Top 11 Eleventh Doctor Episodes

To everything there is a season (Turn, turn, turn) and the season of Matt Smith's Doctor Who run is coming to end. Smith's last Eleventh Doctor adventure will be this year's Christmas special and lead into Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth, or Thirteenth I'm not sure, incarnation of the Doctor. So to say goodbye to Ol' Chinny and celebrate the holidays, I'll be counting down my favorite 11th Doctor stories. And because it's Christmas I'll add on one more to my usual Top 10, making it 11 Episodes.

Also because, you know, the obvious. So without further ado,

The Top 11 Eleventh Doctor Episodes

Trailer Park: December 2013 Edition

Welcome to Trailer Park, where I look at the latest high-profile movie trailers making the rounds.

It's December now, so we the movie-viewing public are getting our first look at next summer's big blockbusters. First up, Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Yeah, Frozen is really good.

I mean just watch this.



Yeah, I know right? That Idina Menzel can sing. But beside just the song being awesome, I'm impressed by how good computer animation has gotten. The detail on that frost is incredible and so is the elasticity on Elsa's face. The animation matches the vocals perfectly, very imbued with character. Disney might be back readers.

Remembering Camelot

50 years ago today, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. That day a nation lost its innocence. So let's not focus on bullshit conspiracies and lament on lost faith. Instead let's remember what the man said and how it's still relevant today.



Why Superman? They're more related than you'd think.

So who was that Guy at the End of Thor?

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THOR: THE DARK WORLD

Non-comics fans have no idea the power we feel coming out of Marvel movies. To them we're almost like oracles, using our knowledge of arcane scripture to chart the future paths of gods. And when Samuel L Jackson showed up at the end of Iron Man, it appeared our services would become even more required as things in the Marvel Cinematic Universe were getting more complex.

And that brings me to the mid-credits teaser of Thor: The Dark World, where my services are once again needed. A five-minute appearance of actor Benicio Del Toro as a very strange alien gent has confused mass audiences and provided the key to the MCU's future. If you want to know who Del Toro was and what this means read on after the jump...

Thor: The Dark World: A review

Thor, despite being my favorite Avenger, didn't have a great first movie. Don't misunderstand me, the first Thor movie was good just small. It had a very simple and straightforward story with some good performances. But for someone whose myths involve fighting a snake the size of Earth and lifting the paws of giant cats, the movie's scale felt very small. It didn't have the grandeur the story of a god needed. Too much of it was spent on Earth around humans. Now I get why they did that, The Marvel Cinematic Universe was in its infancy. Average audiences weren't ready for Thor's brand of cosmic Jack Kirby crazy weirdness in their superheroes yet.

Thankfully The Avengers seems to have broken the floodgates on comic book insanity, letting Thor: The Dark World go all out with our favorite space viking. But while the expanded scope benefits the film there are still parts that don't work. Nothing major, just some little annoyances that hold the film back.

More after the break,

Happy Birthday Godzilla!

Today marks the anniversary of the release of Gojira, 59 years ago. The Big G may be getting on in years and making fewer appearances, but he's got a new movie coming out next year to reintroduce terror to a new generation.  He's still ready to prove he's the King of the Monsters.

Happy Halloween!

Yeah, the quality of this video isn't great. But the clip choices and the editing is just superb.

10 more Monsters that deserve more Media Exposure

Halloween is almost here and the monsters are coming out of the woodwork once again. Last year I introduced you to 10 monsters a bit outside the mainstream. Odd ducks of monsterdom who nevertheless deserved some attention. Well after scouring mythology and folklore, I've found 10 more weirdoes ready to scare the pants off people. Without further ado,

10 more Monsters that deserve more Media Exposure

Chaps With Hats

My friend and lapsed anime fan Tanaka_Sagara have started a podcast, called Chaps with Hats. We talk about everything from the careers of Samuel L Jackson & Jean Reno, Godzilla fanboying and the merits of Avengers Arena to our issues with Agents of Shield and Namor's sex life.

Give it a listen.

First Thoughts on Star Wars: Rebels

Since its purchase by Disney about a year ago, the future of Star Wars has been up in the air. Very little been's revealed about Episode 7, Clone Wars was cancelled (while producing its sixth season), and other promising ideas like the Level 1313 video game have been left behind. But thankfully, something has been revealed at last week's New York Comic-Con. A new animated series called Star Wars: Rebels.

Set between Episodes 3 and 4, it will cover the spread of the infamous Galactic Empire across the galaxy. This is an exciting idea. Weirdly enough, this is the one period of Star Wars history that's never been covered in great detail which will give the writers a lot of room for cool stories. Just aesthetically it's great too because with the Empire you have all the iconic images of stormtroopers and TIE Fighters from the original trilogy, and because it's animated they can use all the visually wild alien species and creatures from Clone Wars the original trilogy couldn't use because of effects limitations.

Lost in Time...And Found!

One of the problems with recording on film stock is that film tends to rot and burn if not properly cared for. As a result, a lot of classic early films and TV have been lost over the years. And unfortunately, Doctor Who is no exception.

Many of the early adventures starring the First and Second Doctors have gone lost thanks to mismanagement by the BBC. Including classic moments like the first time the Doctor met his long time friend and ally the Brigadier. But thanks to enterprising fans and historians, the search for remaining copies of these stories has never stopped. And their efforts have paid off.

Two copies of the Second Doctor stories The Web of Fear and The Enemy of the World have been found and restored. The BBC is releasing them on iTunes before an eventual DVD release, so check out the trailers below.

It's good to have found them

Happy October!

Ah, Fall is now upon us dear readers. The air is getting cooler, the nights are getting longer and all things horrific and monstrous are coming out of the woodwork. So to begin things here, I present master horror meister Guillermo Del Toro's couch gag for the latest Simpsons Treehouse of Horror.

So many wonderful and obscure references, see if you can catch them all!

The Big O Showtime: We Have Come to Terms

Going into The Big O, I wasn't sure what to expect. Most of what I knew focused on Batman parallels and the mind screwiness. But for something legendarily weird and confusing, I found it very easy to follow along. If you'd been paying attention anyway. But even besides watching the puzzle of Paradigm City unfold, I found the show very enjoyable. It had everything you could want. Memorable characters, fantastic music and good giant robot fights.

