of Judge Dredd) as the Warlock, Rachel Atkins (voice artist for the Final Fantasy and Warhammer) as heroine Vale Moonwing, and Tim Treloar (heard recently as the Third Doctor for Big Finish) as hero Cassius Stormblade. Writer David N. Smith put fans’ minds to rest when he described the approach to creating the drama: “We wanted to be absolutely faithful to all of the original characters and creations, but not spoil the gameplay of the original book for anyone who reads it afterwards. You’ll therefore encounter lots of familiar characters, such as the Warlock, the Ferryman, the Minotaur, the Orc Chieftain and a pair of daring adventurers… but often in slightly new and unexpected ways. Simply put, our goal was to bring the fantasy world we loved to life, with a new - but very familiar - adventure story.” The Hero’s Quest will be released in September, priced £8.99 on digital or £10.99 on CD, and will be the first of what we hope will be a long-running series. Details can be found at fightingfantasyaudiodramas.com. Meanwhile, I’m just off to dig out my dice.

AUDIO

On the BBC

There’ve been a few treats on BBC Radio recently, and amongst these a chance to listen to the Robert Holmes story Aliens in the Mind, which was first broadcast in 1977 and originally pitched as a Doctor Who story. It stars Peter Cushing and Vincent Price, and tells how two Doctors travelled to the Scottish island of Luig to attend a funeral and got caught up in a tale of the supernatural. On a more sombre note, the many fans of Brian Aldiss, who recently

September is dominated by the adventures of Captain Scarlet as Big Finish helps celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of Gerry Anderson’s most distinctive shows (as featured in STARBURST #436 earlier in the year). There’s no Torchwood this month, but after the superb Aliens Among Us Part One boxset, fans should be pleased with the announcement of the details for the second set, including the return of Bilis Manger (Murray Melvin) last seen at the end of the first season of Torchwood in the story End of Days. Available in October, it’s not too much longer to wait!

Key titles to watch out for this month from Big Finish... DOCTOR WHO SHORT TRIPS 7.09: A HEART ON BOTH SIDES Sarah Sutton (Nyssa in the TV series) narrates this Eighth Doctor story set right in the heart of the Time War. Now in control of a hospital ship, Nyssa comes across some more people from Gallifrey. DOCTOR WHO 229: THE SILURIAN CANDIDATE The Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), Ace (Sophie Aldred), and Mel Bush (Bonnie Langford) are on a secret mission when they come across Professor Ruth Dexler (Fiona Sheehan), who is trying to find the ancient and secret city that is the Parliament of the Silurians. This can’t end well for her, can it? THE TIME MACHINE Ben Miles leads the way in this fantastic retelling of the classic H. G. Wells story. When our protagonist’s titular contraption sends him thousands of years into the future, he must face a terrible race who lurk beneath the surface of the ravaged Earth. DOCTOR WHO THE EARLY ADVENTURES 4.1: THE NIGHT WITCHES The time travellers appear in 1942 Stalingrad and are mistaken for spies as they are captured by the titular Night Witches - an all-female unit meant to stop German forces entering Moscow. Naturally, the group get much more involved than they would have hoped. Anneke Wills appears as Polly as well as narrating, with Frazer Hines reprising his role of Jamie and doubling up as the Second Doctor. To order, or for more information, head over to bigfinish.com

PRISON

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starring MARK ELSTOB as NUMBER SIX with LUCY BRIGGS-OWEN, JOHN HEFFERNAN, SARA POWELL, DEIRDRE MULLINS and MICHAEL COCHRANE

YEARS

FULL CAST AUDIO DRAMA • VOLUME TWO

BASED ON THE CLASSIC 1967 ITV SERIES! ADAPTED AND REIMAGINED FOR AUDIO BY NICHOLAS BRIGGS

FOUR STORY BOX SET OUT NOW!

@BIGFINISH

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W W W. B I G F I N I S H . C O M

THEBIGFINISH

OST

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hile we try not to plug our other work, we do a soundtrack podcast called From & Inspired By, which is all about movie soundtracks and the people who make them. Quelle surprise. For an upcoming episode, we spoke with the musician Har Mar Superstar about his work on Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return, and he spilled the beans that Shout Factory would be releasing a soundtrack for the series, for which he provided some of the liner notes. No idea as to when or how it will be released - although, given the liner notes, compact disc is obviously on the horizon. For the first time ever, you’ll be able to officially spin cuts like Love Theme From Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Wild Rebels Cereal without being reduced to seeking out low-quality YouTube rips. As we mentioned last month, Lakeshore Records has released the Trevor Morris score for Netflix’s Castlevania series, but it’s been announced that the label is going to have a glorious vinyl release, as well, out just in time for Halloween. It’s a double LP release on multicoloured vinyl, which looks like it’s a bloody nightmare. There’s also a very lovely gatefold jacket and printed inner sleeves. Even cooler is the label’s upcoming 30th

anniversary release of Christopher Young’s Hellraiser score. The whole thing has been remixed and remastered from the original 24-track 2-inch reel-to-reel analogue tapes, and it sounds fantastic. Fans haven’t ever heard the score in such clarity, and regardless of whether the movie is your cup of tea or not, Young’s score is the height of horror movie music. It’ll be out digitally about the time you’re reading this, with a retail version of

THE STARBURST GUIDE TO THE LATEST SOUNDTRACKS BY NICK SPACEK

the vinyl LP due out at the beginning of October, and a fancy-schmancy vinyl version coming from Mondo at some point in the future. In further horror movie score reissue news, Death Waltz’s head, Spencer Hickman, has been teasing the hell out of their Instagram followers with images of all their A Nightmare on Elm Street test presses. The label will be reissuing the entirety of the slasher series’ scores on LP, as soon as they’ve approved the test presses and gotten them into production, starting with Charles Bernstein’s score for the original 1984 film. Or so we assume: the images that have been released are of the original, The Dream Warrior’s score by Angelo Badalamenti, Craig Safan’s score for The Dream Master, and Jay Ferguson’s work on The Dream Child. However, there was also a postcard floating around with an image of a box set with seven LP covers, so the ‘Box of Souls’ ought to also include Freddy’s Revenge by Christopher Young and J. Peter Robinson’s music for Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. Varèse Sarabande - who, coincidentally, reissued the Elm Street score on compact disc a while back - has also dug up an amazing horror reissue of their own, and it is pretty damned cool - the John Carpenter and Alan Howarth score for the horror master’s 1983 adaptation of Stephen King’s Christine. It’s been remastered, and will be available on blue vinyl. Even better, there’s new cover art by Ghoulish Gary Pullin to replace the fairly terrible, grainy image of Moochie getting run down by the titular Plymouth. Even without the remaster, it’d be worth owning a version with better art. It’s out at the end of the month. The label also has another pretty interesting release on the way, due out at the end of October. Composer John Massari teamed up with Bear McCreary to record an orchestral version of Massari’s famous synth score to the 1988 sci-fi horror comedy Killer Klowns from Outer Space. On October 22nd, Massari will conduct the Hollywood

Wingard’s aesthetic. Fans of Atticus’ work on The Social Network, the brothers’ work in hardcore band Error and the score David Moore did for Wingard’s The Guest will find some common ground in Death Note. Vercetti Technicolor returns to Giallo Disco, the label he co-founded, with the score for the short film Hard Pill, directed by Daniel Freedman. It’s another slab of horror disco from one of the genre’s masters, and is out digitally and on vinyl now. It’s only four cuts, but it has a total Fabio Frizzi-style jam in the title track. That alone is worth the price of admission, but the rest ably fulfills the label’s promise of a ‘drug-fuelled trance-dystopia nightmare.’ Our favorite pop music, genre-busting soundtrack of all time has to be that to 2001’s Josie and The Pussycats. With vocals by Letters to Cleo’s Kay Hanley and songs composed by a who’s who of pop rockers like Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger, Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz, Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Gos, and Anna Waronker of That Dog, and produced by Kenneth ‘Babyface’ Edmonds, the soundtrack’s an absolute blast. Now it’s finally coming to vinyl, and what a package it is. The LP comes on purple leopard wax, with a bonus white vinyl 7-inch featuring the boy band antics of DuJour’s Backdoor Lover and Dujour Around the World. From around the world to out of this

world is the news that Ozma Records’ firstever pressing of the Voyager ‘Golden Record’ is now available for general purchase. First offered last year via a Kickstarter, the label has, for the first time, created a version of the record that has flown nearly ‘21 billion kilometers away from Earth’ on board the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft that launched in 1977. It includes music by Chuck Berry, Beethoven, whale songs, and greetings in hundreds of languages, and might be the most famous record of all time. There’s a double compact disc edition, as well as a triple LP on gold 140-gram vinyl with a 96page book and download card. It might be the coolest thing you could ever buy, and we’re saving our pennies to buy a copy. Our final bit of nostalgia comes from Black Screen Records. Tommy Tallarico’s Earthworm Jim Anthology makes its vinyl début via the German label on a double LP. In addition to music from the first two Earthworm Jim games, the album has remixes, a previously unreleased track entitled Intestinal Distress, and a Video Games Live montage of music from the series. The vinyl is on Earthworm Jim flesh-coloured vinyl and opaque snotcoloured vinyl, comes in a gatefold sleeve with artwork by the game’s original artist Katherine Garner, and includes liner notes by Tallarico and a download card.

AUDIO

Chamber Orchestra at the Montalban Theater in Hollywood, and that’s the first chance fans will have to hear the score. It’ll be performed live during a screening of the film, and the pressing will also be available for the first time. Speaking of John Carpenter, there’s another release of his music coming from Sacred Bones. If you enjoyed the rerecorded versions of four of his classic themes that the label released as split singles last year, this record is going to blow your freaking mind. Entitled Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998, the album collects the main themes to thirteen of Carpenter’s films, all re-recorded with his son, Cody, and godson, Daniel Davies. The version of the main theme to In the Mouth of Madness sounds less like a knock-off of Metallica’s Enter Sandman, and more like the insanely wonderful, metal-meets-synth piece of brilliance it always was. It’s due out at the end of October on compact disc and vinyl. Sadly, the deluxe version, which featured March of the Children (from Village of the Damned) and the theme to Body Bags on a bonus 7-inch, sold out nearly instantly. In more contemporary news, Benjamin Wallfisch continues his amazing recent run of film music (which includes Hidden Figures and Lights Out) with his two scores out now: from Silva Screen is his score for the latest instalment in The Conjuring franchise, Annabelle: Creation, and from Water Tower Music is his score for IT, the latest adaptation of another Stephen King novel. Per the composer in a press release, the Annabelle: Creation score “utilised a whole bunch of dusty toy instruments from the 1950s, with one in particular appearing more than any other - a seemingly innocent-sounding Jaymar toy piano.” It’s creepy, and so are the two tracks that popped online in advance of IT’s release: Pennywise’s Tower and especially - You’ll Float, Too. It’s a good time for scary music, what with Halloween on the way and all. Atticus and Leopold Ross’ score for director Adam Wingard’s Death Note - an adaptation of the anime done for Netflix - ought to be out and about soon, according to the director’s Twitter stream. No word as to a physical release, but it will definitely be up on Spotify at some point soon, if you need further tunes to creep you the hell out. The Rosses’ music for the adaptation is note-perfect for

REVIEWS

CLASSIC DOCTORS, NEW MONSTERS VOL. 2 WRITERS: JOHN DORNEY, SCOTT HANDCOCK, SIMON GUERRIER, MATT FITTON / DIRECTOR: BARNABY EDWARDS / STARRING: TOM BAKER, PETER DAVISON, COLIN BAKER, PAUL MCGANN, ADJOA ANDOH, NIGEL PLANER, ANDREW FRENCH, LISA KAY, PAM FERRIS, LORELEI KING / PUBLISHER: BIG FINISH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW Last year, Big Finish took a risk by combining classic Doctors with monsters from the revived period of the show, and it paid off extremely well. It highlighted how strong both eras of the show can be and it was because of this success that a second volume was immediately greenlit. The result, however, is something of a mixed bag with two great

DOCTOR WHO: THE MOVELLAN GRAVE

AUDIO

WRITER: ANDREW SMITH / DIRECTOR: NICHOLAS BRIGGS / STARRING: TOM BAKER, LALLA WARD, CAMILLA POWER, POLLY WALKER, CHRIS JARMAN / PUBLISHER: BIG FINISH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW Time changes things. At the start of a the century, a new Doctor Who story starring Tom Baker and Lalla Ward as The Doctor and

THE LATEST AUDIO RELEASES REVIEWED AND RATED

stories at the beginning and end and two problematic stories in the middle. John Dorney’s Night of the Vashta Nerada is a great start with Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor up against the piranhas in the air last seen in 2008’s legendary two-parter Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. This plays out like your typical horror story with your band of drones waiting to get axed off one by one, a spooky setting in a yet-to-be-opened amusement park, and a hungry monster, while also containing elements of the 2008 two-parter yet doing something unique and creative with them. We have the manic Fourth Doctor completely out of his depth as he’s up against a threat he’s only vaguely familiar with, which helps raise the tension throughout the story as well as empathising just how formidable the Vashta Nerada are. Tom Baker is great here and there is a solid supporting performance from Pam Ferris, whose character goes on an interesting character arc that pays off well. This story is brilliant from across the board and works well at giving each of these characters vastly contrasting personalities and placing them in a seemingly impossible situation.

Empire of the Racnoss by Scott Handcock, however, is a average story that highlights just how problematic the Racnoss as monsters are. Introduced in 2006’s The Runaway Bride, the Racnoss had a great design that was let down by their overacting, hammy personality, which is carried over here without anything to make improvements on that. Despite both Adjoa Andoh and Nigel Planer giving their all, as well as some neat twists and turns along the way, this story doesn’t do anything to further the Racnoss or show them in a new light. The same can also be said of Simon Guerrier’s The Carrionite Curse, which feels like a lazy retread of 2007’s The Shakespeare Code. Almost beat for beat, this story uses the exact same elements, even right down to the ‘14 sides’ angle, and while the 2007 story had an interesting supporting character in the Bard, this story has nothing but uninteresting blank slates. Colin Baker does his best, but overall, this story feels like a mediocre rehash filled with plot holes and a bad sense of déjà vu. However, the boxset ends with a bang thanks to Matt Fitton’s Day of the Vashta Nerada, which takes place

during the early years of the Time War with Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor. Not only does this feel like a great follow-on from the first story, it also feels like a great companion story to the War Doctor audio series, right down to having the Doctor team up with Jacqueline Pearce’s Cardinal Ollistra, who here has an antagonistic relationship with McGann’s Doctor as opposed to admiring John Hurt’s War incarnation. This takes the Vashta Nerada in bold and new directions that feel risky, yet it pays off well within the context of the story, and it shows just how far the Time Lords would go to try and win the war. In the end, this second volume feels like a set of two halves, with one half delivering what we want, while the other half fails to offer anything fresh or invigorating. If a third volume does happen, Big Finish could benefit by bringing other new monsters like the Silence into the mix, but until then, this is a solid outing that’s worth checking out for the most part.

Romana seemed terribly unlikely, if not impossible. But now we appear to be in a geeky golden age, where remarkable things seem commonplace. Doctor Who: The Movellan Grave brings the two Time Lords together for more Earthbased shenanigans. We open with Romana complaining that they seem to be stuck in the early ‘80s, a lament that may be familiar to many Doctor Who fans. Both actors slip into their roles pretty effortlessly. Listening to the audios, it’s easy to picture the classic characters and it feels as if time has not changed them one bit. The playful banter and one-upmanship that defines Gallifreyan nobility is front and centre here. The plot is a sequel of sorts to Destiny of the Daleks, in the sense that it’s more Movellan

action. Our Time Lords get wind that advanced technology has been found in an Iron Age mass grave. Hopping onto public transport (the TARDIS isn’t terribly reliable), the pair talk their way onto the dig. The archaeologists, of course, are convinced that they’re in the middle of an elaborate prank, as Iron Age man didn’t have circuit boards. All is not what it seems, and it quickly becomes apparent that the Earth is in terrible danger from a band of lost Movellans who have carelessly left one of their superweapons abandoned and forgotten on Earth. The story doesn’t really expand on the Movellans that much. We know they’re at war with the Daleks and that they’re cold, merciless killing machines. Their iconic look isn’t really discussed, but then it’s

set in the ‘80s when disco was still around. Still, classic Who fans know what they look like (as do curious Nu-Who fans). The acting is cracking, the setting works perfectly and the hapless students/ archaeologists sound like they’ve just walked off the set of some awful ‘80s version of Time Team. Ward and Baker sparkle, of course, but the entire cast really do sell this story. It’s not the most original tale, but that doesn’t matter. Big Finish fans know what they like, after all. The extras involve interviews with the various actors, and these are good for a chuckle and aren’t too bland. Overall, well worth a listen.

RYAN POLLARD

ED FORTUNE

HAMLET

WRITER: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE / DIRECTOR: SCOTT HANDCOCK / STARRING: ALEXANDER VLAHOS, MILES RICHARDSON, TRACEY CHILDS, TERRY MOLLOY, DANIEL BROCKLEBANK, DEIRDRE MULLINS, SAMUEL BARNETT / PUBLISHER: BIG FINISH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW If you’re someone for whom Shakespeare was a school chore that hasn’t carried into your adult life, then you won’t realise just how much of Game of Thrones derives from the Elizabethan playwright’s work. Or how much of Steven Moffat’s heroes’ ‘glibness’ descends from

the eponymous Danish prince’s feigning at madness. If you don’t know Hamlet in particular, then you perhaps won’t realise just how oft-quoted it is - “To be or not to be” is the Beethoven’s fifth of literature - or how much of it has seeped into the English language. This is, without

THE THIRD DOCTOR ADVENTURES VOL. 3 WRITERS: NICHOLAS BRIGGS, ANDREW SMITH / DIRECTOR: NICHOLAS BRIGGS / STARRING: TIM TRELOAR, KATY MANNING, GEORGE WATKINS, JOHN BANKS, AMY NEWTON, ROBIN WEAVER, IAIN BATCHELOR, ROBERT HANDS / PUBLISHER: BIG FINISH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW as originally portrayed by the late, great Jon Pertwee. Thankfully, it worked a treat and, though they don’t have the original star of the era, The Third Doctor Adventures

making Shakespeare’s dialogue and characterisation something much more intimate. Rather than playing to an auditorium, now those spine-chilling soliloquies are delivered right into the listeners’ ears, and but for a hint of self-consciousness on the occasional most famous examples, it’s an approach that pays off splendidly. Vlahos himself begins the play just a touch too hysterical, but soon settles into a performance that - while perhaps reminiscent of David Tennant’s interpretation in a not unwelcome way - brings some slightly archaic dialogue into vivid life. The rest of the cast mostly matches him beat for beat, animating a much-studied work such that it breathes with vitality. The musical and technical choices are all pitched to perfection. If you haven’t done Shakespeare, it’s time to get over your preconceptions and discover its true value. And if you do love Shakespeare, then all you need to know is that Big Finish have given their own rendition of his very best and it doesn’t disappoint. Magnificent.

box sets have expertly echoed the style and spirit of early ‘70s Doctor Who. Vol. 3 is no exception. The two stories that make up this box set are full-cast audio adventures, structured in the classic format of four 25 minute episodes. The first, ‘Conquest of Fear’ gives us our first Third Doctor audio featuring the Daleks, so naturally the man who knows more about the metal meanies than anyone else, Nicholas Briggs, writes it. If you are familiar with Briggs’ work, you’ll recognise all his tropes on display: it’s a Terry Nation-esque gung-ho war story that is packed full of action and incident. In particular, it’s a nice touch that it follows directly on from 1973 TV story Planet of the Daleks. Alongside it we have a very different kind of story, Andrew Smith’s ‘Shadow of the Horofax.’ In contrast to Briggs’ affectionately old-school tale, Smith employs the Pertwee era staple of the alien invasion and gives it a twist worthy of Steven Moffat’s modern-era stories. Briefly put, it sees the Doctor and Jo encounter an alien woman, Arianda, who is able to see both the past and the future, on a ship that has been contaminated with time disruption. As such, this naturally leads to what we nowadays call ‘timey-wimey’

storytelling. The result is a tale that, while it doesn’t recreate the writing style of the Pertwee era as much as previous stories, is a strong ideas-led Doctor Who adventure in its own right. While the writers provide the scripts, it is the series’ talented duo of leading actors who bring their words to life. Tim Treloar continues to skilfully walk that fine line between delivering a full-on impersonation of Jon Pertwee and acutely capturing the spirit of his performance and vocal mannerisms. On several occasions, there is a brief moment where you would swear you were listening to Pertwee. Meanwhile, Katy Manning is always a joy and she slips easily back into the role of the younger Jo, upping the energy and naivety of her performance and notching the pitch of her voice slightly higher. Like its predecessors, The Third Doctor Adventures Vol. 3 is a thoroughly enjoyable ode to a certain era of Doctor Who. With two stories that suitably compliment and contrast with each other, this is an all-round well-written, well-compiled, and well-performed set.

