Where are the Bothan Spies?!

I expect you have all seen Rouge One: A Star Wars story, if not….get out!

Seriously, leave now, go to the cinema and watch it! Also stop reading this, it’ll spoil the movie!

So, this movie is set between Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars IV: A New Hope. Actually the movie ends about 10 minutes before Episode IV starts, which is a nice touch.

The story introduces us to the start of the Rebel Alliance, while its been battling the Empire for a while, the Alliance is fragmented and disorganised. But rumors have reached them about a new weapon the Empire is building, The Death Star  (first iteration). The only plan they have to stop this weapon of mass destruction, is to seek out and kill the project lead, which just happens to be the main character, Jyn’s farther.

There are several fantastic characters, from K-2SO, voiced by Alan Tudy, a fantastically sarcastic reprogrammed Empire druid to Chirrut Îmwe, a almost budget man who still believes strongly in the force.

The pace is set well and tells the story of Jyn and the rise of the Rebel Alliance.  The effects are fantastic and I’m not convinced they didn’t do some cloning to get Peter Cushing in it!

The Empire

Rouge One

The use of Darth Vader was great and not over used. Plus it was great to see Carrie Fisher as the young Princess Leia, what a bookend to her career!

It also put to rest the biggest point of contention for the Star Wars movies, why have such a weakness in the weapon of mass destruction that would be so devastating for it! Well done chaps, hats off to the writers.

But, I have one issue…where are the Bothan Spies.  Yes the Bothan Spies, you know, the ones that died getting the Death Star plans, as mentioned in Episode IV!

So in short, a great film but slightly let down by them not paying attention to the source material! Hopefully they’ll learn for the Hans Solo movie!

Halo: part 1

Ok, so been a bit slack recently but I have a good reason; I really do!

I’ve been upgrading from Xbox 360 to Xbox One. This was driven by an overwhelming need to play Halo 5 (and the new Lego Avengers game). Oh… and I may have gotten the Master Chief Collection too.

I have been a huge fan of the Halo franchise since it started in 2001; following it through games, books and movies (but not the comics yet) and this has given me a great excuse to revisit the older games. Oh yes, after playing Halo 5 I was hooked all over again and went on to tank through the first 4 (5 if you include ODST).

The first Halo, released on 15th November 2001, was considered to be the forefather to modern 1st person shooters. It joined a story part way through, in which humanity had already been at war with the Covenant for 7 years and the game starts with a UNSC ship which has had to do an emergency jump for reasons unknown and is now up against a Covenant fleet orbiting a Ringworld. Our hero, a Spartan known as Master Chief, is sent on an epic Battle across the Ringworld guided by his Artificial Intelligence, Cortana. As the game progresses we learn that Halo is a weapon developed by the Forerunners to destroy the Flood (a parasitic lifeform) by wiping out their food source. The problem being that their food source is ALL sentient life in the Universe; hence the Halo Array must be destroyed. However, the Covenant believes that initiating the Halo Array will take them on the Great Journey and they are keen to get it started! Of course to add a little extra drama we discover that the Flood, safely contained on the facility… have escaped. I had forgotten how difficult this game is! You have to change your tactics very quickly, depending on the enemy you are facing. I’ve previously played it on the original Xbox and the Anniversary edition Xbox 360 and it has been an enjoyable challenge on every platform.