But let's be honest, it's the crazy mystery stuff that everyone remembers. And the thing that's most interesting to talk about. I've brought up Philip K Dick a few times in these articles, but this really feels like something he would write. Mostly because of the Gnostic themes and the determinism vs. free will stuff but also in the questioning of memory, distrust of large controlling organizations, and the humanity of machines. All of this gives the series a more sophisticated feel than most anime, that haven't explored these issues and themes in depth before.

I want this action figure so bad now

If nothing else, I have to thank this series for introducing to R Dorothy Wayneright. Admittedly, I am a sucker for emotionless robot girls but Dorothy quickly became my favorite character for just how much she went against the stereotype. Most robot girls, not just in anime, are only there for fanservice and comic relief. Most often as the butt of jokes. But kudos to the writers for taking the high ground with Dorothy, making her a character in her own right and using Roger as the butt of her jokes. That's another great thing about her, Dorothy's snarky as hell. I'm also glad they didn't put her into a romantic relationship with Roger as it would have felt cliche. Platonic relationships between men and women are rare in fiction, and even more rare between older men and younger women, so it was a welcome change that Roger and Dorothy were always on an equal level with each other and had a love for each other. It just wasn't a romantic love. Their relationship was made clear in Episode 18 when Dorothy had to rescue Roger from Beck, the same thing he did for her back in the first episode. Honestly I could write a whole essay on why Dorothy is awesome. But we have other things to talk about.

I mentioned that the show has a lot of Gnostic themes to it, so I suppose I ought to explain what Gnosticism is. Have you seen The Matrix? Okay, then you've got the gist of Gnosticism. The basic idea is that reality is actually an illusion and humans should strive for enlightenment (called Gnosis) and escape the false reality. That false reality is controlled by a being called the Demiurge, who thinks he is the one true god (he isn't, he was created by another supreme being) and exercises his will over the illusion to keep humanity trapped. By the way, the Demiurge is usually seen as the monotheistic Judeo-Christian God, that'll be important later.

The Big O Showtime: The Show Must Go On

And with that, we have come to terms. This was a hell of a finale, resolving the remaining mysteries and bring closure to our characters. Not to mention delivering the requisite giant robot action as well. It's kind of amazing how fitting this last episode is.

Things begin with Big O and Big Fau staring each other down. The fight begins but Big Fau sidelines Big O's attacks with a forcefield. Nothing Roger can throw at Big Fau seems to have any effect. But Rosewater isn't content with that, ordering the military police to target Big O. Dastun arrives at the scene and is disgusted with this, after all the times Big O has saved the city they're going to attack him. He's informed by some douchey higher-up that the military police exist to serve the new order, Rosewater's order. And with that, Dastun rips off his badge and abandons the cops. He steals a tank and goes to help Roger.

Epic Staredown! 

This is certainly the culmination of Dastun's arc. All series he's tried to the best he can for the people of Paradigm but was constrained by Paradigm Group or upstaged by Roger. He resolved his issue with Roger back in Episode 21 when he decided that he would protect the people while Roger dealt with the attacking force, only for that too to be hampered by internal policy in Rosewater's endgame. Quitting the force shows Dastun is more dedicated to his principles and purpose than to upholding Paradigm Group's law. This actually inspires his men as they too all quit and fire on Big Fau.

Back in the fight, Big Fau is still winning. He cracks Big O's neck exposing Roger's cockpit and then drags him to the edge of the ocean. Dastun's tankfire distracts him for a moment allowing Roger to pull Rosewater into the ocean with him. But apparently Big Fau was designed to operate underwater, and he escapes leaving Big O to sink to the bottom.

Norman, have you seen my brain anywhere?

I promised I'd talk about Rosewater, so let's do it. Like everyone else who pilots a Big, he's a foil for Roger. We can see this visually (Roger wears black, Rosewater wears white) and they're thematic foils as well. Like I said last episode, Rosewater discovers he's another tomato but doesn't accept it. He's still operating under the delusion that he's Gordon's only child and the true dominus of megadeus. He cannot accept reality and so seeks to remake it according to his will. Anything that stands in the way has to be destroyed. Roger, on the other hand, had the same revelation but was able to accept it. His existential foundation was pulled out from under him but he was able to continue on. It all goes back to the recurring idea of accepting who you are now. Rosewater has always seen himself as the Heir to Paradigm, the true dominus of megadeus so anything that contradicts that must be false (to him) and will not detract him from what he sees as his destiny. Roger has no memories and has never questioned who he used to be, he always acts in the present. So when he's revealed as a tomato, it doesn't affect him as much. He knows he who is now and that's all that matters.

There's also a class element at play. At the beginning of the fight, Roger tells Rosewater to feel the people's fury meaning he represents the common people. This gels with what we've seen before. Roger has often worked for people outside the domes and shown contempt for those who live in them. He himself lives outside the domes, shows respect to everyone, human or android, and never talks down to his employees. Hell, one of Roger's best friends is the robot Instro and robots have only been shown as subservient in the setting. Rosewater represents the rich. He's the feudal lord of Paradigm, living in luxury and exercising his will on the people. He has no friends, just pawns. Rosewater only acts selfishly and puts himself above, literally saying he's a god. This dichotomy can be seen clearly in the scenes showing the repairs of the two's respective Bigs. Rosewater is above his workers, watching them work and treating Beck, the one responsible for the repairs, like a dog bringing back a frisbee. But for Big O, Norman is down working with others to repair him and Roger is out trying to save the day. One is using people to build an oppressive weapon, the other has people volunteering to rebuild their defender.

The Big O Showtime: The War of Paradigm City

Holy mother of...

Am I really that good at guessing things?

I'm getting ahead of myself, but we got answers. Oh boy, did we get answers.