JR SOUTHALL

CHRISTIAN BONE

AUDIO

It was a risky decision for Big Finish to do the unthinkable and recast one of the Doctors on audio, namely bringing Tim Treloar on board to voice the Third Doctor,

question, the most influential and well-regarded stage play ever written. So if you’re kicking off a series of Shakespeare plays at Big Finish, where better to start than the best? Hamlet is Shakespeare’s (surprisingly secular) meditation on death. And as with all the best meditations on death, it’s also a riot of back-stabbing and bed-hopping, one of the great, inevitable bloodbaths of English literature. Precious few of its characters make it to the end of the play still breathing, but the genius is in the journey. In brief, the narrative concerns the young prince’s intended revenge over his step-father’s fratricide, but to talk about plot is to do it a disservice. This is about how an act of greed collides with a cowardly choice to undo a monarchy, and how every action creates consequences that have the power to unseat kings. The unravelling begins in earnest in Act Four and escalates through Act Five, but the first half is just as scintillating. To do Hamlet on audio was Alexander Vlahos’ idea, and it’s inspired. There is very little lost and an awful lot gained in taking away the proscenium arch (or film camera) and

CASTLEVANIA III: DRACULA’S CURSE AND SUPER CASTLEVANIA IV (1989 & 1991)

AUDIO

COMPOSER: KONAMI KUKEIHA CLUB / LABEL: MONDO / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

For the next two releases in Mondo’s series of Castlevania score reissues, the label has leapfrogged from 10-inch vinyl to double LPs. The previous instalments in the series were short, but the scores for Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse and Super Castlevania IV are absolutely epic versions of the captivating music for these classic video games. Castlevania III contains both the music for the United States Nintendo Entertainment System version of the game, as well as that of the Japanese Famicom version. Being as how the NES didn’t have the ability to support the VRC6 chip which was on the Famicom cartridge, the music on the stateside release doesn’t feature the extra channels of the Japanese release. The sum effect of this is that the NES version isn’t quite as ornate as the Famicom’s, resulting in music that’s more of the standard chiptune variety, as opposed to the more obviously baroque stylings allowed by the VRC6. It’s a matter of personal preference as to whether the listener prefers the NES or Famicom versions of the music, but those who grew up on the NES might find the Famicom’s music a little overly busy. The addition of the simulated strings definitely adds more dynamic aspects to the familiar music, but the flourishes can seem distracting to those who are used to the more stripped-down takes. Granted, the Famicom’s extra channels do allow for the music to have a bit more heft in the low end, but the more complicated music does add a lot more in the way of synthesised strings, resulting in a sound that is, overall, a bit more tinny. It’s a trade-off that doesn’t always pay dividends. Super Castevania IV benefits greatly from the Super Nintendo’s sound card, and the music across the two LPs is absolutely astonishing. Coming just six months after the Super NES was released in North America, one would think that the game designers wouldn’t

have yet figured out how to take full advantage of the new system’s sound capabilities, but it’s obvious that they took the opportunity presented to them and went full-force. The capacity of the Konami Kukeiha Club composers is most apparent in how the music present in the various earlier iterations of the Castlevania series evolved in Super Castlevania IV. Much as the graphics were smoother, crisper, and cleaner, so was the music. The series’ touchstone, Bloody Tears, is replete with digital strings and pipe organ, and it’s now the Gothic rumbler it so deserves to be. Vampire Killer is no longer the glitchy, tinny song it once was, but instead becomes a boisterously powerful number which makes excellent use of discrete channels, bouncing back and forth between the left and right speakers. Simon Belmont’s Theme is one of the highlights of Super Castlevania IV’s music - it’s appropriately dark, but definitely adventurous, and it’s easy to hear why, along with Bloody Tears, it’s come to define the series going forward from this point. The audio quality on all four of these LPs is just so stunning, it’s readily apparent as to why so many fans of the games continue to listen to the music, decades on. These aren’t cheap little bits of background music, but instead stand as music as anthemic as any film score. Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse is available in three versions: standard black, orange with splatter, or a split colour vinyl. We received the orange splatter, and upon comparison with the other versions online, feel that we got the bestlooking variant there is. It nicely complements the artwork by Sachin Teng, although Teng’s front and rear cover artwork looks a little fuzzy when compared to the clean lines of JenoLab’s work on Super Castlevania IV’s covers. Super Castlevania IV is available on either silver with red splatter or bronze and gold split

vinyl, and again, we feel that we’ve gotten the better version. It’s very much like a bloody dagger has been turned into records, and looks wonderful. The pressings for both double LPs come in gatefold jackets, and continue Mondo’s concept of using the gatefold to present a game map. We found ourselves reminiscing over past glories from our childhood at various stages, and it’s quite a fun thing to be able to pair the music that is being heard with a physical location within the game. Mondo’s vinyl releases of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse and Super Castlevania IV are the best looking, best-sounding versions of this music we’ve yet to experience. The sheer joy which they evoke in both viewing and listening makes these absolute necessities for any fan of the Castlevania series, or game music in general. Castlevania III Rating:

NICK SPACEK

8 Super Castlevania IV Rating:

THE BLOOD FURNACE

WRITER: EDDIE ROBSON / DIRECTOR: KEN BENTLEY / STARRING: SYLVESTER MCCOY, SOPHIE ALDRED, BONNIE LANGFORD / PUBLISHER: BIG FINISH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW In his current run of audio stories alongside both his TV companions, Ace and Mel, the Seventh Doctor has visited a tropical paradise planet, Civil

TORCHWOOD: THE DYING ROOM AUTHOR: LIZZIE HOPLEY / DIRECTOR: SCOTT HANDCOCK / STARRING: SIMON RUSSELL BEALE, MARK ELSTOB, EMMA CUNNIFFE, ALY CRUICKSHANK, DAVID SIBLEY / PUBLISHER: BIG FINISH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

DARK SHADOWS: LOVE LIVES ON

Four more tales from the Dark Shadows universe arrive from Big Finish in this release. Love Lives

of finding jobs, are brought into characters’ motivations in a way more reminiscent of Russell T. Davies’ later revival of Doctor Who, working well to add depth to the story and its world. It would be nice to have more development of Mel’s relationship with Stuart, which plays a large part in the opening chapter of the four-part story but becomes sidelined after that, with an offer Stuart makes to Mel seemingly very important at first but not dwelled on as much as it could be. Nevertheless, this trio of TARDIS travellers continue to work very well together, with Mel being more deeply explored (and less shrill) than she was on TV, and McCoy, Langford and Aldred putting in top notch performances as ever. As far as the villains are concerned, Julie Graham seems to relish playing the sinister Carolyn, and there are some nice ideas behind the history of

her alien race and their aversion to digital technologies. On the other hand, the way their machinery operates akin to magic is very similar, perhaps too much, to that of the Carrionites from The Shakespeare Code. It’s efficiently directed by Ken Bentley, who has particular fun bringing to life the Doctor’s wacky plan in the final instalment; earlier parts, though, could perhaps have gone heavier on the sound effects aurally constructing the Merseyside atmosphere. Overall, this is a very solid instalment in a run of stories that continues to capture the feel of the Seventh Doctor era well; definitely recommended for fans of rolling r’s, Nitro-9 and ginger curls.

We are in Paris in the 1940s, and if Nazi occupation isn’t enough to deal with, there’s the little matter of a plague turning people into monsters. Cue SS Interrogator Grau (Mark Elstob, Number Six in this month’s The Prisoner release) and his hunt for Madame Berber (Emma Cunniffe). As he seeks his quarry, and information on her involvement with Torchwood, he has to satisfy himself with M LeDuc (Simon Russell Beale), the last person known to have spent time with Berber. The plot is simply drawn, and in many ways is a means of drawing together two threads: the torture of LeDuc by Grau, and LeDuc’s flashback memories of meeting Madame

Berber. In the background, the sounds of the period help paint a very stark reality of everyday life in wartime France. The torture scenes are unpleasant, and writer Lizzie Hopley doesn’t make it easy for Grau to identify just what is happening, even though she does leave perhaps too many clues as to what is going on. The inevitable plot twist, when it comes, lacks a bit of punch, but this is made up for by the quality of the cast. The Big Finish Torchwood range continues to flick through the possibilities and open up lots of avenues for potential exploration, though this particular tale feels more disconnected than most.

As ever, director Scott Handcock pulls together some powerful performances, and the overall feel is unsettling and a dark reminder of a grim period of history. One day there will be stories told of World War II, and the involvement of Torchwood, the influence of aliens, Nazis and the development of technology. While this gives hints of that, listeners may well come away wanting more. Instead, we have a powerfully performed character piece with Torchwood more implied than present.

On focuses on some more minor characters - there’s no Quentin or Barnabas et al. It’s one of the great things about the range in so far as taking characters who briefly appeared in the original series and then giving us the opportunity to spend a little more time with them. That kicks off here with the psychic medium Janet Findley, played briefly but vividly by Cavada Humphrey in the series. How she came to meet Professor Stokes is explained in Cody Schell’s Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Velvet Room by Antonio Rastelli follows Gerard Stiles and Hallie Stokes in New Orleans for a gothic horror tale. Behind Closed Doors by Paul Phipps lets us in on the sad history of Jessica Griffin. Finally in this collection, The Suitcase by Alan Flanagan tells of a guest who checks in at the Collinsport Inn to cause more than a little problem for Cyrus and Sabrina Longsworth.

The first story is a relatively short blast of unusual fun for the range. It’s a kind of oddball buddy-cop origin story meeting the usual supernatural mystery of Dark Shadows, and works well. Matthew Waterhouse does a great job with the reading and it’s a pleasingly light intro. Velvet is a story of sinister deals set in its New Orleans location and features a classic horror dilemma. Gerard wants a body, to be something recognisably human again, and the room he finds in the city that offers the heart’s desire seems like it’s probably too good to be true. It is, of course, and events play out in an old school tale reminiscent of many a classic of earlier horror cinema that is brought to life in exciting fashion by first-time series reader James Storm. Behind Closed Doors is a

similarly classic-referencing version of the stories, in which a should-be-gone-for-good dark presence from the past seems to be determined to not let those still here have a shot at new happiness. It’s well done and Marie Wallace gives it a sense of the urgency Jessica feels. The last story of the truth behind a suitcase that has murderous intent for those around it is not as silly as that sounds, though arguably it’s the weakest in the set despite Lisa Richards giving it her best. Overall, however, these four tales are atmospheric and entertaining and it’s the best of these Dark Shadows sets for some time now, and therefore for fans of the range comes warmly recommended.

KIERON MOORE

TONY JONES

JAMES EVANS

AUDIO

WRITERS: CODY SCHELL, ANTONI RASTELLI, PAUL PHIPPS, ALAN FLANAGAN / STARRING: MATTHEW WATERHOUSE, JAMES STORM / DIRECTORS: DARREN GROSS, JOSEPH LIDSTER, JIM PIERSON / PUBLISHER: BIG FINISH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

War era Spain, and more. The Blood Furnace takes the trio on their first trip to present day Britain. Well, 1991, which is close enough to the ‘present day’ of when this era was on TV. The TARDIS lands in a Merseyside shipyard run by an old university boyfriend of Mel’s – Stuart Dale, played with charm by Todd Heppenstall. Stuart’s become very successful thanks to a mysterious new material he’s been given possession of by a mysterious new client. You can see where that’s going. Before long, one of the shipyard workers is found dead, and our TARDIS team has a case on their hands. What we have here, then, is an imaginative sci-fi mystery that plays out against the background of the political and social atmosphere of the early ‘90s. Real-life concerns, such as the shutting down of the shipyards and the difficulties

BRAVE NEW WORDS

ED FORTUNE BRINGS YOU THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF GENRE LITERATURE

V.E. Schwab Censored in Russia

Victoria Schwab’s fantasy trilogy Shades of Magic has been censored by Russian publishers. The American fantasy author has been described as ‘heartbroken’ about the change. The popular series features a bisexual prince and gender-fluid pickpocket. One of the key subplots in the novel is a growing romance between the two characters. A key scene, featuring the culmination of this romance, has been excised by Russian editors without consultation. Russia has had homophobic laws that censor what it calls ‘gay propaganda’ since 2013.

Dublin Wins Worldcon 2019

In a move that will surprise no one, Dublin has won the bid to host Worldcon in 2019. The bid had no serious competition (light-hearted joke bids are a tradition for these things). The event will be called Dublin 2019 - An Irish Worldcon. The 77th World Science Fiction Convention will run from August 15th to 19th. Guests of Honour include Steve Jackson (of Steve Jackson Games), Ian McDonald, Diane Duane, and Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell. Those of a particular fanatical bent are reminded the Eurocon is in Belfast the weekend after and Nine Worlds is likely to be hosted the week before, which means you could do a hat trick of geeky book conventions, if you wished.

Guinness Book of World Records Recognise Hugo Awards

With them having been first awarded in 1953 at the 11th World Science Fiction Convention (now simply called Worldcon), the Guinness Book of World Records has awarded the Hugo Awards the prize for the longest-running science fiction award. The distinctive rocket-shaped prize has a competition every year to design its base, so each year’s version of the prize is unique.

HANDBOOK FOR MORTALS Foiled by YA Scooby Gang

In perhaps one of the most blatant attempts at gaming the system that we at this magazine have seen in a long time, Young Adult novel Handbook For Mortals has been removed from the New York Times bestseller list following an investigation by YA writers and publishers on Twitter. Handbook for Mortals came out of the blue and knocked ground-breaking novel The Hate U Give off the much-vaunted top spot. Handbook for Mortals had very little in the way of Goodreads reviews and no advance copies had been made available. The only sign of any pre-publicity was a limited tour around American comic cons. This aroused the suspicions of many, and a small group of Twitter users began to investigate. It has been alleged that Handbook for Mortals author Lani Sarem and chums had been placing bulk orders of the book at stores that reported their number to the New York Times. The list has since been amended. Top spots on the NYT list frequently turn into movie deals.

BOOKS

Diversity Returns to the Hugo Awards

After a couple of years of disappointment, the Hugo Awards have returned to their usual schedule of being the go-to list for quality and broad science fiction excellence. The last few years suffered from a small group attempting to hijack the awards out of selfpromotion and politics, but a recent rule change have prevented this from dominating future awards. The awards are voted for by members of the World Science Fiction Society, a club anyone can join, and are announced at Worldcon. Though North Americafocused, Worldcon can happen anywhere in the world and this year it was Helsinki, Finland. The winners included: N. K. Jemisin won Best Novel for The Obelisk Gate, Ursula Vernon won Best Novelette for The Tomato Thief, Amal El-Mohtar won Best Short Story for Seasons of Glass and Iron, and Marjorie Liu won Best Graphic Story for The Monstress. Literary legend Ursula K. Le Guin got the award for Best Related Work, beating Carrie Fisher’s The Princess Diarist and Kameron Hurley’s Geek Feminist Revolution in a closely ran vote.

Dragon Awards Generate Controversy

The administrators behind The Dragon Awards caused controversy by initially refusing to allow nominees to withdraw their works from the Dragon Awards ballot. Authors who did so included Alison Littlewood, John Scalzi, and N. K. Jemisin, mostly due to concerns that alt-right associated groups are trying to game the awards. Award administrators then reconsidered and let authors withdraw. Internetsavvy controversy magnet John Scalzi allowed his work to stay on the ballot following an in-depth chat with the administrators. Now in their second year, The Dragon Awards are a prize for excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy, handed out at Dragoncon, a North American geek convention that’s been around since 1987.

Tiptree Wins Seiun Award

1988 novella Backward, Turn Backward by James Tiptree, Jr has won the Seiun Award for Best Translated Story in a tie with Simulacrum by Ken Liu. The SeiunAwards are Japan’s own science fiction literature prize and are usually part of the Japan Science Fiction Convention (now in its 56th year). In the spirit of international co-operation, the two awards for translation were presented at Worldcon 75 in Finland. James Tiptree, Jr was the pen name of Alice B. Sheldon, who died in 1987. She was the inspiration behind the James Tiptree, Jr. Literacy Council, which encourages the exploration and expansion of gender.

Secret Aldiss Diaries to be Unleashed

In a final act of showmanship, Brian Aldiss’ family will get to read the late writer’s diaries at the same time as the rest of the world when they are unveiled at a forthcoming Bodleian Library exhibition. Aldiss died at his home in Oxford on Saturday, August 19th, only hours after celebrating his 92nd birthday. He will be profoundly missed. Catch all the latest bookish chat on STARBURST’s very own book podcast Brave New Words or contact Ed via email on ed.fortune@ starbustmagazine.com or Twitter @ed_fortune.