I then moved on to Halo 2. The last time I played this was after its release on 9 November 2004. So playing the revamped version was a…maz…ing! I particularly liked the addition of Spartan Locke from Halo 5, tying the earlier games to the new story arc. In my humble opinion, the second instalment is the weakest in the original trilogy (and I do say original trilogy for a reason!). However, this game started to introduce us to the wider Halo universe as you got to play as the Arbiter, one of the Covenant troops. While the Master Chief is in Halo 2, his is the secondary story, as the focus is on the fall of the Covenant. We see the Arbiter fall from grace, we begin to see the traditions of the Sangheili, and then we see the Arbiter triumphant rise to hero! The Prophets’ misunderstanding of the Halo rings is highlighted and an interesting conundrum is introduced, as the flood is shown to have spread beyond the Halo rings and begun infesting the galaxy. We meet the Gravemind; the central intelligence of the Flood. Our heroes are faced with the impossible task of trying to contain the Flood while also stopping the Covenant from firing the Halo Array believing this will take them on the Great Journey but in the process wiping all sentient life from the galaxy.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Halo 3 and ODST run simultaneously but tell very different stories. Halo ODST was originally planned to be Downloadable Content (DLC) for Halo 3, but Bungie later decided to release it as a stand-alone game. You play as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST); essentially a Marine that is dropped from space into a combat zone. The characters are not as strong or as powerful as Spartans and therefore the gameplay is vastly different. Further to this, the story is based in one city and you play parts of the total story through the eyes of different characters, building to the final reunion and escape. We start to see how powerful and secretive ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) can be. Your team of ODSTs are dropped into New Mombasa at the start of the Covenant invasion of Earth – but ONI drop them behind enemy lines. In this game we meet characters that become quite embedded in Halo Cannon, for example Buck, voiced by Nathan Fillion and a whole new Species known as the Engineers.

Halo 3 brings the original story to a conclusion, with the Covenant having invaded Earth and uncovered a further Halo relic in the hope of starting their Great (misguided) Journey. However the Great Schism, the civil war that started in Halo 2, has meant that the Sangheili are now fighting alongside the humans. The Flood has also arrived on the scene and Cortana, with Master Chief, is looking for a way to stop the Covenant firing the Halo Array whilst still needing to destroy the Flood. This game is a fantastic end to a brilliant story!

Of course, Bungie didn’t end it there. In their final instalment they went back to the origins of the Spartan Program; Reach. This tells us the story of Noble Team, who are tasked with delivering a computer A.I. to a ship during a massive invasion! This is the first time that we see Reach and we live through its fall. The ending of the game is fantastic. It falls in line with Cannon and leaves Master Chief as the only Spartan II left alive.

Join me next time for an in depth look at the books which began to expand the Halo universe into what it is today.

Interesting Halo related facts:

• After Halo: Reach Bungie left the franchise and, while they did originally create the characters and universe, Microsoft bought Bungie and the all their property. When Bungie bought themselves back, they no longer owned the Halo franchise and the mantel was passed to 343 Industries who would begin a whole new Saga.
• 343 Industries  were named after Guilty Spark 343 (an A.I. character in the original Halo which fell out with Master Chief after it tried to initiate the Halo Array)
• The search/help function on most Windows based phones, tablets and PCs is named after the A.I. Cortana
• Originally the First Halo was going to be a strategy game, like Halo Wars that came later in the franchise.
• The only other time we have seen Reach (apart from in Halo Reach!) was in the books. Halo: Reach is a great story with an amazing ending that ties up the loop and explains what was happening at the start of Halo with the UNSC emergency jump!

Marvel[ous] TV

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is expanding further this year. We have the continuing story of characters we know, which will introduce a new character in Captain America: Civil War, namely Black Panther, and a film later this year introducing Doctor Strange. All this is still the wind up to Avengers: Infinity War, a two part story which they have been building up to for a while now.

Further to this we have thief TV shows, which are part of this Universe. There is Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D, Daredevil and Jessica Jones and, to a lesser extent, Agent Carter.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D constantly refers to the movies and is heavily influenced by them, having massive plots that are tied to the events in the movies or building up to them. The others only nod to them, such as Daredevil and Jessica Jones, when they mention the events, but that’s about it.

However, I feel that Agent Carter is their one unnecessary extra, as this is more about the start of S.H.I.E.L.D, and I do not see how this will tie-in with the current MCU they have created.

I find that the shows made by and for Netflix are darker and grittier, but still are able to reference and build on the MCU, while the ones made by the networks feel like add-ons to promote the movies. This is proved further by fact that Netflix that that are planning spin-offs, The Punisher and one that focuses on Luke Cage and Iron Fist.