Again, things start off right where we left them. Dastun is confronting what looks like his younger self in a movie theater, Angel is having an existential crisis in a studio she found underground, and Roger is racing off to get Dorothy's brain back from Rosewater. Then the bombing starts. Yes, the Union's air force has (apparently) finally arrived and are carrying out their campaign of destroying Paradigm City. Shit's being destroyed all over the place, Roger ends up falling into a giant hole and we get our first mind screw of the episode. We cut to Big Duo, still flying straight into the sky, while Schwarzwald gives one last bit of cryptic info, that the power of god has been chained by men too small-minded to use it properly. Then Big Duo crashes into a giant stage light. We'll come back to that.

Somewhere, The Doctor is dancing.

 Rosewater meanwhile seems rather excited about the arrival of death from above, as he activates Big Fau and begins shooting laser beams into the sky. He even orders the military police to do the same. This where Rosewater is finally putting his plan into action. He deliberately used the Union to build Big Fau, then betrayed them so they'd attack Paradigm where he would use Big Fau to stop them and become a hero. Then he'd leverage that into a cult of personality around himself and institute a new order with himself as its godly figurehead. That's actually a pretty good plan. Emperor Palpatine approves.

More of the religious subtext comes through here as well. Several people, including Rosewater, refer to these bombings as divine wrath and say things like "Judgement day has come". If that's the case, then Rosewater is setting himself up as a kind of messiah figure. He sees himself as Jesus in Armageddon. The son of God (Gordon Rosewater) with divine power (Big Fau, a megadeus) who will save the faithful (the people in the domes and presumably whoever accepts his new regime) while purging the world of sinners (everybody else). But before that can happen, the gray overcast clouds that have been hovering over Paradigm all series finally dissipate. Revealing the giant stage lights for everyone to see. But we'll come back to that.

Fair warning, shit's about to get weird....

The Big O Showtime: The Big Fight

Don't be fooled, the fight is only the first third of the episode.

No screwing around, we start right where we left off. Dorothy's been kidnapped by Beck but before Roger can chase after her in Big O, Big Duo appeared. Its pilot unknown. Roger even wonders who's piloting it, briefly even considering Schwarzwald who's supposed to be dead. He's actually kind of right, but we'll get to that. After getting his ass kicked around, Big Duo's pilot is actually revealed to be Alan Gabriel. He's been wired into the megadeus so Big Duo is effectively his body now and this had the side effect of letting him go totally bonkers, dropping his suave murderous mystery and laughing his head off at the prospect of killing Roger. Big Duo has even been fitted with spinning drill hands to match Gabriel's own.

If nothing else, we've learned that
Crispin Freeman could play a pretty good Joker

You know, it seems like every person who pilots a Big becomes a foil for Roger in some way and Alan Gabriel is no exception. Besides the obvious (Roger uses Big O to defend people, Alan is just using Big Duo to kill Roger) it's shown in their approaches to piloting. Roger and Big O have a mutual trust, they have each other's interests in mind and share similar goals, so neither has to worry about the other being in control. Alan Gabriel on the other hand, only sees Big Duo as a tool he can use. He doesn't care about what Big Duo wants so has created a situation where only one can be in total control of their shared body. Which is what ultimately leads to his defeat. The two characters are also mirrored in their humanity and use of technology. Roger is completely human, but uses technology to further his goals. Very human goals of bringing resolution to conflicts and protecting people. Alan Gabriel is a murderer and a cyborg, he's forgone his humanity to become a better killing tool. While piloting Big Duo he says he hasn't felt this good since he stopped being completely human. So where Roger stays human and uses technology to his advantage, Alan has been consumed by it (literally as we'll see) and now is only an instrument for others to murder with. Not that he seems to mind.

There's no way to say "Boo!" in Nietzschean.

Getting back to the fight, Roger knocks Big Duo around for a while even gatling-gun fisting its head off. But I guess they patched the thing up pretty good because it takes the licking and keeps on ticking. At least at first. Before Alan Gabriel can move in for the kill, Big Duo freezes. Yeah, hooking a sentient robot up to your nervous system works both ways. Big Duo takes control and flies up into the sky, freaking out Alan. Not as much as Schwarzwald's ghost chewing him out for rejecting his humanity and misusing the megadeus though. No, I can't really explain that. If I had to guess I'd say some of Schwarzwald's personality leaked into Big Duo when he piloted him, but it's still a guess. Anyway, Big Duo flies off into the sky and Alan Gabriel is consumed by the very cables connecting him to the megadeus.

The Big O Showtime: Twisted Memories

Okay, so we're back to the old opening credits sequence. Why?

This episode feels much more downbeat than previous ones. There's a sense that this is the last lull before an explosive climax and all the characters are moving into position for the finale. Like the close of a second act and the beginning of the third. Where'd we leave our characters? Angel is still on the run from the cops, The Union has crumbled and Rosewater just needs one more thing to put his plan into action.

We pick up with Alan Gabriel reporting to Vera the Angry French Lady one last time. He informs her that Memories they're looking for don't actually exist, which would be a hell of a twist if it's true. She apparently does not like that answer though so they shoot each other. Meanwhile Roger is back at his place, contemplating the message Angel gave Dorothy for him. Something about he can't let the Union or Rosewater have the Memories. Roger says he understands but will need more info to negotiate, so goes to find Angel. He tries Dastun, but no luck. Here's what that "heading toward the climax" feeling shows, as Dastun says he and Roger should a drink together again when they have time. But the way they say it carries across that they know it won't happen. Staring at Angel's file also give Roger another panic attack about his brainwashing, but this doesn't amount to much besides him debating determinism vs. free will in the car. Though that is foreshadowing for later.

Old People of the Corn

But we have two other plots this episode, so let's not dally. Rosewater the Younger has gone to visit his dad, but it seems the old man has gone senile as he doesn't even recognize his son. This is an interesting scene for Rosewater the Younger, it's the first time we've seen him truly vulnerable. Anytime before he's been either the cool mastermind or the childish maniac, but here he seems very sad. He's trying to reach out to his father, a man he has great respect for to the point he took it personally when the Union tried to destroy his dad's city, and the man can only prattle about his harvest. Rosewater is heartbroken by this, but nonetheless hugs his dad and says he loves them. The Memory he's looking for is lost. Which makes it even more heartbreaking when he sets fire to the farm and leaves his dad to die. Initially I was confused by why he would do this, but thinking about it I figure that it plays into Rosewater's childishness. His daddy couldn't give him what he wants so he takes it out on what his dad loves. He'll justify it to himself, probably something about keeping his dad and his Memories safe from the Union, but it's actually just a selfish act. At least that's how I read it.

