So I've recently gone through the entire series Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated again for kicks. I had gone through the entire series a while back and loved it then. Now upon rewatching it, I've come to appreciate it even more. While not entirely perfect, it's possibly the best interpretation of the characters we've seen to date. In an era where people consistently complain about Reboots, this is one done right. Where I think most people take issue with reboots is, that they take a beloved property that tend to be classics done right the first time, and then try to rehash the story. What this show does is, take a show that was never that deep or complex, and inject it with fleshed out characters and intricate storytelling. In other words, the bar wasn't that high to leap. That being said, the show wasn't just barely better, but this one actually tried. A ton of hard work and sweat went into this, so let's dive in to the show.

The Show

The series takes the classic set up of Scoob and the Gang, but sets them in the town of Crystal Cove while they are in high school. Right of the bat I have to say that usually taking something iconic and setting those characters in High School tends to be a bad thing (looking at you Gotham High concept art). The school stuff plays very little part in the series aside from the typical prom episode, so that may be why they never run that into the ground. The Gang for the most part is set in the town and all mysteries tend to take place within. For the most part, the convenience of this is set up really well.

This franchise is injected with a much appreciated dose of story. Instead of just settling for solving a mystery every episode, they have a mystery that runs throughout the course of the series that ties all the weird events in their town. It starts off as just a simple mystery of some missing kids and ramps up into something out of an HP Lovecraft story. A few bumps along the road, but I think the tension, intrigue and fleshed out characters make it worth those bumps. I know this came first, but it reminds me of something like Stranger Things.

The world building of this show seems like a love letter to all things horror, Scooby Doo and Hannah Barbara. The previous Mystery Inc (the group of mystery solvers before the Main Group), almost seem like jaded versions of what would happen if they Main Group broke up. The world has a certain asthetic which is a blend of 70's fashion but taking place in modern day. They also refrence things like Sealab 2020 (not 2021), Dyno Mutt, all those other Mystery Solving groups that copied the Scooby Doo formula,and much more.

The comedy in this show is *muah!* so good. This series is more aimed at older kids and adult fans of the franchise, since there is a lot of humor that some kids won't get. So many sex jokes, and even blatant sexist jokes (at the expense of men of course). Most of it stems from it's two best restructured characters, Velma and Fred, but I'll get to them in the character breakdowns. I also think that the show has a sense of self awareness and knows when to poke fun at itself, without it being too harsh.

The Characters

The show is halfway to a solid Reboot with it's great storytelling, now it's time to see if the characters are up to snuff. In order from Least to Best

Scooby & Shaggy: Probably the least changed out of the whole bunch. Scooby talks a bit more and more clearly than in other incarnations. Shaggy was dating Velma for a bit, but ended it for Scooby (what a twat). The end of that relationship was meant to contrast the growing romance between Daphne and Fred.

Daphne: When I started to get the idea for writing this review, I thought I was gonna come down on Daphne since she didn't seem all that interesting. She mostly clinged to Fred's arm and wanted his attention. After stewing over it for a bit, it has more to do with that they never went far enough into the tragedy of her character. She made for great comedic moments, but there was this ongoing theme of her being the least perfect daughter in the family, and struggling to maintain herself at all (she goes nuts for chocolate). Plus, I think something can be said about her being the most normal one in the group. I think if they had done an origin episode, it would have focused on her wanting to find a place where she belongs.

Fred: It's an amazing thing when dumbing down a character can actually be a positive thing. In previous incarnations (aside from maybe A Pup Named Scooby Doo), Fred is probably the most bland in the group. He's just a nice guy who makes traps. In this show, they take that up to 11 and now he's a clueless nice guy who loves traps. He's the kind of balance that I saw lacking in Daphne. Where he was still funny and likable, but there was a tragedy to his character.

Velma: The MVP of this series. If I was a chick, I would use her as my Avatar. Her level of wit brought a smile to my face. I even love how they gave her a tint of Jew, with her Oy's. She was basically Daria, but with a bit more joy in her. Shaggy, you messed up. I would have put a ring on that finger. While I would say that Fred in the series got the most development, Velma was the most funny. That being said, Velma was no weak link when it came to character development. She went on her own journey and as a skeptic faced a crisis of self when faced with actual supernatural elements.

The chemistry between these characters is also very solid. They can help each other when they are at their lowest, get mad and it'll be an issue for the group, or even bust each other's balls.

Some Fixes I Would Do

The show is far from perfect, but I do think it's set the bar pretty high. I can't imagine someone else doing this better, but for now I'm gonna look at some of the problems with the show.

Needed An Origin/Flesh Out Daphne- This is killing two birds with one stone. The show sets up that the reason these guys are friends, is because *redacted* wants them to be friends. I would have liked to have seen this play out in their first meet. I would have made Daphne the main focus of the episode, and show why she wants to be in this group. Play up the fact that her family hassles her all the time over not being perfect like them.

Some Motivations Make No Sense- At times it feels like the show doesn't put as much effort as to why the bad guys dress up. The show has written and tackled the villains from different angles and done them so well, so for them to drop the ball like this, feels like a flub up on their mostly spotless show. All one guy had to do was quit his job, but took to scaring .