ED FORTUNE HIGHLIGHTS NOTEWORTHY NEW TITLES

COMING SOON IT DEVOURS! A NIGHT VALE NOVEL

AUTHORS: JOSEPH FINK, JEFFREY CRANOR PUBLISHER: ORBIT RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 19TH

Welcome to Night Vale is a cult hit. The podcast-cum-theatre show-cum-novel series blends the vastness and isolation of the small town American village with H. P. Lovecraftstyle creepiness and surreal humour to create something unique and alluring. This new book introduces a new hero, Nilanjana Sikdar, an outsider who uses logic and science to crack problems. Teaming up with Carlos (lovely, lovely Carlos) she uncovers a sinister conspiracy that could threaten the entire town. Alas, she falls in love with a cultist and wackiness ensues. We’re rather hoping the glow cloud makes a cameo - all hail the glow cloud!

FROSTGRAVE: GHOST ARCHIPELAGO: FANTASY WARGAMES IN THE LOST ISLES AUTHOR: JOSEPH A. MCCULLOUGH PUBLISHER: OSPREY GAMES RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 19TH

Frostgrave is the hot new gaming property amongst the cool kids who happen to paint models. It’s swiftly established itself as the go-to alternative for those who don’t particularly like Age of Sigmar/ Kings of War. Set in a land where a few precious heroes can become gods (if they can just find the legendary crystal pool), The Ghost Archipelago introduces cannibal tribes, sorcerous snake men, and dangerous water beasts to the setting. Intended for small adventuring parties, this new character-focused skirmish game features a host of soldier types, challenging scenarios and treasure tables.

TWIN PEAKS: THE FINAL DOSSIER AUTHOR: MARK FROST PUBLISHER: MACMILLAN RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 2ND

With the surprise return of Twin Peaks comes the inevitable return of spin-off media. Previous books such as The Secret History spilled the beans on the town’s backstory, but there’s plenty more where that came from. Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier tells us what happened to key characters in the twenty-five years in between the events of the second series and the third, offering details and insights fans will cheerfully use to win arguments on the Internet for years to come. This promises to be Mark Frost’s last trip to Twin Peaks, so it’s well worth a final visit to the spooky town.

STRANGE WEATHER

AUTHOR: JOE HILL PUBLISHER: GOLLANCZ RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 7TH

AUTHORS: GEORGE MANN, JUSTIN RICHARDS, CAVAN SCOTT PUBLISHER: BBC BOOKS RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 26TH

The Daleks are so popular that they deserve their own TV show. Or perhaps that’s already the case. Regardless, this new hardcover book is designed to look lovely on your K9-themed coffee table. Packed with full-colour illustrations, concept art, cutaways, diagrams, comic strips and more, Dalek is a dramatic retelling of the rise of the alien tank monsters. We’d say this sort of thing has been done to death, but everyone knows it’s really hard to kill a Dalek. Unless you have a baseball infused by the hand of Omega, of course.

INFINITE STARS

EDITOR: BRYAN THOMAS SCHMIDT PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 17TH

Military science fiction and space opera form the backbone of the sci-fi genre. Infinite Stars is one of the ‘headliner’-style anthologies that is filled with unique stories from various popular series. One story from any of these would be enough to sell this collection but combined, it’s a huge winner. It includes a new Dune story by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, a new story from the Honor Harrington Universe by David Weber, a Lost Fleet story by Jack Campbell and, in print for the first time, an RCN story by David Drake.

IRONCLADS

AUTHOR: ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY PUBLISHER: SOLARIS RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 2ND

Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author and regular friendly face in the pages of STARBURST, Adrian Tchaikovsky returns with another powerful sci-fi novel. This one follows the tribulations of Sgt Ted Reagan, who has been tasked with the job of rescuing the scion of one of the great corporate houses from the front lines. In theory, the missing rich kid should be protected by his Ironclad, a giant battle suit that dominates the battlefield. But something has gone wrong, and this common soldier has to go into the deadliest battlezone to rescue the privileged from themselves.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: THE OFFICIAL GRIMOIRE AUTHOR: WILLOW ROSENBERG PUBLISHER: INSIGHT EDITIONS RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 24TH

Any popular genre show which features magic will enjoy an inevitable spell book. For those of you who really need record of every magical plot-device cooked up by Whedon and chums over the course of the show, this book is the comprehensive and official grimoire that every Buffy the Vampire Slayer LARPer has been after. Beautifully illustrated and annotated by the characters, this is a must-have for would-be witches. Orb of Thesulah not included. Although neither are Willow and Tara.

BOOKS

Heir to the throne of the kingdom of horror and lauded with pretty much every relevant award, Joe Hill has returned with four more spine-chilling short stories. From Rain, a tale of apocalyptic levels of bad weather that also features a murder mystery to Aloft, a story about a man stranded on a deserted cloud, Hill displays his ability to chill the reader. Snapshot, 1988 is a tale of a camera with sinister powers and Loaded is a gun control parable. They all sound like lovely chillers to bring in the winter night.

DOCTOR WHO: DALEK - THE ASTOUNDING UNTOLD HISTORY OF THE GREATEST ENEMIES OF THE UNIVERSE

98 important ‘bridging works’ between literary fiction and speculative works. Greybeard was especially lauded for its treatment of depression. Aldiss was a founding member of the Groucho Club, whose members include Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Born in Norfolk to a family of shopkeepers, Brian spent most of his childhood in prep schools. He would later compare his experiences at school to his time as a corporal during the Second World War, stating that despite the cramped and dangerous conditions, school was much worse. Aldiss was to be part of the force that would assault the Japanese mainland, a conflict that never happened due to the invention of the Atom Bomb. After the war, he served in Sumatra, and the hot, exotic territory inspired his works such as Hothouse and A Rude Awakening. Following his experiences in Sumatra, he returned to cold and unforgiving Britain, to work in a bookshop. His success as a writer, which was marked by various Hugo Awards for new writing and short stories, allowed him to quit the shop and work full time as an author. Thus began a long and fierce career. Never one to shy away from facing the world, his work was frequently challenging and he poured much of his real-world experiences and concerns into it. Living through the Cold War, much of his work features a post-apocalyptic landscape. His career spanned a lifetime and was remarkable at every step. His last science fiction novel was 2012’s Finches of Mars. In an interview with STARBURST in 2015, his advice to young authors was “Try not to age. Get laid as often as possible.” The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its 18th SFWA Grand Master in 2000, and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted him in 2004. He was awarded the title of Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to literature in the 2005 Birthday Honours list. Aldiss is survived by his partner, Alison Soskice; children Clive and Wendy from his first marriage, and Timothy and Charlotte from his second; a granddaughter, Lola; and six grandsons, Thomas, Laurence, Jason, Archie, Max, and Ben. He will be greatly missed.

BRIAN ALDISS (1925-2017)

BOOKS

rian Aldiss, Grand Master of Science Fiction and one of the most extraordinary writers of the modern age, passed away on the 19th August shortly after celebrating his 92nd birthday. Aldiss published hundreds of science fiction works, mostly books and short stories. He is fondly remembered for books such as Frankenstein Unbound and his critically acclaimed Helliconia trilogy. His short story Supertoys Last All Summer Long was used as the basis for the 2001 film AI: Artificial Intelligence. He was a cunning and experienced editor, and a master of the well-planned anthology, with a keen eye for talent. Aldiss made his name in literature during the 1960s alongside Kurt Vonnegut, Ursula Le Guin, J. G. Ballard, and Michael Moorcock. He was a friend of Kingsley Amis and pen pals with C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. He started writing from the age of four and he began publishing

ED FORTUNE

stories in the ‘50s, flying the British flag during a time when the USA dominated the market. His début, Non-Stop, was notable for its shocking tone and lack of any heroism. It also inspired scores of imitations, as well as roleplaying games such as Metamorphosis Alpha. At the time, his fresh and thoroughly different approach opened up the stagnating market to different perspectives. Aldiss blended solid scientific ideas with wild speculation, pioneering the genre as he went. He also championed the place of speculative fiction within the broader literary community, elbowing his way into a community that was as stuffy and self-important back then as it is today. In 1981, he was a Booker Prize judge, bringing his unique perspective to one of the book world’s most well-known yet also most stagnant prizes. His works such as Non-Stop and Greybeard are seen as

A MONTHLY PICK OF GENRE FICTION BY KATE FATHERS

BOOK WORMHOLE

“Mrs Marrable buried Miss Tinsley on a leafy yellow day in late October.”

the house. Then, a woman and her nephew move in across the street. And Mrs Marrable starts to fear that her life, and deadly routine, might be under threat. Published in 1962, The Forbidden Garden is a chilling book. Part of the ‘serial killer horror’ subgenre, it’s told from two perspectives: Mrs Marrable, the elderly murderer; and Harriet Crewe, the young tenant at Mrs Marrable’s cottage. The bulk of the book is from Mrs Marrable’s perspective, which is fitting given that she drives the story. She is the centre that

won’t lead her into danger. Every time Mrs Marrable thinks about her, we know to be terrified of what she’ll do. We want Harriet to discover the truth not just for ourselves, but for her. Harriet’s perspective keeps the stakes raised high, particularly as it’s not only her that’s in danger - it’s her ten-year-old nephew, James. Would Mrs Marrable harm a child? I won’t spoil it for you. The Forbidden Garden is a tense book with a chilling ending, but unfortunately, it’s not without flaw. As it was written in the 1960s, there are a couple of brief moments of casual racism. Harriet, as previously mentioned, could have been a more active character. It also could have been more detailed. We spend almost a month with these characters, but it feels like a week, and by the end, Mrs Marrable is the most fleshedout character. I wanted to see Mrs Dimmock settling in, the building of her relationship with Mrs Marrable. I wanted to see Harriet and James learning to live together, far away from their homes. While Curtiss was likely aiming for a taut story, ultimately I wanted more. The Forbidden Garden is a slim book, but a powerful one. While it was adapted into the horror film What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? in 1969, starring Geraldine Page, Ruth Gordon, and Rosemary Forsyth, the novel itself should not be missed. It packs a terrifying punch, and Mrs Marrable is a character I won’t soon forget.

BOOKS

he also buried Elizabeth Duarte, and Iva Turner, and Rose Hull, and Ellen Bosworth, under poplar trees after bashing the backs of their heads in. Some of them had their pocketbooks with them. All were helping her in the garden. After, she puts a new ad in the paper for a replacement companion. Someone to clean, cook lunch, and run errands; someone whose money she could pretend to invest and someone who no one would miss. Mrs Dimmock seems like the perfect candidate, until she starts warning people away from

everyone and everything orbits; without her, there would be no story. Without her, half the cast wouldn’t have met. Mrs Marrable herself is also caught in that orbit, as her every thought and action is focused on maintaining the image she desires. Ursula Curtiss has crafted a character without altruism, someone cold and calculating, who doesn’t experience even the thinnest sliver of remorse. On the surface, you could compare her to Misery’s Annie Wilkes, but Mrs Marrable has none of Annie’s passion. She doesn’t obsess and she is never impulsive. She murders as effortlessly as you’d remove a weed. There’s something about that nonchalance that makes her far more terrifying than Annie, particularly when paired with her primary motivation: maintaining appearances. It doesn’t matter, the story tells us, what is really happening, so long as Mrs Marrable looks like the wealthy old woman she wants to be. The means are always justified. Murder is simply the easiest path. Watching Curtiss unravel such a character, under the threat of discovery from Harriet and Mrs Dimmock, is spellbinding. You get a perverse thrill at her paranoia. You do enjoy watching her get a taste of what her victims must have felt. It’s subtle, beautiful writing. While Harriet Crewe isn’t as developed or as active as Mrs Marrable, her perspective not only provides readers with balance, but allows The Forbidden Garden to maintain its tension. Curtiss has an incredible skill with pacing, and by adding Harriet’s perspective she is able to allow for a slow reveal of the facts for the reader. She never lets us sit with one character too long, which also makes sure readers don’t get tricked into sympathising with Mrs Marrable. Harriet stands in direct contrast to Mrs Marrable: she’s young where Mrs Marrable is old; selfless instead of selfish; genuine instead of deceiving. She reminds us of decency and normalcy, and through her we are constantly reminded of how horrifying Mrs Marrable’s actions are. She grounds the reader. And because we’re grounded we fear for her; every suspicion she has we hope

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REVIEWS

DOCTOR WHO PAPER DOLLS AUTHOR: SIMON GUERRIER, CHRISTEL DEE, BEN MORRIS / PUBLISHER: BBC BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

BOOKS

Ever fancied being able to dress up all of your favourite Doctors in each other’s clothes, while getting an education about where each outfit comes from and finding out the best ways to cosplay all at the same time? Here’s your chance!

STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION: THE ART OF JUAN ORTIZ AUTHOR & ARTIST: JUAN ORTIZ / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

THE LATEST RELEASES REVIEWED AND RATED

Doctor Who Paper Dolls marries up some really rather nice illustrations by Radio Times artist Ben Morris with trivia about each outfit, with each page consisting of a Doctor model, a couple of outfits, and a couple of different hats or heads to swap over. Each picture is labelled with a few words of varying degrees of success and/or interest. We learn that Sylvester McCoy’s duffle coat was originally only meant to be worn to keep him warm, but he liked it so much that it became part of his everyday costume. We also learn that Peter Capaldi’s sonic sunglasses are ‘wearable technology that doesn’t spoil the line of a jacket’. Whether or not these titbits are of any use to anyone is totally up for discussion, but at least their inclusion adds a little something to the book as a whole. Each page is one-sided, so you can cut everything out without worrying about what you’re ruining on the back of the page. Thinking about it, weren’t these things perforated back in the day, so you could just pop each model out by pressing around the edges instead of needing to muck about with scissors? But then again, that’s Doctor Who for you. Plenty of pleasure, but there’s often a hint of frustration in there somewhere. On the subject of practical tips, we might suggest having some sturdy cardboard on hand to reinforce the models with, as the not-

quite-thick-enough card that the book is printed on doesn’t quite feel as if it would be able to take too much use before things might start dropping off... In all honesty, we’re not too sure if paper dolls have really been a ‘thing’ for the last couple of decades (or possibly even longer than that), but we’re fairly certain that a lot of people will have fond memories of many happy hours spent on pastimes like this back in those bleak and dark days before the Internet existed. The combination of a well loved TV show with a fondly remembered pastime does mean that Doctor Who Paper Dolls provides a nice double dose of nostalgia for older readers, but it’s hard to imagine that younger fans would really be too fussed about the inclusion of the older Doctors. We can certainly see many of today’s Whovians being a tad disappointed by the lack of villains. It would be a nice accompaniment to a lazy day of DVD watching and lounging around on the sofa though, especially if you’re one of the old school with youngsters in the family who are into Nu-Who, so we’d still definitely recommend picking up a copy for your rainy day shelf.

Following on from his superb Original Series collection, artist Juan Ortiz has created a cinematic-style poster of each episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. That’s right, this hefty hardback contains no less than 178 posters that showcase Ortiz’s creative vision to its fullest, each capturing the essence of the episode it represents. From the cover itself, a stunning vision of a Romulan eagle descending on the Enterprise, it is clear that this book, just like the last, is going to be something special. It begins with an interview with the artist, one that reveals his inspiration while showing some preliminary sketches along the way. As befits an art book, it is fairly brief, but contains some fascinating insights into Ortiz and his processes. What’s most interesting is his wanting to avoid a ‘retro’ look to these posters, considering it to represent the middle of the twentieth century. As such, he has opted to portray the series with designs reminiscent of independent film posters, as well as the science fiction book cover styles of the late seventies and early eighties. Each poster is placed in the correct chronological order, meaning those with a favourite episode will be able to flick

straight through to the one they wish to see. It’s doubtful anyone would be disappointed; Ortiz has gifted each poster with his unique vision and taken an element from the story to create the work. It’s not always an obvious one, but this reviewer was pleased to see that there were four lights. While some are drawings, others are more a collage of photographs, yet all clearly recognisable as Ortiz’s style. There’s a suggestion of repetition here – understandable, given the amount of work that’s on offer – but there’s a diverse range, from the simplistic to the surreal, every page clamouring for attention and demanding to be savoured. This is a fantastic book, recommended for any fan of art or Star Trek. Once read, it’s something that will be returned to, and many of the images (a disembodied eye, anyone?) will stay in the mind for a very long time. Ortiz has done it again and, if you did buy a coffee table to rest the first book on you may need to reinforce its legs for this massive tome.

CHRIS JACKSON

ALISTER DAVISON

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A MAN OF SHADOWS

AUTHOR: JEFF NOON / PUBLISHER: ANGRY ROBOT / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

RICK AND MORTY: OFFICIAL COLOURING BOOK

PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW With Season Three upon us, the Rick and Morty phenomenon is at its zenith. You can tell this from the pause for breath converts take

NAME THAT SHOW AUTHOR: PAUL ROGERS / PUBLISHER: CHRONICLE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

a mysterious killer is on the loose. They call this murderer Quicksilver, because he moves so fast. So far, so noir, but it’s the world Nyquist inhabits that brings us deeper into the story. Nyquist lives in a city where night and day are quite literally separate places. In Dayzone, lamps produce endless sunlight. Meanwhile, Nocturna lies in eternal night. Between the two we have Dusk, a permanent gloom in which strange things and people lurk. Stranger still is time. In this world, it’s a commodity; different people operate in their own time zones at their own pace. Time is a fluid thing here and, of course, this dips the narrative into the surreal. Nyquist’s journey takes him across the entire city and across time. The result is that the poor chap is constantly on the move,

with no time to stop and take a breather. As the narrative speeds up and becomes darker in tone, the protagonist becomes more exhausted. This serves as a good marker for the reader; A Man of Shadows is not a book that should be read in one sitting. Read, digest, ponder and then return to be amazed by Noon’s skilful blending of narrative. Weird storytelling is the current trend in genre fiction, but Noon has been writing this sort of thing for decades. He mixes a strange sci-fi world with exhausted protagonists and drug-fuelled characters to create something wonderful and uniquely absorbing.

before revealing just how much Adult Swim’s top-rated series has saved their souls, cleaned out their basements and generally enriched their lives with its anarchic odyssey through geekdom in a comfortingly Back to the Futurestyled format. Another way to tell something zeitgeisty is topping out is the ‘merch’, which has landed with a vengeance and includes this nicely tooled colouring book. Here are the first two years’ worth of minddumps rendered as fiendishly fan-servicing collages for you to colour in. Even if you never get around to finishing it, you’ll admire how well each page harnesses the uniquely deranged scenarios Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon

deliver with each episode. And like the series, the pages are often psychotically busy, which makes filling them in by turns frustrating and entertaining. Many pictures consist of semi-repeating, highly detailed patterns of multiple plumbuses, meeseeks, butthole plants or galactic prison cells, which means a lot of repetitious colouring-in of pretty much the same thing. This is intentional, but you’ll be working an hour or two a day for a couple of months if you want to complete it all. And while a lot of love has clearly gone into the design, some sections are oddly lacking in key detail to guide where separate elements meet or to judge the degree of colour required. Connoisseurs of the

colouring book oeuvre may also gripe at the lack of pre-filled black areas in these mad vistas, so it’s up to you where to put that all-important contrast. Better get those decisions right or every picture here will end up looking like an explosion in a pickled rat factory. Absolutely not suitable for minors or Daily Mail readers, the Rick and Morty colouring book is a real challenge and potentially the most avant-garde time you’ll spend with pencils this side of an art class with David Lynch.

