The below extract is from The Time Warriors: The Wolves Of Chernobyl & Other Stories anthology. This story is the last one in the book and the 41st Time Warriors story. Entitled Lighthouse At The End Of The World. We learn about a previously unexplored part of The Time Warriors history. involving a lizard man alone in a lighthouse abandoned by man in 1991. What is the connection to the Louisiana swamp monster, a Russian black site for aliens and Varran?
The red rock strewn Martian landscape stretched before Varran. He was dressed in a red suit with a white shirt and matching tie. His suede shoes were also red. He was calm as he stared at the large body sized log structure before him. It stood chest high and the size of a coffin. In its centre was a a body sized wound of white sheets. Whatever was inside was bound almost like a mummy.
A three foot wooden unlit torch was fitted into a small wrought iron stand on Varran’s left.
He lit the logs in three separate places, ensuring the flame caught. It spat jerkily and seized upon the wood, spreading to consume the pyre in roaring bright fire.
“I’m sorry my friend,” he said quietly almost afraid that if the universe heard him, the unforgiving gods of judgement and retribution would descend and flay him instantly for his cowardice. Varran’s mask fell as the others disappeared. He stood sadly staring at the ashes. “I hope you understand. You won’t realise a thing. Cowardice finds empty solace in that.”
June 29th 1988 Scape Ore Swamp
The wounded creature flopped about unsteadily in the foul smelling water. Its confused mind had never smelt anything like this. It rolled in the slime, body aching all over. It recalled the creatures that had captured it had torn its flesh apart and brought great pain to tis head. Confused, it stumbled to its feet, colliding with trees as it tried to get away from the smell. It ripped the rotten bandages from its head and cried out seeking another of its kind.
Suddenly a creature with scaled skin and ridged back with a long tail snapped its elongated jaws round its leg. Roaring in pain it grabbed at the strange beast. There was pain and he had enough of pain to last a lifetime. He grabbed the jaws and forced them apart until he heard a satisfying snap.
Flinging the limp carcass a side, he lurched on coming to a clearing where the trees thinned. He blinked rapidly, blood seeping into his eyes. He saw a creature with no scales beside some sort of carriage. It looked similar to his captors. Fearing they had found him already he roared and advanced in order to prevent him calling out for the others.
But in its weakened condition, the lizard man could not move fast enough to prevent the being fleeing in its chariot. He watched red lights fade into the distance as he fell to one knee.
Suddenly he was somewhere else. It was soft and warm. Exhausted, Barick fell on to his side. A figure appeared from his peripheral vision and knelt beside him.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Copyright paramount pictures
I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.
Commander Kruge arrived like a silent serpent slithering from under the heavy black shadows of the Enterprise crew’s grief over the loss of Spock at the end of Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. The spectre of Genesis has already drawn Khan and now such a weapon with the power to bring life from lifelessness has caught the attention of the Klingons. To be precise, one Klingon in particular, one Commander Kruge. Played by Back to the Future’s Doc Brown himself, Christopher Lloyd, you get a master class in how to be a calculating villain equally only by Christopher Plummer’s General Chang. However Kruge will leave Kirk with scars that will never heal in the fallout from Genesis.
Word of the top secret Genesis device created by Carol Marcus has somehow leaked and the ambitious Kruge wants it for himself. He has engaged fellow Klingon and lover Valkris to deliver information on Genesis to him. However she has opened the file and seen its contents which earn a regretful response from Kruge. She knows without him saying that her knowing about Genesis is a death sentence; so determined is he that only he knows about it that he sacrifices his lover. Such is her loyalty to Kruge she stands tall as his ship destroys the freighter she is on. Kruge knows the Klingon thirst for any advantage over the Federation only too well to trust anyone. In her final moments he vows she will be remembered with honour.
I would have to assume his crew are all aware of Genesis as one of his officers, Torg, sees what is coming through from Valkris yet is allowed to live. it may well be the crew have all been promised a share in the power once it is on Kruge’s hands so killing his lover never made sense to me.
He is the first Klingon we have met to have a pet Targ which stays by his side on the bridge. It is a reptilian dog like animal that he loves dearly. Maybe it is the animal’s unconditional loyalty to him that makes this pet so special.
Arriving at the Genesis planet, Kruge finds the science ship Grissom in orbit. Spock’s protégé Saavik and Kirk’s son, David are on the surface and discovered Spock alive again and aging along with the planet. He is but a child recently emerged from his coffin last seen being fired from the Enterprise at his funeral. Kruge wants prisoners but his gunner accidentally blows the Grissom up which earns him an execution from Kruge and being branded an animal. It is clear Kruge will swiftly take any advantage he can get especially a ship of Starfleet prisoners. But when he discovers that Saavik, David and the changing Spock are on the surface, he takes the upper hand again.
He beams down to find them and is ready to torture them in order to get the secrets of the Genesis torpedo. But when Kirk arrives in the stolen Enterprise, so begins a game of chess that will end in tragedy.
Kirk knows there is a cloaked Klingon ship thanks to Chekov and Kruge thinks he has the advantage. But Kruge is genuinely shocked when he decloaks and Scotty fires point blank damaging the Klingon ship and killing Kruge’s pet Targ in the process. He cradles the animal as he stares around him in disbelief which quickly turns to fury. Kruge roars at his crew to find on the Enterprise. Realising that Kirk is here and part of the Genesis programme, he trusts his instincts and knows Kirk threats are empty.
You can see from Kruge’s body language he is analysing the situation as he goes. With just the tilt of his head and slight lick of his lips, he calls Kirk’s bluff and uses the prisoners on the planet below. If Kirk doesn’t give him the Genesis secrets he will kill them one at a time. Kirk is at a complete disadvantage as he learns that not only is his son and Saavik there but that Spock is also back from the dead.