Better Build Up To The Finale- So there's this character who turns out to know some stuff at the end. we had met him before, but the reveal came out of nowhere. Also, I would have preferred a better ending, than some power of love ending. The defeat could have been done a bit better.

Fred's "Dad"- I wanted to more development and effort put in to fixing the relationship between them. The way they did it lacked an emotional moment for me, even though they wanted to build it up as that.

What a Coincidence- There are times that certain items are found almost by shear luck. They are on this quest to find some keys. and some of them just appear out of nowhere to them.

Better Tone Management- Sometimes the shift in tone was very clunky. I'm also of the mindset that this should could have used a dash of more darkness. I think they could have played some of the moments a bit more straight, and the show still would have worked and the comedic moments would have stood out more.

Final Thoughts

Not much more I can say on this show. I think if you ever loved this franchise, and love horror, this is the show for you. It's Stranger Things meets Scooby Doo (a more accurate comparison would be Twin Peaks, but I never saw it). This show is a good blend of mystery, spookiness and comedy.

Rating- 8/10

Hackshaw Ridge is an other entry in the brilliantly crafted War movies department. This time around it's helmed by Spider-Man himself, Andrew Garfield and directed by award winning director and mean drunk, Mel Gibson. Mel shows Hollywood that his decade long hiatus hasn't weakened his directing abilities. This movie is possibly my favorite War (to be fair I haven't seen that many) and my favorite Mel Gibson directed piece. I barely was able to catch it on the first of this year, and I take it as a sign that this year will be a good one. After a year of major suckitude, this was a good way to start the year, and it left me not only emotionally satisfied, but it reinvigorated my faith a bit. I'm going to try and keep this a spoiler free and not give away emotional moments in the movie.

The Movie

To summarize the movie, it's about a World War 2 Veteran Desmond Doss who served as an Army Medic and saved 74 people while never firing a shot. All this is based entirely on a true events, and is a feel good story in what was one of the most horrific Wars we've ever encountered. What exactly drove this man to accomplish such a feat? Well, a combination of patriotism, trying to prove his worth as a man and his faith.

The movie follows Desmond's Journey from his childhood to the final battle. It properly sets up the stage for why he didn't want to kill anyone, but also why he wouldn't pick up a gun even for practice. While his religion plays a part as to why he won't do it, other key moments in his life also contribute to this. Which is a good thing in case you were worried that this movie would feel to preachy. It honestly never comes across that way, and Desmond Doss doesn't look down on his comrades for killing.

You get to see the conflict that arises when his fellow soldiers see him as a danger to them, and how Desmond takes it on the chin. He understand their anger, but he still will stay true to his convictions. His reasoning for why he did what he did, him taking the slings and arrows of his comrades and then actually going onto prove himself in battle are all what make Desmond an inspirational character. At a certain point in the movie, there were 3 parts in the span of 30 minutes that made me cry.

They also demonstrate things like PTSD very well with Desmond's Father, who is a broken man after being in the first World War. The horrors and violence on the battlefield, as well as to how determined the Japanese enemy was. There's a moment where you get to see the difference between the men coming from war and those going in. The lifeless stare on those men as well as how jaded the army medics had become. While Desmond took their advice on how to stay alive, he didn't let their negativity dissuade him from saving as many lives as he could.

This movie could have easily become a cliche "We didn't like you cus we didn't understand you, but now we like you" movie. But the slow build and the intensity before they got to the eventual apology from his superiors made that moment more meaningful. Everything in this movie was firing on all cylinders. The action, the comedy, the emotional moments and even the romance. Mel knew what he needed in it to keep it level. He even cut out moments of things that really happened because it would have ruined the flow of the movie and people wouldn't have believed it.

The Bad

Honestly, there's not much I can say is wrong with the movie. Only two things come to mind which is I would have liked to see him dealing with the backlash from his fellow soldiers a bit more. I think that part went by a little quick, but not by much. I also don't really get why he wouldn't shoot a gun, even for practice. I get the no killing thing, but the reason for him not picking up a gun still was a head scratcher. Maybe it's what really happened in real life, or maybe his religious convictions are that strong that even the thought of holding a gun and killing someone scare him, but just speaking on what I saw that moment was a bit undercooked.

Final Thoughts

This is the feel good movie of 2016 and possibly my favorite movie of that year. A motivational movie that will make you feel like you can take on anything. Mel Gibson didn't just trash a movie, but went onto make a bad one (*cough cough Snyder cough*), he backed it up with this. Go out and support this movie so we get more work like this from Gibson. In a screwed up world that's breaking down, why can't we have someone who's just trying to put it back together.

Rating- 10/10

So I've finally gotten around to seeing the new DC Animated series which has just barely premiered a few episodes in America (I believe it's up to 12 in the UK). There isn't much to go off, since it was only one long hour episode which is made up of 4 regular episodes (15 minute episodes). And considering it's more comedic tone and it being less story driven. Even with that one hour it's hard to fully gauge the series, since comedy is very subjective. Let's give it a whirl though.