Internet instead of diving into a review of this new Chronicle book, Name That Show? Because this is one of those books that’s best enjoyed far away from the tap of the keyboard and the click of the mouse. Composed of 100 double page spreads, Name That Show asks the reader to guess the TV show via six vague pen and ink drawings. Some are easy, some are very hard, but all of them get you thinking. Written by Pasadena based author Paul Rogers, the book was written primarily for the

American market and as such is littered with classic American TV shows, many of which younger UK readers won’t be aware of. For every Sopranos or Dexter there’s a Gillligan’s Island or a Leave It To Beaver. That said, Rogers is also cosmopolitan enough to include classic UK comedy like The IT Crowd and Absolutely Fabulous, so it covers all the angles and both sides of the Atlantic. As well as offering classic UK and US shows, it’s also bang-up-to-date. From the ‘50s and I Love Lucy right up to the Netflix era of Daredevil and Stranger Things and everything in between, this is a book that will test the brain cells of everyone in the house from grandparents right down to grandkids. Picking a random number, let’s turn to page 78. Here are your clues: a house, a black t-shirt with Sunnydale emblazoned on the chest, a black car, a notepad with a ticklist including ‘Reschedule plumber’, ‘Become Invincible’, and ‘Haircut’, two women kissing and

a couple of photographs. Not the toughest one ever, but page seven gives us an office building, a road sign for ‘Slough Trading Estate’, a plastic chair…you get the picture (no pun intended). The back of the book reveals all of the answers, saving frustrated readers from hitting the Internet and Googling them all. A definite knowledge tester, this will really get the old grey matter tingling and while there are plenty of spreads that will evade a wide percentage of UK readers, there are equally just as many that are solvable. The fun of figuring these out is well worth your time, and as a Christmas book for a puzzle-crazy relative this would be a great choice. Retailing at £9.99, it’s a handsome book that would be welcome in any Christmas stocking.

ED FORTUNE

MICHAEL COLDWELL

MARK NEWBOLD

BOOKS

One of the coolest things about the Internet age is the ability to quickly Google answers (in other words, cheat) to questions you don’t know. Sometimes you’re refreshing your knowledge, other times supplementing it, but more often than not you’re learning new things. Why are we talking about the

Jeff Noon is the undisputed master of Weird Fiction. His skill lies in warping one’s expectations of reality. In his earlier work, the shift to the strange was hammerlike, smashing the reader directly into a world where the usual rules of life are utterly different. His latest novel, A Man of Shadows, displays a subtlety and maturity that prove Noon is at the peak of his prowess, as it marries the mundane with the utterly strange almost perfectly. The tale focuses on the Sam Spade-like detective, John Nyquist, a hard-bitten private investigator, cut straight out of the noir detective genre. He’s brilliantly drawn, a twisted lump of bitterness, but also extremely easy to get under the skin of. His task is to hunt down a missing girl called Eleanor. At the same time,

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NOW WE ARE SIX HUNDRED – A COLLECTION OF TIME LORD VERSE AUTHOR: JAMES GOSS / ILLUSTRATOR: RUSSELL T. DAVIES / PUBLISHER: BBC BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

STAR WARS VISUAL ENCYCLOPEDIA AUTHORS: TRICIA BARR, ADAM BRAY & COLE HORTON / PUBLISHER: DORLING KINDERSLEY LTD / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

GAME OF THRONES 3D MASKS AND WALL MOUNTS

BOOKS

DESIGNER: WINTERCROFT / PUBLISHER: CARLTON BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW We get all sorts of books to review in the STARBURST offices, some more different and notable than others. However, publisher Carlton Books must get some sort of award for sending us not a book, but an enormous wolf’s

We have had Doctor Who colouring books, cookbooks, even Mr Men books... But of all the various Doctor Who tie-in tomes that have been published over the years, we’ve never had a poetry collection before. At last, James Goss has put that right with his affectionate spoof book of verse, Now We Are Six Hundred. As the title gives away, the collection is a Doctor Who take on A. A. Milne’s classic children’s poetry book Now We Are Six. As such, most of the poems within are spins on Milne’s own poems. A lovely touch is to have the collection bookended by a tale about the TARDIS landing in One Hundred Acre Wood, in honour of Milne’s most famous creation – bet you never thought you’d see a Doctor Who/Winnie the Pooh crossover? Goss casts his net wide

for Who topics to translate into verse. Make no mistake, the bigger a fan of the show you are, the more you will enjoy this book. For instance, one poem is a humorous ode to the Daleks’ evil alien allies from 1966’s The Daleks’ Master Plan. While the majority of the pieces will have you chuckling, there are a few sprinkled throughout that are quite poignant, too, e.g. To Her Coy Doctor, about River’s love for her time-travelling husband. One of the big draws of this collection for fans will be Russell T. Davies’ long-awaited return to the world of Doctor Who. No, Davies doesn’t provide any of the words, but is on illustrating duties instead. It turns out Davies is a master caricaturist and his joyful, quirky sketches of Doctors, monsters and companions are a delight. Often, Davies will go off on a imaginative

tangent and deliver an illustration totally unconnected to Goss’ verse. A highlight is his rewriting of canon by presenting Harriet Jones (you know who she is) surviving her fateful encounter with the Daleks! A brief book of only slightly more than 100 pages, Now We Are Six Hundred can be read from cover to cover in under an hour, but you will find yourself frequently dipping back into it to peruse Davies’ illustrations or reread the most memorable poems. For this eccentric, lovable release, fans need to dig some money out of their wallet or purse and purchase this book of Doctor Who verse (don’t worry, the poems in the book itself are much better).

This book is virtually a onestop shop for all your Star Wars trivia needs. It is exactly what is says on the cover – a visual encyclopedia, meaning a wealth of just about everything anybody could ever want to know about the Star Wars universe. There are over three thousand entries with supporting photographs, pictures and diagrams covering every aspect of the Star Wars universe that is still considered canonical. So don’t expect to see any form of acknowledgement that the dreaded (and legendary) Star Wars Holiday Special ever occurred, nor the two Ewok TV films, nor Droids nor the Ewok cartoon series. However, such trivialities are of no consequence when you can immerse yourself in every facet of every detail from The Phantom

Menace to The Force Awakens, including Rogue One, The Clone Wars, and Rebels. Everything is put in its proper historic perspective. As well as the sheer scope of the information at your fingertips, the insane amount of detail and careful thought that goes into every frame of these films is bewildering as you delve not only into the spacecraft, uniforms, armour, vehicles, insignia and weaponry of every faction, but also the indigenous flora and fauna of each planet either visited or mentioned here in all its minute detail. Even what the various species eat and drink, wear, their habitats, their leisure activities. Once you start, it’s very hard to stop digging deeper and deeper while enjoying the truly all-enveloping information that

comes alive page after page. There is, however, one small, tiny drawback with this book – and it’s the same one that plagues every book of this type while its subject matter is still developing and expanding. Namely, the book is a complete and exhaustive indispensable font of information that will delight every Star Wars fan, but, it’s only going to be complete until The Last Jedi is released in December. Until then, however, bask in the glory of this amazing volume and wonder how you ever managed to win a Star Wars argument without it. The Force is strong in this book!

head in a box. Though we were briefly concerned that your humble STARBURST team had upset a gang of mobster Vikings, your ever-sharp reviewers swiftly realised the head was made out of cardboard and also a stylised version of the House Stark wolf’s head from the popular Games of Thrones TV series. Carlton Books’ Game of Thrones 3D Masks and Wall Mounts series provides the base materials required to mount your own Westeros-themed hunting trophies. They’re quite frankly a really weird idea that also works. For a start, the Stark Wolf is a stylised wolf’s head, as if someone had animated the Stark Banner. The grey printed cardboard looks steely eyed and cube-like. You can stick it on your head as a mask or construct the wall mount (which

is also cardboard). You’ll need to reinforce the backing on the mount if you want to stick it on your wall in a way that lasts (we glued the cardboard backing mount provided to foam board, which worked). Still, the ‘head’ bit is easily removed from the mount, so the mount basically serves as a ‘rack’ for the mask. The range includes Lannister (Lion), Targaryen (Dragon) and White Walker. All the kits work fairly well, though you’ll need to be miserly with the glue and patient as things stick. If you’re more enthusiastic than patient, then good tape is probably a better prospect. The result is something sturdy but fragile, suitable for a novelty wall covering for the hardcore fan or as a quick fix for a party. It’s also a good rainy day activity. The finished product is nice,

but we had more fun putting the actual thing together. Over the years, we’ve noticed an increasing shift in focus in the uses of the book as a medium. With so many ways now to communicate words and pictures to an ever-growing readership, there’s been a rise in books that don’t involve reading. Carlton Books’ 3D Masks and Wall Mount series are exactly that. It has a nifty explanation of what the mask is about, but that’s only one page. The rest is instructions and tips. This is not really a book (though it’ll fit on the shelf until needed), more a fun couple of hours of construction for the hardcore Game of Thrones fan. Fun.

CHRISTIAN BONE

ROBIN PIERCE

ED FORTUNE

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THE LATEST RELEASES REVIEWED AND RATED

SPOONBENDERS

AUTHOR: DARYL GREGORY / PUBLISHER: RIVERRUN / RELEASE DATE: 13TH JULY In the mid-1970s, the Amazing Telemachus Family were poised to become stars. But, despite their allegedly phenomenal magic and mind reading act, the Telemachus clan couldn’t predict what a nightmare their appearance on the mega-rated Mike Douglas Show was going to become. That night

GODBLIND

Godblind is a fantasy novel set in the world of Gilgoras. A place where the gods are very, very real and life is hard, bloody,

millions of television viewers watched the Amazing Telemachus Family crash and burn and, from that moment on, their lives were never the same again. It’s two decades later and the family are still in turmoil. In fact, their psychic ‘gifts’ have got them into deeper trouble, not to mention a lot of debt. Teddy, the father, was always a conman and is constantly on the look-out for love, but it’s obvious he will never get over the death of his beloved Maureen, who had the genuine paranormal abilities that their children all inherited in one form or another. As for those children – Frankie is the telekinesis whizz whose psychic card counting has landed him in big trouble with the Chicago mafia; Irene, Frankie’s sister, has discovered that her job as an accountant and her powers as a human lie detector really don’t mix; and Buddy, their youngest sibling, has found out that his ability to see into the future has chained him to a life he cannot change. Although why he is digging a hole in their backyard is a mystery to everyone. But it’s Irene’s 14-year-old son Matty who is really about to shake things up when he unexpectedly realises that he also has some of the Telemachus magic, and it’s going to hurl the family into their biggest and most dysfunctional adventure yet.

Spoonbenders is a magnificently twisted collision of a book that reads like Michael Chabon or John Irving but plays out in your head like the cast of Arrested Development just hijacked The X-Files and the whole thing is directed by Wes Anderson. It touches your heart while frequently being laugh out loud funny, and author Daryl Gregory expertly manages to juggle eccentric family dynamics, multiple points of view, broad farce, ‘70s (and ‘90s) nostalgia, the mob, secret government agencies and even the occasional mention of Cold War-era psychic warfare, to create a riotous comic epic that really shouldn’t work but somehow is impossible not to fall in love with. And, at the centre of everything, is a whole cast of quite wonderful characters who, despite their very special powers and constant lapses into insanity, are as fragile and confused as the rest of us. It’s a brilliant achievement and by the time you’re halfway through, you’ll wish you had your own psychic powers so that the Telemachus’s could adopt you.

and short. The action focuses on the two lands of Mireces and Rilpor, kingdoms that have fought a long and difficult conflict to shut the dark gods out from the minds of mortals. Alas, the tribes who worshipped and venerated the dark entities never really went away. They have spent much of their existence on the fringes of society, harrying civilisation and growing lean and tough by stealing and murdering the good people of the world. The first in a trilogy, Godblind is easily described as a descent into darkness. The core tale is what happens when you underestimate the barbarians at the gate, both in a literal and metaphorical sense. Author Anna Stephens uses multiple points of view characters to carefully build a world. The cast of characters is pretty large, and Stephens has been careful to give us a very specific view of the world. Often, we’ll see events through the eyes of one person, only to see the action continue with another character in the next chapter and then realise exactly how specific certain biases are. This layered approach is engaging and accessible; every person in this book is something we want to know more about. Anna Stephens is easily one of the most exciting début fantasy authors of 2017. Sometimes you get a book that simply nails a particular genre to the wall and gets everything right. Godblind is a

triumph of grim-dark fantasy, getting the setting, tone and characterisation spot on. Make no mistake though, this is a bloody and violent story. It is a world with heroes, but no one is perfect and the challenges and horrors that face each character are tough and detailed. Stephens dips various pages in gore throughout; this is not a gentle ride into darkness but rather a full on roller-coaster plunge into screaming horror. Be warned: there is violent conflict from the get-go, and some pretty explicit scenes of assault; the book pretty much opens with an attempted rape that ends messily for the aggressor. These scenes tend to be short and sharp and are very well done but may be unpalatable for some tastes. If however, you’re a fan of the likes of Joe Abercrombie or George R. R. Martin, then you’ll be pleased to learn that Anna Stephens has joined this august pantheon of lovingly horrible and deliciously dark writers. Godblind is a triumph of its genre and an addictive, page-turning read. It’s not a smooth book; the pacing is very fast and the tone is strong and loud with a powerful story. It’s also the first of a series and we are keenly anticipate the sequel.

IAN WHITE

ED FORTUNE

BOOKS

AUTHOR: ANNA STEPHENS / PUBLISHER: HARPER VOYAGER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

REVIEWS

104

VIEW FROM THE

WATCHTOWER

COMICS

efore I begin, I would like to take the time to celebrate a personal milestone. Roughly one year ago this month my very first column as writer for View from The Watchtower was published. There have been some good points, some bad points, and I’ve had to change how I approach viewing comics. Overall, though, I think it has been a good year. I am looking forward to seeing what happens next. Now onto the reason we’re all here: comic book news. New readers are advised that by necessity of exploring comic book news, I tend to wade into spoiler territory. August saw the release of Dark Nights: Metal #1. The comic built upon the revelations of Dark Days: The Forge and

Dark Days: The Casting. It also included the surprise appearance an old Vertigo imprint favourite. On the very last page, Batman is greeted by none other than Dream of the Endless. Dream’s presence alludes to interesting possibilities for this event. So far, it has stuck to the domain of science fiction; really weird, comic book science fiction, which involves immortality-inducing metal, but science fiction never the less. By having Dream show up, writer Scott Snyder is hinting at the possibility that this story will take on a supernatural bent as well. The 1989 Tim Burton-directed Batman movie was one of the few stories to give the Joker a definite name: Jack Napier. This is an alias that will be making an

GARETH EVANS PULLS MONITOR DUTY TO BRING YOU THE LATEST FROM THE WORLD OF COMIC BOOKS

appearance in comic book form in the upcoming Batman: White Knight. The book will be released in October and will focus on a reformed Joker who feels it is his duty to save Gotham from Batman. Other outlets have reported that this is the first time that the name Jack Napier has been used in the comic books outside of tie-ins to the 1989 movie, but it has been used in a comic book at least once before. The version of the Joker who appeared in Elseworlds story Batman: Gotham Noir also went by the name Jack Napier. Recently, Marvel editor Heather Antos posted a photo of herself on Twitter enjoying milkshake with her colleagues. If you are wondering why I’m thinking to mention this, I’m doing so

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as an ‘ecological action series’. Yes, that’s right, an ecological action series. The title will be a horror book called Dark Fang. It will feature a vampire who lives on the bottom of the ocean, and whose peaceful life is disturbed by a black plague. Writing about how Image will be publishing a comic in which a vampire takes on the oil industry is not something I ever expected to do during my time at STARBURST; I can only hope that my time here is always this surreal. Image Comics has also announced The Grave Diggers Union, an ongoing series that will début November 1st. The comic is promised to be a combination of Lovecraftian horror and dark humour. It looks like this year is going to wind up being a great time for horror fans who are turning to the comic book industry to get their fix. I previously reported that Dark Horse would be bringing the manga Berserk to the west. Since then, Dark Horse has gone on to confirm that it has secured the full digital rights for Berserk and will be publishing all previous volumes thus far. If you like the look of it, now could be the perfect time to give the first volume a try.

COMICS

because some people decided that the best way to respond to this photo was with harassment. Antos was accused of being a fake geek girl, and once again, Marvel’s recent diversity was attacked. I really hope that our readers weren’t among those who reacted like this. No one has the right to determine whether or not a fan is genuine, and no, diversity is not killing comic books. Lately on the movie side of Marvel Entertainment, there has been a lot of buzz around the character of Thanos, largely due to his appearance as the big bad of the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War. Pretty soon, Thanos is going to be making a similar splash in the comic book side of things. On November 22nd, Thanos #13 will be hitting comic book store shelves. According to an interview with the book’s creative team, the story will be about showing what happens when Thanos wins. This is fertile ground, narratively speaking. Infinity Gauntlet (Thanos’ most famous storyline) briefly explored the idea that Thanos didn’t want to win, feeling himself unworthy of achieving ultimate victory. Whatever route Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw take with it, the idea has a lot of potential. Thanos #13 is just one of the stories planned by Marvel as part of the upcoming Marvel Legacy. Also part of Marvel Legacy will be a story in which Old Man Logan comes up against the Hand, the enemies who were just giving the Defenders so much trouble. Old Man Logan #31 will be released November 29th. Seeing as Marvel has recently admitted to deliberately avoiding Fantastic Four promotion to hurt Fox, this unitisation of characters promoted by the MCU doesn’t surprise me. Image Comics has been celebrating its 25th year with variant cover theme months. October is due to be the last of these months and Image has revealed that the theme it has chosen to end with is The Walking Dead. Each Image comic book released during October will have a variant cover that pays tribute to Robert Kirkman’s creation in some way. Given its success over the years, it’s a fitting choice for Image to end its celebrations with. On October 23rd, Image Comics will be releasing what it describes on its website

Power and Magic Press has successfully funded Immortal Souls via Kickstarter. Immortal Souls is the followup to their critically acclaimed Power and Magic: The Queer Witch Anthology. It is an anthology about gay witches, and intended for readers aged 14 and upwards. If you’ve been enjoying Dynamite’s James Bond comics, you’ll be pleased to know that the company has announced its next title in the series. James Bond: Solstice will be released November 22nd. The book will be a one-shot title in which Bond hunts a dangerous Russian in Paris. This sort of scenario isn’t new to spy thrillers, but it does offer the opportunity for a lot of tense scenes. Dynamite has also announced that this October will see the release of Agent 47: The Birth of the Hitman, a series that will explore the origins of the main character of the Hitman games. Would you believe that I almost made it through this column without mentioning another comic book crossover? Honestly. I had almost finishing writing; and was just looking for another news item or two to add when I came across our next item. This November, BOOM! Studios will publish Kong on the Planet of the Apes, a crossover idea so cool I honestly can’t believe that it has taken so long to happen. The plot will involve apes from the original 1968 movie, who come across Kong and subsequently travel to Skull Island. More than anything else, I’m excited to see just how the apes will react to seeing a giant gorilla. Will they assume he is some sort of god? Will they react in horror, wonder, both? Just dumping King Kong into the Planet of the Apes’ setting is enough to create huge storytelling possibilities, but no pressure on Ryan Ferrier or Carlos Mango. Well, it’s the end of another column, and my first year as its writer. With that in mind, I would like to take another opportunity to reach out to you, our readers. What comics are you reading? What news items do you enjoy most? And what do you wish I would devote more column inches to covering? I happily await your answers to all these questions on Twitter (@OneTrueGareth).