The Big O Showtime: Hydra

Hey new opening credits sequence! It's good, running down our main cast with clips of past episodes. And keeping the theme song thankfully. It's a little weird the new opening is being revealed this late in the run though. We only have four episodes left. Wouldn't it have made more sense to premiere it at the beginning of the season?

Today's episode begins sometime after the events of the last. Rosewater has been freed from Big Fau and is having the military police round up the members of the Union. Alan Gabriel is still his valet, apparently being a double agent for Rosewater in the Union. At any rate, Rosewater has invited Roger to lunch to show off his...toy of Big Fau. You know Rosewater, you proved how childish you really are last episode. You don't need to play with an actual toy of your giant robot to drive it home. But besides pulling a Cartman on Roger about having a better robot, Rosewater also gives some helpful exposition.

It's got three different missile launchers and a kung-fu grip
Suck it, Kyle!

According to him, he was using the Union to find all the pieces of Big Fau and promised them Memories in return. Because like I guessed, the world outside Paradigm sucks and they want them to rebuild. Rosewater was just lying to them though, never intending to give them Memories, so that's why they're pissed. It's also why he's having the police round them up. That's actually affecting Dastun. The few times we see him this episode, we can tell he's not happy about going all 1984 and dragging people into custody. But he really seems worried about what's going to happen to Angel. After their nice scene last episode where he saw much of himself in her, Dastun is straining against his new purpose. Breaking up this spy ring is already going against his wanting to protect people, but going after Angel would mean going after someone who's stuck in the same way he was because of their past. Which goes against the "be who you are now" attitude he just adopted.

Speaking of Angel, she's wandering the streets of Paradigm. She goes to Roger's place to find only Dorothy there. Angel apologizes to Dorothy for almost letting her get killed by Alan Gabriel and gives her a message for Roger. This scene is kind of unintentionally funny because Angel is pouring out her soul to Dorothy and all she does is respond with her usual flat monotone and emotionless face. Unintentional comedy aside, this just reinforces Angel's position. She's turned her back on the Union, betraying their cause so she can't go to them. Rosewater replaced her with Alan Gabriel and was only using her to begin with, so she can't go to him either. The only person she cares about and can help (and can help her) is Roger, and he's not there. The stoic android she almost let die is. No wonder she heads back out into the rain.

The Big O Showtime: The Third Big

I get the feeling that aren't going to be anymore breaks until the series is over because we end on another sort of cliffhanger. Not as intense as last time, but things are still up in the air.

Speaking of last time, the episode picks up right where we left off. With Dorothy about to be killed by Alan Gabriel and Roger stuck in a frozen Big O. Alex Rosewater is watching the latter unfold and makes an interesting comment about Roger being another rotten tomato. Tomato being the euphemism for Rosewater the Elder's Memory-implanted kids. So if there were other rotten tomatos, does that mean the Rosewaters tried to get somebody else to pilot a megadeus and it didn't work? Not further commented upon here, but it's an interesting note.

While you're down there, could you tie my shoe?

As for the other plot, Alan Gabriel is broadcasting his attempt at robocide over one of Roger's watches. Big O shows this to Roger and tells him (how is not explained) to leave him and go save Dorothy. So Big O puts himself in defense mode against the Union's megadeus and Roger heads off, Dastun in tow. Before they get there though, Dorothy is momentarily saved by Angel, who accuses Alan Gabriel of killing Dorothy out of his own sadism than to serve the Union. He just throws her own compromised loyalty in her face. And that's when Roger and Dastun arrive and kick Alan Gabriel's ass. You know for a guy built up as this psycho-killer, he's subdued pretty easily. But before Dastun can actually arrest or kill the bastard, another round of French National Choir causes him to depart.

This is where Dastun's sort of resentment toward Roger and Big O boils over. It's nothing big, he doesn't yell at Roger or anything, he just sort of gives up and acknowledges his own uselessness. Roger tries to cheer him up, saying he and the cops are there to help the people, but that somethings have to be left to him and Big O. Things just too big for the cops to handle. Huh, and I thought we lost the Batman angle somewhere. Because that could easily be applied to Batman and Commissioner Gordon. I really like this scene because it feels natural to the characters and an organic resolution to this thread. Dastun is a smart guy and a damn good cop, but he feels constrained. He wants to do so much more about the problems in Paradigm, but he can't. It's too big for him to handle.

The Big O Showtime: Stripes

Unfortunately Bill Murray and Harold Ramis do not appear this episode.

Well damn. That was a turning point. We get answers out the wazoo and new twists to keep things interesting. There's a lot to talk about this time so let's get to it.

50% off Memories! Only slightly bruised!

The Episode opens on Roger's recurring nightmare of the burning city with the Big megadeuses attacking it. You know, from the Season 1 finale? This is causing Roger no small amount of stress so he goes out to Rosewater the Elder's tomato farm dome for answers. Now back in the finale, Rosewater the Elder told Roger that dream was just bullshit implanted into certain children's minds, something from a book he wrote. I didn't believe him then, but now I do. The way he explains is that the burning city scene would create a plausible reason behind the Event, something so traumatic that people would want to forget it and not go looking for Memories about it. This is actually something I thought after Roger's New York experience back in the season premiere. That comes back later this episode too.

I had a terrible dream. I was a robot introducing anime
on Cartoon Network.

Roger apparently isn't holding together as well after that incident as I thought as his lack of introspection has now given way to existential panic. Rosewater the Elder tells him to not think about, going back to the idea of only worrying about what's in the here and now and not what happened in the past we've seen several times. That even being the attitude that broke Roger out of his Memory experience back in the premiere. But I guess Rosewater the Younger has rattled Roger too much with his talk of "Dominus of megadeus", so he can't do it. That's when he runs into Angel.