The Show

This series seems to be a fusion of the original Justice League Unlimited, with some New 52 updates and following the tone of series like Brave and the Bold but a bit less campy. It'll be a nice contrast to the ultra dry and serious revival of Young Justice, and this show is mostly aimed at kids. The show will focus mainly on comedy and action (duh). The animation quality is an obvious downgrade from the old series or Young Justice, but it uses this to it's benefit. It makes up for the cheaper designs with more dynamic and intense action. I recall watching several episodes of Justice League, and the way most of the fights looks were very simple and unimaginative. Superman especially fought very blocky, no combos.

It's got the action part down, but what about the comedy? Well... that's hit or miss for me. At times I find myself chuckling at some jokes, other times they fall super flat. It honestly feels like they are throwing jokes at the wall and seeing what sticks. The storylines are entertaining enough, and are something akin to the old Saturday Morning Cartoons but with DC Easter eggs.

The Characters

"What about the characters?" You may ask. Well, for the most part the Trinity is solid enough, as well as some of the other characters. Most are put through a comedy filter, which is the most apparent when the usually Broody and Poetic Swamp Thing sounds like your Average Joe (voiced by Mark Hamill) and is even part of the Justice League. As I said before, this show is somewhat inspired by the New 52 and before some of you loose your shit and complain that they haven't got hip to Rebirth, this show has probably been in the works for 2 years and animation probably started a year ago. That's why the New 52 influence is still there and it's unlikely that Rebirth will have any affect on this since the circumstances (by which I mean terrible editorial) for that won't be in this show (*snickers silently*) . You can also take solace in that the New 52 effects are minimal and mostly only apparent in Superman and Wonder WOman.

Superman- I haven't seen much on him, but sometimes he'll be level headed and serious, in an other episode he was very cocky towards Batman.

Batman- He seems to be a focus in the episodes I saw or they glorify in other clips (like the Video Game episode). But in other episodes he'll be the but of a joke or the humor comes from the show being self aware and poking fun at things like "I am Batman!"

Wonder Woman- Extremely influenced by the New 52. She's very much a warrior who loves to fight, and not the diplomat some WW fans want her to be.

The show isn't going for character development, since most of them are probably where they want them to be. You're not going to see them as youngins growing and getting a hang of their powers. WW isn't new to Mans world and learning how to manage through it. I'm not stating this as a negative, I'm just saying that's not what they are going for. I can't comment much on the dynamics since they barely interacted and since the roster will change episode to episode, it's hard to say. Superman and Wonder Woman seem to be working together a lot.... cus they're together in this (*silently snickers*).

Overall Thoughts

Honestly.... I can't really form an opinion one way or the other with this show. Seems entertaining enough for kids, but it doesn't really have much to catch my eye. Maybe that'll change with the upcoming episodes, but this one hour of content hasn't swayed me that much. It's much better than CW Supergirl or BvS, that's for sure. The Action is top notch, but the comedy is eh, and the story is above average.

Rating- 6/10

A bit bored, so I kept thinking and kicking this idea around for a while. Call it dumb if you want, but I think it's neat. Now I wanna clarify, I'm not sure if this has been established or hinted at in one story so I'm not trying to copy anybody. Lord knows I've not exactly read on Pre 52 stuff or anything older than that. So let's begin

A Golden Beginning

Long before the Monitors and all the Crises, a much simpler time existed. In an era of depression, a mass of pure imagination lies in it, just waiting to be harnessed. This imagination starts to take form in a boy from a dead world. Hope and Justice fuel his very being and by merely being born and speaking, his presence still shakes through all of creation, even in realms separate from his. His power is raw and unfiltered, he can't do it alone. From him new beings arise to help him give this universe form. He needed someone to harness the darkness of his world, he needed someone who dwelled in it. He then realized he needed a woman's touch and someone to explore the realms of magic. Other disciples were born, but non higher than this Trinity of Creation.

Over time though, these beings started to get tired. While they had tried to limit themselves and bring order to creation, the imagination was still to pure and powerful. It is now when the created a new generation of heroes to take over.

Okay, bored

Enough of this artsy writing. I think you get the jist, Golden Age Superman the one that started it all is the true God of the DC universe. HIm, alongside the Trinity and his apostles are the Golden center of all of creation, and radiating from them is pure imagination which is then filtered better by the Silver Age and then the Bronze Age. Only beings like Mr. Mxy and maybe the Monitors (not entirely sure what purpose they serve but I guess they would), know something about the Golden Center or maybe they are what lies behind the Source Wall. Their Godship isn't so much about being able to control all existence, but much more like the power that Michael Demiurgos. Except that it's basically above beings like The One Above All or the Prescence, becuase their power is both so pure/overbearing but also meta.

In the End

Not my best work, but I' m tired and this would require more research than I'm willing to do. This would also find a way to be tied into that Alternate Rebirth pitch I said a while ago. So while maybe this pitch maybe didn't do it for you, would the notion of the Golden Age Superheroes or mainly Superman being the God/s of DC do anything for you? Yay or Nay? Comment Below.