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REVIEWS

WONDER WOMAN VOL. 3: THE TRUTH

COMICS

WRITER: GREG RUCKA / ARTIST: LIAM SHARP, RENATO GUEDES, BILQUOUS EVELY / PUBLISHER: DC / OUT NOW

GRIFF GRISTLE: THE SIREN’S SONG WRITERS: ROBIN JONES, MIKE SAMBROOK / ARTISTS: RORY DONALD, BRAD HOLMAN (LOGO/ DESIGN) / PUBLISHER: MADIUS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (KICKSTARTER)

THE LATEST COMIC BOOK RELEASES REVIEWED AND RATED

Wonder Woman Vol. 3: The Truth serves to bring closure to plot points that have been building in the series thus far. The book opens in the wake of Diana discovering that she has been duped into believing she has reached Themyscira. Her recovery from this revelation, and the continued search for Wonder Woman’s home are the main focus here. Wonder Woman starts this collection in a state of shock. The events of the comics before this volume have had a huge toll on her. It takes her more than a few pages to overcome this, and as a result it initially feels like a Wonder Woman book in which Wonder Woman is conspicuously absent. However, this doesn’t last long. Writer Greg Rucka uses the opportunity presented by Diana’s temporary stay in a mental health hospital to delve into scenes in which she reflects on what she is going through. Wonder Woman may be somewhat absent from this volume’s opening chapters, but the space left by this absence is taken up by the supporting cast to great effect. A certain character makes a fateful decision, and the reader gets a greatly appreciated insight into the motivation behind Veronica Cale’s actions. All of this leads to a story resolution that ties together the themes that have been building through Wonder Woman Vol. 3. It brings some of the challenges that Diana has been grappling

with to a close, while also providing the potential for future new challenges. Readers will get more out of Wonder Woman Vol. 3: The Truth if they have already been reading the series up to this point. That isn’t a mark against the book. It just exists at a nexus point that serves to bring previous plot points to a close before setting up new ones. It is only natural that readers who are already invested in these characters will get more out of seeing certain developments come to fruition. For Wonder Woman fans who have been reading her previous adventures, the story will provide a great look at who the characters are, with an ending that is very suitable for a Wonder Woman book.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, Griff Gristle is back. He first appeared in last year’s Here Be Monsters, and now his adventures continue in The Siren’s Song. This isn’t so much a sequel as a continuation of what has gone before, yet it has an accessibility that any new readers will appreciate. Kicking off with a music concert on board a cruise liner, this second issue puts us right in the middle of the action. In scenes worthy of blockbuster movies, Griff and his erstwhile sidekick Justine don’t so much save the day as reduce the damage. They’re a dynamic duo for the twenty-first century, in that their banter contains grudging respect and humour at each other’s expense, but it’s as a team that they flourish, bouncing off tentacled beasties with ready wit and barnacle-encrusted style. Following this introductory battle, writers Mike Sambrook and Rob Jones don’t try to outdo themselves. Instead, they build on the world and characters that inhabit it, adding to Gristle’s mystique while simultaneously revealing more about him and the loss of his beloved wife. We’re introduced to the big bad, and the cult he leads, left with an image of their power on the final page of the main story. A shorter tale reveals this villain, and the rest of the issue is topped off with a collection of glorious pin-ups of the fisherman hero from

an array of talented artists. Hats off once more to Rory Donald for the artwork; a special mention for his choice of colours, which add life and definition to every panel, allowing them to range from the cinematic to the subtle. What’s been impressive about Madius Comics over the last couple of years is their consistency, and this is no exception. The team have clearly taken their time to produce this, and as always their enthusiasm and talent has shone through. At the time of writing, the Kickstarter project is still live; fans of the first issue are sure to love this next instalment, and we hope Griff continues for many more issues to come.

GARETH EVANS

ALISTER DAVISON

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THINGS YOU SHOULDN’T REMEMBER #1

AUTHOR: LUIS ROLDAN TORQUEMADA / ARTIST: MARIANO ELICECHE / PUBLISHER: DARBY POP / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW Dozens of people from all across the United States suddenly find themselves recalling random things: song lyrics, places, and events that seem to have been erased

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT: THE MASTER RACE AUTHORS: FRANK MILLER, BRIAN AZZARELLO / ARTISTS: ANDY KUBERT, KLAUS JANSON / PUBLISHER: DC / RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 19TH

go-lucky poker player who is captured by a bunch of mobsters - Things You Shouldn’t Remember will have you hooked. So if you want a surreal oddity to pass the time then jump on board for something that you may just want to remember.

The Killing Joke, it marked the beginning of a huge change for DC and the comics industry in general as more adult themes filtered into the medium. 2001 saw Miller return to the ageing Bruce Wayne with The Dark Knight Strikes Again, expanding the pantheon of future characters to include Wonder Woman, among others. 2015 brought Miller back to the story for the third time, this time partnered by co-writer Brian Azzarello on a nine-issue core series supplemented by nine tie-in issues. This trade paperback pulls all 18 issues into one place. Batman: The Dark Knight: The Master Race sees Bruce Wayne continue to protect Gotham City, a fight he has yet to relinquish. Danger comes in the form of the former inhabitants of the bottled city of Kandor, the Kryptonian city first seen in Action Comics #242 back in 1958. Freed by Ray Palmer (The Atom), they demand that humanity bows down before them. Batman is forced to seed the clouds with synthetic Kryptonite so the human race can fight back, helped by Superman, who wears a suit of armour to protect himself and his own extended life thanks to a dip in the Lazarus Pit. There’s no doubt that Miller is a legend in the world of comics. His list of creations and high-profile contributions to numerous other properties are impressive to say the least, with the original Dark Knight Returns sitting high on that roster. Many sequels fail to live up to the legacy of their predecessor, though and in 2001 The Dark Knight Strikes Again failed to match the impact of the 1986 classic. 15 years later, The Master Race once again falls short of achieving the impact of the original. Andy Kubert does a very passable classic Miller

impression in the main title, but Miller’s rushed artwork in the tie-in issues (specifically his finishing on Dark Knight Universe Presents: Green Lantern #1 and his pen and ink on Dark Knight Universe Presents: Batgirl #1) is frankly embarrassing. Often salvaged only by the master strokes of inker Klaus Janson (with his involvement, Dark Knight Universe Presents: Strange Adventures #1 once again looks like vintage Miller) and a plot stretched over far too many issues, this series is reminiscent of a certain orange-skinned buffoon who, like his predecessor Ronald Reagan thirty years before, appears regularly throughout the series – bloated, tiresome, promising much but ultimately failing to deliver.

JONATHAN EDWARDS

MARK NEWBOLD

COMICS

Back in 1986, Frank Miller changed the landscape of the comics industry with the release of the seminal four-part deluxe series The Dark Knight Returns. Launched in an era of Watchmen, V For Vendetta, and

from both collective memory and recorded history. Fearing the spread of a virus-like plague, a mysterious group known as ‘The Handlers’ is tasked with hunting and destroying those who recollect. Things You Shouldn’t Remember is an intriguing little title with a premise which shows plenty of potential. However, as with most first issues, there’s not a whole lot here to grasp onto as we’re instead left with a bunch of vague questions as to what is going on throughout. Although this could leave some readers feeling a little cold, Luis Roldan Torquemada’s writing is snappy enough to keep most people engaged with the material whilst Mariano Eliceche’s expressive artwork is able to captivate, thanks in part to Angel Lidon’s use of bold colours. The creative team behind this project all do enough to complement each other and with the basic groundwork being set throughout, there’s no panel wasted in setting up to what could be a hugely entertaining ride. With dashes of sci-fi, a hint of thriller and a huge helping of mystery, Things You Shouldn’t Remember seems to have a winning concoction of multiple genres at its disposal. With a handful of character introductions, we’re able to find out just enough about their individual personalities to get a flavour of what they’re all about whilst also being left with many more questions as to where they’ll fit into the story. Whether it’s the strange alien in the opening pages, the sinister Handlers who track and kill people who recollect or the happy-

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A monthly round up from the world of Anime And mAngA from littleAnimeblog.com’s dominic cuthbert

ANIME-NATION ATTACK ON TITAN 2 Gears Up for New Game

Koei Tecmo and Omega Force are back with a brand new Attack on Titan game. A teaser trailer heralded an early 2018 release, if only for the US. Omega Force stated, “Players will once again don the renowned Omni-Directional Manoeuvre Gear as they fight and repel the fearsome Titans that threaten humanity”. More info on platforms and narrative is promised for the near future. Meanwhile, an unexpected titbit arose from the origin of Sasha ‘Potato Girl’ Blouse’s name. As it happens, manga author Hajime Isayama borrowed the moniker from comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, knowing the character would be bearing the brunt of the story’s sparse comic relief.

UTENA’s Ikuhara to Direct New Work at MAPPA

Studio MAPPA, now famed for its championship spin with Yuri!!! On Ice, is recruiting hands to help with a new work from Kunihiko Ikuhara. Word of anything from the Revolutionary Girl Utena director would stir up some serious excitement, but sadly, that’s what we’re left with for now - the project is, as yet, untitled.

Sony Acquires Majority of Anime Giants Funimation

Sony Pictures may have helped with the launch of streaming service FunimationNow, but that was only the first step in the long play of their partnership. The former is forking out $143 million for a 95% stake in the latter, giving Funi a tidy value of $150 million. Sony already own the ANIMAX network airing anime around the world, and nearly match Funimation’s two decades working in the sphere. But when these two team up in earnest, they’ll rival Netflix and Hulu for anime output.

Sherlock Sleuths as Android for Manga

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s dear detective has been a great many things in his time. A dog; Benedict Cumberbatch, a woman, and now an android. Naomichi Ito and Kotaro Takada’s I Am Sherlock sets its stage in the London of the not-so-distant future, in which John Watson, depressed and jobless, receives a peculiar invitation to become the flatmate of one Sherlock Holmes, android of most admirable logic. Someone better tell Data about the holodeck concept theft of the century.

PERSONA 5 Swipes Anime Adaptation

The latest Atlus RPG to steal our hearts away is getting a fulllength TV anime adaptation in 2018. The series is already named and shamed as Persona 5 The Animation - The Day Breakers, the same title given to the one-off anime special aired to hype the game’s Japanese release all the way back in September last year. Jun Fukuyama will reprise his role as the mysterious masked protagonist, alongside a full returning cast from the game.

Manga Drawn on Smartphone Wins SHONEN JUMP Contest

There’s a growing trend of artists using only their smartphone to make manga magic. One such artist, So Atsumori, earned an honourable mention in Weekly Shonen Jump’s Kentaro Yabuki Manga Prize. The judges weren’t aware that his manga, Anata ga Koi to Iu no nara, had been drawn solely on a smartphone. Nor did they know that Atsumori went literally freehand, preferring to draw with fingers rather than stylus. They got a shock when the truth slipped out in a later business meeting - the detail in facial expressions belie the use of fingers and touchscreen. Atsumori puts it down to practice, sometimes spending three to four hours on a single panel.

SAINT SEIYA Anime Reincarnates in Upcoming Netflix Remake

Saint Seiya’s beloved original run - 1986 to 1989 - is the influence for a forthcoming CG anime remake between Netflix and Toei Animation. Entitled Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya, the first season is slated to run for 12 episodes, each one 30 minutes long. D. Gray-man Hallow director Yoshiharu Ashino is at the helm, winging us from the Galaxy War arc back through to the Silver Saint arc.

ANIME

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COSPLAY CATWALK

A Monthly focus on the costuMed role-plAy scene At fAn conventions Around the world

LAUREN FRY Another fabulous costumer showcases their work for us… STARBURST: How did you get started with cosplaying? Lauren: I remember being about 12 or 13 years old and competing in the London great swim; we stayed in the hotel next to the London ExCel centre at the same time as MCM London was taking place. I shared the lift down to breakfast with two Power Rangers and a fursuiter and knew then that cosplay seemed like such fun! Everyone I met all day was so lovely and was more than happy to pose for photos and let me ask questions. The cosplay community was my calling and I have loved it ever since! Who is your favourite character to dress as? I absolutely love wearing my Jareth the Goblin King ballroom outfit; it always gets a fantastic reaction from people at conventions and it’s super comfy. Labyrinth has always been my favourite film and David Bowie is my idol so I love taking part in masquerades and singing songs from the film! Credit: Ollie Smith Photography

How long do you spend making the costumes and how much do you usually budget for? I like to spend as much time as I need on my cosplays so I tend not to rush them in time for certain conventions, although I do like having a goal to work towards. I plan them out extensively, source all of my materials and try to work out how long it will take me to piece together based on the amount of components. What costumes do you have planned for the future? The next cosplay I have planned is the Darkness character from the film Legend. I am planning on making a muscle suit, silicone mask, stilts and full-sized horns to complete my ensemble. I’ll be using the skills I have learned from my special effects course at Bolton University to make it as accurate as possible.

Credit: Steamkittens

COSPLAY

Words: Martin Unsworth

Lauren posts her cosplays on Instagram as @_docbowie_ Photographer Steamkittens can be found on Instagram: @steamkittens Ollie Smith Photography can be found on Instagram: @olliesmithphoto

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Stuff we liked from around the web thiS month with JaCk bottomleY

WATTOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S EMPORIUM

MERCH

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PIXEL JUICE

NEWS AND PREVIEWS IN GAMING BY LEE PRICE

COMING SOON

CARTOON NETWORK BATTLE CRASHERS PLATFORM: SWITCH RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 14TH

Already out on several other consoles, Cartoon Network Battle Crashers is a scrolling beat-em-up in the same vein as classics like Streets of Rage. It hasn’t gotten the best critical reception in its previous incarnations, as the game doesn’t do the best job of representing the individual qualities of each of its characters. Still, it’s more fun than you may have heard, plus it’s a great choice for kids who don’t want much of a challenge and love the likes of Spongebob Squarepants.

SONIC MANIA Causes Joy and Anger in Equal Measure

Sonic Mania is finally here and it is everything you could have hoped it would be. A pure slice of the brilliance of Sonic back during his glory years, the game captures everything that made the Mega Drive games so special and loads up on fan service for long-time fans. It’s brilliant… as long as you buy a console version. PC gamers aren’t quite as happy about Sonic Mania. Already forced to endure a twoweek delay that meant they played it after most console gamers had finished it, there’s a bunch of other problems that SEGA have to contend with after release. The PC version is loaded with bugs, which many players believe are due to the DRM installed with the game. SEGA have promised a fix and they may well have delivered by the time you have COMING SOON

this magazine in your hands. Still, it’s an unfortunate little controversy that has slightly spoiled what should be a landmark Sonic title.

NO MAN’S SKY Keeps Getting Better

You may remember all of the uproar that surrounded No Man’s Sky upon release. Gamers weren’t happy that a lot of the features they’d been promised were not in the game, not least of which was the multiplayer option that so many people were looking forward to. Hello Games has been making good on several of its promises over the last few months in a clear effort to deliver the No Man’s Sky they’d always wanted to. Now we finally have multiplayer, which came as a free downloadable at the beginning of August. That’s not all though, as the update also included 30 hours of new story, in addition to

STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT II

GAMES

PLATFORM: XBOX ONE, PS4, PC RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 17TH

The big release of the month, Battlefront II naturally follows on from the insanely playable Battlefront. This time around, the game will have a little more for solo players, as it features an actual story campaign. Of course, you’ll also get great multiplayer fun too, with DICE introducing character classes into the action. Better yet, you’ll have your choice of characters from all three eras of the Star Wars canon, which may make this the most complete video game representation of the series to date.

a brand new alien race for players to contend with. Hello Games has also revamped the galaxy map and made some tweaks to the conflict and economy features in the game. They may have gotten a lot of backlash on release, some of which was undeserved, but Hello Games keep delivering new content and No Man’s Sky is creeping ever closer to what we all hoped it would be.

CRACKDOWN 3 Delayed

The original two Crackdown titles were some of the early standouts of the Xbox 360 line-up, mostly because they did superhero games better than most superhero games did at the time. A lot has changed since then (thanks Batman!), but Crackdown is still a joy to play today. That’s why so many people are excited about what the third game, which has been a long time coming, has to offer to the superhero and open-world genres. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait a little longer as the game has been delayed until spring 2018. Originally slated for a November release, Crackdown 3 has been delayed because the developers want to make sure they get everything right. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again - there’s nothing wrong with delays if the end product justifies them. Here’s hoping Crackdown 3 lives up to the hype.

FINAL FANTASY XV Getting PC Release You knew it was coming eventually, but Square-Enix has finally confirmed it. Final

113 Fantasy XV is coming to PC. The game, which is a real return to form for the series, has been lapped up by console players for almost a year now. The PC version carries a vague spring 2018 release date and will feature several graphical updates to take advantage of more powerful PC hardware. We can’t imagine even the most hardcore of graphics fiends getting too excited over ‘realistic grass simulation’, though.

COMING SOON

The First SHENMUE III Teaser Trailer Gets Released

This is a personal favourite of ours, so you’ll excuse us if we wax lyrical for a moment. The first two Shenmue games were truly special martial arts epics that were also some of the first open-world titles ever. Yes, they were there before GTA 3 redefined the genre, rather than creating it. A beautiful game for its time, Shenmue charted the journey of Ryo Hazuki as he looked to avenge the death of his father Iwao at the hands of the evil Lan Di. Along the way, he developed as a martial artist, with Shenmue II ending on a cliffhanger that suggested the next game was going to take a more mystical direction. Then, nothing. For years and years. Finally, Shenmue III was announced alongside a Kickstarter campaign at E3 2015, and fans have been clamouring for the sequel to the cult classic ever since. That brings us nicely round to the first teaser trailer. It’s here and you should watch it. As for what it reveals… not too much. The game looks prettier than it did in the E3 2015 trailer, with the art style clearly reminiscent of the originals, even if it has been updated to modern times. We see Ryo square off with a big fellow, with a promise of reworked fighting mechanics to come. It’s not a lot, but it’s something for a game that was originally scheduled for release later this year. We’re going to have to wait until 2018 to get our hands on it now, though.

POKÉMON ULTRA SUN & ULTRA MOON PLATFORM: 3DS RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 17TH

As is Nintendo’s usual pattern with Pokémon games, it’s time for an updated version of one of the old generations. The games actually have an alternate storyline to those found in the original Sun and Moon, which should be more than enough to convince Pokémon fans to pick them up. They also feature some Pokémon that weren’t in the originals, plus a few new evolution forms. The games will be similar to their parent titles, for sure, but there may be just enough here to convince less hardcore fans to give them a go too.

