Sherlock Holmes in the 21st Century!!!

As a Sherlock Holmes fan and having posted a couple of blogs on the Victorian sleuth I’m almost embarrassed that I missed this one. BBC has launched a new Sherlock Holmes series of mysteries, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin John C. Freeman as Watson set in the London of today.

The idea of making a modern day Holmes is nothing new. Basil Rathbone had a career of playing Holmes in what was in the 1940s’ the modern era. Roger Moore even had stint in the 70s’ with a female Watson. There have been a couple of instances of waking Holmes from a deep freeze into the present day.

The first of these new Holmes adventures is called A Study in Pink, an adaptation of A Study in Scarlett, followed by The Blind Banker, which I am not sure, but appears to be a take on The Adventure of the Dancing Men . Holmes is still a Consulting Detective, a occupation he created and is the only one of his kind, as he told Watson. Holmes is very tech savvy, utilizing GPS, text messaging, and other modern mean of information gathering as easily as his Victorian counterpart did with his Baker Street Irregulars. Watson is a returned war veteran looking for lodgings in London, having been wounded in the leg in Afghanistan, a very strong and historic parallel.

The character of Holmes and Watson are as much as they are in Doyle’s original prose. Holmes is distant, sharp, insulting, and flawlessly observant, Watson, a man of action, amazed in Holmes’ ability, with a sharp eye for the ladies. They are well fleshed out men in their own right, yet complete and compliment each other.
The acting is top notch Cumeberbatch makes Holmes his own, yet stays true to the heart of the character, giving him new quirks and nuances so different from Rathbone and Berrett’s interpretations. Freeman is a great Watson, he can’t help but like Holmes and be annoyed by him at the same time. His participation in the war has left him an adrenalin junkie, he, like many warriors and soldiers, needs action--danger, to feel alive. The opening of A Study in Pink has Watson with a therapist discussing his blog. It is not going well as Watson cannot bring himself to write down those inner most thoughts and feelings that the therapist feel will help him heal from his experiences in war. This should be a foreshadowing of Watson becoming Holmes’ Boswell.

Mycroft and Moriarity are both introduced immediately into the story. Mycroft Holmes keeping security tabs on his younger brother and Moriarity being a shadow figure chatting with other villains via computer. Though Moriarity seemed to be a device by Doyle to lead up to Holmes’ demise, the series starts with Moriarity immediately setting himself as Holmes’ arch nemesis. This promises to be the underlying plot for the series.

These adventures of Sherlock Holmes are as cerebral as Doyle’s narrative, yet add the action and flash of Guy Ritchie’s vision from 2009, even the music has strains that hearken to that film’s period soundtrack.

Of course the adaptation suffers from the modern era’s political correctness as well. The two episodes I watched are rife with homosexual reference to the two characters, an “are they or aren’t they?” kind of thing with dating references, sharing rooms and beyond. One of the creators, Steven Moffat, stated that he thought it just shows how acceptable that lifestyle is now in society. Be that as it may, the constant reference gets old, and appears to be used for cheap laughs. Not exactly an enlightened perspective that Moffat suggests. Let it go…..Watson’s four marriages within cannon, and Holmes avowed dislike of women as cunning creatures and his cerebral asexuality are enough to work with. One almost expects such juvenile references from Saturday Night Live.

A second is Holmes’ use of nicotine patches instead of smoking his pipe. “it’s a three patch problem…..” as he says. This is lame (My own personal enjoyment of a good pipe aside) because Holmes basically laments his inability to be able to smoke anywhere in London, yet there are strong references that the character is a drug user, as he was in Doyle’s stories. It would seem to me, as unconventional a man as Holmes would fire up a pipe to aid his thought process should he want to. New social mores be damned!

The overall production and performance are great and have had me wanting to watch the next episode. It also shows the resilience and power of great writing. Despite one hundred and twenty five years passing Holmes and Watson are still relevant and entertaining in a modern venue. As Shakespeare, Shelly, Wells, and others who wrote in their own eras the stories they told are easily and smoothly adapted to the modern age and sensibilities.

