Praise the lord and pass the popcorn!
The computer's been very bitchy for no good reason lately. It's cutting heavily into my Internet time and forcing me to revert to reading books. I can't wait to format the hard drive and install a new OS. It'll undoubtedly bring about a brand new set of mind-destroying problems, but hey, I have a whole summer ahead of me that I can use to ignore such things to the best of my ability. Until something blows up in my face, then I'll switch to whinge mode. And so a plan has been formed!
I don't know what's wrong with me, I'm actually getting somewhat excited about Spider-Man 3. With the exception of Doctor Octopus' robotic tentacles, Spider-Man 2 left me yawning, mostly because of its pedestrian romantic shenanigans. If you'll excuse the stereotype, it was too much of a "chick flick" to me. But now we have two CGI spiders vaulting about in New York! I'm preparing to be dazed by the superpowered action.
I remember that scene earlier in the season where Peter was being an angry puppy and trying to threaten Isaac, it was absolutely hilarious (until, well, the accidental homicide of course). I didn't buy the act for a second. Much to my chagrin Isaac did, because the script demanded it and he was a smackhead, but I think his reaction just made it all the funnier. So now, when I'm asked to believe that future!Peter is a Bad Motherfucker, traipsing about in a muscle shirt, with slicked back hair, stubble and a fucking scar, I'm again reduced to guffawing. Was I just imagining it or was future!Peter's voice supposed to be gruff? He sounded like he was in the early stages of laryngitis. There's a fine line between being a comics badarse and just trying too hard, and future!Peter went straight past believability into a "kid imitating Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine" situation. You can "ugly" him up with as many silly faux tough guy scars as you can fit on his face, but he'll still come off as a needlessly petulant, overpowered weenie. Them's the breaks.
Peter isn't the only one I have credibility issues with in this programme. I'm all for comic book villains, but Sylar hasn't really been living up to his colleagues in sequential art. Oh, there have been times, especially when it's been Sylar vs. HRG, when I've seen flashes of proper menace, but mostly it's been by-the-numbers villainy, not especially deserving an "arch". Before, I've blamed the script and the actor in my disappointment, but then something strange happened in 1x20. When Sylar uttered the sentence "When I killed Nathan he had already turned against his own kind" in a low, guttural voice, I got chills running down my spine! At that moment, I totally bought into the character of Sylar as a serious threat that should have these people running scared. Zachary Quinto nailed that scene and I hope he keeps it up.
Maybe I'm being hypocritical in my ever-vigilant Peter bashing (really, I actually want to like him, but they make it damned hard), because as horribly clichèd as future!Hiro comes off, I have nothing but geeky comics-loving enthusiasm for him. I think it's because he's Hiro-shaped. I'm all for anything Hiro-shaped, so much so that I can overlook the occasional trench, pony tail and katana. I spent my teens being keenly interested in Cyberpunk and World of Darkness, so I've seen the trenched out badarse with a freaking (mono)katana done to death and back again, but still... I can't hold it against future!Hiro. Not even the godawful soul patch can stop the love. Must be that nerd sympathy thing acting up.
- Future!Peter could stop time and teleport, but not fold time? I suppose I should be glad that they've at least imposed some measure of restraint in Peter's twinking powers. A time-travelling Peter would send my eyes spinning. I'm preparing for the worst. Perhaps next season?
- New York goes nuclear, sending the country into chaos and the economy down the pisser. The government is so underfunded that they can't afford bullets for their military goon squads, forcing the poor soldiers to rush in and stand clutching their assault rifles hopelessly as a sword-wielding maniac cuts them in half. Brilliant stuff. I must've missed something.
- Adrian Pasdar is wonderful. Thinking back to past episodes, I'd even say he's the best actor in the show. Nathan loves his kid brother and his family, but he's still a bastard at heart. Pasdar makes him out to be such an endearing knobhead. Why haven't they released Pasdar's Profit on Region 2 yet? My most favourite unhinged corporate scumbucket ever, and he was even the main character!
- Same deranged psycho who was tearing up and demanding the list so he could "sink his teeth in" has now found contentment? I guess so then. A lot can happen in five years. And was HRG bullshitting, when he said that all the powers Sylar absorbs are making his mind more fragmented? He was pretty damn in control after five years. Again, a lot can happen...
But I just have this uneasy suspicion that TPTB are using Sylar as just a handy villainous madman and not really as a full character in his own right. You need some dastardly deed done for plot purposes? Use Sylar. I vaguely remember that hidden room o' crazy early in the season, with the "I have sinned" text on the walls. What ever came of that particular brand of batshittery? Or was it just throwaway scenery for the extra added creepiness factor? I guess you can't really say much until the character's time in the show is over. Until then, I'm just doing the usual fannish grumbling.
- I'm so sad, but after seeing so many glossy splash pages full of superpowered beat-downs, I loved seeing that short bit of glowy-handed showdown at the end of the episode (even though those few seconds probably broke the bank). Seeing stuff like that in live action beats the showiest of battle scenes in any X-Men comic in my mind. That's why there needs to be live action versions of bespandexed people (the upcoming Iron Man, Magneto, Thor, Captain America, Wolverine, Avengers, Hulk, Dirk Anger Nick Fury, Ant-Man... Wait, what? Ant-Man? Seriously? Directed by Edgar fucking Wright?!). Superpowers look just so awesome on screen, man.