Capcom to Release Collector’s Edition STREET FIGHTER II SNES Cartridge The recent outpouring of love for the NES and SNES that has come along with Nintendo’s mini consoles has not gone unnoticed by major game developers. We also have the 30th anniversary of Street Fighter II coming up, so you had to know Capcom would do something special. Of course, they’re rereleasing the game… again. But this edition is a bit different. Capcom is collaborating with Iam8bit to put out a few thousand collectible SNES Street Fighter II cartridges to commemorate the

occasion. A thousand are in Blanka Green, which will glow in the dark, while the rest mirror the colour of Ryu’s famous headband. You don’t get to choose which one you get either, which should make things interesting. Unfortunately, you may not want to play the game once you buy it. Iam8bit has tagged a warning onto the carts that tell you that the game could cause your SNES to catch on fire and that the cart is meant to be a collectible only. Sounds like a bit of a design flaw to us. The cart will still contain the game, so you can play it. Just make sure you have a fire extinguisher nearby. Those are actual words from Iam8bit, by the way.

COMING SOON

LEGO MARVEL SUPERHEROES 2

PLATFORM: XBOX ONE, PS4, PC, SWITCH RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 17TH

GAMES

The LEGO crew are back again with the same gameplay that has made the LEGO games so popular among casual and hardcore players alike. A time-bending mechanic changes things up a little bit this time around, plus there’s a four-player battle mode to enjoy. The main game brings together a bunch of heroes from different eras and timelines to do battle against the marauding Kang the Conqueror. You know what to expect from a LEGO game by now, so you probably already know if you’re buying this one.

114 COMING SOON

THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM VR PLATFORM: PSVR RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 30TH

Skyrim is one of the best fantasy games of all time, plus it uses a first-person perspective. Naturally, that makes it a great choice for PSVR. It should be really interesting to see how VR will affect the gameplay and we think a lot of players are going to find themselves exploring the game’s enormous world all over again, assuming they have the hardware to do so. This may end up being the first must-have game for the early adopters of PSVR.

Lenovo Announce STAR WARS Augmented Reality Game Now this is an interesting one. Lenovo has announced the November release of an augmented reality Star Wars game called Star Wars: Jedi Challenges. Initially only available in the United States, the game is a standalone title, meaning it comes with all of the gear you need to play it in the box. You’ll get a headset and a little lightsaber controller, which we’re sure is going to make it an instant collectible. The game itself uses light-tracking technology to simulate combat, lightsaber duels and ‘holochess’. We have a suspicion the games won’t be up to much, but it’s an interesting curio all the same.

Blizzard Looking to Recruit More Women

There’s been a lot of debate about the role of women in the gaming industry. Let’s settle it now for you. There aren’t enough women working in games development. That should change. Of course, you can say the same for a lot of scientific and mathematical subjects. But that tide is slowly turning and Blizzard wants to be on the crest of the wave. That’s why the World of Warcraft developers have apparently decided to start recruiting more women, at least if an internal memo that was leaked recently is to be believed. The memo also says that only 21% of Blizzard’s employees are women and the company wants to do better. It’s an admirable step towards combating the not-uncalled-for accusations of sexism that have marred the COMING SOON

industry in recent years. Here’s hoping other developers follow suit.

DEAD RISING 4 is on its Way to PS4

Dead Rising 4 will be an Xbox One and PC exclusive no longer, as Capcom has announced that they are finally bringing the game to PS4. So, what do PS4 fans have to look forward to? The subtitle of ‘Frank’s Big Package’ should tell you exactly what sort of humour to expect from the game, but there’s also a new Capcom Heroes mode in which Frank can find and wear costumes representing some of the most famous characters from Capcom’s long history as a developer. Xbox One and PC gamers shouldn’t fret, though. They’ll be receiving the same mode as part of a free update.

VAMPYR

GAMES

PLATFORM: PS4, XBOX ONE, PC RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 2017

This is an interesting one. Vampyr is an action RPG that follows the story of Jonathan Reid. Previously a doctor, he has been turned into a vampire and is now torn between his desire to help people and his bloodlust. The game puts a lot of control into the hands of players, with developers Dontnod Entertainment saying it’s entirely possible to finish the game without feeding on anybody. We’re more interested to see how well the narrative handles the conflict between Reid’s vampiric urges and his human inclinations.

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THE LATEST GAMING RELEASES REVIEWED AND RATED

REVIEWS

SONIC MANIA DEVELOPERS: HEADCANNON, PAGODAWEST GAMES / PUBLISHER: SEGA / PLATFORMS: NINTENDO SWITCH, PS4, XBOX ONE, PC / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW no surprise that fan service is everywhere you look, even going back to reference the most obscure titbits. Long-time Sonic players will share the pure glee that comes from seeing these throwbacks and nods. While most of these will make little difference to non-fans, one sequence in particular may prove quite difficult and confusing, as the references are way too arcane for a newbie to solve the puzzle without help. Sonic Mania’s challenge curve is very satisfying, starting off quite easy then progressing smoothly to more difficult levels that require that much more skill and concentration. This is reflected in the absolutely marvellous bosses. All of them are wonderful fun to take on, with great gameplay design that demands smart thinking and quick reactions to prevent defeat. Be warned though: there is an overabundance of crush obstacles which means you’ll die a lot on your first playthrough. It’s infuriating to build up momentum, gathering rings to protect yourself, only to be squished by a falling

pillar or closing door. You’ll get used to it over time and learn to adapt, but it’s oldschool 2D torture at its most brutal. Although it’s nice to see many familiar zones given a fresh twist with new mechanics, the standout stages in the game are the brand new ones. A shame, then, that there are so few of these. Special stages return in a SEGA Saturn-esque throwback to Sonic R design. These levels contain a certain low-poly charm and are often quite beautiful to look at. They are also great fun to play, requiring a devious balance between timing and speed. Not just for old-school Sonic fans, but anyone who yearns for the pure excitement of 1990s gaming, Sonic Mania proves that the side-scrolling platform genre, especially this beloved, hi-octane breed of it, still holds up majestically well. A Sonic comeback worth celebrating. MATTHEW COLDWELL

GAMES

What do you do when you’ve lost that special mojo in the eyes of your fans? For SEGA’s Sonic Team, after two decades of hit and miss (but mainly miss) releases, the answer was staring at them every time they saw how much more fun the fan ‘ports’ were than their own, official, Sonic product. But has handing the keys of the classic 2D hedgehog to developer Christian Whitehead and his indie crew made for a famous boss battle or just another tedious ring-drop? Aesthetically, the game is stunning. Both old and new levels are brought to life with a beautiful retro vibrancy. Everything is so animated; even the backgrounds are in perpetual movement. The music, always of great importance, is no let-down either, consisting of excellent remixes of various classic Sonic themes, alongside completely new melodies that fit right at home with the originals. And if you miss that old tube TV look, no problem, there’s an option to put those 625 lines back onto your HD screen. Bliss. This game was made by fans, so it’s

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FIGHTING FANTASY LEGENDS

DEVELOPER & PUBLISHER: NOMAD GAMES / PLATFORM: PC, MAC, iOS, ANDROID / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW The Fighting Fantasy series seems unable to die. Perhaps it’s the enduring appeal of the game’s world or the innate immersion of the choose-your-path style books. Or maybe, like those who play the games, it literally cheats death by flicking back to the previous page. Regardless, the series is 35 years old now, and sees no sign of stopping. The latest offering from the world of Alansia is Fighting Fantasy Legends, which is an action-style video game approach to the setting. Legends smashes together three of the

classic books: Warlock of Firetop Mountain, City of Thieves and Citadel of Chaos. All three adventures have a similar mission; some sort of evil wizard is making everybody’s lives miserable, and it’s up to you to find a way to beat them up. Rather than try and emulate the books themselves (which previous apps have done fairly readily), this offering feels more like an oldschool ‘80s video game, along the lines of Planescape or Baldur’s Gate, as you wander around this fantasy land, causing justice to happen.

HELLBLADE: SENUA’S SACRIFICE

GAMES

HELLBLADE: SENUA’S SACRIFICE / DEVELOPER AND PUBLISHER: NINJA THEORY / PLATFORM: PC, PS4 / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW Psychology in video games can easily become just another statistic. No matter how well executed, no matter how well developed, it’s easy just to boil it down to another health bar you need to maintain. Very few games have managed to escape this trap, and even then it can unfortunately be more amusing than truly terrifying. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is the exception to this rule, as the protagonist’s constantly eroding sanity haunts the player’s every step. Set amidst a Viking invasion, you play as the warrior Senua as she wanders through an underworld of her own making. Inhuman things crawl in her wake and terrifying constructs dominate the landscape, as her own psychosis begins to take over her world. The imagery here is the sort that Berserk is often famed for -

It’s incredibly detailed, extremely gory and incredibly disturbing. Even things you initially take for granted can quickly turn against you, as the animations and textures of seemingly humanoid beings quickly mark them as retaining a special kind of wrongness. From bizarre impossible jittering to malformed creatures of flesh and bone, the brilliant graphical fidelity has been used to constantly keep you on edge at every turn. This might have brought it up to par with a few other high-quality horror titles, but what pushes it over the edge is how it executes each scare. You can often turn back to see things have changed behind you, creatures watch you from afar only to flicker away the second you focus upon them, and then there are the voices. Every manifested thought of Senua’s mind echoes through

There are some pretty simple character creations: Dwarf, Barbarian, Elf, all of which are the same, rules wise. Add some handy traits and the ability to adjust your starting stats and we are set. Game mechanics are handled by emulating dice and cards. You have three traits: Luck, Skill and Stamina. The latter are merely hit points, but the first two are represented by nifty animations of dice. Skill is for physical things like hitting people and Luck covers everything else. If you have an ability score of three, the game rolls three dice every time you want to do something. The die is blank except for one swords icon. Get enough swords symbol and you succeed. Levelling up lets you add more swords icons to the dice. Gameplay involves wandering around the map and interacting with things. You have a bunch of missions to succeed in, and for random encounters and treasure pulls, the game pulls a ‘digital card’, which is usually a monster of some sort, but it could be a greasy urchin or a lucky four-leaf clover. Lose enough stamina and

you leave the current adventure and gain an injury; these are stamped on your dice and counter sword symbols, so it’s best to find a healer to get rid of them. A similar mechanic exists for luck. The adventures themselves are pretty fun, though repetitive in the good sort of way (it’s quite addictive). The game wants you to explore everything and, yes, this can be frustrating. Sometimes you can’t find a thing because it’s in another dungeon, and so on. This can be annoying, but it does mean you’re trying all the adventures at once (your inventory gets very full). Fans of the books will be pleased to learn that Warlock of Firetop Mountain is the toughest quest, and yes, those fights do get harder. As a development of Fighting Fantasy into the world of computer games, it’s certainly a step up. It’s not Skyrim (or even Planescape), but it’s rather fun. Well worth an idle evening or two.

the speakers, taunting her, throwing you off and even addressing you directly. It’s the sort of up-close-and-personal experience that could have easily sunk the entire game, but it instead turns what could have been laughable into something truly chilling. The things it screeches at you add another layer onto both the narrative and the scares, and focus its efforts onto how everything present is some inner demon or personal terror brought to life. Often the voices themselves are as helpful as they are critical, so you can never fully ignore them no matter how hard you try to do so. Still, you’re probably wondering less about the presentation than you are its mechanical strengths. This is where some of that initial depth unfortunately bleeds away, as it’s competent but not outstanding. Often compared with Dark Souls’ methodical attacks and limited health pool, Hellblade’s system is notably simplistic. While it offers a decent number of combos, and the sheer weight of your attacks is constantly satisfying, it wins more points on drama than anything else. What was obviously intended for one-on-one combat suffers when you face six foes at a time, and it’s only during the spectacular boss fights that the mechanics truly shine. Furthermore, the linear design proves to be a double-edged sword. It obviously allowed for

greater dramatic effect and a fantastic execution of some of the bigger scares, but the later stages feel unfortunately quite constrained and limited. This makes the aforementioned multiman fights more frustrating to cope with, and the puzzles which show up (while well executed and thought out) lack some of the variety you might want. Again, it wins points on writing and themes, but the underlying mechanical strength is comparatively weaker than you might expect. This by no means makes it a bad game, nor does it undermine its concepts, but you might end up with that Bioshock feeling of “Huh, I thought there would be more to it…” by the end. Still, when all is said and done, it’s only a few needling problems (and one or two awkwardly placed checkpoints) which hold this game back from a higher score. Between its story elements, presentation, creativity and fantastic bonus features, Hellblade remains a fascinating take on psychological and Celtic aesthetics which is more than worth your time. Any fan of Eternal Darkness or Spec Ops: The Line would do well to give this one a look. Oh, and Ninja Theory? You’re officially forgiven for what you did to Dante.

ED FORTUNE

CALLUM SHEPHARD

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apcom’s Ghosts ‘N Goblins franchise is pretty much the definition of a ‘cult series’. It’s safe to say that most gamers are aware of its existence, and many have accompanied Sir Arthur on his hellishly difficult quest to save the princess from Satan’s grasp. However, most games in the series insist on being completed twice in a row in order to reach their true conclusions, meaning few have survived until the end credits. Since its inception in 1985, the G’NG universe has spawned a huge amount of titles on pretty much every platform you could imagine, despite being largely ignored by the mainstream audience. The original Ghosts ‘N Goblins was released to arcades in 1985 before being ported to 8-bit home consoles in 1986, and introduced many of the gameplay mechanics that would stay with the series throughout its lifetime. Players control Sir Arthur on a side-scrolling platforming jaunt through Satan’s wastelands, battling all manner of demonic entities on his way to Lucifer’s lair, where Princess Prin Prin is being held hostage. Arthur is able to wield a variety of different weapons throughout

the game, some more useful than others, but he can only take two hits before his skin falls off and his skeleton crumbles into the ground, finding himself back at the start of the level (or at a mid-level checkpoint, if he’s managed to make it that far). Enemies are everywhere, the time limit can be incredibly unforgiving, the controls are rather stiff and Arthur’s jumping trajectory can’t be changed once he’s in the air, so there’s an awful lot counting against anyone who thinks they might be up to the challenge. If you do reach the final stage, prepare to cry as Arthur finds out he needs a certain something from an earlier level in order to defeat Satan once and for all. Yes, it’s back to the beginning to play all the way through to the end again! The next two entries in the series 1988’s Ghouls ‘N Ghosts and 1991’s Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts - follow much the same formula. Ghouls ‘N Ghosts adds the ability to fire upwards and downwards (while jumping), as well as introducing hidden treasure chests that contain either armour upgrades (adding a powerful charged attack to your arsenal) or - if you’re unlucky - an evil magician who can attack Arthur, turning

A LOOK BACK AT THE WORLD OF RETRO GAMING WITH CHRIS JACKSON

him into a useless defenceless duck. Super GN’G expands on this further, with additional armour upgrades and a double jump ability, although Arthur can still be killed in two hits and still hasn’t worked out how to change direction in the air... Arthur remained fairly quiet for the next 15 years, but reappeared in Ultimate Ghosts ‘N Goblins on the PSP in 2006. It’s sort of a shame that this didn’t get a full console release, as it’s possibly the best game in the series. Being developed for a much more powerful machine of course means that it’s easily the most attractive title in the series, with hugely detailed graphics and a fully orchestrated soundtrack. Most of the previous weapons and enemies are present, along with the ability to save collected weapons and items for later use. Arthur still needs to complete the game twice, although in a neat twist, upgraded abilities are needed to unlock certain areas within each level, so the second playthrough feels quite different to the first. Several spinoffs have also been released, extending the G’NG universe beyond the main series. Irritating demonic gargoyle Red Arremer (aka Firebrand) has been the star of several titles over the years, including 1990’s Gargoyle’s Quest on the Game Boy and 1992’s Gargoyle’s Quest 2 on the NES. In both games, players explore a top-down overworld map to locate and enter each individual sidescrolling platforming stage. Throw in a few light RPG elements and the ability to fly, and you’ve got a much different game to the regular G’NG series. Firebrand’s most excellent adventure came in the form of Demon’s Crest, released exclusively on the SNES in 1994. Sticking with the usual side-scrolling formula, Demon’s Crest throws in one of the series’ most lavishly drawn Gothic settings and a storyline involving six powerful stones that, when collected from defeated bosses, grant Firebrand a huge range

Spider-Man (Atari)

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RETRO FIGHTS: DR LEONARDO DARWIN

of abilities. As with UG’NG, these powers are needed when revisiting earlier stages in order to access previously unreachable areas and bosses. While it isn’t the biggest game ever made, the atmosphere and acquired abilities are a joy to experience. In other G’NG appearances, 1996 saw Arthur to Astaroth no Nazomakaimura: Incredible Toons arrive on the PS1 and Saturn. It’s kind of like Lemmings crossed with one of those games that challenges players to put various items together in order to guide a character around the screen to complete a set objective, and definitely more hassle than it’s worth. Another notable spinoff is 2001’s Maximo and its 2003 sequel Army of Zin, 3D hack and slash adventure platformers on the PS2, based on the G’NG universe. While none of the original characters appear, and there hadn’t been a 3D G’NG game up to this point, its influence is clear in the gameplay and many of its mechanics. It’s cheap and easy to get hold of, and highly recommended! Sir Arthur and Firebrand continue to make guest appearances in modern games to this day, with the pair of them being playable characters in the upcoming Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite fighting game. It might have been over ten years since the last official G’NG title, but we’re crossing our fingers that someone somewhere might be working on resurrecting the series in the near future.

Dr Leonardo Darwin has had a rough couple of years. After suffering (but fortunately recovering from) a debilitating injury, he is currently dealing with the fallout from the recent revelation that northern wrestler Joe Vega is in fact Darwin’s illegitimate child. We’d best have a quick chat before things go completely off the rails... STARBURST: What are your earliest gaming memories? Dr Leonardo Darwin: My great Uncle D Chapman had a game whereby he used to make me touch his ‘private zone’ in the death of the night in exchange for jelly beans… oh, you mean computer games! In truth, either being enamoured by Street Fighter 1 in an obscure arcade at a seaside town or having an original Game Boy and Tetris bestowed upon me one Christmas. Tell us about your gaming history... This question makes me wetter than an otter’s pocket! My ‘shoot’ (wrestling lingo, innit) surname is Suttie; I have for years deliberated with the idea of having what would be my first tattoo, which would be of my surname in the SEGA font on my back (a variant of the traditional tramp stamp). I tell you this so you can understand my passion for SEGA. I have had pretty much every console ever up until the past three years (which I will get into later) so the most profound for me were Mega Drive, Mega CD, Dreamcast, N64, PS1, GameCube and the original Xbox. Are there any games or consoles you really wanted in your younger days but didn’t have? No. I am a bloody doctor and I come from affluence! I not only had every console I desired but also a backup of each from North America and Japan so I could play the most superior versions!