Before Kirk can do anything Kruge orders his men to execute one of them despite Kirk’s protests. Sadly it is David that is killed saving Saavik. it is only then a broken Kirk says “You Klingon bastard, you killed my son!”
Kruge couldn’t care less and orders him to surrender the Enterprise. Lloyd’s delivery here is so calm and emotionless it is perfectly alien. Any man that can sacrifice his lover will not care about another’s loss.
But as always Kirk gains the upper hand but having lost his son now must lose his ship. No Klingon has ever put him in the position where Kirk has been so helpless and lost so much. They manage to set the self destruct and beam to Genesis while the Enterpise blows up with Kruge’s crew aboard. Taunting Kruge to come down and face him in order to get aboard the Klingon ship, Kruge complies, getting his last remaining man to beam the humans and Saavik abroad but leaving Spock. Kruge has picked up on how insistent Kirk is about getting this boy aboard and reason she must be valuable. As they fight, Genesis begins to tear itself apart. The project is a failure so all of this that both Kruge and Kirk have each sacrificed intentionally and unintentionally has been for nothing.
Despite of the evidence around him, Kruge is happy to die in combat here as the planet disintegrates. Grabbing Kirk by the throat he stills demands Genesis. His dreams of the ultimate power are burning all around him but it doesn’t matter.
Hanging from a cliff above a fiery molten lake, Kruge clings to Kirk’s leg until he kicks him repeatedly in the face until he falls into the lava below allowing Kirk and Spock to escape. “I have had enough of you!” has gone down in Trek catchphrases, said to Kirk kicking Kruger in the face three times.
Kruge dies in the very place he once thought would be the throne room of his new kingdom. Lloyd brought something new to the Klingons in this movie combining his delivery and body movements to reflect his inner thoughts. You can hear mind working overtime to figure things out and his ability at reading people and seeing through their lies in situations gives him an advantage we have not really seen before in the Klingons. His only failing was he did not have all the information he needed. if he had known the Enterprise was knackered, if he had known who Spock was and if he had not rushed in then maybe he would have lived to return again.
In the end Kruge ripped Kirk’s soul out by killing David. Then the Enterprise was lost. He hurt him like no one ever has and although Kirk got Spock back, I am sure that everytime he looks at him, he realises, even if he doesn’t admit it, that the price was far too high because of one Klingon, Commander Kruge.
Are you afraid of spiders? Big, webby, alien spiders? Good, Stephen and I take on a giant one in this episode. Tune in, hit like and leave a comment if you want.
So you have a story in mind and have begun writing it. But lo and behold you are struggling with the characters; you thought you knew them. But suddenly you find you don’t know them at all.
You thought you knew how a Londoner would speak and act but all you can hear in your head is Dick Van Dyke. Surely all cowboys say “Howdy.” All people from Ireland say “Top of the morning’ t’ya”. Some Scottish and Irish accents are so thick you have go dilute them down just as Walt Disney with Darby O’Gill And The Little People. We have watched so many stereotypes over our lives that we have a set image in our head of how they would be in real life. Gay men were portrayed camp and completely effeminate especially during the eighties and nineties but the vast majority are not like that. Television bosses exaggerated these to keep viewers happy and coming back for more but doing damage to what it means to be gay; and it isn’t mincing.
But how do you translate that into a character? How do they become more than a one dimensional caricature of what society thinks a certain type behaves. For me, look around you at all the people in your life. Who makes you laugh? Why do they make you laugh? Who has a habit that turns you but if used cleverly would stick in the reader’s mind to bring life to that person. If you can embed the character in the reader’s head then use it; embellish it to the advantage of your story.
I use everyone on my circle of family and friends to draw believable and three dimensional characters in my stories. I name characters after them because sometimes it is hard to decide on a name. Anyone that has a new baby knows that struggle. It is not as easy as you think. No one is one dimensional; everyone has multiple aspects to their character but utilise one in your company. How often have you come across a person you didn’t like but over time discovered something about them that changed your perspective? It could be their anger issues come from an unstable home background or have suffered a recent loss. Sometimes people are angry because they are just that; angry. Some people change when drinking vodka from your best buddy to a demon.
But when you present characters to an audience, you must give them distinctive
Characteristics to make them alive in the mind. of the reader You could have them dress in a certain way or have some sort of skill you wouldn’t think they would have. A circus strongman may be a brilliant painter. A serial killer could easily write poetry.
When I decided on the four main leads for The Time Warriors, I had a really rough time figuring them out. In one version, each had a super power of sorts including animal transformation but I abandoned all that into a simpler formula. Heroes are made through what life throws at them and the situations they find themselves in. The most docile of humanity can become the greatest example of them all. Again, look at the world around you and you will see thousands of ordinary citizens become heroes in situations where people comment “You couldn’t write that.”
I always think of that scene in the final Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode where her slayer powers are amplified and fed to every would be slayer out there. One overweight girl stands up to her bully while another stands up to whoever is hitting her. Buffy is slim and beautiful but that does not define a hero. Indeed there is a tendency to label people in movies and television shows.
Overweight people are written as comedy foils and slightly dim. The soap opera Eastenders is guilty of this as seen in their portrayals of Nigel and Heather. Shaun Williams’ character of Barry entered the soap as a ladies man and very successful business man. When Nigel left the show, Barry found himself promoted to fat guy status. His intelligence suddenly dwindled and he became a buffoon who ended up as a groom too blind to see his new wife was going to shove him off a cliff. That was a far cry from how he first was presented to the audience. On the flipside of all that you wouldn’t dare to mess with the overweight Tony Soprano.
When creating characters try not to fall into these stereotype traps. If you have to model them on every member of your family then do so. You can even put your own personality and life experiences. You are literally seeing your characters live and breathe already before you. All you have to do is translate that into your book so they have that same spark of life you experience every day.
