The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1 Review!

The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1 has the same creative teams that worked on the The Death of Superman event. The first story, I think the title is a spoiler, is by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding. It has a three page gatefold cover by Jurgens and Breeding that has the fight between Superman and Doomsday. Young Jon Kent is in the foreground holding his father’s shredded cape. The other pages have the moments of the battle and the pages is almost a reverse of the end of Superman #75. Jon Kent first appeared in Convergeance: Superman #2 (2015) with Jurgens as writer with art by Lee Weeks. The team also covered Jon’s childhood in the eight-issue limited series, Superman: Lois and Clark (2016) joined by pencillers; Marco Santucci, Neil Edwards, and Stephen Segovia. The first story is set around this time period. There are 80 pages in this special, the first story is 39 pages.  

At an apartment, a boss shouts at his worker, Clayton, about missing work for days.  We see a poster about “The Men Who Cleaned Up After Doomsday”, one of the smiling constructions workers is Clayton. We see him in shadow, crystal spikes form on him!, and he cries for help. In the Smallville television series, the seemingly human Davis Bloome, becomes Doomsday. Some kind of genetic pattern unearthed by Clayton in rebuilding? At a school in New Troy, a borough of Metropolis, the teacher, Ms. Walsh, introduces Mitch Anderson. Mitchell Anderson first appeared in Justice League America #69 (1992) during the Doomsday event. He became Outburst and was a part of the Supermen of America. Mitch tells the class about the day Superman died and Jon is stunned never hearing about this story.  

Superman is busy lifting up a boulder and flying while construction workers talk.  They chat about the monster that had caused the building to fall. Jimmy Olsen rushes up and shows Superman a cell phone video that has a shadowy picture that may be Doomsday. Superman says the creature is trapped in the Phantom Zone. Lois Lane walks with her son and he is justifiably angry that he is the last person to know Superman died. They walk to Centinniel Park which had Superman’s tomb and now has a memorial statue of him. Superman is flying and thinking of the possibilty that this could be Doomsday when a shadowy figure drops down, swings him by the cape, and slams him to the street! Lois says to Jon that his father has to win every battle or people will die. A nice insight into Superman. The two narratives merge and Superman battles the creature his son has dubbed Doombreaker. It is intelligent, unlike Doomsday, and has evolved with new powers!      

“Above and Beyond’ is by Jerry Ordway with pencils by Tom Grummett. It focuses on Ma and Pa Kent in Smallville reacting to the television report about the Doomsday fight.  Martha can see that her son is wounded, but Jonathan tries to distract her with a scrapbook. He tries to show her the battle with Metallo. There were battles that took him from Earth, taking on Mongul, which gets the attention of Martha. Now, Jonathan is frustrated at the news treating a life and death battle as a wrestling match. Martha gets his attention talking about what doesn’t make the news. She had assembled newpaper clippings of various stories to form the narrative. Quite the detective!  She tells him about the rescue of a school bus at a hospital when the accident caused a traffic jam. This leads to an organ donor, but the flights were cancelled from thunderstorms. So Clark flew them to Chicago and saved many lives.  I love seeing the family members trying keep up their moral support for loved ones who go into danger.   

The third story, “Standing Guard”, is by Roger Stern and Butch Guice. The story features James Harper, Guardian, who carries a shield. He monitors the path of destruction by Doomsday for Cadmus Project. Guardian rides his motorcycle towards the village of Griffith when there is an incredible explosion. He rides towards and helps up Superman.  Guardian checks on his Justice League colleague, Maxima, then is recalled back to Cadmus. There is an explosion (an ambush by Doomsday!) that batters Superman and Guardian. He is revived by the mental projection of Dubbilex, a being created by Cadmus. It is after the Doomsday battle, Guardian and Inspector Dan Turpin try to give him CPR. Also on the scene is Captain Maggie Sawyer in charge of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit. These strong people will defend the city as best as they can with the fall of Superman. Lastly is the story by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove featuring John Henry Irons, “Time.”  He is in his engineer suit holding up rubble while children escape. 

It collapses on him and then John Henry Iron stands with his clothes partially ripped.  Then, he comes across an eighteen wheeled truck smashed in the fight. John Henry uses his strength, engineering smarts, and bystanders to move the truck. Next, he takes a sledgehammer from a looter and goes to save a trapped woman with a car crashed into her apartment. John Henry tosses up a cable drum runner and uses the cable to bring down the family. He gets them between two cars and takes the brunt of the car explosion with his body.  They tell him that the battle moved to the Daily Planet building. He reaches the battleground, but finds that Superman died, he failed after the Man of Steel saved him from falling at a construction site. Still, the man who will become Steel, can save others just like Superman. There are various pinups by artists like Clay Mann, Walt Simonson, and Bill Sienkiewicz. The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1 is packed with great stories and art, plus pinups by fine artists, and a perfect update and companion to the Superman event!  