Angel isn't very helpful with his existential crisis, but she does inform us of what Rosewater the Younger's been up to. He's been visiting foreign countries outside of Paradigm for some unknown reason, gathering more megadeuses. This is really fascinating because up until now, it's been assumed that there was no world outside of Paradigm. Or at least nobody living out there, and that it was all destroyed in the Event. Well we assumed wrong because there are people out there. People with megadeuses. Which leads to the subplot of the episode...

The Big O Showtime: Eyewitness

The theme song has grown on me. I know I didn't like it at first, but as the series has gone on I've come to like it. I also didn't realize at first that it was an homage to Queen's awesome Flash Gordon theme. But yes, I like the theme song now.

DEAD OR ALIVE, YOU'RE COMING WITH ME

Why do I bring this up? Because again the episode didn't really give much to talk about. And this time it doesn't have parody to defend itself. The main plot is interesting and focuses on a background element of the setting that hasn't been deeply explored yet. But it all feels like setup for something bigger and comes across as hollow because of it.

At any rate, here's what's up this time. Robots are being destroyed all across Paradigm City by pipe bombs shot from a crossbow. Dastun is working the case when the Group sends down one of their Inspectors to advise him. A robot inspector named Freddy. This is actually a clever move on the writers part. Androids have been part of the background show from the beginning, and Dorothy has been a constant presence throughout, but aside from her and Instro we haven't really seen any other robots. Not counting megadeuses or the like. So devoting an episode to the robot subculture of Paradigm could provide some more fleshing out to the setting. Unfortunately, the writers don't take much advantage of this opportunity instead sticking to the show's usual mystery of the week format with some robot elements as set dressing.

The Big O Showtime: The Greatest Villain

I'm going to be honest with you readers, I don't have much to say about this episode. That's not because it's bad, it's quite entertaining in fact, but because it doesn't really give me anything to talk about. The stuff I usually spend paragraphs talking about; thematic resonance, storytelling techniques, crazy speculation, yeah there's none of that in this episode. But that's quite deliberate because this episode is a parody of the show.

I have an afro now.
Because the Japanese find afros hilarious for some reason.

And at the center of it all is Beck. Yes, Beck comes back again. I've already gone on about how much I love Beck the last time he showed up, but somehow the show has made more pathetic. His plot this time is motivated not by greed, but by revenge. He and his beatnik goons kidnap Roger and build a robot copy of him to make Big O fall in the ocean. But it doesn't work. Then Dorothy shows up to rescue Roger and makes quick work of Beck. Then they ignore him while he villain monologues. That's got to hurt. That could be this episode in a nutshell. Beck does something semi-impressive, but nobody takes him seriously enough to notice or care.

I'd say this looks like something out of Power Rangers,
but that'd be insulting to Power Rangers.

Somehow Beck's animation has gotten even more exaggerated than before. He and his goons were already more cartoony than everyone else, but this episode they stretch and move to such a ridiculous degree it's almost like they stepped out of a Looney Tunes short. Watching the episode you can tell the animators are making fun of themselves. Beck's final weapon is a combining mecha with flashing kanji and an overly-long transformation sequence. Then Big O destroys it with one blast of its gatling gun fist. Oh, and the climax happens inside one of the domes modeled after Japan. So we have a mecha showdown in a Japanese setting. You can see the animators are having fun ribbing the genre and it gets funnier considering Big O is nowhere near the typical mecha anime.

Just one more thing about Beck. He had Memory reveal after getting struck by lightning escaping prison. So now he calls Roger a Dominus and knows a little about how megadeuses work. Not that it helps him much, he still gets his ass handed to him. Leave it to Beck to have something that drives most people crazy just make him a bigger loser. So yeah, not much to write about this time. But it's still a hilarious episode if you've been following the show. Especially the running gag about Roger sleeping late and Dorothy's piano playing which sets up the final punchline.

The Big O Showtime: Leviathan

Schwarzwald plays a big part this episode and he's one of the few recurring characters I haven't really looked at beyond his plot function. And he's only become more interesting now that we've seen some of the same things that drove him crazy. Initially he seemed pretty flat, the cliched "Gone mad from the revelation" person who now is wreaking havoc while spouting pseudo-psychological babble. But now that we've been looking into some of that mysterious past, his ramblings now actually have some weight. Schwarzwald's piloting a Big before also sets him up as a foil to Roger. We can see this not only visually, Roger wears sharp, clean suits with a flawless face whereas Schwarzwald wears dirty, torn clothes and covers his face with bandages, but also in attitude. The season opener re-affirmed Roger's feeling that it doesn't matter what the actual truth is or who he used to be before the Event. He's Roger Smith now and now is all that matters. Schwarzwald on the other hand is searching for that truth and what happened before the event. And that truth broke him. Who he is now doesn't matter, because now is a lie. He rejects who he's supposed to be now because to do so would be rejecting the truth. Michael Seebach is a lie, Schwarzwald is the truth.

This isn't as easy as Peter O' Toole made it look. 

Now to the actual episode. It begins with Schwarzwald wandering through a desert, buildings buried in the sand. In voiceover he gives another wackadoo monologue, but this one actually makes sense. It's about humanity's tendency to turn its back on things that scare it, to not accept fear, and how this stunts our growth. He says that without searching for the truth, without accepting fear, humanity can never leave the platonic cave. Or something to that effect. This is intercut with a montage of leaflets raining down on Paradigm, leaflets with his monologue printed on the back. On the front is a weird religious scene. With this title's episode, I think it's meant to be an illustration from the Book of Revelation.

Paradigm Group drags Roger in (with a nice Cowboy Bebop joke) telling him to take care of Schwarzwald permanently. Problem is, he disappeared after his rampage in Big Duo. Roger and Dastun mutually grouse to about it, with Dastun subtly hinting at his resentment to Roger. Hmmm...