Paul O’Grady, aka Lily Savage, based her on the string women that raised him. They smoked, they drank, they swore and ran the place when the husbands were working or off to sea. He could get away with anything as Lily but he worked so well because it was based in reality. The character and the comedy translated so well to the audience because they understood what he was talking about. Men issues, dirty habits, borrowing off Provident cheque, being skint, poverty, sitting round in the dark telling ghost stories but having enough for cigarettes and riots in Liverpool. Like Billy Connolly, Lily’s experiences resonate with the people watching because at least some of her experiences they have lived too. They dream of a better life while draped in the cloak of poverty; the only coat they will wear forever. That hopeful tragedy resonates with us because that is our lives. Lily’s jokes and stories are her ay of telling her story. Follow that example and you can’t really go wrong.
They say write what you know but I have never met an alien or travelled in time. But I imbue my characters with ordinary lives and habits and see how they react to this new crazy life. Show their fears, their joys and let the audience see them cry and falter. Every hero has a redemption arc but equally vey few are truly evil so how do we make a villain interesting and new?
Clive Barker said it best that villains should speak eloquent evil. Villains are motivated by a thirst for power and control. But it is not all they are. Do they like music? Is there something that brings a tear to their eye? What motivates them to do the things they do? Yes you have monsters like Jason and Freddy and in Michael Meyer’s case we have no idea what motivates him.
My arachnoid Mentara are tarantula based in appearance because people have a natural fear of spiders. And while they feed on human flesh, there is a very good and disturbing reason for that. But you will have to read the books to find out what that is.
A trick I use is (thanks to Doctor Who writer, Malcolm Hulke) to give every character no matter how small, has a background. In his novelisations he gave even the smallest character a full background and this stuck with me all these years. This idea was furthered in the Austin Powers movies when a faceless security guard is killed and we see his friends and family mourn his loss. The best example of this is in The Time Warriors story Experiment 4.
A minor character, an islander called Ernie, is killed by something in the dark but you get Ernie’s full life story before he dies and I am happy to announce I made people cry with that one.
But that is what I mean about using your character to connect with the audience so they root for the heroes or weep when a one off character dies. There has to be a human heart within the sci fi and the horror to make it work.
Star Trek The Next Generation did it in the season three episode The Offspring. Data creates a daughter who then dies in his arms later on. Her deaths scene is one of the most emotional and powerful things I have ever seen and is has reduced grown men to tears. It is that connection of loss, especially the loss of a child, that triggers us here.
There are plenty of examples out there; indeed what was the last thing that made you cry and why? What was it that connected with you as the audience?
You figure that out then just translate that to your story. You won’t go wrong.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Photo copyright Owen Quinn and Paramount Pictures
In Picard season three we saw the restored Enterprise D charge to the rescue against the Borg, just as it did back in the Best of Both Worlds, Descent, I, Borg and Q Who, Geordi La Forge discovered that the shell of the saucer section had been retrieved from Veridian 3 as seen in the Generations movie.
He had restored her by cannibalizing parts of other ships as a secret project which he had to reveal when the Borg assimilated almost all of the Starfleet. In flashback we get to see the saucer being taken from the surface of Veridian 3 to avoid contamination of any pre-warp species. It would make sense so enemies like the Romulans or Breen did not pick Starfleet tech clean. But that got me thinking.
Did they bother to move Kirk’s body which still has his badge set upon the grave? The alloy and his clothing would be potential contaminants to a primitive culture also but there is no mention of it. Add to that it isn’t the first time Starfleet has been lacking in cleaning up after themselves. Strangely enough both instances I am going to point out are by the crew of the D.
How to handle cultural contamination well is seen in the third season story Who Watches The Watchers when a group pf proto Vulcans think a Starfleet observation team are powerful beings from above under the rule of the god Picard. It’s a great episode. Similarly in the Star Trek Enterprise episode The Communicator, Malcolm Reed loses his communicator on a pre-warp world. He and Archer must go back to retrieve it but end up in even bigger trouble.
But in the Next Generation first season story Lore, we meet Data’s android brother, his evil counterpart, Lore. After his unsuccessful attempt to sacrifice the Enterprise and her crew to the crystalline entity, Lore and Data fight. It’s an exciting sequence which ends with Data tossing his brother into a cargo bay transporter and Wesley Crusher beams him into space. Now here’s the problem. Instead of a twee ending with Picard telling Data to get rid of his tick, we should have gotten we need to retrieve the body ending and imprison it.
So not one person, not even Data, raises a concern that there is a fully functional psychotic android afloat in space and intact for anyone to come across? They know Data can live in the vacuum of space and function normally. Not only that, Lore is a sophisticated piece of technology the likes of which scientists are drooling to get hold of. As we saw in Measure of a Man, Data almost ended up a lab rat for Bruce Maddox who wanted to recreate Doctor Soong’s work.
We learn that Lore floated in space until he was picked up by a Pakled ship. If Picard and crew had any sense about them the events of Brothers and Descent would never have happened. It’s a plot hole that really cannot be explained given Picard season 3 how what was left of Data was used as a security system. Given the transporter is limited in distance, it isn’t hard to imagine Lore spitting venom as he watches the Enterprise fly off. The Romulans are far from sloppy like this as in the Defector, Admiral Jarok destroys his scout ship rather than let the Enterprise get their hands on it. As he says humans are a short sighted people and when you see androids and Borg floating free you can understand the Romulan viewpoint.
Now look at the chaos one badly behaved android caused so can you imagine what would happen if it were a Borg? Well, you don’t have to as we saw in First Contact, Picard and some of his crew went out on to the deflector dish to stop the Borg sending a signal to the Delta Quadrant. Their efforts cause several Borg to float off into space allowing Worf to destroy the transmitter yet he doesn’t destroy the Borg bodies. Isn’t that a risky thing to do given where they are in time and the threat the Borg pose?