Figure Flats for Untold: Game Accessories for the Dark Future

Not so long ago I announced the release of Untold to the general public. I have also posted the character backgrounds and ecologies I have created for Wandering Men Studios’ post-apocalyptic fantasy. The company has big plans for expansion beyond releasing decks for the game. One such release is figure flats for Untold. Figure flats are not a new concept, many board games actually utilize the card board cut outs to represent the player’s pieces on the board, and Steve Jackson Games released numerous versions for their myriad worlds of GURPS. These character representations have also been referred to as penny men, because the base can be weighted with pennies pasted to the base to make them stand better.


Wandering Men Studios released these flats a couple weeks ago as a PDF download. I decide to see what they had and give them a try in my own pick up game I run for my nephew.



Armies Assembled

 
The download is pretty standard for such things that are purchased through places like RPGNow, etc. The basic sheets total twenty-five pages, including the cover page. The images are recycled art from the actual cards in circulation , using various minions, iconic characters, and creatures from Toa, the Apoc-Churl, to klik, to Vrr, a wide smattering of images to use in your game. The images are crisp, allowing for high resolution if one so desires. There is the ability in character building in Untold to allow for a Large character, and the images are offered in this scale. (My nephew encountered several Vrr with such an advantage.) The images are offered both in color and in gray scale for those who want to save precious ink.

Assembly was easier than Tab A to Slot B, simply cut and tape the base. I attempted to use thin card board backing to stiffen the figures, but the card board as still too thick when bent and the glue of course adds a layer of mess I don’t want to deal with. So I kept it simple with just the paper. I found with the Large images that the base was not wide enough for the height if the tabs were over lapped, no big issues as I simply joined them at the edges. (Who would have thought the whole height/base ratio we learned in school would have practical gaming application?) I did not bother weighting the bottoms as it was for a quick pick up game and the only issue I had with that were any air gusts that came up. No issues there during the session I ran with them.

The benefits of these flats versus minis are cost, weight, and space. At $3.50 and the ability to print off vast armies over and over again, these simple cut outs are more cost effective than miniatures which can cost as much for one mini. This price point seems to be in line with other PDF products out there. Weight is of course nonexistent with just paper minis, and they take up a fraction of the space that solid plastic miniatures use. These are perfect for travel and convention play.

There is also a versatility factor, with Untold, and the Splintered Serenity the default setting, having a multi-genre feel, the flats can be used for numerous games. On the whole, the post-apocalyptic Gamma World or even Twilight 2000 come to mind, but the high-bred flats could be easily co-opted for a special ops game, or the churls used in any fantasy setting. How about introducing your dungeon crawling adventures to a Vrr? Of course the L’na and kilk offer endless possibilities as well.

The only draw back is aesthetic, because these are recycled two dimensional images; there are back images, only shadow outlines to represent the back of the character.

Much of the art can be seen on the Untold website so the buyer already knows the great quality of art they are receiving. The versatility is there to make this a worthwhile investment for gamers of different systems and settings. It paid off for me, as the images helped bring the world and adventure I created for my nephew to life. It was actually the imagery of the klik roller that prompted him to play that character when I ran the game. When I put the Large Vrr out there with his smaller brethren, my nephew knew pain was coming…… so worth it!

The Prophecy Forgotten: Young Fantasy in a Different Direction

The Prophecy Forgotten is the first of The Elysian Chronicles written by M.B. Weston. The series has been likened to C.S. Lewis, for its religious allegory, though the overtones are heavier than Narnia’s yarns. Michelle Weston says that she does not write Christian fiction, but rather, she is a Christian that writes fiction. After reading the book I would agree with her statement. The Prophecy Forgotten has Christian trappings to tell the story, as Harry Potter, Artimes Fowl, and Spiderwick have used other mythologies and trappings to create their setting and stories for younger readers.