All this all started with the massive success of Daredevil, which showed you could have a slower story arc dealing into some of the darker aspects of the Marvel universe. The first series introduced us to the Kingpin, who was building an empire following the Chitari attack on New York, during Avengers Assemble. While his plans were only possible because of the attack, this was not referenced often.

This vague link to the MCU continued in Jessica Jones, where we were introduced to a woman who had given up being a superhero, due to her past actions. This is a more intimate story, as the villain is not after building an empire, just after revenge.

Both of these series tap into the question of what makes a hero, what sacrifices they must make. The recent Daredevil series posed the about vigilantes, successfully introducing the Punisher. I feel that Daredevil has done a fantastic job in letting us get to know and understand the drives of its heroes and villains alike, its a disturbing day when you feel sorry for the Kingpin. This also allows you to understand the Punishers motivation and how careful he is, so much so that you know when its a job done by him, or someone trying to frame him.

While I feel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is more an advert for the MCU movies, this does not detract greatly from the series. The latest series has begun to explain the Inhumans which, to be honest, needs to be done as they are very much like mutants, but Marvel cannot use this term or characters due to licencing. It has only been in this series that the series has started telling its own stories, growing the characters and making a villain you really dislike.

I really cannot wait to see how this TV based universe starts to impact on the movies, will we see the characters in the Avengers movies. I also am looking forward the expanding universe and what the new stories will bring, will they all be so dark?

War…[hur]… What is it Good for!

So, I take it you have heard of Civil War. You know, Captain America verses Ironman, yeah that’s the one. Well Civil War II will be here later this year.

You look shocked. But its true, the follow up to the 2006 comic series by writer Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven is set to kick off! This year Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez, Axel Alonso, and Tom Brevoort are running the show. Marvel has confirmed the following:

“A mysterious new Marvel character comes to the attention of the world, one who has the power to calculate the outcome of future events with a high degree of accuracy. This predictive power divides the Marvel heroes on how best to capitalize on this aggregated information, with Captain Marvel leading the charge to profile future crimes and attacks before they occur, and Iron Man adopting the position that the punishment cannot come before the crime.”

It’s no strange thing that they have done it this year, when the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is weighing in for the slug match of the year (hopefully).

So I thought I’d look back at the original 7 part run.

Arguably this is the Marvel event that set the bar for the others to follow. This puts the idea of superheroes requiring registration after a villain Nitro destroys several city blocks, including a school. It’s at this point that Tony Stark (aka Ironman) steps up as the poster boy for pro-registration.

Now its worth mentioning at this point, I have not been a fan of Captain America, he’s always seemed too clean cut. But he received kudos from me by his actions and showed me what he really stands for. As the events unfold there is a fantastic scene on the Helecarrier when he punches his way through S.H.E.I.L.D agents, jumping into the sky to land on a plane and essentially stealing it.

What he was standing for was the premise that heroes react to the dangers as they arise, while pro-registration states that the heroes should be accountable for their actions and damage they cause. The premise really divided the heroes and readers alike and argued for both sides.

The twist in the tale happened in Civil War #2, where Spiderman (at this point on the side of the Pro-Registration Act), revealed his secret identity to the world. This in itself caused controversy for Marvel fans and Marvel later found a way to reverse this decision. Things soon escalate as the Heroes War spills into the streets and the death of Goliath finally cementing both sides against each other

The Registration Act is passed and Captain America becomes a fugitive, along with all that help him. Reed Richards creates a prison in the Negative Zone, where they plan to take the un-registered heroes, but as they are having difficulty capturing them, they enroll super-villains to help. This causes further rips between the heroes and causing some Pro heroes to change sides. In the end, it is Captain America that calls an end to the war by surrendering, having seen too much destruction and death.

I particularly enjoyed The Punishers run in this when he started taking down villains in the confusion.