Time for an other "spur of the moment" blog. This time I'll be tackling the comic book poison many people know as Scott Lobdell. People wonder why DC keeps giving him work at this point? Is it cus he's friend with powerful people? Is he charming?..... Is that rumor about him blackmailing Didio true? But, I digress. I can't say I know much about the man, aside from a few scandals. I hear he's done some good work on X-Men and Red Hood (I liked his work on that, sue me). For this blog in particular I'll be focusing on his Superman run in the New 52. As the title suggests, he did make some good contributions that would have worked better in the hands of more skilled writers. So let's take a look, at sometimes this clock was right.

Honorable Mentions

Doomsday Virus

Despite it being a weak event, the concept of Doomed wasn't entirely all that bad. Specifically how Doomsday latches onto a new host (heck, it gave us Doomzarro) . I can't give full credit to Lobdell, since it was a team effort, so I can't truly say for sure who came up with the entire idea, but some of the upgrades weren't that bad either. In the end, I can only speak as an aspiring writer, but there is a story that could have totally been told as a sequel to these events. Especially if you keep that sassy inner Doomsday we saw in the pages of SM/WW. Now for the real list

Rich JImmy

This was done by him but it's so minor and a personal taste thing. I think in the right hands this could be some character defining stuff. Personally. I prefer the Rich Kid who doesn't want anything to do with his parents or their money, so he bailed, as opposed to some random kid from a small town trying to make it big.

Krypton's Rough Past

This would be on the main list, but much like the Doomsday Virus, it's not entirely certain this was all him, and it's more about the implication of her words. In Byrne's run, the Kryptonians did come off as arrogant. This more implies that Kryptonians weren't well liked at all. You fuse both these things, and that's how I'd love to see the Kryptonians (relax, I don't mean Superman). Often at times, Kryptonians just feel like future humans, not very alien at all. If given a chance, I would make Kryptonian arrogance a major part of their history. Now for the real list...

3) H'el

Originally intended to be a Zod/Bizarro fusion, comes the New 52 Rogue H'El. He's at the bottom of the list for a reason, since I can't really talk that much about him, but he is a cool looking villain with some good motivations. I liked both origins he had, and thought the tragedy added some good motivation as a villain. He was smart and a powerful threat. Plus, you gotta admit. H'ell might be a cheesey name but it's pretty dope.

2) Teen Doom

This is the complete opposite of H'El. While H'El was superficially cool, but with very little to offer storywise, this is a horrid design but ripe with potential. Some may look at this book and all they see is Lobdell trying to write Peter Parker. but you gotta look deeper than that. Teen Doom is a character that I would have loved to see become a Part of the Superman Family, alas he'll most likely get swept under the rug. Similar to Pre 52 Superboy, who was part cloned from Lex's DNA, this has that same level of irony, except deadlier. The powers of the being who killed the Man of Steel, have now been passed onto a human. Even if this person has the best intentions, the rage can possibly overcome him and maybe it'll be too much for him to handle. Can Superman ever come to trust someone so dangerous? Superman's Family should be weird and all over the place, so Teen Doom definitely fits. IMO, this character could come to rival anyone on the Superman Family in terms of importance and what they bring to the table.

1) Modern Day Journalism

Now we're getting somewhere. This is probably the biggest thing Lobdell did that went criminally underused and then ignored by Geoff Johns just so he can return to the same old song and dance that is the Daily Planet. But before I loose my shit over the laziness that was Johns arc, let me explain. Things may get a big boring and technical, but it has to do with the state of the media. Lobdell had the idea to have Clark quit after the Daily Planet became less about telling the news and more about selling papers. This mirrors today's media in which it has become rampant with corruption, lack of ethics and sensationalism.

Okay, so no one is exactly reading Superman comics for the Day to day of a dying medium. Kids aren't opening up comics and shouting "F**K YEAH! NEWS!". That being said. it's still an integral part of the characters mythos, and it should be a subject he tackles. It should appall someone with a small town upbringing and possibly even someone who grew up wanting to be a journalist (in my head canon it should kinda be a factor as to why he still works there).

Here's where a lot of people get it wrong or dumb down the situation. When Clark quit, Cat Grant wanted to start a blog with Clark. Not bad, a humble way to start and fight the ma-PEOPLE LOST THEIR SHIT! It seems they stopped reading when the word Blog was mentioned. and they acted as if he was a hipster or trying to be edgy/cool (even the CV podcast said that). Clark isn't tweeting or trying to get famous. he just wants to be an honest journalist. Some of the biggest scoops and information getting out there has been done online by whistle blowers or online groups. If Clark put on an Guy Fawkes mask and told Metropolis about corruption in City Council, would that really make it better? It's not the execution that you should be focusing on, but the message.

There was so much that could have been done, and you could have easily made this into a huge journey for Clark. From roughing it, to making it big, to handling their new found fame, and maybe his eventual return to the DP. It's a classic tale of Man VS the Machine, while also changing up the dynamics for a bit. So, did Lobdell make it work?..... of course not. It felt like he forgot about it honestly, Soule did some stuff with it, as did Pak for like one issue, but for the most part it was either underused or he'd start something with it and then just forget to finish up the storyline. I can kinda get why Johns did what he did, but it was the lazy execution as well as his mediocre arc that made it all the more infuriating.