The books are geared for younger readers, but I found it an enjoyable modern fantasy despite the age of the target audience. The cherubian’s have been at war with the mornachts for thousands of years. (read angels and demons) The battle raging across their own dimension and spilling to Earth as mornachts seek to possess and use humans for their evil ends. The cherubians also fight on Earth as the guardians and protectors of humans: assigned to watch over their charges as Guardian Angels to keep humans from harm and to subtly nudge them toward goodness and charity, so that they do not “harden” and become easier prey for the mornachts. This spreads their efforts thinly on both fronts, but they have allies in the unicorns as the other mythical races like gnomes and dragons stay relatively neutral. Gnomes are almost war profiteers in these stories.

The Prophecy Forgotten is two stories that converge and over lap, becoming the overarching plot. The prophecy refers to a human that is important in the war between good and evil that shall rise when he is most needed; a warrior named Davian realizes that the time of the prophecy is at hand. Unlike many cherubians he has not forgotten their mission handed down by Ianoda (God) to protect and watch over Man, nor has he lost his faith. Davian is the proverbial bad ass with a Bushido code. He is the leader of an elite infiltration special forces team that does extensive reconnaissance into mornacht territory, yet all he yearns for is time to read and plant a garden.



APF Graphic Novel Concept Art: Artist: Adam Black


Then there is Gabriella, a Guardian Angel that is set to watch over Tommy, a small eight year old boy that has a tendency to take great risks in his personal quest for adventure. Tommy appears to be the one that the prophecy is referring to. So Gabriella’s task is doubly challenging, but she is a deadly archer and committed warrior that has a mother’s love and protective instincts for the boy. Davian has of course fallen deeply in love with her. Hell I fell in love with her! So did Tommy’s dad when she assumed human form in the story.

Meanwhile there is a cabal of cherubians sick of the politicians and their far too cautious approach to the war with the mornachts and the bureaucracy that keeps final victory out of reach. These cherubians have dismissed Ianoda as a long absent father that no longer holds any importance to them. They devise a plot to take control of Elysia, pinning the blame on the mornachts.

The story itself is fairly straight forward, with clever twists and turns to entertain older readers, despite the target audience. Some of the devices M.B. Weston uses are a little cliché for my jaded mind, but they move the tale forward. I also found some very important plot points had been glossed over, or too simply resolved even for the audience it was intended for.

What really makes the story enjoyable for me, as with all stories are the characters. They are well drawn, living, breathing individuals, with well defined goals, loves and hates. Gabriella and Davian are only two examples. Marcus, Davian’s good friend and fellow soldier has the sidekick personality that Davian needs to keep him grounded, but is also the guy who has his back no matter what. Even the family of young Tommy that Gabriella interacts with are wonderful characters to meet.



APF Graphic Novel: Artist: Adam Black

I have always enjoyed fantasy stories that involve the war in Heaven idea and this one is no exception. What I enjoyed most about the novel as opposed to others like Harry Potter are the adults. They are not bumbling or disbelieving fools, but rather they are adults interacting with a child and the events that swirl around that child. They protect Tommy, keeping him out of harms way, unlike those in the aforementioned series, that seems to use Harry as bait or actually pin the success of defeating the evil squarely on him.

Michelle‘s first novel is a great debut, with the second novel already out: Out of the Shadows and the third close behind. I will be delving into the second shortly, and looking forward to the third: The Sword of the Vanir.


M.B. Weston



Monster House: Halloween Horror--for Kids

Monster House is a 2006 animated film (adult speak for cartoon) by Gil Kenan, produced by Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg, with voice talents from Kevin James and Steve Buscemi. DJ Walters (Mitchel Musso, Second Hand Lions, Hannah Montana) discovers that the home of Mr. Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi) is alive with the spirit of his dead wife, when he witnesses the home taking toys and people that trespass on the lawn. It is Halloween night and the house really, really, really hates the holiday and the children that are sure to come knocking on, or worse--egg the front door. The boy, along with his friends Chowder and Jennifer seek to extinguish the heart of the house, killing it and putting an end to its evil before it can do more harm. What follows is visually stunning and action oriented with frightening images that should give parents pause before letting their younger children watch the film.


