Marvel Monday: Everybody Loves Namor

In May of 1962 Marvel launched their second title exclusively taking place within the Marvelverse, and brought back a Golden Age hero, forever tying the Marvel universe into the Golden Age continuity.

And one of these comics actually was pretty good! Let's look at that one first.

Hulk smash preconceptions of comic book protagonists!

Apocryphail Phriday: Battletech The Animated Series

It was the 1990s. I had just beaten one of the greatest video games ever, Mechwarrior 2, set in 3057 during the war between Clan Wolf and Clan Jade Falcon. And then I saw the advertisement for this game, Battletech, set in the same universe. It was a tabletop wargame, and I liked wargames. After requesting the game, I received it for my sixteenth birthday. I found it a great game, but I wondered, why couldn't I play with the 'Mechs from the video games? Then I found out there were expanded rules for that.

I got the expanded rules. And then I got sourcebooks. I began to read the novels tied in with the wargame, and immersed myself in the rich universe of Battletech. Solaris: Multi-Player BattleTech Online on AOL and Gamestorm was my very first online multiplayer game. And, in 1998, I attended my very first Science Fiction convention with the express purpose of participating in their Battletech tournament. I placed third.

It was there that I became aware of Battletech: The Animated Series, a thirteen-episode one-season epic cartoon released by Saban in 1994. I found myself a copy, and watched eagerly, looking forward to animated adventures set in the world of what was, at the time, my favorite game.

You can guess how that went. This column is not called Apocryphail Phriday because the stuff I review is good, after all.

Jeffrey Rewrites Voyager: Time And Again

Oh Gene dammit, another time travel episode? The second one in a row? You mean that there has only been one non-time-travel episode thus far in Voyager, and that was the pilot?

At least this one wasn't written by Brannon Braga. Last week I fixed Parallax by essentially removing all time travel elements from the story. There is no way to do that with this one. The whole plot revolves around time travel, the Prime Directive, and Janeway screwing up.

Luckily, the whole episode turns out to be a dream. Er, I mean an alternate timeline that never happened. So none of it matters! I say luckily, because you don't want it to matter.

Let's try to fix that. Let's try to turn this episode, declared the worst episode of Season 1 by Star Trek Magazine, into an episode that you want to happen... and then fix the ending so it actually does.

Doctor Whosday: Message In A Bottle

In television parlance, a "Bottle Show" is a show that requires no new sets, and can be made for somewhat cheaper than a normal show. Fresh from their ordeal with the Daleks (as reviewed last week), the Doctor and company deserve a bit of a break, and so they are sent into a two-episode Bottle Show normally referred to as "The Edge of Destruction."

Obviously not actual dialog. In the show, Ian is more of a Jem fan.

The plot of this two-parter is not the greatest. It's got plot holes, a lot of twists that aren't really ever explained, and a conclusion that seems unsatisfying and petty. But the plot is almost incidental. The real joy of this serial is seeing our regular cast cooped up inside a TARDIS plagued by mysterious malfunctions, forced to deal with their tensions and develop as a group. They enter as disparate, and often antagonistic characters. They unite as a team of heroes that will weather the next year together.

And all it took was them almost getting blown up.

Marvel Monday: Character Development Without Character

With the story of Henry Pym being just a one-off, March of 1962 saw only the Fantastic Four published in the Marvelverse. Issue #3 saw the introduction of a lot of Fantastic Four paraphernalia, and also saw the tensions between team members come to a head. If only they had done a single story that made me care about any of them. As always, you can get a non-critical synopsis of the issue over at the Marvel Wiki.

Sue made the uniforms, because woman's work and all that. After seeing them, Reed
suggests she could work for Dior. Lying to Sue keeps her from realizing she's a tool.

When last we left our intrepid heroes terrorists, they had been pardoned by the New York Police Department, who apparently can override the military in Marvel's mixed up topsy turvy universe. So, having escaped the consequences of their horrifically destructive actions, the Fantastic Four decide to spend their downtime taking in a stage magician's show.

Come Virtually Camp Writing With Me!

Since it's the weekend there are no new posts. But I did want to announce that I am insane.

Wait. Wait, no. I wanted to announce that in addition to doing this blog, I am going to try to write 50,000 words in a month as part of Camp NaNoWriMo. Which makes me insane.

I had a lot of fun doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) last November (and meeting my word goal as well, which was nice). So I figured I would do it again. If you would like to join me, you can sign up at the Camp NaNoWriMo Website. You can even request me, EvilWriter, as a virtual cabin-mate or a writing buddy!

Apocryphail Phriday: The Crystal Shard

Despite the title, there are no Gelflings. More's the pity.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful and pure and good-hearted person, but he was of a supernatural race that everyone feared. But all their prejudice was wrong, because he was really beautiful, and he had gorgeous eyes, and he was very strong, and a tireless protector of the innocent, and just the best at absolutely everything.

No, don't worry, I'm not reviewing Twilight.

No, this ridiculous Marty Stu is not an immortal vampire who nevertheless can wander around in the sun and is the very soul of purity despite being a creeper.

No, this one is a so-long-lived-he-may-as-well-be-immortal dark elf who nevertheless wanders around in the sun and is the very soul of purity despite being a psychopath.

We're delving deep into the Forgotten Realms today, examining the novel line that spun off from the popular Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game. Specifically, we're looking at R. A. Salvatore's "The Crystal Shard", which is the first appearance of his most well known creation: Edward Cullen.