Whoooooo boy! That was a long segment for that last one. you can tell that's the one I'm most passionate about. I do wanna clarify that I don't think that Lobdell was a good writer, just simply saying that even he had some good ideas even though he failed with the execution. Anyway, that'll be all for this Blog. Hope you enjoy it and comment below!

I'm back for an other midnight blog, cus my Friday nights suck and I got nothing better to do. This time I'll be not rebooting, but redoing an episode of the Flash. Someone said it was a fan favorite, I think it was a pile of horse manure with zero creativity and was done just to save money. So if you like this episode.... you're wrong. Funnily enough, some may point to it being Kevin Smith's fault, but the dude just followed the script. It's not his fault that the writers must have been on shrooms when writing it. But I digress. I'm gonna keep this one short and sweet, since there's only so much you can do with an episode.

Why It Sucked

So as I stated before, I think this episode was disguised with the intention to be an emotional episode to save money. They rarely used effects and it consists mostly of Barry talking to the Speed Force. I get that they couldn't do the red spinning tornado or weird floating rock space dimension, but they put no effort or imagination into the Speed Force. Not just was it a creative snooze, but they showed the same level of world building that their Big Budget Brother, BvS, showed..... which is none. But maybe I should clarify better why this speed force sucked and later I'll say what I would have done.

The Speed Force in this episode doesn't feel like some weird powerful force, but rather a Guardian Angle that chose Barry. Not only does that feel lazy and uninteresting, but it doesn't mend well with the heavy Science roots of the show. They could have gone for some Meta Grant Morrison level craziness, but.....nope! Guardian Angel.

So like... Barry "died" and got sent to the SPeed Force. His friends are having a hard time with (IDK, I honestly forgot, but who cares?), and now Barry is a race against time to get back to them. So, how does Barry Get out of the SPeed Force? Does he have to fight an evil Flash? Does he have to beat the SPeed Force in a game? Or does- pep talk...... he got out cus he got a pep talk.....puck me right?

2 more minor things before I get to the Redo. An other issue I have with this, is that much like BvS, the failed to do some great world building and teasing of other possible threats in this episode. Maybe they tease a fight against Johnny QUick, or the Anti Monitor (obviously not soon), or like anything at all! The last thing that bugged me is a problem that I've been seing with this show and Arrow. This almost feels like it could have been two episodes before he has to come back. You spend one episode with the Star Labs guys fighting off a bad guy, then the next episode is all about Barry in the Speed force. Now, these writers lack the imagination to do two episodes, but anyone with some wit to them could have done two episodes easily.

RULES!

Okay, so to keep things interesting, I will be playing within set restrictions so that whatever I do could fit within the show. What happened before and what happened after (including season 3) will still happen. I will also try to keep the budget expenses low, so nothing super crazy and no epic battles. I will also try and make this all take place in the same episode as it did the show. Which is to say, that the Star Labs and Speed Force stuff take place in the same episode.

REDO!

The general idea stays the same. The main thing I wanted to change is how the Speed Force worked and set up things for later

Setting- The Speed Force still takes place in a desolate city with a reddish tint to everything. Barry sees no one and spends his time trying to find someone, all the while, his body is slowly starting to fade. Barry things he sees someone, but it's actually a Speed Demon (unoriginal name, but it's just a rough draft). Barry has no speed and is about to get slaughtered, until a man saves him by killing the Speed Demon and absorbing him. Barry looks at him and sees either the dude who plays his dad or Micheal Rosenbaum (who played Flash in JLTAS). It would probably have to be Micheal, since the dad is already playing Jay Garrick. Point is to make it a neat reference to something, cus FLash has been pretty good with this. But lets get back to the story part. So Lets call this guy, Speed SPirit. Speed Spirit breaks it down for Barry

A) The city he's in is created from Barry's mind. But little by little the city will start to break down and Barry will be absorbed into the Speed Force.

B) Speed Spirt is nothing more than the sum of particles and parts of the soul/memories of a speedster who uses the Speed Force. Get enough of those, and they may stay solid for a while. Depending on who's particles you get, depends on whether you'll be evil or good. SPeed Demons are basically made mostly of evil speedsters.

C) So Speed Spirit tells him that in order get out he's got to kill a massive Speed Demon or Spirit. SS would give himself up to Barry, but knows it wouldn't be enough. So Barry has got to go hunting for Speed Demons.

Little by little they keep hunting Speed Demons and Barry is getting some power back. It feels like it's been months. Barry has gotten to know SS and why SS can't get enough power for himself to leave. Barry also notices that the world he's in is still breaking down and he's running out of time. They fight one more horde of Speed Demons and Barry is just a few away from getting back home. At just that moment, the world has broken down so much and an army of SpeedDemons have broken in. They won't be able to fight them all, so SS gives him just enough power to get out of the Speed Force. They part ways, and the fate of SS is left unknown.

Ending- Barry learns a lot about the Speed Force, and has gotten to become a better conduit for it. He feels like he's been gone for months, when it's only been hours in the real world. Also, tons of references to Johnny Quick, since he likes to use the Speed Force to travel to other worlds and torture people since the Syndicate won't let him run wild on their Earth. A cool thing I would like to happen, is that Speed Spirit keeps changing appearance. Like maybe one minute he'll look like Micheal, the next like his Dad and the maybe an other time like an older Barry.