There are numerous things to recommend this film to viewers, whether lovers of pulp action, horror, or cartoons. The animation is CGI based on the motion capture style called simply movement capture. Though high tech this is the same style utilized by Max Fleischer, Disney, and Ralph Bakshi in the 70’s of capturing the actual movement of the actors and rendering them in animation. This is not as ground breaking as it was hailed, (along with Polar Express) but it is an interesting footnote in animation history.

What recommended this film to me, as any, is the story. Reminiscent of Stephen King’s early short stories like The Mangler, that gives malignant life to inanimate objects; one wonders if Monster House drew inspiration from another of King’s works, The Wastelands, published in 1991 that features a living, malevolent house. Though, such ideas are not unknown in literature.

What sets this apart for me is the way the story unfolds as the children discover and piece together the truth of the house, finally confirmed by the old man Nebbercracker. Here be spoilers so you are warned…….

Armed with the knowledge that the house is a spirit bound to the structure and super soaker squirt guns they begin their quest. The children become trapped within the house after an attack so they begin to explore the creepy environs. They seek the fiery heart of the creature, by extinguishing it the house can be “killed”.

Through their harrowing investigation they discover that the old man was married to a gargantuan woman, and judging by the pictures, very happy and that the old man was once a demolition expert in the military; further supported by the plot enabling explosives laying about. The local lore has it that Nebbercracker murdered his long missing wife. They discover the lost toys from the neighborhood in the basement, and the remains of Nebbercracker’s wife, Constance, encased in cement. The corpse is confined within a cage that declares Constance the Giantess, a side show freak’s cage, sealed with a heart shaped lock, the key is in DJ’s possession after Nebbercracker dropped it earlier in the movie. The house awakens and the battle resumes, with the house attempting to devour the children. Old man Nebbercracker returns to explain what DJ has all ready puzzled out. He explains that his wife’s death was an accident on Halloween years before when the house was being built. Nebbercracker completed the construction and guarded the neighborhood against his wife’s vengeful spirit, loving her beyond death and despite it. Now, with age and time creeping upon him, he knows that it must end. What ensues is a rampaging house sized monster that does battle with Chowder behind the controls of a earth mover and and DJ doing a Death Star run on the chimney with a packet of dynamite to extinguish the heart.

The story was well crafted, with imagery blending well to tell the story as well as the words spoken. The flash back scene with Mr. Nebbercracker meeting and falling in love with Constance, with her tragic life as a side show attraction was heart felt and sad. Such a device is well employed later in Pixar’s Up! It demonstrates that animation can tell as powerful story as any film that employees live actors. The axiom of “if you have a gun in the first act it better be used in the third” is well demonstrated in the film, each piece a clue to the puzzle and a layer to the story. The kids are kids, with kid fears and kid stupid courage well voiced and fun to watch. The action is cliff hanger style that has Zemeckis’ and Spielberg’s finger prints all over it. Considering their track records this is not a bad thing.

It was an enjoyable film that I may wind up adding to my growing collection. I would strongly recommend parental previews though for smaller children. The house, with its gnashing boards as devouring fangs, its clawing tree limbs as its arms and grasping hands, along with the skeletal remains of Constance create harrowing imagery that might be too much for younger viewers.

Prince of Persia: The Trouble with Time Travel

Recently I caught Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and it has just hit video. The movie stars Jake Gyllenhall in the title role Gemma Arterton as the love interest, and Ben Kingsley as the villain. I guess now is the time for the warning that this will be a spoiler heavy post. So those of you that have not seen this film stop reading now………

Prince of Persia is set in a fantasy version of said empire, nothing historical need be noted. Frankly, I am just fine with this, I wanted to see a pulpy, swash and buckle adventure and I got one, with Arabian Nights trappings and plenty of pulpy goodness.

The basic plot is that the Persian king has three sons. Two are his natural children, the eldest destined for the throne, the second, captain of the cavalry, and the third, adopted from the streets is a rogue. The hero of the film and leader of the king’s special forces.

The vizier, played by Kingsley, convinces the brothers that they should attack a holy city that is seemingly running weapons for Persia’s enemies. The hero prince, through high flying swashbuckler daring, takes the gates and lets his brothers rush in to take the city. During the fighting he takes down an escaping warrior and obtains a glass hilted dagger that is a potent magical weapon, because within the glass are the Sands of Time. The sands allow the wielder to step back in time by a minute to correct a mistake, or avoid a killing strike.