- And other stuff, but I'm too geeked out at the moment to carry on yammering.
I don't know what's wrong with me, I'm actually getting somewhat excited about Spider-Man 3. With the exception of Doctor Octopus' robotic tentacles, Spider-Man 2 left me yawning, mostly because of its pedestrian romantic shenanigans. If you'll excuse the stereotype, it was too much of a "chick flick" to me. But now we have two CGI spiders vaulting about in New York! I'm preparing to be dazed by the superpowered action.
I remember that scene earlier in the season where Peter was being an angry puppy and trying to threaten Isaac, it was absolutely hilarious (until, well, the accidental homicide of course). I didn't buy the act for a second. Much to my chagrin Isaac did, because the script demanded it and he was a smackhead, but I think his reaction just made it all the funnier. So now, when I'm asked to believe that future!Peter is a Bad Motherfucker, traipsing about in a muscle shirt, with slicked back hair, stubble and a fucking scar, I'm again reduced to guffawing. Was I just imagining it or was future!Peter's voice supposed to be gruff? He sounded like he was in the early stages of laryngitis. There's a fine line between being a comics badarse and just trying too hard, and future!Peter went straight past believability into a "kid imitating Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine" situation. You can "ugly" him up with as many silly faux tough guy scars as you can fit on his face, but he'll still come off as a needlessly petulant, overpowered weenie. Them's the breaks.
Peter isn't the only one I have credibility issues with in this programme. I'm all for comic book villains, but Sylar hasn't really been living up to his colleagues in sequential art. Oh, there have been times, especially when it's been Sylar vs. HRG, when I've seen flashes of proper menace, but mostly it's been by-the-numbers villainy, not especially deserving an "arch". Before, I've blamed the script and the actor in my disappointment, but then something strange happened in 1x20. When Sylar uttered the sentence "When I killed Nathan he had already turned against his own kind" in a low, guttural voice, I got chills running down my spine! At that moment, I totally bought into the character of Sylar as a serious threat that should have these people running scared. Zachary Quinto nailed that scene and I hope he keeps it up.
Maybe I'm being hypocritical in my ever-vigilant Peter bashing (really, I actually want to like him, but they make it damned hard), because as horribly clichèd as future!Hiro comes off, I have nothing but geeky comics-loving enthusiasm for him. I think it's because he's Hiro-shaped. I'm all for anything Hiro-shaped, so much so that I can overlook the occasional trench, pony tail and katana. I spent my teens being keenly interested in Cyberpunk and World of Darkness, so I've seen the trenched out badarse with a freaking (mono)katana done to death and back again, but still... I can't hold it against future!Hiro. Not even the godawful soul patch can stop the love. Must be that nerd sympathy thing acting up.
- Future!Peter could stop time and teleport, but not fold time? I suppose I should be glad that they've at least imposed some measure of restraint in Peter's twinking powers. A time-travelling Peter would send my eyes spinning. I'm preparing for the worst. Perhaps next season?
- New York goes nuclear, sending the country into chaos and the economy down the pisser. The government is so underfunded that they can't afford bullets for their military goon squads, forcing the poor soldiers to rush in and stand clutching their assault rifles hopelessly as a sword-wielding maniac cuts them in half. Brilliant stuff. I must've missed something.
- Adrian Pasdar is wonderful. Thinking back to past episodes, I'd even say he's the best actor in the show. Nathan loves his kid brother and his family, but he's still a bastard at heart. Pasdar makes him out to be such an endearing knobhead. Why haven't they released Pasdar's Profit on Region 2 yet? My most favourite unhinged corporate scumbucket ever, and he was even the main character!
- Same deranged psycho who was tearing up and demanding the list so he could "sink his teeth in" has now found contentment? I guess so then. A lot can happen in five years. And was HRG bullshitting, when he said that all the powers Sylar absorbs are making his mind more fragmented? He was pretty damn in control after five years. Again, a lot can happen...
But I just have this uneasy suspicion that TPTB are using Sylar as just a handy villainous madman and not really as a full character in his own right. You need some dastardly deed done for plot purposes? Use Sylar. I vaguely remember that hidden room o' crazy early in the season, with the "I have sinned" text on the walls. What ever came of that particular brand of batshittery? Or was it just throwaway scenery for the extra added creepiness factor? I guess you can't really say much until the character's time in the show is over. Until then, I'm just doing the usual fannish grumbling.
- I'm so sad, but after seeing so many glossy splash pages full of superpowered beat-downs, I loved seeing that short bit of glowy-handed showdown at the end of the episode (even though those few seconds probably broke the bank). Seeing stuff like that in live action beats the showiest of battle scenes in any X-Men comic in my mind. That's why there needs to be live action versions of bespandexed people (the upcoming Iron Man, Magneto, Thor, Captain America, Wolverine, Avengers, Hulk, Dirk Anger Nick Fury, Ant-Man... Wait, what? Ant-Man? Seriously? Directed by Edgar fucking Wright?!). Superpowers look just so awesome on screen, man.
- And other stuff, but I'm too geeked out at the moment to carry on yammering.