Welp! That's all I got. Tell me if you loved it.... or if you hated it! This has been an other Midnight Reboot!

So out of sheer boredom I've decided to do this Super Massive Review of Supergirl up until this moment. This is a show that has had its lows and it's highs. Is it worth the watch?..... eh. So let's not waste anymore time, time to take a dive into this pool of cheese and analyse this show.

First Impressions

So let's take a gander at the episode that started it all. Overall when I saw this episode, it wasn't as bad as the trailers made it seem. Sure it had it's problem, mostly stemming from the choice to make Jimmy a Smooth, Dark and Handsome, as well as some of the conveniences that took place over the episode. Mostly, I found her reasons for wanting to be a hero left much to be desired. It was harmless fun for the most part and since it was a pilot, I had hoped that the kinks would be worked out later on. Like with Constantine, the original chick who was going to be his sidekick, got written out at the end of the episode for the official airing. So I stayed with it....

One Season Later

Ho boy.... this show is cheesier than the state of Wisconsin. Now let me set this straight.... while the show isn't necessarily flawed for being cheesy, it's aspiration to tackle heavy subjects (it only gets worst in season 2) and built up to it's villains are what don't mix with it. The one off villains are fine enough and work within the world they live in, but something about the villains like General Lane, that Rich Dude (and his motivations) and the Knock Off Zod couple are just flat to watch. Each have their own issues

1. General Lane- Is total bore and a bad actor
2. Rich Dude- The way he converts and turns into a good guy at the end are bogus. He should have stayed a bad guy
3. Zod Couple- The Husband was a flat bore with generic motivations, while the drama with his Wife and her niece left no impact on me.

Just like Flash overdoes it with the pep talks, this show has these total BS "Moments of Hope", where Supergirl is trying to be inspirational or live up to her Cousin's Legacy. Now most of you are thinking "Saint, you just hate an Iconic Good Guy Superman, so you'd obviously hate moments of hope". Au Contraire, you just don't know what I'm referring to. Spoilers Ahead

Had it not been for them introducing Superman and the upcoming crossovers, I would just have dropped this series. Let's take a look at how Season 2 is

Take Two

If you wish to see a comedic Review I did on the Superman episodes, click here ---> My Reaction After Watching Supergirl. Honestly, I can't say that this show got any better this season. It doesn't help that the show has adopted a brand new flaw in the fact that it's gone Super Left. It feels at times that the writes want to push an agenda with Supergirl, either with Immigration, Gun Control or in it's obvious endorsement of Hilary CLinton with their own female President. It doesn't help that Supergirl in one episode gives a hope speech tackling a hard subject, but goes on to give no alternative, which only helped to prove the villains point.

Her Supporting Cast has also been dismantled. Jimmy and her broke up, they have no idea what to do with the Gay Best Friend dude, and Cat Grant has left the show. While I would say that her Supporting Cast has been the weakest out of any of these DCTV shows, that doesn't mean they should just fall by the wayside. At least have the decency to replace them with something better.

....But

The show isn't complete and utter dog crap. It's a hard watch sure, but there have been some enjoyable moments.

Melissa Benoist- She carries this show. I agree with some people that this is a pretty bland incarnation of Supergirl and they've just made her a Clark Kent clone, but her charm and cuteness do make you ignore that... a bit.

Action- For a TV show, the show's action can sometimes impress me.

The Cheese- Sometimes it works.

Cat Grant- I would have liked for her to find out Kara was Supergirl, but Cat does provide the best comedic moments in the entire show. It's not her fault that in the final episodes she sucked, everyone did.

Her Lost Dad- The mystery about Supergirl's Earth Dead is interesting

Season 2 Story- The story arc of this season is a big improvement over the last one. I just wish it didn't feel like it had a political agenda.

The Flash Episode- Probably the best episode, and it makes me mad that they won't fuse these two worlds together.

Martian Manhunter & her Sister- Good Supporting Characters. MM's current story arcs are way better than Supergirls.

That'll Do It

In the end folks, I can't say I recommend this show since for me it's a show that is somewhere between "Hate Watching" and "Guilty Pleasure". If you're lactose intolerant, stay the heck away from this show, but if you got nothing else to watch on Netflix, kick back a few beers and give this show a watch.

In the infinite unknown of the Multiverse, possibilities are endless and anything can happen.... but should they? I just got wind of an other universe being created by WB, this time it will be a shared Hannah Barbara Universe.... and I don't think we're quite yet at the bottom of the barrel, not that it would matter since they'd just keep digging through it. Granted, it's gonna be an Animated Universe, but that doesn't change much as it's still a problem with the industry as a whole just wearing out the gimmick of a shared universe, when only Marvel has done it successfully and DC has yet to get it's footing. Now, before someone in the comment section starts bash this blog and say things like "Don't watch them then!" or "Don't judge things before they come out!", I will address as I go on.

Universes So Far

These are all the universes that I know of so far that exist on the big screen or have been announced. Some of these have flopped and burned, but I'll address that as well.