Kingsly’s character manipulated the attack to gain possession the dagger and, the actual source of the power, to place himself on the throne.

Despite the sheer predictability of the story, which is actually the focus of this post, I just want to say that I really enjoyed it just the same. The adventure itself was a fun ride, the characters well done, the villains even more so. The use of, and look of the Hashishins (assassins) was very pulp sword a sorcery, and very cool. Of course the special effects were what is expected from Hollywood now. Despite any nit picky complaints, it is a fun movie that I will add to my collection.

In Prince of Persia, the hero is able to step back a minute and correct his mistakes, or change the course of events. The films follows the course where everyone dies, the brothers, the father, the love interest, and even helpful sidekicks all the way through are dying off. These characters dying, their sacrifices, created tension for the hero, but not for me, because the whole time I knew that the hero would turn back the clock to a certain point and none of it would have happened.

The actual idea of this post is the nature of time travel in movies and fiction in general. It always sounds so cool, but is nearly impossible to execute because of the paradoxes and the idea of “do overs”.

This is the biggest flaw in trying to create a time travel adventure. The hero can always fix his mistakes. As a matter of course it is actually the main thrust of such adventures from Back to the Future to Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. The tension and story come from the hero trying to correct those mistakes or set things right, but in the end we know they will. Outside of failing in the middle of the adventure, which no writer if it be screen plays, scripts, or fiction, would do.

Some films have pulled off the time travel adventure by stepping out of the norm for such stories, and a very few have actually pulled off some surprises. The two above used humor to tell the time travel story, Bill and Ted was over the top with the guys taking mental notes on going back in time to set up events to help them in the present, which of course worked….mostly. The first of Michael J. Fox’s movies did this well with the “my own grandpa” kind of shtick. Few actually seem to hold many surprises though.

The Terminator series took a slightly different tack, thank you Harlan Ellison. The first did well with the time travel elements of Reese being Conner’s father, because even the viewer knew he was going to die, the tension in the film actually came from that knowledge. The rest fell into a cycle of sending the next new and improved model after Conner. I imagined Sky Net sitting in Mordor (oops) saying “Did it change yet? Damn! Send another one!” Again, I imagine: why not send Arnold back with a dirty nuke in his guts and BOOM! Sky Net wins!

So what is the purpose of this post? Not much other than pointing out the pit falls of the time travel genre. I will turn off my logic engine and put in Time Rider followed by Time Line and if I have time, another viewing of the sword and sorcery fantasy Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I will follow the axiom on the subject from South Park: The rules for time travel are just silly.

Ex-KOP- Sci-Fi Noir

KOP: Koba Office of Police, a corrupt graft ridden cess-pool of bribe taking sociopath cops that appear to be keeping order in the city of Koba on the planet Lagarto. Set several centuries in our future Warren Hammond brings us the gritty anti-hero Juno Mozambe the once bad-ass enforcer for the former chief of police, until said chief was assassinated in a coup.

Now Juno works as a private eye, mostly peeping though key holes trying to get the goods on high-tech off-worlders to bribe them as much as get an honest fee. His former partner asks him to investigate a young woman’s confession that will see her to the gas chamber. What follows is a twisting, creepy, and dark adventure in the near future on a distant planet that would have done Hammet or Chandler proud. Bogart would have made a convincing Juno Mozambe.

The story is excellent, noir ridden, and earthy. One part China Town with a dash of Big Sleep, except instead of .38’s and tommy guns, the bad guys carry body mods and las-pistols.

Ex-KOP is for anyone who enjoyed Blade Runner or The Maltese Falcon. There is an engaging story; heroes and villains are only separated by a few shades of gray, with plenty of character story and world building to swirl around the antagonists!

Thor: Please Dont’s Let it Suck!!!!