The Big O Showtime: Day of the Advent

Today's episode begins with something crashing into Paradigm City. Given all the weird science we've seen on this show it could be anything, but the first theory that pops up is that it's an angel. Yes, an angel. At least that that's what the people outside the domes think, Paradigm Group showed up and Roswelled the thing away before anybody could get a good look at it. Roger is hired by an old Irishman with an albino granddaughter to go get it back because he believes it will bring them salvation from their memory-less hell. Roger, atheist that he is, doesn't believe for a second that what fell is actually an angel, much less that it'll bring anyone salvation. But he's a sucker for cute little girls so he takes the case anyway.

It was an angel!
Or my name isn't Seamus O'Reilly McFinnegan O'Brien!

This idea of the fallen object being an angel is fascinating. It was established back in Episode 11 that the Event wiped out religion in Paradigm, so there is this spiritual emptiness to the city. It makes sense that the people outside the domes, the poor and homeless, would start a spiritual cult. The lower class is traditionally the first to turn religion in times of crisis because their lives already suck. And start a cult they do with people dressing in angel robes, creating effigies, holding sermons, the whole shebang. They eagerly await the rest of the angel to descend. This is nice worldbuilding, because it reminds us of the wealth disparity in Paradigm and emphasizes what a miserable place it is outside the domes.

On top of that, it's also fascinating because of the religious symbolism the show likes to occasionally indulge in. We already have megadeus and titan as names for giant robots and kaiju, each with their own religious connotations, so what could the angel be? I wonder too if the choice to make Roger's client Irish (in the dub at least) was deliberate given the stereotype of the Irish as zealous Catholics. Because there is no Catholicism in Paradigm, his faith had to be transferred to something else and the fallen object was the first thing because Paradigm offered no alternative. Just thinking out loud there. The Irishman says the fallen object revealed a Memory to him and that's how he knows it's angel but we'll get back to that.

More after the jump,

Generic Future Armor Man, I mean Robocop trailer

I'm not someone who automatically hates remakes. Some remakes are very good. One of my favorite movies of all time is John Carpenter's The Thing, a remake. What I do hate is this recent glut of uninspired generic remakes of classic 80s sci-fi movies made for no other reason than name value. All they do is lessen the original.

Case in point, here's the trailer for the Robocop remake,



Feel my hate after the break,

The Big O Showtime: Negotiation with the Dead

Now this feels more like a traditional second season opener. We get reacquainted with our characters and the central premise of the show, follow up on dangling threads from the finale and introduce a new villain and conflict. And we get answers! Hosannah in the highest, we get answers!

Okay, so do you remember that old film star who was murdering Paradigm's founders? No? Read this. One of the survivors, Roscoe Fitzgerald, hires Roger to negotiate with the assassin who believes is after him now. But not the film star, he wants him to negotiate with Red Destiny. The Dorothy clone who was murdering people in the finale. Which leads to the reveal. Those people Red Destiny killed were believed to have Memories from before the Event, Memories they shouldn't have because they're too young. It was hinted that these Memories were implanted in children by Rosewater the Elder, including Roger, but Fitzgerald confirms it. But these weren't just any Memories, they were the Memories of the city founders.

I'm attempting to be adorable. Is it working?

Fitzgerald also calls the founders the film star killed "alter egos" implying their Memories are their true selves. Given the whole actor metaphor brought up last episode, this got me thinking. I said Memories exposed people to their fictional nature and drove them mad from the revelation. I took that on a meta level, but what if it's literal? What if Paradigm City is actually a huge performance piece and everyone is subconsciously playing a scripted role without even knowing it? Maybe Paradigm's founders knew they too would be affected by whatever the amnesia event was, so took measures to ensure their Memories would survive. That way, the knowledge of their fictional nature would be preserved in case of emergency. This is beginning to sound a lot like Dark City, and this show was already a lot like Dark City. 

Hit crazy speculation time early, but more after the jump,

The Big O Showtime: Roger The Wanderer

Before I start, a big shoutout to Paradigm City.com for providing the images in all these reviews. The most comprehensive Big O fansite on the web, check it out.

Season two starts right where we left off, with Roger engaged in combat with three strange megadeuses. All the while our supporting cast raise more questions about the setting and our mysterious protagonist. You know, how did he meet Big O? How do we know there are no people outside of Paradigm City? Is anything we know actually true? etc. etc. It's actually a pretty effective way to get us back into the show, reminding us of the core ideas of the show and reacquainting us with the cast. But things take a turn for the worse when one of the attacking megadeuses bites off Big O's damn arm. Before we know it, Big O is getting zapped with lightning bolts and Roger has a tomato-related freakout and he wakes up in... 40s New York?

GODDAMNIT, EVERY TIME I THINK I'VE FIGURED OUT THIS DAMN SHOW THEY THROW ME ANOTHER FUCKING CURVEBALL!!!!!!!!!!!

My god,  I'm not bitchin looking anymore!

At least Roger is as confused as I am. He has no idea how he got there or why he looks homeless. It's very disconcerting to see our usually well-dressed leading man looking like a bum all episode. He starts wandering around New York, only to find his house. It's a bank now, managed by Beck of all people. But Beck's not Beck, at least not the Beck we know. And he doesn't recognize Roger either. The same thing happens when he sees Dorothy, a human Dorothy!?!?, later who doesn't recognize him either.

Just what the hell is going on? Well, here's where things go post-modern.

The Big O Showtime: Season 2!

Yes, dear readers. After an unexpected lengthy hiatus, my look at the anime series The Big O will resume tomorrow. I'll be starting Season two, so now's the perfect time to catch up on my previous reviews. See you then!

A Dandy Guy in the space

So I was browsing Tumblr the other day (oh yeah, I have a tumblr now) and found this gif set. I had no idea what it was, I just thought it looked cool. A colorful retro-futuristic anime I'd never heard of and probably would never see.

Come two days later and I find out what it actually is. Those gifs are from the trailer to the upcoming anime Space Dandy. So there was a decent chance I would actually see it. And I got even more excited when I found out it's the new project of director Shinichiro Watanabe (creator of Cowboy Bebop) and Studio Bones (makers of lots of cool stuff). So score one for Tumblr I guess.

Here's the trailer.