During all this, I actually fell in to Captain America’s camp against registration and was disappointed with Peter Parkers decision to join them, but this was very well played as his change in direction later in the story is very fitting with the character, who is always looking to do what is right.

This event impacted greatly on the Marvel universe, like no other really had and left deep scars that are still felt. Even with the Marvel event last year (Secret Wars) where there was a 5 part series continuing the story in a “what if” style.

Civil War kept inspiring other media after its completion in 2006 with the release of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 computer game in 2009.

Not only did this have far reaching consequences for the Marvel universe it also shone a light on two characters I previously dismissed as dull and uninteresting and proved they truly are more than I initially thought.

A list of the Marvel events from (and including Civil War) is listed below:

Civil War 2006-2007
World War Hulk 2007
Annihilation: Conquest 2007-2008
Secret Invasion 2008
War of Kings 2009
Siege 2010
Shadowland 2010
Chaos War 2010-2011
Fear Itself 2011
Schism 2011
Avengers vs X-Men 2012
Age of Ultron 2013
Infinity 2013
Original Sin 2014
Axis 2014
Secret Wars 2015-2016
Civil War II 2016

Monster Mash — geeksqueek

Hi, as you can gather, I am a geek and quite proud of it. I have been since before it was cool and, boy, did I suffer for it. So now I stand here, well more sit, as I’m currently typing, with a plan to throw my thoughts at you. To entertain and let you know what I think of things geeky. I won’t just be doing new stuff but also older stuff, you may find something you missed or wish to revisit. You may agree or disagree, it’s all cool, it’s only my opinion.
So, some time ago, I decided to treat myself to a movie. Whilst in the shop, I was torn between two movies; Transformers: Age of Extinction or Godzilla (you can see a theme here right). It was hard to make up my mind, I love Godzilla movies, I used to watch the old Japanese ones and the cartoon, with Godzookie. However, I was not too keen on the 90s movie (cool soundtrack mind you), but I persevered. The Transformers movies are ok, Dark of the Moon was awesome, and I had the three before it, so I thought, “ok, lets complete my collection”……..
Oops. I may have based that on the last movie alone!
I still have no idea what I watched. Whenever I think back to the movie, my expression changes to one of complete confusion as I still try to understand the scene where Optimus Prime convinces Grimlock to join him, by kicking the snot out of him. Seriously, what was he saying, was it just gibberish, why am I having flashbacks to the final speech of the Green Lantern (urrgh!).
Now, we all know the Transformers have been a mix of ok and passable. Transformers, good; Revenge of the Fallen, Micheal Bay “proving” he doesn’t need screen writers; Dark of the Moon, the best; Age of Extinction, what was that?!
So in short, I was greatly disappointed with my choice.
However, recently I got my hands on Godzilla. Now, I have heard that it’s not great and Godzilla looks “fat”, but to be honest I really enjoyed this movie. It was Godzilla of old. It doesn’t pretend that Godzilla likes or dislikes us. He turns up, takes on monsters, smashes a city, rests a bit then buggers off.
Job: Done.
This did get me to thinking of other massive monster movies of late. Such as Cloverfield, arguably the best of the bunch. This movie was kept secret so well, when you went to see it you had no idea what it was about, therefore you were with the characters, confused and trying to work it out. On watching it again (and again) its just a simple story with a monster. I really want to see 10 Coverfield Lane.
The Mist; fantastic. A claustrophobic movie, with well timed jump scares and a brilliantly, refreshingly, depressing ending.
Pacific Rim; a movie with no originality, a concept so ropey, I think it’s made of hemp. Characters so  two dimensional, I think they were drawn by a toddler and one who cannot talk without turning around to look dramatically at the camera with his eyebrow raised. Hence renamed Pacific Rim(job). Through this movie I kept pointing out anything taken from other films/tv series, such as Godzilla, Transformers, Power Rangers and Ben 10.
It’s not often I think this, but I picked the wrong movie at the time.
Gut, I will listen to you next time, I promise.