Five Superman capes out of Five!  

#DeathOfSuperman, #30thAnniversarySpecial, #DanJurgens, #BrettBreeding, #AboveAndBeyond, #JerryOrdway, #TomGrummett, #Time, #LouiseSimonson, #JonBogdanove      

    

Superman #75 Special Edition Review!

There was an event at the end of 1992 that changed comic books forever. Superman died.  The issue was Superman #75 (1992), it sold out everywhere six million copies, the comic stores were empty. News coverage was dominated by coverage of the event, no comic book has really entered mainstream news since that time. A special edition came in a black polybag with a black memorial armband, Superman stamps, a poster by Dan Jurgens, and Roger Stern wrote his obituary in the Daily Planet. (I have not opened my copy!) The complete story was written by Stern, The Death and Life of Superman: A Novel (1993), highly recommended for anyone interested in comics in novel form. There were two animated adaptations; Superman: Doomsday (2007) and The Death of Superman (2018). Clark Kent faced Doomsday in season eight of Smallville.  In 2016, Superman faced Doomsday in Beavis.   

The cover of Superman #75 by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding has the two dark buildings enclosing the scene which has shadowy figures in the background with the shredded Superman cape held by a stick and rubble in the foreground. The first pages are “Life After The Death of Superman”, a roundtable interview with some of the original creators; Mike Carlin, Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson, and Roger Stern.  “Doomsday!” is by Dan Jurgens, writer and penciller, with Brett Bredding providing the finished art.  The first full appearance of the Doomsday character was in Superman: The Man of Steel #18 (1992) by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove.  He was a creature bound by a containment suit with only one arm freed, he tore through the DC world, and defeated Justice League America.  He made his way to Metropolis broken free of the suit and raging towards a final battle with Superman.  Doomsday’s origin was in three issue limited series, Superman Doomsday: Hunter/Prey by Jurgens and Breeding.   

The conflict is all told in splash panels which gives the story an epic scope until the finish.  The story still has all of the excitement of the final battle and emotional power now as it did in 1992.  Superman and Doomsday are locked together as beams fall from the sky. Superman is bleeding in several rips of his costume, Doomsday has crystal spikes on his fists, elbows, shoulder armor, and spikes on his face like a beard.  The beams come from shock cannons worn by flying Project Cadmus personnel.  A Daily Planet and Galaxy Communication helicopters fly above thm.  Then, we have Doomsday lift up the battered body of Superman!  He tossed into the Daily Planet helicopter and it is ruined. The Galaxy Communications helicopter pilot reports that they have to evacuate to Cat Grant.  Superman flies the Daily Planet helicopter with Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane away from the battle. Doomsday rampages as Superman tells Lois he has to face him alone.  Lois kisses Clark with the smoke covering them.  Then, Superman flies into his final battle, this is an awesome Superman just set to sacrifice himself.  

Superman collides his entire body into Doomsday!  He is tossed through the struts of a building and into a bus as above them, Cat Grant wants the pilot to catch the final battle.  The Project Cadmus soldiers are at a loss because the fight has turned to super speed.  Then we get Doomsday driving Superman’s body into the ground and his cape drifts away!  In the ruins in front of the Daily Planet building, Lois is going towards Superman to help warned by Jimmy. We see Doomsday’s legs as he closes in on them when Superman’s fist smashes from the ruins! This is parallel to Doomsday’s entrance.  Superman strikes Doomsday’s back while Lois is stunned. Superman uses his full heat vision blast on Doomsday and Lois says he can’t kill the brute. Closeup, Doomsday brings up his spiked knee cutting Superman’s chin.  Doomsday slashes Superman with his spiked knuckle drawing blood! Superman catches hold of Doomsday and smashes the spikes on his knee!    Then, we have the epic fist to fist brawl that shatters every window in the Daily Planet!  It is the final blows of these two powerhouses that finishes them both. There is a double page spread that opens to three pages as we get the last moment for Superman. This 30th anniversary issue of Superman #75 still has all of the bloody, pounding fist fight, the sacrifice of Superman, and a very human effect to the people who knew him including the readers.  

Five+  Superman capes out of Five! 

#Superman, #TheDeathOfSuperman, #Doomsday, #DanJurgens, #BrettBreeding, #LoisLane, #JimmyOlsen, #CatGrant  

Re:tro Re:view - Star Wars: The High Republic #1!

The time of the High Republic is continued with Star Wars: The High Republic #1! This storyline is Balance of the Force, Chapter I: The Pilgrim Moon.  The comic is by Cavan Scott and Ario Anindito, the creative team from the first series released last year.  It is set one hundred fifty years before the time of Starlight station in The High Republic novels and comics. The cover by Anindito has two Jedis, the female Twi’lek, Matty, with blue lightsaber blade, and a taller bearded Jedi, Vildar, with green lightsaber, behind them is looming, hooded figure in grey. There is a main title roll-up, shoved to a credits page, but intriguing. There are still parts of the galaxy unknown, the Challencors of the Republic and Jedi Knights sent Pathfinder Teams to explore it!  They are their own Starfleet operating under the United Federation of Planets.  