So unless you are not a comic book fan or totally without internet access you have probably seen the Thor preview trailer that premiered at Comic Con a few weeks ago. The movie is slatted for a May 2011 release, starring Chris Hemsworth in the title role with Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman. I had previously posted my thoughts on the initial release of photo stills from the film and the general plot line. The preview brought some of the action to life and, though it has not allayed my fears, it has eased them. If you are interested in watching it hopefully it is at beyondhollywood.com. Marvel is pulling it as fast as fans can post it. This by itself seems to be a smart marketing tool because it keeps fan boys constantly searching for it, possibly creating an inflated interest and desire to see the film when it is released.


The preview opens essentially where Iron Man 2 left off with its “after the credits trick ending” with the discovery of Mjolnir in the New Mexico desert by SHIELD. Thor is being interrogated after being captured breaking into the secured area and trashing some of SHIELD’s best soldiers. It then pans across the vistas of Asgard flashing to Odin’s throne room. There are scenes of Thor and his companions doing some fighting, Odin then banishing Thor for actions that have brought Asgard to the brink of war.

Thor appears upon Earth in a crumpled heap, meeting Jane Foster as she aids him. It then flashes to Thor trying to explain to Foster who he is and where he comes from. She then apparently helps him in his attempt to regain his hammer.

Flashing back to Asgard it appears that Odin becomes incapacitated and the throne passes to Loki, the trickster god, who lurks one step behind the throne like Worm Tongue. (I hope they are not using the ridiculous “Odin Sleep” to see the All Father out of commission for Loki’s machinations.) The scenes shift into a montage with Thor’s voice over “For the first time in my life I have no idea what I am supposed to do.” showing the thunder god on Earth then in Asgard with his hammer high. Battle and adventure ensue with brief glimpses of the Warriors Three: Volstagg, Hogun, and Fandril. Sif and Hemidall, as well as whom I take to be Frigga played by Rene Russo.

The preview wraps up with the Destroyer, a construct built by Odin to help fight and stave off Ragnarok, making an appearance and unleashing fiery destruction.

This is a very brief sketch of the five minutes of uber cool that was the preview. Yes, oh yes, I loved it, but I do not completely give my heart away. The sequences were obviously out of sync to the movie progression, which is usual, and like many movies, the scenes used in previews don’t make it to the screen in the theater.

From what I saw I am very excited. The costuming looks a little less rubbery and cheesy in the environments of Asgard. I am pleasantly surprised by Hemsworth as Thor. At first, based on seeing him in his brief appearance on Star Trek as George Kirk I thought he would be too small physically to portray the god of thunder, but seeing him straining to free Mjolnir from its resting place as well as the obligatory beef cake shot for the ladies, I was impressed by the gym time he put in.

The story itself follows the idea that launched Thor’s career with Marvel Comics in Journey into Mystery #83 back in 1962. Thor has become arrogant and prideful; Odin banishes him to Earth to learn humility and humanity. In the comic he is placed into the crippled form of Doctor Donald Blake. For the movie he appears to be stripped of his godhood; a good way for a movie adaptation to go for the time constraint and to give the super hero, instead of his alter-ego, the screen time.

Anthony Hopkins as Odin, in my opinion, was inspired, when I saw him on screen and heard his voice delivering such powerful lines, I could overlook the ridiculous eye patch. “I have sacrificed much to achieve peace. So too must a new generation sacrifice to maintain that peace. Responsibility! Duty! Honor! These are not mere virtues to which we must aspire. They are essential to every soldier….to every king.” Awesome dialogue! And when he dresses down Thor: “You are a vain, greedy, cruel boy!” Pitch perfect. The man is easily a match for the material and Kenneth Branagh’s Shakespearian chops.

The rest of the cast looks like it will mesh well with the roles assigned to them. I only wish I could have seen a bit more of Loki’s manipulations and mischief as it relates to the plot of the film. I hope to see something in that vein in future previews.

I am very excited about the film now, but the decision to use 3D leaves me cold. I hope to be able to catch it in a normal format, for almost half that price tag. Regardless, I will be there opening night, and if they do a midnight show then I will be at the theater by 10 PM to make sure I have a ticket. I hold hope that the film will hit me as hard as the extended trailer did. Now I have to wait almost a year to find out!