Now as Voyager discovered, Borg can survive in the vacuum of space especially their mechanical parts. Now Chakotay blew several Borg off Voyager in Scorpion part two. The difference is that they were already in Borg space so there was no need to do anything with the bodies.
But First Contact is the prime example of sloppy work from a Federation that heralds the Prime Directive as the first rule. As we see several Borg are floating into space but when the Borg sphere is destroyed we discover that Picard and co were so enamoured by witnessing First Contact that they forget to clean up their mess. It is in Star Trek Enterprise that we see the repercussions of not clearing up especially with an enemy as lethal as the Borg. They don’t just die; as they told Picard, death is irrelevant. The only good Borg is a vaporised Borg, Seven of Nine and Hugh excluding of course.
In the second season episode Regeneration, the remnants of the Borg sphere are discovered in the snows of the Arctic Circle along with a couple of bodies. They have been there for over a century since the events of First Contact. The human scientists inadvertently reactivate the Borg and they are assimilated. Stealing and upgrading the shuttle they attack a Tarkalean ship partially assimilating the crew. They are taken to sick bay where they infect Phlox and complete their transformation. To stop them sabotaging the Enterprise Archer has to blow them into space.
Again there is no mention of retrieving or destroying the bodies which we can only assume are still out there. This time the Borg are totally destroyed but manage to send a signal to the Delta Qyadrant. They will arrive sometime in the 24th century contradicting the events of Q Who. See what happens when you don’t get rid of the evidence? History itself changes. Still by the time Picard has that fateful encounter there is no mention of Archer’s battle or the remnants in the Arctic Circle. Indeed the good doctor’s cure has been buried.
If the Borg had gotten to Earth earlier then all of history would be changed. That opens the question as to where the Temporal Agency that we saw in Trials and Tribbleations and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow were in all this? But given they missed the reintroduction of the Tribble species to the galaxy decades after they were hunted to extinction, I can only guess they are as much to blame as the Enterprise crew. And when you think of it, the wreckage of the Borg ship is still there for study by Starfleet.
Add to this that in the interests of establishing new allies, Starfleet would have to share with the Tarkaleans and Vulcans what they have fought. So aside from them Phlox’s research into killing the nanites would also be shared with his people. So that’s four species at least that know of the Borg incident yet Picard is ignorant of them. Could it be that this fell under the same law as the disappearance of the Discovery? That to speak of it would be to be charged with treason? It could be and at the same time explain how Shelby suddenly became the Federation’s top expert on the Borg.
Yet Voyager is marked for death because of an insane Braxton when future Starfleet made the wrong conclusions.
In Distant Origin in Voyager, a Starfleet uniform and badge are discovered but in this instance there was no way for Janeway to retrieve it given poor crewman Hogan was dragged into the cave network by the lizard monster. It allowed the Voth scientist to prove his species were descendants from Earth dinosaurs.
Archer reveals Cochrane told the story of cybernetic creatures trying to stop First Contact then recanted it because no one believed him. So was Archer’s encounter wiped or simply lost? We will never know but one thing is for sure, when it comes to robotic and cybernetic foes, Starfleet just falls to pieces.
By Owen Quinn author Photos copyright BBC and Owen Quinn
When a celebrity passes away, you usually remember their movies or television appearances or whatever skill they were famous for. But sometimes, you do have a personal connection which all comes flooding back when your hear the bad news.
For me and many others, Simon Fisher-Becker came to my attention when he appeared in Matt Smith’s Doctor Who era as the blue skinned, crafty, business man, Dorium Maldovar.
He frst appeared in A Good Man Goes To War when the Doctor gathers people that owe him a favour in order to rescue Amy and Melody Pond from captivity. Afraid of the Doctor calling in his favour, Dorium travels with him to save the pair nonetheless.
Dorium made an instant impact on viewers and he would return despite being beheaded by the Headless Monks. His still living head was placed in a box, wi fi included of course, in a crypt with many others and demands to know the answer to the age old question, which must never be answered, Doctor Who?
With his large frame, blue skin and Mandarin like attire, Dorium became an instant favourite but little did I know, Simon would become more than just another Doctor Who celebrity to me.
I found him on Facebook and messaged him, asking would he possibly do an interview which, to my astonishment, he said yes to. We chatted about his life, career and the impact of Doctor Who on his life. For us, he had become the Boba Fett of Doctor Who; a mysterious alien with previous dealings with the Time Lord to the point he owed the Doctor. He must be important for the Doctor to bring him to attack Demon’s Run to save the Ponds. Dorium deals in information and knowing what is going on at all times so he can wheel and deal. So what happened for the Doctor to have a hold of him so?
By chance, there was a Matt Smith look a like named Matt who you would have seen in Graham Norton’s red chair when Matt Smith was on promoting the Day of the Doctor. I persuaded him to let me take a photo with Simon so we had a kind of eleventh Doctor and Dorium reunion which was lovely.
Simon with Farscape actress Virginia Hey in Dublin
Simon was a pure delight to chat with and it was so easy as he loved speaking to people as well. He was a great ambassador to the show. Following our interview, I got the chance to meet him in person in Dublin at a convention. He recognised me and before I knew it, I was sitting behind the table with him just chatting. No interviews, no looking for something; just two people chatting about life. I won’t reveal all of our conversation as some of it was personal. He talked about his husband Tony and told me how he had a connection with Dublin when he played the Fat Controller in Thomas the Tank Engine for Day Out with Thomas events for ten years. I was easily there for another hour and felt so welcomed by him. I even got him a couple of sales from prospective fans who approached him. It was so nice to hear his stories about his career, Harry Potter and more. You at most, get a couple of minutes with celebrities but this remains to this day my favourite interview and one of the nicest people I have ever met. You rarely get to see the person behind the character but I was lucky enough to get that chance.
