Television
Wasn’t Jem the bad guy?
I recently discovered that the amazing Eighties cartoon Jem is on Netflix. I was completely stoked to watch this childhood favorite, so I leapt right in and watched three in a row. It’s still wildly entertaining, but I have a fundamental issue: weren’t the Misfits kind of justified in being so angry at Jem and the Holograms?
The Misfits from left to right: Roxanne "Roxy" Pellegrini, Mary "Stormer" Phillips, Phyllis "Pizzazz" Gabor, and Sheila "Jetta" Burns
The Misfits are a group of girls who got a recording contract the hard way: they worked for it. How were Jem and the Holograms formed? Jerrica inherited a recording company, a computer with magical powers, a huge fortune, and clothes, cars and all the makings of a pop band. The computer’s powers let them alter their appearance, to impress the audience. If I worked my ass off to achieve a goal, and someone bought their way above me in the hierarchy, shouldn’t I be pissed? Shouldn’t I do everything in my power, and fight even harder to succeed? Why are they portrayed as the bad guys, and the poor little rich girl is propped up as the hero of the story?
Jem and the Holograms from left to right: Aja Leith, Shana Elmsford, Jerrica 'Jem' Benton, Kimber Benton, and Carmen 'Raya' Alonso
Do I think too hard when I’m watching cartoons? I mean, it does have amazing fashion, soap opera plots, random music videos, and an astonishing amount of action scenes. That’s a recipe for entertainment!
On a lighter note… my favorites were always Aja and Stormer. Now I remember where my blue hair fetish comes from!
EDIT: Oh my god, they’re both poor little rich girls! Also, why doesn’t Jem/Jerrica care that Rio knows he’s cheating on them with each other?
Being Human (BBC) Season One
I have to admit that I came to this show with preconceptions. I expected it to be some sort of ill-conceived Twilight restructuring that would bore me to tears.
I can’t say I was entirely wrong.
The first series of Being Human starts off slowly. The plot is so predictable that it feels learned by rote. However, towards the end of the season, one scene stuck out and particularly struck me. When George, the werewolf, and Annie, the ghost, are afraid that Mitchell, the vampire (do you see where I’m going with the “painfully predictable” vibe?) has been kidnapped, they attempt to assault a nest of vampires on their own. It turns out that facing even one is pretty difficult when you don’t really have any useful powers — the resulting scene is so genuinely performed that it won me over.
It even overshadowed the terrible werewolf SFX in the finale.
4/5
Red Dwarf – Back to Earth
British television station Dave is going to be the home of a new Red Dwarf special, in three parts. Considering the original series sort of tapered off to a disappointing end, I don’t have the highest of hopes for this. I’m a big fan of the early series, though, and the viral video campaign that they have going for the new specials does make it look pretty good:
The first episode airs April 10th, and there will be weekly updates at the Dave website every Wednesday at noon. I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but if this is good, I might just metaphorically pee myself with excitement. Rimmer was smegging awesome.
Japanese Tokusatsu Spider-Man
Young motorcycle racer Takuya Yamashiro sees a UFO falling to earth, in fact a combat spacecraft named the “Marveller”. Takuya’s father Dr. Hiroshi Yamashiro, a space archaeologist, investigates the case. The incident also brings the attention of Professor Monster and his evil Iron Cross Army, an alien group that plans to rule the universe.
(Wikipedia.org)
The live-action tokusatsu Spider-Man is available to stream on Marvel’s website… and you need to watch it. From the opening strains of the theme song, to the greatest costume change in recorded history (that giant wrist-piece is in no way suspicious, and when he uses it… baby, it’s magic). You can watch the ongoing adventures with English subtitles, released every Thursday on Marvel.com: Japanese Spider-Man.