What are your all-time favourite games? I do not have a definitive favourite band, movie, wrestler, or book of all time but I do have a game… Streets of Rage 2 for the Mega Drive. So much so, I have today a 42-inch custom-made arcade cabinet and all artwork on it is of SOR II (humble brag). I need to state some others that also were staples of my youth - Street Fighter II, Sonic, Mickey and Donald’s World of Illusion, Aladdin, Micro Machines, Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Wave Race 64, WCW Vs NWO, Virtua Striker 2, Super Monkey Ball, House of the Dead, Virtua Athlete, Virtua Tennis, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Project Gotham (that is a racing game for Xbox, fuck Batman). Any favourite/proudest gaming moments? My half-brother Joseph broke my Mega Drive controller after losing against me at Street Fighter II. He threw it at the wall with great malice, hitting my Wolf [Gladiators] poster. I killed him stone dead with a 32X console. I served 14 years for manslaughter and haven’t played the 32X since. If you could have a match against any character from gaming history, who would you choose and why? I would love five minutes alone with Mr X, he mocked me for years on Streets of Rage. Or a pillow fight with Lara Croft from Tomb Raider (you seen the size of her Mega Pixels?). The dog in Duck Hunt was very condescending also, but I do admire his arrogance. Dr Leonardo Darwin can be found on Facebook if you should wish to discuss any of these points at greater length!

GAMES

What’s the main appeal of retro gaming for you personally? I would say initially simplicity, but upon reflection, it is not so. Rather that new games ‘IMO’ (acronym for the kids) are mostly overly complex and less fun. If Ultimate Spider-Man I wanted to strategise, I would join the

Illuminati and plan what means will be most appropriate for mass depopulation.

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aval themes are pretty common in the world of board games. After all, sea travel is pretty vital to the world and if you’re in the UK, the sea is never too far away. We’ve waxed lyrical in previous columns about games such as Red November, which features gnomes trapped on a drowning submarine and, of course, Battleships is a classic game that for some reason we all play with the official box, rather than digging out paper and pen. Of course, games evolve, and the latest innovation in aquatic warfare is Captain Sonar, an eight-player party game of submarine against submarine conflict. The game can be adapted to be played with less people, but you’re best off just going with eight. This is a real-time sub hunting game; it’s not mandatory to put on your best Sean Connery impersonation, nor is it required for you to pretend that you’re Kirk during a critical scene in The Wrath of Khan, but we all know that you’re going to do those things anyway. You split up into two teams of eight, and the aim of the game is simple; find the other team’s submarine and do enough damage to sink it. This isn’t Battleships, though; you’re going to have to work as one sleek team in order to win. Or possibly descend into a rabble of giggling, shouting silliness as you try to avoid getting sunk and somehow scrape a win. Each player has a role, and there are four available: Captain, First Mate, Engineer, and Radio Operator. Each player has a station (essentially a bunch of cards with a transparent sheet over them so the game can be played multiple times). There’s also a massive cardboard screen that’s big enough to hide four people’s boards from four people sitting opposite them. The Captain’s job is sort of easy: plot a course. He has a map, a transparency to go over the map and a marker and dry eraser. The map will have islands, mission objectives and so on. On each move, the Captain announces

the direction journeyed (north, east, south, or west) but not your exact location. They have to do this loudly and clearly. Because your team needs to know when the sub has moved. And also because the enemy is listening, but more on that later. The only catch is that the sub can’t cross its own path; a bit like snake, really. The backstory for the game is that it’s the future, so maybe the sub uses some sort of light-cycle style tech. Or maybe I’m overthinking this. Every time the ship moves, the First Mate gets to prepare one of the sub’s many systems. The sub has loads of toys that can be used to find the enemy and blow them up. Get enough ticks on a system and you can activate it. Torpedoes,

ED FORTUNE GUIDES YOU THROUGH THE REALM OF TABLE TOP GAMING

for example, are pretty important as they can do enough damage to win the game. Dropping mines makes it harder for the foe to get a lead on you (but sort of reveals your location), sonar and drones make it easier for you to find the enemy, while silent running lets you make moves without announcing them and so on. There’s a problem, though - the sub is a little fragile. It’s the engineer’s job to stop the ship from exploding. Every time the ship moves, the engineer marks something off the ship’s systems. If a system has a mark, it can’t be used, typically to the irritation of the First Mate. The Engineer can choose to mark off the ship’s ‘nuclear engines’ instead, but mark all four and the ship takes a point of damage and it’s only got four hits. The systems are arranged in such a way that if you mark them off in the right way, they self-repair and you can use them again. This requires the ship to go in certain directions, and often the Captain and Engineer will need to consult on the best course, all while the enemy sub is circling looking for a way to catch you. Oh, there’s another way to wipe the engineer’s panel and activate all systems. Surface. This, of course, stops the game as the ship surfaces. The enemy then knows precisely where you are, and can start to move to get to you. Meanwhile, you and your crew play a mini-game in which you trace the ship’s outline. Do it properly and you can submerge again. It’s a frantic moment, risky but also quite fun. Finally, we have the radio operator. They’re listening to the other team, and have a little transparent sheet to mark down

121 concept and name were too close to their comic Thornwatch. Given that Thornwatch was basically Mouseguard without mice, we aren’t sure what the fuss was, but the game looks great and we’re glad to hear everyone is happy. Legendary games designer Michael Kiesling is working with Plan B on a new game called Azul. Plan B is responsible for Century: Spice Road, a game that is so easy to play, so complex to execute and utterly mesmerising. Azul promises more of the same, and has a historical theme. Each player adopts the role of an artist hired to decorate the Royal Palace of Evora in the Alhambra style for King Manuel I of Portugal. It’s a drafting-and-tile-placement game in which you need to please the King but not go over budget. Talking of legends, it looks like Fantasy Flight is taking full advantage of their Legend of The Five Rings license. The oriental adventure setting is rich and complex, and FFG has announced Battle for Rokugan, which sounds like a better version of their existing Game of Thrones board game. Given that L5R could be described as Game of Thrones but much cooler, with Samurai and a complete book series, this shouldn’t be a surprise. Finally, we note there’s a new Ticket to Ride map coming out: France and Old West. We’ve been promising to go in depth on Ticket To Ride in these pages for years, so let us know if you choo-choo-choose to find out more. Ed Fortune is currently playing too much Terraforming Mars and pretending that it’s column research. You can find him on Twitter @ed_fortune or via email on ed.fortune@starburstmagazine.com

GAMES

every move they make. After ten moves or so, they should have a good idea where the enemy is. It’s just up to the Captain to get the ship in position, the First Mate to ready the torpedoes and the Engineer to make sure the ship can do those things. As you may be able to tell from all of that, the whole game is very, very frantic. After a few plays, you swiftly find yourself in the role, and there’s that great moment where you, as a team, are convinced that you are them. This is a great party game and works very well with groups that have couples in them, especially if they’re on the opposite sides. In the STARBURST Secret Gaming Thunderdome, we found that the addition of powerful cocktails added to the fun an awful lot as we got shoutier and more daring. The game also has piles of scenarios and maps, so you can run missions where you have to pick things up or where you can only surface at certain points because you’re in the Antarctic. Captain Sonar is probably the best naval combat game out there. And yes, it’s a game for large groups, but that’s the point. If you want to make it even more realistic, you can shuffle together more closely or perhaps put Das Boot on in the background, though perhaps not the version with the Pet Shop Boys soundtrack on. Because it’s rubbish. Captain Sonar is easily one of our new hall of fame games. In other news, Games Workshop has announced that they’re bring back their futuresavages-in-close-combat game, Necromunda. To be honest, we at the Thunderdome were never really aware it had gone away. Given that the core rules have been free online for some time and that urban scenery is pretty cheap these days, we’d need to be convinced it’s worth the update to get a space on our vaunted gaming shelves. GW is also doing yet another Warhammer Quest game, this time themed around the Lord of Rot. More interestingly, Corvus Belli is announcing a new standalone game set in the Infinity universe. It’s a futuristic sports game on a hex-shaped board. Aristeia! will eventually feature all the weirdness that is the Infinity setting, from the sinister alien space communists to the plucky human rebels and the funky cyberpunk superheroes. The core set will start with eight character figures with exclusive cards, eight initiative cards, and 52 tactical cards. It looks a bit like Dreadball to

us, but Corvus Belli promise tournament and organised play support, so we’ll see. In sadder news, both TorGaming and Spartan Games have announced that they are closing. TorGaming was best known for its gorgeous scenery, while Spartan Games is better known for its Halo tie-in games, which were rather good (and a refreshing change of pace from Star Wars: Armada). It looks like we’ll never see the Firestorm Armada board game, which is a real pity. In news that seems obvious to anyone paying attention, River Horse Games has gotten another cool licence. The company produce the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic RPG (aka baby’s first fantasy RPG) as well as Labyrinth, based on the Jim Henson movie of the same name. Their new game will be The Dark Crystal, another Henson licence. Given that Labyrinth was very pretty (and also required you to remember poetry), we expect this game to look excellent and the proposed Gelfling and Skeksis models look fantastic. Given that Netflix is promising a new Dark Crystal movie, this all seems very well-timed. We’ve also heard that Medieval Japanese Tourism simulator Tokaido is getting a facelift. The game is pretty charming; it’s essentially a cute little race game where you wander around feudal Japan, stopping at spas, sampling food, joining festivals, getting souvenirs and the like. It’s a relaxing and pleasant game. Manufacturers FunForge promise to update the meeples and give the art more pop, but given that it’s already very nice to look at, we’re not sure it needs it. Fans of Heroclix will be happy to hear that the Wizkids adventure game Wardlings is going ahead. The game’s premise is young heroes going on an adventure into a spooky forest. The game was originally called Thistleguard, but the people behind comic strip Penny Arcade complained that the

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WATTO’S EMPORIUM

Live or Buy... Make Your Choice

MERCH

If you prefer your franchises with fewer silly outfits and super-powered set pieces but more viscera and creepy-ass tricycling puppets, then rejoice at the return of the Saw series in the upcoming Jigsaw. Yes, death certainly hasn’t stopped ol’ John Kramer’s legacy from expanding like a jawline in a reverse bear trap, as proved by some of this gear, which dares to make merchandise out of a puppet that is - technically - an accessory to murder (or kidnapping and torture if we are being

specific). This sculpted mug modelled on Billy the Puppet, available at Amazon, is especially haunting but more than that, this 15-inch plush toy from flubit. com is arguably even more so, as you are encouraged to bring your own little dose of Saw back home with you. Warning: outcome may not be good if you have an ethically questionable background, a lot of power tools lying around and a tape recorder in the house. SAW SCULPTED MUG - £10.99 AVAILABLE AT AMAZON.CO.UK

Stuff we liked from around the web thiS month with JaCk bottomleY

institution and back in 2014, Paddington Bear received the film he deserved. We hope this year he gets the sequel he deserves but thanks to worldofbears. com, Paddington has definitely got some cracking merch. This 38cm tall dose of teddy bear brilliance is beautifully modelled on Paddington’s appearance in the film and, while expensive (mind you, a bear would be an expensive addition to any home), one look at this fella and you would not need a tag urging you to give him a loving home.

SAW 15-INCH REDUCTION PLUSH TOY £13.28 AVAILABLE AT FLUBIT.COM

STEIFF PADDINGTON PLUSH MOVIE EDITION LARGE (WITH FREE GIFT BOX) £99.00 AVAILABLE AT WORLDOFBEARS.COM

Care For This Bear

Thor Blimey!

Ever seen all these celebrity shows with social media non-entities, reality star nobodies and the second cousin of George Best and thought, they ain’t got nothing on Paddington Bear? Chances are you have never thought this, but that doesn’t stop it being true. The late, great Michael Bond’s iconic creation, like Wallace & Gromit and The Tales of Peter Rabbit, is a British

This issue has already made great mention of the God of Thunder’s return to the big screen, after a larger absence than some of his fellow Avengers. In Thor: Ragnarok, not only does the Asgardian return, so too does his big green cohortcum-friendly rival, Hulk, which makes this all the more of a big occasion (pun very much intended). And that’s ignoring

123 the fact that Cate Blanchett and Jeff Goldblum are entering the MCU! From the funky Guardians-esque trailers to the gladiatorial combat, hopes are higher than Avengers Tower for Ragnarok, which is set to be a definite change of pace for Thor’s fun but more polarising solo cinema output... and not just because Chris Hemsworth has had a mop chop. So in celebration of the giddy glory Ragnarok will hopefully bring, we scoured all the merch shops of Asgard and found some great gear. Firstly, over at cloudcity7.com, we have a range of freshly designed shirts, each for a set price and each also available in Varsity jacket, hoodie, and vest form for varying prices. TopNotchy’s adorable Thor/Hulk design sees our heroes in cartoon form to celebrate the trailers much-quoted “friend from work” line. Another sweet design features a little Disney mash-up take place as KARMADESIGNER sees fit to incorporate Thor with Disney’s Sword in the Stone (let’s call it hammer in the snow!), which is still a better idea than Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword was this year. And finally, going a darker but still rather cool route is the skull and crossswords image by AndreusD, which is just a neat design anyway. And if you want to take your fandom one step further, then Hot Toys have you covered with their new, immaculately designed and attention (not to mention cash) demanding Gladiator Hulk figure based on his design in Ragnarok. The only thing more impressive than this tooled-up baby is sharing a shawarma with the gang and, whilst that will be over in an hour or less, this figure would be a centrepiece of your geeky castle forever more, or at least until some dark artefact-wielding baddie comes down and starts vaporising stuff. WE KNOW EACH OTHER FROM WORK SHIRT - £15.95 THE SWORD IN THE STONE RAGNAROK MASH-UP - £15.95 THOR: RAGNAROK SKULL AND CROSSBONES - £15.95 ALL AVAILABLE AT CLOUDCITY7.COM GLADIATOR HULK - THOR: RAGNAROK HOT TOYS - £344.95 AVAILABLE AT PLANETACTIONFIGURES.CO.UK

MERCH

124

: EVENT PROFILE

WORLDCON 75

Helsinki, Finland August 9th - 13th, 2017 Words: Ed ForTUNE PHoTos: HENry södErlUNd & olav rokNE

ne of the frequent complaints about science fiction book convention Worldcon is that the venerable convention is too grounded in North America. The vast bulk of Worldcon’s attendees come from the US (as do many sci-fi authors), so it’s not a surprise that the Americans have kept this international event to themselves. This year’s Worldcon was in Helsinki, however, and the Finnish fans were determined to show the ageing regulars exactly how it’s done. With a total number of memberships of 10,516 (making it the second largest ever) and countless smiling faces, it’s safe to say that the event was a success. Worldcon is unique; in a world filled with many media conventions and glorified market stalls, Worldcon has always (and always will be) created by fans for fans. It’s a long haul; the whole affair kicked off on Wednesday and finished with a dead dog party late Sunday. The opening ceremony was appropriately

Finnish, filled with traditional local rituals, and set the tone for the event. The programme itself was powerfully international. Though English was the dominant language, a great many panels and talks took a look at not only the Finnish perspective on world of genre books, but the international view. Everything from reviewing books, creating characters, diversity, and mythology was covered. There were enough panels for every taste, with so much content that it was easy to miss something you wanted to go to see. The event was almost a victim of its own success, however; this was Finland’s first Worldcon and the fans came in their hundreds. By Friday, the tickets were restricted to the first hundred on the door; the huge venue was packed, much to the simultaneous concern and delight of the older, more experienced fans. Of course, it would not be a Worldcon without the Hugo Awards, and this year’s was a tight event with a broad appeal. Toastmaster Karen Lord was charming throughout as she went through the various nominations and winners. The Hugos are an incredibly important prize; pretty much the Oscars for bookish types, but nowhere near as glamourous. Still, there were tears at the podium as winners were overcome with the love of the community. Of particular note was

Ursula Vernon’s acceptance speech, which was both brilliant and hilarious. We won’t spoil it for you here, seek it out on YouTube. George R. R. Martin is an established member of the Worldcon community, and this year, he took to the stage for a few panels. Of particular note was a live show of Tea and Jeopardy, featuring Emma and Peter Newman. Their podcast is noted for its prominent guests, and this year, they had the A Song of Fire and Ice author taking tea and facing a small amount of appropriate jeopardy. Emma avoided the topic of Game of Thrones via much hilarity and to the delight of the audience. Another highlight was the live performance from experimental L.A. rap group clipping. Their recent album, Splendor & Misery, had been nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Though it didn’t win, the performance was incredible. Band member Daveed Diggs (who is better known for his role in hit musical Hamilton) was on hand for various panels as well. Worldcon 2017 was one of wild invention, established traditions and striking creativity, though it wasn’t as booze-fuelled as previous events thanks to Finnish law. The next event that isn’t in North America will be Dublin 2019. To which we at STARBURST say: see you in Ireland.

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by Andrew Pollard

This month, we dissect the assembling of Marvel’s small screen DEFENDERS, assess the barnstorming seventh season of GAME OF THRONES, and tip you off on a superhero series that you’ll want to check out before it’s too late.