-Marvel (Disney)

-Marvel (Fox)

-DC

-Valiant

-Ghostbusters

-Sony Spider-Man

-Kaiju Monsters

-Universal Monsters

-Hannah Barbara

-Star Wars... kinda

These are all of the ones that I know so far. I could be missing some and of course, some of them are dead already.

Crash and Burn

Sony has had two attempts at a shared universe, both of which failed. First they had hoped that Spider-Man was milk worthy enough for it's own universe, and when that failed they went with the next big thing.... Ghostbusters. The main problem I have with these two Creative Properties trying to be milked is that it's honestly impossible to do it with such an anemic property when compared to DC or Marvel. X-Men has had it's ups and downs but the reason that works is because they have so many characters and all with different life stories that it would allow for them to form adventures that feel different. Spider-man for the most part only has him, and Ghostbusters would just have been a repeat but with different casts. (That being said, Ghostbusters also failed due to the idiotic choice of the studio to mock it's potential audience, but that's a whole other situation) It was never something that I would have put much faith in since it just felt like an uphill battle when studios with tons of source material to pull from *cough cough DC cough* can't even do it.

Forced Labor

NOw, that's not to say it can't work. But the problem i have with these Money inspired moves is that they will just end up being the same thing as an Event in a comic book. More often than not these events fail because the writers are forced to write them, instead of letting their creative flow work out some good ideas. So not only will their be creative issues, but considering how hectic a Studio work situation is, their imagination will only be even more hindered by it. These guys may be rich and know how to make money, but with so many cooks in the kitchen, ideas tend to get altered too much. Audiences have also gotten tired and have started getting wise to tricks that the studios pull in order to make it the movie seem like it will be interesting or that they have confidence in their movie. First it was the old trick of approving a sequel before the release, because it's not a binding contract since they can just pull out. Since geek culture is in it's prime, there is nothing more that nerds love than continuity and shared universes. But unless it's something that already appeals to us them, they won't go out in droves to support it.

Labor of Love

But the Billion dollar franchise question is "How do you make it work?". The simple answer is Love. When going in to this, they have to have someone who cares about this franchise and actually wants it too flourish or has had his own structure for how to do it. It may be a small Creative property, but with the proper imagination and respect for the franchise, it can work. You may just say that they need their own Kevin Feige, but honestly they need someone even better and with more power to do what is needed. It's a blank canvas that they have to fill and make diverse enough to appeal to a wide audience. They don't have the luxury of decades worth of source material to copy and paste from. So like I said before, it's a massive uphill battle that leaves much to be desired.

So to reiterate, it's not like I hate the idea of other studios trying to make Share Universes or think that only Marvel/DC should have the right to make them, it's just that they have yet to prove themselves and the hurdles they face seem near impossible with the little I know about the film industry. Plus it annoys me to hear about a studio announcing one as if I should be impressed. Respect is earned studios, you can't just use buzz words like "Sequel" or "Shared Universe" to get our attention. And remember, not everything deserves to be an SU, but if you're gonna do it have a plan.

So it's been a few weeks since we got the Apolog-I mean trailer for Justice League was dropped. Some people have lost their minds over how great the trailers is ..... but the hole from the stab mark left by BvS cannot be healed by it. Unlike the trailer for BvS, this just leaves me softer than a bowl of jello. It's been quite a journey for me, from being the biggest MoS warrior, to condemning BvS and the direction they've taken. So let's get started. Fair warning though, this is kind of a semi review for BvS but it's more about the direction they seem to be taking and why it feels hollow to me.

Learning The Wrong Lessons

So to quote what James Gunn said a while ago regarding Deadpool's success, WB has learned the wrong lessons from BvS. It's gone overboard trying to show that Justice League will be fun and even taking pointers from Suicide Squad by having upbeat fun trailers with a catchy song. But to me it just feels hollow as it's missing what I had hoped the DCEU would have, which is depth to it's story. It was just an other "fun" trailer, of which we had many and it feels like the story for will be about as easy to follow as an episode of Dora The Explorer. It's not helping that they just ripped a scene straight out of Civil War but exchanging one Billionaire for an other talking to a smart fan of theirs.

Superman's Journey Ruined

One of the things that I loved about MoS, was how it was the best attempt (tied with Grant's run) at a Year One storyline for Superman. I've read all origins and seen the Animated series, Superman seems to hit the ground running with very little issues (only one being Kryptonite), He fights a few bad guys, which he wins very easily, gives a speech and then everyone loves him. This was about a guy from Kansas, roughing it, not having all the answers, no speeches and struggling but pulling a win in the end. It was the perfect foundation for the DCEU and it was the first part to his journey to becoming Superman. When the trailers for BvS started coming out, everything that I wanted to see was in those trailers. It centered around Superman and his presence, hero accountability, the polictical and the philosophical ramifications of his existence. Instead, the movie made Batman the main focus, shit on Superman for the entire time while he took it on the chin, never let us get to know him beyond facial expressions, and then killed him in a cheap attempt to cash in on sympathy we we're supposed to have. I felt more sad when Diablo died, than Superman. This movie failed to explore both sides of the coin of how the public felt and the character never dealt with it. It's not all his fault, Lex's plan was borderline idiotic and relied to much on luck. While also sending off Clark's girlfriend off to hunt for the origins of a bullet, instead of being by him and helping him get through it while at the same time fleshing out their relationship. I swear, I saw more chemistry from Bruce and Alfred, and I saw more romantic chemistry from Lex and Zod's body. Some people were arguing back before the Ultimate Cut was out, that it's not the ammount of lines you have but what you do with them. That's all fine and dandy, but I'd like to know why Superman's story lines and development can be shortchanged, but Batman's one story line (THAT"S RIGHT! ONE!), about his rising anger towards Supe's needs to be that long? But back to my point about ruining Clark's journey. Superman had two important steps to cover before we got to the third, which was him finally entering the Sun and becoming the Icon he was meant to be. The first being the struggle with his powers and coming out to the world, the second being gaining the people's trust. Since this movie screwed that up, I feel just as empty as I do when I read those other origins. HIm becoming an Icon is forced an unearned.