We became Facebook friends and messaged each other. He always wished me a happy birthday when it came round and vice versa. I happily shared any posts he wanted for his book or events. I would meet him one last time, again in Dublin at another convention, where he allowed me to bring a friend to meet him who is also a fan. I sent her the news of his death tonight and while I mourn the loss, I am comforted by the memories I have and my unique experience.
Rest in peace sir. It was a genuine pleasure to have known you and tonight, I can hear your stories in my head. You will never be forgotten.
So from the outset, let me make it clear that I was never a fan of the original Daredevil series. I know, I know, I’m in the minority but it just didn’t appeal to me. Even Punisher bored the tits off me which causes my buddy quite a bit of consternation, by the way.
Don’t get me wrong. I read the comics as a kid and knew all about his background and nemesis Kingpin. I remember him teaming up with Spider-Man and when Matt Murdock ended up as Peter’s lawyer, it was a thrilling moment from me. However, the series as a whole left me very, well….take it or leave it.
I liked the characters and Vincent D’Onofrio is the definitive Kingpin. He’ll be in Dublin this year for their summer 2025 show so get your tickets. So, when I heard it was coming back as Daredevil Reborn, I was excited. I just thought they were just churning out yet another bore fest Marvel series. Yes, I’m looking at you Hawkeye, The Marvels, She-Hulk, The Acolyte and Secret Invasion.
Oh wait, The Acolyte belongs to the other House of Mouse franchise that it is slowly destroying. Sorry, wrong universe but it seems the multiverse is being eroded with half assed productions that they think fans will love. Sadly, this is failing faster than Martin Fowler in the rubble of the Queen Vic.
Then I heard they had scrapped what had been filmed and were starting from scratch. This, unfortunately, is all you seem to hear these days with Marvel movies and series; reshoot after reshoot and this never inspires confidence in the most positive of beings. They released photos of the new costume; again, yawn from me.
So, between Reacher Season Three, I sat down to watch the new Daredevil. Now what I did like, as I said, was the trio of characters, Foggy, Matt and Karen. It was nice to see them all together again as if time had not passed.
I was looking forward to going on a new journey with these three but sure, when in life do we ever get what we want? Happiness is fleeting in the world and especially if you’re a superhero. Bullseye attacks a cop bar and guns down Foggy and almost shoots Karen before Matt swoops in and beats the life out of him. Enraged, he tosses him off a building with the intention of killing him.
I have to say that this was an opening and a half and we’re only minutes in. Get the right hook and the audience will stay. You can feel both Karen and Matt’s agony as their friend lies bleeding to death. There is no drama or last word, just the cold stare of a dead man in the same way as Tosh did in Torchwood’s Exit Wounds. They both died looking into the eyes of their friends and it is the last thing they see. This took me by surprise and I have to say, as a non-fan, I was in.
We jump to a year later and Matt has hung up his devil horns and is just now a lawyer working with a new company. Foggy’s death has destroyed his and Karen’s friendship and they too part ways in a taut scene at Bullseye’s sentencing. Matt is devastated to this day and cannot bring himself to be so open as to save his friendship. Karen leaves him one of the horns from his helmet. It is a clear message that the city of New York needs Daredevil and now.
We get to see an even more human side of Murdock in these two episodes as he deals with grief and loss which impacts him. He is desperate for someone to confide in which you can see in his interactions with Karen at the courthouse, but he messes that up totally.
But life has a way of bringing you back to your true path. When a man is lost, life will find a way. He can be dragged to the darkest places by grief and be trapped like tar. But when Matt hears a man being threatened by cops to admit to a crime he never committed, his senses are piqued. The discovery that the man is in fact fellow vigilante White Tiger makes it harder as there is a growing anti-vigilante movement. New York has lost its way without someone to hand out justice and a new hope arrives in the form of Kingpin who run and wins the race to become the new mayor of New York. One of his policies is ‘no more vigilantes’ who, if they step out of line, will face the full force of the law.
Photos copyright Marvel studios
Stripping Matt down and getting rid of all that we are familiar with is actually a smart move. This show has always been about the war between Kingpin and Daredevil. On learning Fisk is back on the scene and a seemingly changed man, they meet face to face.
This scene is the most important of the first two episodes as it perfectly shows the powerful dark dance between these two enemies. Charlie Cox plays the Doubting Thomas brilliantly while making sure Kingpin is fully aware he will be watching and ready to move if he puts a step wrong. Equally, Fisk makes him aware that if he dares make a move as Daredevil, it will not go well for him. You can feel the tension between the two as they face an uncertain path. There are references to Echo which are nice. The former criminal becoming the benevolent king of the city? It’s a hard pill to swallow and as the commissioner finds out, Fisk will do what he has to in order to get what he wants. Even his marriage counselling session with Matt’s new girlfriend makes us stop and wonder if Fisk is actually genuine.
Daredevil Born Again is a poorly disguised commentary on the current Trump situation in America but what makes this stand out for me is the electricity between the foes. Events are forcing Matt to reconsider his position. Kingpin knows full well Matt is a formidable enemy but equally knows full well that after what happened to Foggy, this is a man who will kill now. Fisk portrays himself as enlightened, but Matt is steeped in the darkest of emotions including a deep frustration of how he can deliver justice to a system that is twisted. The tide is turning as Fisk cements himself as the new saviour of New York and the scene of celebration and support from the citizens for their new light in the dark on the streets could have been lifted straight out of any newscast.
So, as a non-fan who was quite meh about this show coming back, will I be back for the rest of the series?
Are you ready for the answer? Are you sure? Maybe some of you reading this should frame it because it is indeed a new day rising.
Daredevil Born Again episodes one and two were an exquisite example of how to bring new life to old characters and make them relevant again to a new audience.
I absolutely was hooked ten minutes into the first shocking episode, and it’s kept me swinging from one side to the other as to how long Kingpin will remain a good guy. This new unpredictable Daredevil is a dangerous one and if unleashed will bring his full wrath down on his enemies without compulsion.