Superman vs. The Spider

How many of you have heard of Superman Lives? It was going to be a Superman movie in the late 90s directed by Tim Burton and starring Nicolas Cage as Superman. Yes, that Nicolas Cage. By all accounts, you may have heard Kevin Smith talk about this, it would have been insane. With Superman in a black costume, not flying and fighting a giant spider created by Brainiac and his gay robot assistant.

Unfortunately, it was never made.

But, [adult swim]'s Jon Schnepp has Kickstarted a documentary about this legendary project and it now has a trailer.



I hope this gets a wide release because I'm really interested in finding out more about this bizarro not-movie. And however weird Superman Lives would have been, it still would have been better than Man of Steel.

Happy Birthday Ray Bradbury

The great storyteller passed away last year. I can think of no more fitting tribute.

The 20 Greatest Giant Robots Ever: Part 2

Title says it all so let's get on with it...

The 20 Greatest Giant Robots Ever: Part 1

All right. Time for the main event of Giant Robot Month. Title says it all so without further ado...

The 20 Greatest Giant Robots Ever

George Clooney steals art from Hitler

Monuments Men is a movie I've been looking forward to since I heard about it. It's the story of a group of American academics and art experts recruited by the US Army in WW2 to preserve important historical monuments from bombing and retrieve stolen art from the Nazis. Think The Da Vinci Code meets Inglorious Basterds. Here's the first trailer.



Digging it. The WW2 setting gives the story inherent drama and I like that our heroes are old guys and nerds instead of the usual beefy soldier guys. That gives the characters both humor and pathos. I also like that it has a sense of humor. A lot of war movies tend to be very dour, especially since Saving Private Ryan, so it's nice that this has a more pulpy adventure movie feel. Of course the actual movie could be nothing like that but it works in this trailer.

Thor: 1 Rock Monster: 0

Hey! New Thor: The Dark World trailer!



Thor is my favorite Avenger and this new trailer is making me really excited for his second movie. I like that the main plot seems to be an inverse of the last one. That was about Thor, Prince of Asgard having to adjust to small-town America whereas this one seems to be about rational Jane Foster of Earth adjusting to the grandeur of Asgard. That'll be a good way to keep things fresh and indulge in the big fantasy stuff you can do with Thor.

And unsurprisingly, we get a lot of Loki here. Tom Hiddleston has managed to turn a b-list Marvel villain into a fan-favorite so I don't begrudge the focus, but I hope the filmmakers don't forget he is a villain. Seems I shouldn't worry too much because every character already expects Loki's betrayal. That is straight out of the comics.

I'm disappointed we haven't seen more of Christopher Eccleston as Malekith the Accursed and his villain plan. The line "He's going to destroy all of reality" is worrying. Movies like this work better when the stakes are more personal, so giving Malekith the generic "I'm going to destroy everything because I'm evil" motivation could hurt the movie. But it's still early, so maybe we'll get some more idea of a plot closer to release.

Site Update: 08/07/13

Sorry about the lack of updates recently. My schedule has been out of my control thanks to work so regular posting has suffered. Things will resume as normal soon.

But rest assured The Wordsmith is as Serial as ever. And just because July has come and gone, don't think Giant Robot Month is over. More mecha goodness is on the way, with Big O Showtime Season 2 leading the way.

In addition, I'm now on Twitter and Tumblr. Keep up with the latest from me at @SerialWordsmith and  Beyond Your Wildest Imagination.

Keep watching this spot dear readers. More to come as always.

The Big O Showtime: R-D

And with that we come to the end of the first season. A little is revealed, but more questions are raised.

This was a really interesting episode for a season finale. It felt really low-key and unlike any other episode we've had so far. And it mainly focused on Roger. That is weird in and of itself because our protagonist has actually been the focus of any episode so far. Yeah he's been involved and moves the plot of each episode forward, but those plots haven't actually been about him. That wouldn't be strange for an episodic private detective show like this, but this show has made it a point of bringing up Roger's lack of introspection. So Roger has remained a bit aloof and mysterious to us the audience.

It turns out Roger was part of some kind of weird child brainwashing experiment that implanted Memories into prepubescent kids. So part of this episode is Roger going all Total Recall, looking into a past he doesn't really remember and may not have even been true to begin with. He keeps having these flashbacks of a city in flames stalked by magadeuses, including Big O and Big Duo. These look very similar to his freak out back in Episode 4 when he descended into the undercity. His investigation leads him out to Gordon Rosewater, City founder and guy who ran the experiment. According to Rosewater, they did the experiment to preserve the Memories an eventually recreate pre-Event society.

This is pretty clever and goes a long way to explaining Roger's character. His past is very traumatic and ontologically questionable, so it makes sense that he wouldn't really focus on it. And his attitude to Angel in Episode 7 makes more sense now too. Being part of an experiment, probably against his will, to preserve Memories and recreate a destroyed society would most likely sour Roger on people working to restore the past. Having seen the lengths these people will go to, he can't support it. Better to leave it behind and move forward, at least for him.

The Big O Showtime: Enemy is Another Big!

Well fuck me. Major revelations this episode along with the return of a villain.

So first of all, Schwarzwald is back. I thought he was crushed under rubble all the way back in Episode 4. But having dug his way out, his plan is now clear. Schwarzwald wants to reveal to everybody just what happened 40 years ago. Drive everybody as crazy as he is with the truth. The guy comes across like a religious zealot, spreading the glory of his cause. Whether people want it or not. This is exemplified by the scene of his masquerade party, a bunch of the city's elite are there so he can basically set fire to them. Also drug them I think because they all act intoxicated.

Big Duo

Helping him is his megadeus. Yeah, he's got a megadeus now. A megadeus related to Big O called Big Duo. Holy Shit. So far Big O has been unique, even among other megadeuses, in that Big O can be piloted. There have been other piloted giant robots but those weren't megadeuses. So what the hell is Big Duo? Big O's brother? Even their cockpits look similar. Big Duo also seems more powerful than Big O, because he manhandles Big O without much problem and Big O has to crater a city to get a leg up on him. But that's before the bigger reveal, Big Duo can move on its own. It was letting Schwarzwald control it.

