Reviews

I can only assume the writers are running out of ideas. The karate / kung-fu "factoids" get weirder and more far-fetched every episode. Like "just imagine you have extra joints and your punch will break the sound barrier - but the air will smash yer hand up" - yeesh..

The whole cave-man plot that comes and goes is just totally silly - with some grade-school fantasy archeology attempt smeared over it.

Also - the plot of U. S. President's (obviously Obama in a very racist portrayal) kowtowing to Baki's dad because he is some super-duper martial artist is not just absurd but also shows some kind of Japanese nationalist jealousy - just a cheap shot.

They need to get back to the basics. How about different cultures martial weapons pitted against each other?

I was kinda enjoying this show - for the constant action - while sometimes hating it - until the Valentines Day episode. The "Jumped the Shark" term is not a sufficient description for how ridiculous this got. It seems like the writers are now trying to see how far they can push bad TV before getting a reaction (writer room "...No way they'll believe this crap!...Let's see?"). In this show Basset's cop character helps a despondent (but loony) woman who turns out to be psycho-the-valentine-killer and who wants to harvest Basset's "good heart", after dissecting and reassembling her last bad date. WHAT !?!? Aren't these actors completely embarrassed to be associated with this train wreck (did they do train wreck yet?)? This show is now beyond hope of defibrillation - just "call it" ....

Really had trouble getting through the first episode as it does not have a single cohesive idea thread running though it - it jumps all over the place. It is supposedly a (F)amily team cooking competition, but that was lost in the noise of: boring useless celebrity interviews, little side skits (i.e. punking his ex colleague), cooking tips from Gordon (the only part I liked) - plus the usual scolding of the team members cooking in the kitchen. There is no tension built out of the actual team competition like in GR's other shows. I can't believe this show will last long.

I just finished all five seasons of (The Adventures Of) "Merlin" on NetFlix streaming (thank you NetFlix !) and I will miss it. It is a fun, action-filled fantasy of the Arthurian Legend re-imagined from the perspective of the young Merlin learning his abilities and of his destiny.

I would say it is not quite a 'G' rating, perhaps more a PG-13 with the occasional genuinely scary costume or effect, a rather large portion of violence and death (not shown graphically), and Gwen's ever further exposed cleavage (a good LOL scene in 5.9 as she bends over sitting at the table "Arthur - you seem distracted"). Generally the "good" characters exhibit all the Arthurian family values you would expect without being too preachy with morality tales - more pure adventure tales.

I liked the building up of the Morgana / Merlin conflict of legend from a newly imagined starting point over the course of the last 3 seasons. My one complaint is we never quite, with the possible exception of the final two episodes, really see any significant sorcery from Merlin other than a few sparks and repelling the occasional arrow or attacker. I would have liked to see Merlin's magic build up to a peak by the end of the series, but it never seemed to.

An enjoyable series with a great set of well-acted characters, that perhaps left an opening for a spin-off ?

This is not at all bad for a low budget unadvertised Vamp flick. As others mentioned there was some effort put into the story to try and explain Vampire abilities - although it's pseudo-science, and the film throws in plenty of mysticism so defeats it's own explanations. At least they tried to be original and not just crank out the same old clichés.

The editing is not bad - not jumpy or with inexplicable transitions like some cheapies. The sets, effects, and acting are all better than many bigger budget flicks ("Queen of the Damned" - yikes !) that had no excuse. The photography and lighting are a bit poor, sometimes showing a grainy "video taped" look to it.

I watched in on Netflix streaming and didn't think it was a waste of time.

You may recognize (if you are an ancient computer nerd like me - or you like computer game trivia) the first line of one of the first computer text "adventure" games (technically called "Colossal Cave Adventure" http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/canon/Adventure.htm ). I found this mini-series a bit like one of those games, where the protagonist Joe Miller discovers the "magical" properties of objects and novel ways to use them partly by trial and error (getting slammed from the sky in Gallup NM a bunch of times) or by his own cleverness. I appreciated the fact that this series was more cerebral than a lot of the shoot-em-up scifi genre ("space opera" based).

Unlike some other reviews I thought this series was perfectly written, executed, and wrapped-up - with Joe's story basically finished, but the "door left open" (literally) for future story-lines.

Another great thing about this series concept, like Stargate or others, is that the premise allows for the story to wander into many wild new environs and circumstances since the objects are so varied in type and usage. So writing opportunities for this series are endless - and I hope we have not seen the end.

I might have liked to see more of the various "Cabals" and their philosophies and rituals explored - as that seems to mostly have occurred in the blog-o-sphere.

SciFy - bring back "The Lost Room" !!

I don't recall how i stumbled across this as I am not a rabid comic geek - but I am glad I did. It may be I was searching for other examples of "steampunk" (as I am a China Mieville fan) - of which this is to me a perfect example.

If you ever complained about overly predictable movies - this animation is not one. It is a wild ride from start to end with bizarre characters and story that you won't enjoy if you try too hard to analyze. So don't try too hard - just open your mind and enjoy the ride.

I loved the poncy voicing style which fit the characters and the dry humor perfectly ("permit me to say poppycock" "you may" "poppycock.."). I also loved the silly but very original little touches like the "remote control flapping lips" on the Lincoln picture when he "telephoned" SOH - the first avatar.

I enjoyed the pilot and thought C. Slater acted the hell out of it - with genuine startled appearance when for example SpyGuy shifted to HomeBody in the middle of a fierce fire-fight. I enjoyed the snippets of mixed in humor when cool-hand Edward effortlessly solves flustered Henry's domestic issues.

However - the last few times I tuned in I found the smirking cold blooded killing (regardless of motivation) by Edward to be too disturbing to redeem the plot. If that does not change soon and Edward display a bit of remorse and humanity - I would consider the shark jumped on this one.