To let the recent garbage Marvel has spewed out put you off this show is doing, and this show, you a disservice.
I’m in wholeheartedly for the full journey. This is unmissable. And if Daredevil does not appear in Secret Wars and Doomsday, Marvel need a kick in the arse.
Daredevil is back and badder than ever and so am I. Now there’s something you don’t see every day.
Despite his crippling fear, overwhelming sharp scientific curiosity was pricked.
Trapped in this creature’s flesh nipping grip, the Xereban winced and turned his head away in disgust straining his neck in the process, as some of the wolfman’s dangling drool swung close to his lips. He could feel the hair on his flesh, short and bristly like a clothes brush.
“You’re is trembling like that of a frail, innocent child scared of the dark. Your bright eyes betray your fear . I see the look of a lamb, frozen at the approaching jaws of the predator that shouldn’t exist for the inevitable first and final time.”
The wolfman let out a low threatening growl as it narrowed its eyes in intense curiosity Varran never expected examining its prey. Varran noted how beautiful the mixed colours in those pupils were reminding him of the majestic Mertillian Nebula five thousand light years away from his dead homeworld of Xereba.
“If you’d be so kind, what is a Xereban please?” Varran asked innocently, his voice steady.
The white haired wolf glared at him for a second then snarled, putting its snout closer to Varran’s face. Are those human tear ducts, he wondered given the impossible lupine face was this close. Humans are the only species on the planet that are capable of shedding tears. Varran wondered if the wolfman ever stared in the mirror and was moved to tears by the intangible shadow of the human he could no longer see anywhere but his mind’s eye? Did he howl at all at the full moon in frustration as he watched the rest of the world continue onwards in their train track routine and normality?
Were the nightmares of a wolfman those of a 9 to 5 human’s gratitude to the universe for a good day where good meant they made it to the end of their shift?
If ever television delivered a shocking climax then season two of Torchwood did exactly that in Exit Wounds. Torchwood, a hit, changed forever and none of us knew at the time that this was the last time we would see the team together. Producers had written a finale that would shock and bring viewers to tears at the same time. It is a battle to save Cardiff but what will success cost them?
In a season that introduced James Marsters as Jack Harkness’s (John Barrowman) old lover and fellow time agent, Captain John Hart. John is being controlled by Jack’s long lost brother, Grey. As children, Grey was taken by unidentified alien invaders where he was tortured to the point his mind broke. He blamed Jack for what happened to him because he let go of his hand. John found him among a sea of corpses and was quickly overpowered to help take revenge on his brother.
Having had time to plan, Grey had gotten John to blow up a building in the previous episode but failed to kill the team. At this point, Owen (Burns Gorman) had been killed but was still alive trapped in the undead state. He could not drink, eat, have sex and if he broke a limb or in this case, fingers then it would never heal. He was killed earlier in the season in Reset which introduced Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) to the team for a few episodes. Jack refused to lose him and brought him back to a living dead state with the Resurrection gauntlet.
Splitting up, the team try to save Cardiff which has been shattered in a series of bombs planted by John on Grey’s instruction. Jack is captured and taken to face his brother who buries him alive in a grave on which Cardiff will be built. Grey’s plan is revealed to Jack there and then before John tosses him a ring he gave him when they were lovers before filling the grave.
Having fulfilled his side of the bargain, Grey releases John who has been strapped to a bomb around his wrist from the start. Grey intends to destroy everything Jack loves and that includes Torchwood itself. This includes releasing swarms of Weevils on to the streets, overwhelming the police forces.
Tosh, Ianto and Owen must try to stop the nuclear reactor melting down. Owen goes off there while Tosh returns to the hub to organise the operation using Torchwood’s systems. Rhys and policeman Andy seal police headquarters as Weevils attack. Andy and Rhys are a comedy gold pairing. Andy always loved Gwen and hates the fact she married Rhys whom he points out could do with losing a few pounds. But standing side by side in battle, Rhys tells him of a secret time agency in Cardiff to which Tom says sarcastically about how crap Rhys is at keeping secrets.
While Owen reaches the nuclear plant, Tosh directs him but little does he realise that Grey has found her and shot her in the stomach. She is bleeding out, alone and still determined to save the city.
Unrequited love is a common theme in fiction as well as real life. We learned earlier in the season that Tosh was in love with Owen but he never noticed. They planned a date but never got round to it. As the viewer, you suddenly realise this isn’t going to be a happy ending at all. Someone is going to die but we, as the audience can cope with one loss.
Little did we know.
The crux of the episode is Owen learning too late and realising just how insular he was as a person that he had true love all along under his nose when he spent his life being promiscuous. Tosh manages to trigger the safety features but Owen is trapped in the chamber. The radiation will flood into the room safely and effectively but he will die. He rants and raves about how unfair it is and screams until Tosh tells him to stop.
He asks why.
She replies because he is breaking her heart.
Bang, there it is. Owen realises what she is really saying.
They talk about their past and how she stood in for him when the spaceship crashed in London in the Doctor Who episode Aliens of London. All because Owen had a bad hangover from the night before. Owen regrets that they never did go on the date he promised and now it is far too late. It is only when he realises that they should have been together. He asks her to tell him what is going to happen to him. She reluctantly tells him that the containment chamber will flood. Owen stops her and realises that his body will slowly decompose as he watches. It is a cruel death but not as cruel as he will die believing Tosh and the rest of the city will be safe. Little does he know but her love gives Owen the strength to face death with dignity. They both apologise for missing the date before Owen stands to face the radiation, assuring her it’s alright. The camera pulls back as the screen fades to white.
Tosh is left alone to watch what could have been the love of her life die on a screen; alone but unafraid thanks to her.