Batfleck And His Bitches

So as stated before, BvS made Superman a sadsack, had Batman beat the crap out of him, die.... and now Batman is forming the JL..... PERFECT! As someone who aspires to be a writer, I may not like Batman, but I would never treat him as badly or underwrite the character around Superman to make him better. And if I ever did underwrite a character, I believe in balancing things out in future stories. Had BvS sent Superman out with respect, I would have been fine with Batman forming the JL, but alas it did not. Also as said before, BvS not only focused on Batman too much, but it crammed in a story line that should have been Wonder WOman's. Remember when Zack said that Diana had a huge role in BvS? And remember when that role turned out to be have a few flirty moments with Bruce and be here only to look for a photo? .... A FREAKING PHOTO! There were several fan theories and fake leaks that said Diana was gonna be here cus she had a vision of Darkseid or something, it's made even worse when you realize that in Justice League they set up that the Amazon's have fought Darkseid before but it's still Lex and Bruce that know about him coming, not Diana. *SIGH* I just wanna yell "HEY ZACK! HOW ABOUT YOU KILL TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE?! NO?! YOU'RE GONNA HAVE LEX AND BRUCE KNOW?! YOU SURE?! O-OKAY". This just further proves how much they are bending over backwards to give Batman shit to do, even though he's the weakest. Diana should have been here to ask Superman for help to fight Darkseid, but when he dies, Bruce helps Diana find the other members in order to make up for what he did.

Conclusions

Sorry if this just feels like rambling, but I'm finishing this up in 2 in the morning. I just wanna say, I can't get exited for a movie that is bending over backwards to make Batman the star after they ruined BvS with that. I can't even get exited for MoS 2, because they burned through all that amazing set up in BvS by barely using it. Superman will just have a giant hole missing from him that won't be fixed by him smiling and saving a cat from a tree like it would for some people around here. In the end, I can't say I'm not going to see them, but I'm just saying why I'm not hyped one iota for Justice League.

Whenever someone wants to praise a show, they sometimes do it by comparing it to other things that people like to show the quality it matches. If I had to do that here, I'd say that this show is the Game of Thrones of comedy. And I don't just mean because I think it's the funniest comedy show ever, but because this show does what I haven't seen done in most shows, and it even surpasses the way it's being done on Silicone Valley, it has a story where everything going on is building up to the conclusion. Heck, I can't even call this a show, but a 3.5 hour long movie, that I will probably sit through every few months.

The Show

This show has the spirit of something like The Big Lebowski, I'd elaborate but that would spoil the genius of the show. This show juggles so many storylines that are all unique, that all build up to punchlines. While I would say that I didn't laugh out loud as much as I would with some other shows, this show amazed me with it's writing and attention to detail. Several times I would just find myself grinning at how certain events play out. That is where I would find myself laughing, clapping and saying "oh shit!".

The Separate Story lines

Unlike most comedy shows, the point isn't to just insert a new wacky scenario every week and see how the main characters deal with it, but it's a much more natural progression of insanity. Most pilots that we see some would say are weak, but this show starts out with a literal bang, that sets a chain off events. After which, we see several stories play out. We get the story

-The story of two brothers trying to make it big, but are too stupid to see how bad they are.

-The parents, who just want their children to grow up but when certain things happen, they wanna keep them safe.

-A police investigation of drugs and murders

-A love story between two.... simple people

-And the story of a drug addicted actor who is trying to get back on top

One of my favorite things is, just how simple and normal the story of the parents and the couple in love plays out. It's a hilarious dichotomy, until the insane parts of the story start leaking into theirs. It's also amazing how the more serious parts play out so well, and they don't come off jokey at all. They really build this tension in the air that I can't help but laugh at. The talent on this show is insane. You could tell that they believed in this project and they were having fun with it.

Fair Well Big Time, We Hardly Knew Ye

Like an article I found online, this show will be one of those that some people will stumble onto and then find out that it's been cancelled for a few years. So why would I introduce you to a show that you will most likely love and then fall into a depression over it being cancelled?.... I don't know, I'm kind of a dick that way. But maybe, this will get people to spread the word and maybe it will get the heads of Comedy Central to give it an other season.... a boy can dream. But if that doesn't work, I'm hoping this show gives you as much joy as it did me. Because in my opinion, this show has set the bar for comedy out there.