THE WORLD OF CULT TV

ello there, and welcome once again to Paul Mount’s TV Zone, just without the monumental Mr Mount himself. Fear not, though, true believers, for Mountie will be back in action when next month’s TV Zone arrives. Unfortunately for you lot, it means you’re stuck with my ramblings for the next few pages. Luckily, there’s been a whole lot of fantastic small screen shenanigans to wax lyrical about. MARVEL’S THE DEFENDERS For anyone who’s had to endure my waffling words over the past few years, you’ll know that I love me a bit of ‘capes and tights’ action, and so, while last month’s TV Zone was free from such talk, this month’s column can’t help but start by taking a look back at the long-awaited Marvel’s The Defenders. Ever since Marvel and Netflix joined together in 2010, the initial endgame in place was to reach this eight-part miniseries. To get here, we had two seasons for Charlie Cox’s Daredevil and then single seasons for Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones, Mike Colter’s Luke Cage, and Finn Jones’ Iron Fist, not to mention Jon Bernthal turning up as a pitch-perfect Frank Castle. Has the hype and anticipation really been worth it, though, or is The Defenders a rare misstep? Without wishing to beat around the bush, yes, Marvel’s The Defenders is most certainly worth the wait. Sure, some may have found a few issues with the coming together of these four heroes, but overall, the response has largely been positive to one of Netflix’s hottest shows of 2017. And for me personally, it’s definitely ticked a whole lot of the right boxes. Rather than the thirteen episodes afforded to the previous seasons of this shared televisual world that also happens to exist in the backdrop of the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe, the eight-episode format here worked brilliantly,

allowing the story to progress at a faster, more natural pace. With that said, mind, some have lamented how it took the titular team so many episodes to get together in the first place, but that’s kind of half of the point; you have to first see the four individual strands of these heroes’ stories before you can then see what ultimately brings them together to fight the good fight. Another common complaint is that Sigourney Weaver’s Alexandra as the ‘big bad’ of the series wasn’t all that spectacular or positioned as any sort of a major threat. While I’d happily disagree with that school of thought, to really explain why would have me veering into spoiler territory - which is something I’m not going to do right now

MARVEL’S THE DEFENDERS

given how the show is still a fresh addition to Netflix that not everybody may have had the chance to check out. Despite some small gripes from certain viewers, The Defenders managed to get a hell of a lot right. Not only were the four heroes set up well as individuals, but right off the bat, your attention was instantly grabbed as elements of this world began to intertwine: Misty Knight turning up at Jessica Jones’ door; Jessica’s first confrontation with the brutal Elektra; Matt Murdock desperately trying to outrun a snooping Jones. Those were just the early teasers of what lay ahead, though, and part of what impressed so greatly about Marvel’s The Defenders is that it took what you knew and played on that in a way that rewarded the audience for having paid attention the first time around - a bonkers idea, I know! For instance, the shock and emotional pain felt by the Guardian Devil upon hearing of Elektra’s resurrection is so special because fans have already witnessed the unique bond between those two. And while Daredevil is often positioned as the leader of this ragtag team of heroes, that’s not to say that the standout moments aren’t shared around, with everybody getting their time to shine. Then, of course, there’s the ever-familiar butting of heads between our core crew, most notably the all-kinds-ofbadass approach the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen takes to Danny Rand’s wish to leave the group behind to tackle the problem of the Hand on his own. In a show overflowing with martial arts, superpowers, and plenty of (Iron) fists to faces, most importantly the depiction of the main characters in this unique shared environment is masterfully handled, with Daredevil, Jessica, Power Man, and the ‘Immortal’ Iron Fist all feeling true to the fundamentals of the characters. So yeah, Marvel’s The Defenders. I dug it. I really, really dug it. But then, it would take something major to really have me hating on something of this nature due to me essentially being preconditioned to always swoon a little over such adventures; which, in turn, now has me having all kind of PTSDesque flashbacks to the woeful abomination known as The Amazing Spider-Man 2. It’s just a good job that there’s Marvel’s The Punisher, a third year for Daredevil that will seemingly pull inspiration from the fan

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favourite Born Again arc, and confirmed second seasons for Jessica Jones and Luke Cage to wash away those Spidey flashbacks. And, despite the mixed reaction to his solo show, it’s pretty safe to assume that Finn Jones’ Danny Rand will be back in action for a second season of Marvel’s Iron Fist down the line. GAME OF THRONES Moving swiftly away from superheroes (for now, at least), and just how damn marvelous was this most recent season of Game of Thrones? Some may have moaned that the now-concluded seventh season moved along far too quickly, but then these are also likely the same people who were moaning that the previous seasons have often dragged a little. Given that we’re now at the business end of this juggernaut of a show’s lifespan, it’s only to be expected that resolution is needed, shit needs to get done, and Jon Snow needs to have plenty of puppy-dog-eyed gazes into the distance as we all anxiously await the true fate of the Iron Throne. Where the faster pace is concerned, as somebody who has spent what feels like a lifetime waiting for something, anything to happen during six or seven episodes of The Walking Dead in recent times, seeing Thrones let loose a little has been a mightily well-received, refreshing experience. And it’s with this renewed energy and focus that the show has also given a much-needed shot in the arm to several characters, most notably Maisie Williams’ Arya Stark. Finally back amongst the central action and now a bona fide tough-as-nails, take-no-bollocks badass who would make Chuck Norris whimper, Arya has quickly become one of the more compelling characters on the show once more. I swear, if there was one more bit of “A girl has no name” mumbo jumbo, then I’d have had a paddy that would’ve had even the Mountain quaking in his boots… but instead, we now have an Arya who is a tad like what the comic cook Damian Wayne was - y’know, until he was killed by an advanced clone of himself before then ultimately being brought back with the bonus of superpowers - in the way that she is small yet feisty, slender yet clinical, and now seems to be in a constant state of amusement with just how much damage she can inflict on those who foolishly end up

in her sights. Then there’s Sansa and Theon, who also seem to have got their proverbial balls back - although luckily for Theon, it was actually his lack of balls that saved him from apparent death in the season finale. It may seem a tad annoying to see Thrones’ key figures now moving from one place to another in the blink of an eye or a fade-to-black, especially given how painfully long it has taken the same faces to previously travel from one locale to another, but that can be forgiven for just how much the landscape of the show has now been shook up. Not only is Daenerys now sans one of her dragons, but the beastie has been brought back to serve under the nefarious Night King. And in a perfect example of just how pants-shittingly terrifying that prospect is, the concluding moments of Season Seven saw the iconic Wall ripped to shreds by this the pimped-up addition to the White Walkers. Elsewhere, mind, there’s the reveal that Jon Snow is indeed who many had speculated - Aegon Targaryen - but that reveal was finally made just as the King of the North was making whoopee (Mallrats represent, yo!) with his aunt. Awkward? To most, yes, but in Game of Thrones, it seems

AMERICAN GODS

as if such things aren’t exactly uncommon. Still, while the demolition of the Wall had us gasping, and Jon and Dany’s horizontal hustle had us a tad uneasy, I think we can all agree that seeing that little prick Baelish get his comeuppance had us all punching the air as if we’d just finished a Rocky montage. For years, we’ve seen Littlefinger turning the screws as he’s attempted to play every possible side off against one another in order to benefit his own twisted agenda, and so when we finally saw his scheme fall to pieces, it was nice to see so many of his previous misdemeanors listed before he took his final breath; and then, it was even more satisfactory to see Arya be the one to strike the killer blow. But while one sinister, self-serving dickhead may now be out of the equation, Cersei is just as calculating and devious as ever. Sure, she may have seen brother-cum-bed-partner Jaime turn his back on her as he looks to help fight the good fight, but Lena Headey’s Cersei is now arguably even more malicious and single-minded than we’ve seen her before. Whether she ends up on the Iron Throne when all is said and done, we’ll have to wait and see, but we’re sure to witness plenty

GAME OF THRONES

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GAME OF THRONES

128 of further actions from Cersei that will make Disney’s most evil of queens and stepmothers look like amateurs. Many have suggested that the recent seventh season was Game of Thrones’ best year yet. That may be true depending on your viewpoint, but the explosive action and developments of this season have only been possible due to the delicate storytelling of what came prior to it. Regardless, more worrying is that there’s just one six-episode season left for HBO’s genre behemoth. Fear not, for at least those six episodes are all confirmed to clock in at the 80-minute mark or more. Then again, while logic has the final season pegged for a July 2018 premiere, there are some pesky rumours out there that we may not see Season Eight until 2019! SUPERHEROES DECODED Something a little different here, but this past month saw a rather splendid two-parter air on The History Channel. I know, I know, it’s not really the usual port of call you’d think of when debating where to get your next tasty hit of genre television, but trust me, this one’s a goodie. Titled Superheroes Decoded, there’s an undoubted hidden gem that’s still available to watch as part of the ‘on-demand’ element of Sky. Clocking in at around the three-hour mark for the combined two episodes, Superheroes Decoded

ALSO SCREENING RIVERDALE

The CW’s Archie Comics-based series returns to US screens on October 11th, with Netflix airing the show internationally just one day after that date. After surprising us with the oftdark tone and mysterious, unravelling narrative of its début year, Riverdale has a lot to live up to, and the show’s return is one that’s been firmly marked on the diary of many a genre fan. Netflix from October 12th

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THE WALKING DEAD

Here’s hoping for a faster, more actionpacked season for AMC’s genre heavyweight when it returns to screens just before Halloween. With the evergrizzled Rick Grimes leading the combined communities of Alexandria, Hilltop, and the Kingdom into battle against the charismatic Negan and his Saviors, carnage galore seems the order of the day. For more details, see our full Season Eight preview on page 26. FOX UK from October 23rd

STRANGER THINGS

After coming out of nowhere to mesmerise us all last summer, Stranger Things is inching ever closer to returning to our screens. Expect further exploration into the Upside Down, more Stand by Me and The Gooniesesque bonding between the show’s key group of youngsters, and plenty of ‘80s references ahoy - not least the excellent use of Michael Jackson’s Vincent Priceintro’d Thriller in the second season’s buzz-generating trailer. Netflix from October 27th

SUPERHEROES DECODED

chronicles the rise of the superhero in relation to history-changing events and the continued growth of America as a global superpower. Sure, it may be a tad drenched in “America, fuck yeah!” rhetoric at times, but if you can dodge the propaganda and political bias, then there’s a fascinating look at these characters parallel to some of the biggest events in history. With contributions from a who’s who of the game, from Stan Lee, Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Neal Adams, Geoff Johns, Scott Snyder, Grant Morrison, Joe Russo, and Jon Favreau to Anthony Mackie and even George R. R. Martin, Superheroes Decoded looks at the very origin of the concept of the superhero before then bringing that same idea full circle to the present day. In amongst the topics covered, we get to explore how superheroes have been used to help humanity through some of its darkest times; how the first heroes were created as a response to the Great American Depression; how Superman was the living embodiment of the American dream - an immigrant made good, giving back to the people; how Captain America was made to raise spirits in the battle against the Nazis; how Wonder Woman was used to symbolise the female empowerment temporarily experienced while the male population of the US were at war… and how both Diana and the women of the day were ‘shoved back in their box’ upon the war ending. We learn how the Comics Code affected the industry and how comics were blamed for juvenile delinquency; how the age of space travel influenced the comic book characters of the day; how the Civil Rights war ushered in a wave of black superheroes; how these characters and their origin stories have reached the level of a religious parable or mythical tale of centuries prior; and a whole host of other topics. Obviously, it’s pretty much impossible to get everything crammed into just the three hours of runtime, but Superheroes Decoded does a great job of hitting the majority of the major beats while positioning these moments alongside the political and social stories of the day. For anybody with even a fleeting interest in comic books and superheroes, I’d encourage you to track down this two-parter while it’s still available for

on-demand viewing. Unlike myself after watching the aforementioned The Amazing Spider-Man 2, you most definitely won’t be left disappointed! That’s pretty much a wrap here from me. I would’ve loved to have lavished praise on the return of Twin Peaks but I’m disappointingly only eight episodes in on this new series. What I’ve seen so far has been phenomenal, and I hear it only gets better from here on out. Then there’s The Mist, freshly landed on Netflix but yet to be watched. Was a TV take on that particular Stephen King novel needed? Absolutely not, but it’s something I’m hoping to give the once-over to just as soon as I finish off Preacher’s second year and get up to speed on Twin Peaks. Also, this column was pegged to feature some discussion on Adam Wingard’s Death Note adaptation, freshly landed on Netflix and largely great yet at times flawed, until words got away with me and space became minimal (but you can read our review on page 85). Then there’s the return of plenty of other genre favourites - heroes and capes, you know the drill - at a time when you can say we’re almost spoilt with what sci-fi, fantasy, horror or simply cult TV is out there right now. While we all love to bitch and moan about our supposed favourite shows, let’s not forget the simple fact that it’s a great time to be a genre fan. Sometimes we can lose track of that, I guess. Or, maybe that’s more because I’ve never had an interest in Doctor Who and so haven’t had to go through the trauma of Moffat. Anyway, I digress, it’s been a fun few months as I attempted to fill the ominous boots of Mountie, but normal service will be resumed as of next month when Paul Mount’s TV Zone will once again be fronted by the magnificent Mr Mount himself. And if he asks, that stain in the corner was totally already here when I arrived, and it definitely, definitely wasn’t me that cleared out the spirits cabinet. Email me at andrew.pollard@starburstmagazine. com or do the Twitter thing @culturedleftpeg. Also, while he may be finishing off his brief hiatus from the TV Zone column, Mountie can be found joining Scott Holmes to discuss the latest news, reviews, gossip and general geeky idiocy on the TV Zone Plus podcast on iTunes.

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A Column by JORDAN ROYCE

onder Woman may be at the tail end of its cinematic release but the controversy continues. I made my views public about this overrated flick in this column back in Issue 439 (I will briefly recap later). Seems I was not alone in being underwhelmed and wondering what all the fuss was about. This week, James Cameron took time off from hoovering up cash with a cynical reissue of a movie made 22 years ago, to explain things from a different perspective, and in a tactless manner that instantly set the Internet ablaze.

Cameron referred to the praise being heaped on Wonder Woman as ‘misguided’. He went on to define his stance, “She’s an objectified icon, and it’s just male Hollywood doing the same thing… it’s a step backwards!” He used one of his own creations to prove his point. “Sarah Connor was not a beauty icon. She was strong, she was troubled, she was a terrible mother, and she earned the respect of the audience through pure grit.” Or in other words, “I made a strong female role model who succeeded despite being a bit of a minger!” - Blimey Jimbo, I bet Linda Hamilton was over the moon with that… Once again, director Patty Jenkins adopted her role as head of the suffragette movement, and gave him a slightly pious bollocking, “I believe women can and should be EVERYTHING just like male lead characters should be.” Hairy muff, except you are being paid to say this crap, aren’t you, Patty? As any well-paid director of a big budget movie would be. Getting back to old Jimbo, his stance might have carried more weight had he not made some curious comments back

in 2009, regarding the Na’vi blue alien heroine - Neytiri. When chatting to Playboy Magazine, it seemed Jimbo had one essential requirement – “Right from the beginning I said, ‘She’s got to have tits’”. Also suggesting that, “a Neytiri Playboy centrefold would have been a good idea”. He’s a right scamp, isn’t he? I stand by my initial comments. This is all a very cynical and effective PR campaign by a desperate studio. It cleverly provided smoke and mirrors for a distinctly average film. A film that may have its great moments, but suffers from many of the same problems as Batman v Superman. Ropey dialogue, bad script, too much slo-mo in the action Andrew Leavold, director of ‘The Search for Weng Weng’, scenes, and a finale made his STARBURST début back in Issue 407 that is aesthetically and dramatically an attractive lead, male or female. identical to the hideous CGI finale with That should never detract from their Doomsday. Yet due to the social media acting prowess or screen presence. barrage, and the goodwill generated Unfortunately, there were shots that by the female-only screenings, you objectified her. There were angles, cannot criticise this flick without lighting, and panning that accentuated being labelled something unpleasant the revealing nature of her costume. by morons that have never even met Which again is fine until you get to you. As for the objectification? Well the point where you turn this political that is the one area where I agree with and portray this movie as being way Jimbo. Sure, it’s totally fine to have

Follow the yellow brick road to ‘The Hanging Munchkin’ on the VHS release of ‘The Wizard of Oz’...

...no snuff movie elements on the Blu-ray release though, just a winged CGI bird, erasing an urban legend!

130 order to avoid humanising him. Apparently, this will be a Martin Scorsese-type of dark thriller featuring a teenage Joker who gets bullied for always smiling. At this stage, an arsonist paying their film studio a visit would be an act of kindness for all of us.

I’ve heard of pandering to an overseas market, but this is ridiculous...

more than it is. Something that is setting some new standard for female characters, when it’s just the same old, same old…

Yup! This one is just plain weird!

So, when I get fed this as a breakthrough movie for females in cinema - sorry, I just don’t buy it. Nice one, DC. This was a slick PR job. Sadly, it’s the only thing you got right so far, in an experiment that has cost billions, and totally failed to deliver the goods. Despite owning some of the most iconic characters in comic book history. Are the DCEU people learning from any of this? Well this month, we learned and almost immediately unlearned that the upcoming Batman movie would be a ‘standalone’ entry - except it turned out that it wasn’t. Then we get the gruesome news that they are indeed doing a standalone movie - the origin of the Joker. A character defined by his lack of origin, and the mystique of his early years, in

On a happier note Home, the centre of arthouse theatre and cinema in Manchester staged a Q&A with Andrew Leavold, the director of the cult documentary The Search for Weng Weng. Myself, Martin Unsworth, and Kris Heys set off to spend some time with Andrew before the show. Martin interviewed him once before in Issue 407, and this was an opportunity to dig a little deeper into the life of a fascinating bloke who has devoted his life to Filipino movies - a superb example of the weird and wonderful that I always refer to… If there’s anyone out there This may be the 21st century but Sony has still that has not seen The Search managed to bring you - THE AMAZING CHINA-MAN for Weng Weng, you are missing a serious treat and I cannot recommend it enough. Some attempting to erase this shadow from of us will remember back in the early the public forum. days of VHS rental a trailer popping The day ended with a very late session us with a Filipino little person playing at Fab Café, replete with a suitable Agent 00 in a Bond parody titled For hangover the next day. My memory is Y’ur Height Only. Andrew owned a a bit hazy, but I don’t think I have quite famous cult video store in Brisbane sold him on the Hanging Munchkin. It’s - Trash Video, and was fascinated by a work in progress… the lead actor, a chap named Weng Weng. Obviously, he then set out to It is pretty much accepted that the the Philippines to track down this DCEU is a mess, but Sony, left to their guy, and find out his story. It’s a story own devices, has proven time and that is heartfelt, touching, and sad. again that they can wreck Spider-Man. Involving twists and turns, porn, and Marvel Studios may have bailed them Imelda Marcos! It is a great start to out but Sony and Amy Pascal seem a career in an area of cinema that he determined to wreck it again as soon clearly loves. To quote Andrew, he is, as the current deal expires. My Spider“Living the fucking dream!” Sense tingles whenever anything is released that is related to the property. Andrew is a fascinating guy, and you My expectations were low but I was can hear the full interview on Episode not prepared for the film posters for 7.9 of the STARBURST Radio Podcast the Chinese release of Spider-Man: on iTunes. Andrew has also written a Homecoming. Now don’t get me wrong, book that expands on the movie, also I get where they are coming from. They entitled The Search for Weng Weng. are trying to give off that irreverent Deadpool vibe. I have even heard these I did suggest that Andrew should posters referred to as charming (they’re continue in this vein for his next not). I just find them bizarre. A very project and investigate the true story strange choice, and not in a good way. of the Hanging Munchkin from The I can just about get my head around Wizard of Oz. it has been speculated the one with the pandas. The one on that The Wizard of Oz is an early ‘Snuff horseback I just stared at in disbelief. Movie’, due to the urban myth that you Then I saw the one with Spidey wearing can see a hanging Munchkin in the the Asian rice hat. Really? Bloody hell! background of the scene when Dorothy, All that’s missing are the Black and the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man set off White Minstrels, and Christopher Lee down the Yellow Brick Road. Why? The as Fu Manchu in the background. most popular rumour is that one of the Munchkins, after a heavy drinking Jordan Royce can be contacted at session, got dumped by his girlfriend jordan.royce@starburstmagazine.com and it all got too much for him. Some Twitter: @JordanMRoyce dismiss it, and say it was the shadow and hosts the STARBURST Radio Show with of a bird, yet upon its Blu-ray re-issue, Martin Unsworth every Wednesday 9pm until 11pm GMT on Fab Radio International – lo and behold a CGI peacock has www.fabradiointernational.com been placed in front of the shadow. also available from iTunes as a Podcast Warners certainly went to great trouble

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