Thanks to John’s ring, Jack was rescued by Victorian Torchwood and stored in a freezer timed to release him the day of the attack. He defeats his brother with John’s help and finds Tosh at the end of a big trail of blood. He and Gwen try desperately to save her, along with Ianto, but it is too late. She manages to tell them how Owen died but their efforts are in vain. Eyes wide, staring into Jack’s face with a slight smile, Tosh dies.
I think to this day nobody was acting in that scene as Jack and Gwen break down in tears. it’s a powerful moment, reminding us that heroes may win but what they lose along the way is too great a sacrifice.
But the tears don’t stop there.
As Jack and Gwen pack away their deceased colleagues’ possessions tearfully, Ianto has to archive Owen and Tosh’s profiles and when he tries to file Tosh, it triggers a video message.
And you know what? It really makes the loss worse because you see Tosh in all her glory. She hopes she didn’t die in an accident with a toaster and hoped it was impressive. She leaves this message to let them know that it’s okay. She tells Jack that he saved her and she wouldn’t have missed all the wonders she saw for anything. Ironically she tells Owen that he never knew and that she loves him; all of them and that she hopes in the end, she did good.
What brilliant and poignant writing. The audience is already reeling from their deaths and this is almost like Tosh reaching out from the other side to do what she did for Owen in his last moments; to give them the strength to carry on. Her video admission of her love for Owen is irony at its worst as never for a moment did she think their deaths would be linked and go out together.
Viewers never expected this at all. We get hit with a double whammy of death as two main characters are wiped out in a terrible way. Tosh, the innocent, is killed in a violent and bloody way because of what Jack did years ago. If you want something to make you cry, this is it. Owen becomes the man he always strived to be and dies a hero regretting lost love like we all have at some stage. Tosh is such a lovely character and is played as someone you could easily be close friends with. Her death kicks the audience in their collective nuts because she is so innocent and a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The romantics among us believe that he met her on the other side and they were finally together for all eternity away from all the pain and suffering.
As Jack, Ianto and Gwen struggle with their emotions, the camera pulls back from them. Jack is the man of many endings and many beginnings and this is the hardest one he will ever have to come back from. This time he has two other people to keep upright as well as himself. Did I say this was the hardest one Jack would ever have to come back from?
I was wrong. The 456 are coming and they want the children of Earth. Torchwood stands cracked at the end of Exit Wounds. It is about to be shattered forever.
I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.
While there have been many versions of Lex Luthor over the years both in live action and animation and yes, there will be another in the James Gunn reboot; you know the one where they sacked Henry Cavill and cast his exact double. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it but to replace an actor, the only movie actor that comes close to Reeve, with literally his twin beggars belief. But for many there is only one Luthor that could go up against Christopher Reeve’s Superman in the movies and make it believable.
In 1978 that man was the brilliant Gene Hackman. Think of it this way; Jack Nicholson as Michael Keaton’s Joker and you know it is magic. Thus with Hackman up against Reeve. Hackman was a highly respected movie star with a string of hits under his belt. With Luthor he wanted to subvert audiences firstly by having the usually bald Luthor have curly hair. With his secret base under Metropolis, he plotted and planned world domination with his two cronies henchman Otis (Ned Beatty) and the lovely Miss Tessmacher, (Valerie Perrine).
This Luthor follows the mainstream of the stories in that he hates Superman and wants to find out all he can about him especially how to kill him. It speaks of his ego that he sees an all powerful alien as the only thing that stops the world from seeing Luthor as the most powerful man in the world. He is a literal super criminal here rather than the had of corporation that trades in all sorts and is a cover to his plans for world domination. There’s a great comedic side to this Luthor all through the movies with his springboard of the forever loyal Otis. When we first see Luthor it is his hand only as he watches Otis being trailed to their secret hideout below the train station by the police. He kills the officer by forcing him in front of a train. Miss Tessmacher calls him sick but here we see exactly what Luthor thinks of himself and how egotistical he is.
He fiends hurt at being called sick when he is days away from committing the crime of the century and prefers terms like charismatic, fiendishly gifted and the greatest criminal mind of his time. The crime of the century involves the theft of nuclear missiles that he will launch into the San Andreas fault triggering the biggest earthquake in history. His father once told him that land is where the money is and when his plan is executed he will make billions from people desperate for land. When asked why so many people have to die he equates it to the phone ringing when you are in the bath…shit happens.
Time and again we him Hackman bounce between comedy and evil as he focuses solely on what he wants regardless of the consequence. Ambition and victory are all he think about in the building of his empire. His vanity is deep and the traditional baldness is given away when Otis finds a wig in Luthor’s bed and Luthor’s changing hairstyles. It isn’t until he is delivered to prison that he whips off his wig and glares hatefully in the classic Luthor image after the departing Superman.
When Superman hits the news Luthor knows he is the real deal because if he were a hoax then he would have been the one behind it. And if anyone could scupper his crime of the century then it’s Superman. In a way Superman’s honesty is part of his own downfall when he revels in his interview with Lois that he is vulnerable to Kryptonite and cannot see through lead. And that piece of information along with the location of Krypton and its galaxy is all Luthor needs to lure him into a trap via a sonic message and meet his foe face to face.
Luthor broadcasts a signal that only Superman and dogs can hear. He claims that he is about to detonate a bomb filled with poisonous gas that will wipe out half the city. Like Zod in the second movie, Luther uses Superman’s love for people against him. But while all this is to bring Superman to the base, it is also Luthor’s way of testing his enemy as seen in the deleted scenes where he tries to burn, freeze and riddle him with bullets before he kicks the door of the base in to which Luthor says with a smile, “It’s open. Come in. My attorney will be in touch with you about the damage to the door.” When his poisonous gas is revealed to be a lie, Superman asks is that how a warped mind like his gets his kicks by planning the deaths of innocent people. Luthor replies , no, by causing the deaths of innocent people.