This raises so many questions. Can all the megadeuses do this? Just the Bigs? Why did Big Duo let Schwarzwald control it? And why does Big O let Roger control it? I'm starting to think the Bigs might have had something to do with the Event 40 years ago. It might explain how the hell Schwarzwald found one under the city. But I'm not really sure what to makes of this yet. Except are there more Bigs out there?

The Big O Showtime: Daemonseed

Hey, a Christmas episode! Okay they call it "Heaven's Day", but it's totally Christmas. See, they've got trees and everything.

What the hell's that cross thing?

This is actually a neat bit of world building. Holidays can tell us a lot about the culture that celebrates them and I'm surprised when writers don't use this trope more often. Here it establishes more about how weird of a place Paradigm City is. Rosewater confirms that Heaven's Day is a corruption of Christmas, so the citizens of Paradigm don't practice Christianity or even seem to know what it is. A character points out a ruined church later, saying the elderly gather there to sing songs, but nobody knows what the hell they're singing about. Neither do the elderly apparently, just doing it as an echo of their memories. I wonder if this was deliberate by the founders before the Event 40 years ago. We know there was a lot of crazy mad science going on before the Event, and the undercity from Episode 4 had a very City of the Future/Venture Compound look to it. I wonder if, going off my theory that Paradigm City was built as refuge for whatever the Event was, it wasn't also some kind of research center and/or social engineering experiment. Sort of like what the DHARMA Initiative was doing on the Island in Lost.

Like the founders were trying to weed out what they considered a hindrance in human behavior (religion or just Christianity) but realized the value of yearly societal rituals so re-worked them to serve their own purposes. Just a guess, I might be completely off base here. That mad science is our plot catalyst again, as a Memory crazed Santa slips a street musician some kind of mutant seed that's going to destroy the city. All it does is grow a big Christmas tree though. That's actually kind of funny because this giant tree starts growing and Roger calls Big O. But what's his giant robot going to do to a tree? It's a tree, it's not like you can punch a tree.

The Big O Showtime: Winter Night Phantom

Really great stand-alone episode this time, focusing on a character we know but don't know much about.

Dastun has a recurring dream (or memory?) of a woman getting shot on a pier by a policeman and then dying in his arms. It's actually interfering with his current case, a series of bombings on retired city officials. Not helped by him seeing the woman from his dream at all the crime scenes.

It's nice to see some focus on Dastun. He's been mostly at the edges of the series so far, and we've only gotten an idea of his character so giving him some attention feels warranted by now. And he really shines here, trying to put his personal issue aside to focus on his job. Also having to deal with Paradigm's obstructive bureaucracy getting in the way. He's a man of integrity, who feels the weight of every life he could have saved. Roger barely appears this episode, mostly giving voice-over about Dastun and exposition, but it helps the episode. The voice-over lets us in on Dastun's character and we can see why he and Roger are friends, and why he's Roger's conduit with the police. Good character stuff.

The Big O Showtime: Beck Comes Back

Oh yes he does. I'm actually going to spend most of today's Showtime talking about Beck because he's our first real recurring villain and I just love the guy. Plus, there wasn't much world-building or story advancement this episode.

But I'll mention a few interesting things I noticed. Beck's plan involved kidnapping some rich guy's son, so Roger was called in to negotiate. And his plan is one I've never heard before, haggle. Yeah, Roger tells the rich guy to act like he doesn't care about his son to drive the ransom down. That's...actually a clever plan. You know the kidnappers won't kill him, he's the only thing they have to bargain with, so this might actually work.

How's my Riker beard?

Second thing is, it turns out the kidnapee isn't even the rich guy's son. See he's 40 years old, born right after the amnesia event, and his mother was already pregnant when the event happened. What I think happened, it's sort of unclear, is that the rich guy and the mom woke up in his mansion after the event and with no memories, fell in love with each other. That's a cool idea that comes organically from the setting. I wouldn't have thought of that.

And finally, Roger is treating Dorothy like a human. Beck screws her up again, he did something similar in Episode 2, and while she could be fixed so it wouldn't happen again the procedure would affect her memories. Roger tells Norman not to do it, as to spare Dorothy the pain of memory loss. It's a tiny thing but still speaks to Roger's character and gives Dorothy a funny line to close the episode. She's good at that. Now onto Beck.

Giant Robot Month: Destroy All Mutants!

Recently unveiled at San Diego Comic-Con, the first look at the villains of X-Men: Days of Future Past. At right, the head of one of the Sentinels. In case you didn't know, the Sentinels are giant robots designed to hunt down and kill mutants. They first appeared in X-Men #14 way back in 1965, created by Anti-Mutant anthropologist Bolivar Trask who'll be played by Peter Dinklage in the film.

I like the design. Retains enough of the classic Jack Kirby design like the orange eyes, but made plausibly realistic looking. I'm a little sad they lack the iconic Sentinel face but it may be too early to dismay. Several propaganda posters showed at the same presentation revealed a more comics-faithful look for the robots. I'm also a little worried it's too small, this head is only about the size of a man's torso, but with the above about the face and the time-travel shenanigans involved with the story (Look up Days of Future Past for more) I think this may be a prototype Sentinel in the 70s-set past scenes and we'll see bigger, more faithful-looking Sentinels in the future parts of the story.

This flyer from the presentation seems to back up my theory, referring to this as a "Mark 1" Sentinel and celebrating Trask Industries' 50th Aniversary. From that, we can infer Trask has been making these robots for a while. Until we get more details on the movie, that's all I can guess for now. But you can be sure I'll bring up any news here.

The Big O Showtime: Missing Cat

My apologies for no new Showtime yesterday. My return from seeing Pacific Rim took longer than expected and I missed my deadline. But we're back now with an episode where Dorothy gets a kitty!

But before that, Dastun shows up at a crime scene where a millionaire has been killed by her dog. Her dog that's mutated into some kind of kaiju thing. Okay... Kitty Time!

Pacific Rim: A Review

It's awesome. What the hell did you think I'd say?

All right, I suppose I ought to go more in depth. Because Pacific Rim is awesome not just for the spectacle of giant robots fighting giant monsters, but for more less flashy reasons that make it an incredibly solid film and the best movie of its kind in a long time.