I mean Drizzt Do'Urden. That's who I meant.

Jeffrey Rewrites Voyager: Parallax

The first episode of Voyager got the Starfleet and Maquis crews to the Delta Quadrant, established that they are on a journey home, and established that the mixed crew will have to work together. So obviously, the second episode has to show that tension, and it also has to highlight the two characters who were glossed over in the first episode, B'Elanna and the Doctor.

Which Parallax does... in a way that makes the Maquis seem completely unimportant by burying the central conflict between the crews, to only be brought out again occasionally. In addition, Parallax gives us our first taste of a problem that only got worse and worse as the seasons wore on: Janeway, the evil megalomaniacal star tyrant.

Now keep in mind, in my rewritten universe Chakotay and the Maquis are still in their old uniforms, and Chakotay is not just Janeway's lapdog. You may want to refresh your memory by looking at last week's post.

Jeffrey's Tube 1.1!

I'm just making some minor changes here at the Jeffrey's Tube. I have decided to make comments separate from G+ accounts, as a courtesy to everyone reading who might not have or want a G+ account.

Also, I have moved "Jeffrey Rewrites Voyager" to Thursdays instead of Wednesdays. Which means at the moment there are no posts on Wednesdays. But don't worry! Your normally scheduled "Jeffrey Rewrites Voyager" will show up tomorrow, with Parallax.

In the meantime, guess what I'm reviewing for the next Apocryphail Phriday!

The horror... the horror...

Doctor Whosday: Nazis vs. Aryans

Looking back, the Daleks really are perfect sci-fi villains. They are unashamedly evil, completely duplicitous, obsessed with exterminating anything that isn't Dalek, and based on the Nazis. How could villains based on the Nazis fail?

Pictured: The greatest terror known to Britain.

Indeed, the second Doctor Who serial, generally known as "The Daleks", was the beginning of Doctor Who's massive popularity. It turns out the things which frighten children the most are Nazi R2-D2s.

And the Daleks were Nazis. From their stilted, clipped voices (so reminiscent of the accents of "German" television and movie villains), to their advanced technology and mechanization, to their ideological desire to exterminate any and all beings different from their "purity", the Nazi overtones are obvious.

Marvel Monday: I Was A Teenage Ant-Man

After a difficult, but definitely ground-breaking start, there were no new Marvelverse comics in 1961. But they made up for it in January of 1962 by publishing not one, but two Marvelverse comics... although one would only become part of the Marvelverse retroactively.

I am speaking of Tales to Astonish #27, which introduces fandom's favorite punching bag, Henry Pym. Wait, what's that? Referring to Pym in any way that mentions punching, striking, or hitting is in incredibly poor taste? Okay then.

If I seem to be harping on this for a bit, it is only because, as a non-Marvel reader, Henry's wife-beating was practically all I knew about him before reading this. Oh sure, I'd seen him in some episodes of Saban's Avengers, but he was so bland in that rather bland cartoon that I cannot recall anything about him.

So in many ways, this is my first introduction to the character. And it is an odd one.

Apocryphail Phriday: The Crystal Star

Worse than Hitler. Apparently. According to fan sites.

While doing a bit of research for today's Apocryphail, I discovered an odd thing. Apparently The Crystal Star is perhaps the most hated Star Wars novel of all time.

That annoyed me. I had wanted to save the worst Star Wars novels of all time for a few weeks. I remembered reading The Crystal Star as a kid, and I did not like it much, but it was nothing near the horror that was, say, the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy.

So what's the deal? Well, I read this book for the first time in well over a decade so that we could find out together.

Jeffrey Rewrites Voyager: Caretaker

How do you handle a two hour pilot? You have to showcase all your ensemble cast, have a gripping story that sets your series apart from its fellows, and seed a lot of stories for the future.

To be fair, Caretaker, the two-hour pilot of Star Trek: Voyager, does a decent job of this. Decent... but far from excellent. And the conclusion is just... ugh. And since this column is all about armchair quarterbacking anyway, let's go ahead and rewrite the pilot from a mediocre story, to a great Star Trek tale.

I am going to be jumping around a bit and discussing my rewrite thematically, rather than chronologically, so if you do not still carry the scars of Voyager permanently in your mind, you might want to brush up on the synopsis of Caretaker over at the Memory Alpha Wiki.

Doctor Whosday: Politics, Metaphor, and Unearthly Children

The beginning of the first political debate.

In 1963, one day after the assassination of President Kennedy, the BBC launched a new sci-fi show in its Saturday Afternoon slot that would forever change science fiction as we know it, and lead to hordes of screaming fangirls shouting things like "Allons-y!" and "Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey!" and pretending that fezzes are somehow cool.

Not that there are not screaming fanboys as well. Not that I would know anything about that (did you hear the latest rumors for Series 8 OHMIGAAAAAAWD!)

Marvel Monday: One Giant Leap for Comics, One Small Step for Art

A possibly slightly altered version of the original cover.

In November of 1961 a comic would be released that would change comics forever.

At least, that is what everyone has said since then. And to be fair, Fantastic Four #1 is a big step out of the golden age and into the modern age of comics. They fight with each other! They don't have secret identities! They fight with each other! They have complex relationships! Did I mention that they fight with each other?

Because these guys get along like Putin and the Ukraine. Hah! Topical humor! By the time I get to current Marvel Comics we can all look back and laugh at how dated that makes this blog.