But for Luthor it is more than that. It is his proving to this god that he is mistaken about his place on Earth. Luthor is the true god with all his technology and money which not even Superman can stand against. This alien is but a cuckoo, made fragile by his own morality. Luthor boasts about what is going to happen using a massive floor map which he smashes to show what is going to left of California once it hits. Luthor would gladly give Otis’ life to destroy Superman and poor Otis would let him do it. Luthor wants to look Superman in the eye and make Superman realise that he is not god here; Luthor is. Luthor has been buying up thousands of acres of land at crazy prices bringing it to the attention of Lois. When the earthquake hits then the west coast of California will fall into the sea making Luthor’s cheap desert land the most valued commodity on the planet. It says something about the caliber of Luthor that the only way his plan can be stopped is by reversing time itself. Delivered to prison Luthor is an angry man.
And an angry man in prison has time to plot and research. He escapes with the aid of holographic tech and Miss Tessmacher in a hot air balloon but poor Otis is left behind. Luthor wants his revenge on Superman and has figured out that Superman always flies north for some unknown reason. So he figures there is something there which he doesn’t want found and of course he finds the Fortress of Solitude. He discovers the Kryptonian crystals in which Jor El shares Kryton and his son’s story. It times nicely with the arrival of Zod and his cohorts on Earth. Ever the opportunist Luthor uses his knowledge of Superman to make a deal with Zod; in exchange for the son of Zod’s jailor, he wants Australia given his soft spot for real estate, a nod to the first movie.
But Luthor is not stupid. Again he is testing just how powerful and dangerous these new Kryptons are and when Superman shows up to fight them, Luthor gasps to himself, “Superman, thank god.” earning a glare from Zod. He quickly changes to “Get him!” Hackman is in his element here bouncing off four Supermen of sorts. He flirts unsuccessfully with Ursa, makes jokes at Non’s expense and bows to Zod while still maintaining his Luthor arrogance. When they all end up in the Fortress Luthor again betrays Superman. But he doesn’t realise that it is in fact he who is being played. In the movie Superman gave his powers up to be with Lois with the use of a molecular chamber. When Superman asks him to help him trick Zod into the chamber Luthor warns Zod against the trap.
This says a lot about Luthor’s choice. Zod has already ordered his death despite their deal and yet still takes this chance to get rid of Superman and be ruled by Zod. Despite their rivalry, Luthor hates Superman enough to let the world be ruled by a tyrant who has shown that Luthor’s lifespan may not be very long in the new world. Given that Superman reversed time in the first movie, Luthor has no memory of how he almost destroyed California yet his hatred for the man is as deep as ever. Indeed it would explain why Miss Tessmacher rescues him from prison because she would have no memory of the missile heading to the town her mother lives in.
While Luthor ends up back in prison, behind the scenes neither he nor Margot Kidder would feature in the third Superman movie. Instead Richard Pryor would take centre stage making the most comedic movie in the franchise. While Hackman could perfectly balance a quip and an eye roll while stabbing you in the back, Pryor was the comedy genius changing the tone of the third. However we would see a return to sense when the fourth and the weakest of the movies was released.
This time Superman was out to rid the world of their nuclear weapons because the threat was greater than ever should someone stupid would hit the button and destroy us all. This time Luthor would be aided by his nephew Lenny played by Jon Cryer. Luthor considers him the dutch elm disease of the family tree but is useful when he frees Luthor from prison. Cryer would be cast as Luthor in the Supergirl series years later and embark on a mission to destroy every version of Superman in the multiverse in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
This time round Luthor has been stewing on the Superman problem and has come to the conclusion that only a being equal to or more powerful than Superman can kill him. So he and Lenny steal a strand of Superman’s hair and with a precise dose of nuclear radiation created Nuclear Man. There’s something Freudian about this as he is totally loyal to Luthor. Luthor has complete control and dominance over this Superman clone which is what he has always wanted.
When Superman ends the arms race by vowing to rid the world of all bombs, Luthor gathers the greatest arms dealers on the planet. He wants to add the Nuclear Man cells to a nuclear bomb and detonate it. Once born Nuclear Man will be able to hurt Superman, pierce his skin and flood his body with radiation. None of them are keen to trust Luthor but he reminds them of his motto, “The more fear you make, the more loot you’ll take.”
Superman throws the missile into the sun and inadvertently creates his new foe. It goes straight to Luthor who lights a cigar from his hand and revels in his own brilliance. However when Nuclear Man now speaking in Luthor’s voice tells him he is nothing and that he is the father now, it has all gone wrong for Luthor again. Nuclear Man can fire energy that spins Lenny round in midair but Luthor has given him a weakness in order to control him better. Once out of sunlight, Nuclear Man is inert.
Luthor uses his old private frequency trick to lure Superman into facing his new nemesis by singing Hello Dolly and another fake threat. He brings Nuclear Man and explains what is about to happen. He toasts Superman’s last moments and with him gone, Luthor will rearm the world, not for war. he wants to keep the threat alive and make a fortune. Superman comments that Luthor will break any law even nature to get what he wants. Nuclear Man hurts Superman by scratching his neck and flooding his body with radiation. As he gloats we hear Luthor’s voice. In a way this is again Luthor’s desire to be equal to or better than Superman and placing his voice in Nuclear Man’s body he is achieving that.
With Superman apparently dead, Luthor makes a fortune with his dealers in rearming the world. They want to up his commission but he takes control of the company and uses Nuclear Man to warn them off. He yells they won’t get a reference from him either. And to think he was once surprised that Zod betrayed him over their deal in Superman 2.
Nuclear Man is defeated and Luthor once again is delivered by Superman back to the work detail he escaped from. Lenny is delivered to a boy’s home where he is taken in by the priest and the world is safe once more.
There is no doubt that Gene Hackman will forever be Lex Luthor and I mean the definitive version just like Reeve is Superman and Lynda Carter is Wonder Woman. There have been many versions since some good, some crap but none amazing and flawless like Hackman was.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 