It is noted that the planets of Eiram and E’ronoh are in a forever war, I wonder if the Jedi act as negotiators with that war. Then, it is noted that on the frontier world of Dalna, a new danger to the galaxy appears! In a splash page, on Kiffex, a savage man has another victim in his claws above two other bodies. It is brutal, but I can’t help thinking Evil Santa Claus with the red cape and white beard! This is witnessed by the young Vildar Mac, his eyes seen in closeup, a villager with a spear attacks the spectral Mumm-Ra like creature. Vildar has the Kiffar facial tatoo, Qukuuf, similar to Jedi Quinlan Vos. It slashes him and Vilmar gasps! The creature, a Sith?, destroys Vildar’s hiding place and sends out Sith lightning! This startles awake the older Vildar.  

A talkative, lizard-like alien woman, a Sarkan, is on a pilgrammage. Vildar thinks about his destination, the Pilgrim Moon.  A two page spread shows the Jedha world, the shuttle descends towards Jedha City, an incredible visual since we see the warping of the city vista. It is located in the Mid Rim and of course introduced in Rogue One (2016). The shuttle lands and Vildar is instantly recognized by Twi’lek Padawan, Matthea Cathley, who likes to be called Matty. She tells Vildar that they are sent to a holy relic theft in the Shrine of Sarrav. Matty explains that the locals don’t like Jedi and asks him why he isn’t fighting on the “Togruta front line.”  We get a presentation by Ran Yaltan that has brought in a crowd.  She has control as a Bpfasshi Mystic of spirits. 

Her assistant is a Kessurian, reddish skin, pointed ears, slight horns, and facial designs. A man slaps away her donation plate, angry since he is an actual Truthsayer of Bpfassh, the con is gone! Another con artist, later known as Tey Sirrek, tries to calm him down while sneaking away a paper from the truthsayer. Matty also tries to calm the situation down.  Vildar chases after the thief, but loses him on the rooftop.  He returns to find the truthsayer and another big guy about to fight.  Vildar sees a woman in a red cloak send out flames, this shocks him to back to his childhood memories, and then he screams, “Never again!” He ignites his lightsaber. I like the Jedi with a troubled background, the fun Padawan, and a tense situation! The back up story, is “Peace and Unity”, with art by Andrea Broccardo.  Jedi apprentice Oliviah Zeveron is medidating under a statue on Jedah.  

Her master Leebon, also master to Matty, sends her to the Convocation of the Force.  Leebon is of the Selonian species with a cheetah-like head.  They first appeared in the Star Wars comic strip by Russ Manning, “Gambler’s World” (1979). She opens the door to the meeting of the advisory board and it has turned chaotic.  Representative Siriene has a sword drawn, but is held by vines sent by the Lonto official. The Yacombe woman is dressed in a hooded purple dress with a mask.  Siriene is told that the Yacombe are not with the Dark Side. Another fight breaks out with Representative Waran, a Kel Dor like Plo Koon, leaps with a glaive polearm!  This is stopped by Oliviah with her green lightsaber.  She notes that the Yacombe woman is not part of the fighting. I find Oliviah slightly more interesting as a Jedi negotiator of the characters plus all of the aliens in the group. These Jedi stories in Star Wars: The High Republic #1 add tension to the early Jedha moon from the streets to the Convocation of the Force!          

Five Lightsabers out of Five! 

#StarWarsTheHighRepublic, #ThePilgrimMoon, #CavanScott, #ArioAnindito, #VildarMac, #MattheaCathley, #TeySirrek, #Jedha, #PeaceAndUnity, #AndreaBroccardo, #OliviahZeveron, #ConvocationOfTheForce

Zen - Grogu and the Dust Bunnies review

 What is the one thing you didn’t realize you really needed? Zen - Grogu and the Dust Bunnies! This is the epic collaboration between Studio Ghibli and Lucasfilm. It is like the Zenimation series from 2020. David Bess created the show that uses moments from Disney animated films that last 5 minutes. No dialogue, no songs, just calm scenes with nature sounds, water, wind, and other (usually) quiet sound effects. I like this Merriam-Webster definition of zen; “a state of calm attentiveness in which one's actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort.”  The animated short, hand drawn in the Studio Ghibli tradition, is three minutes long and currently streaming on Disney+.  

It is directed by Katsuya Kondo.  His design work was for My Neighbor Totoro (1988) and animation director for Ponyo (2008).  The short of course features Grogu who was introduced in “Chapter 1: The Mandalorian.”  The Dust Bunnies, I’m more familiar with the name Soot Sprites, first appeared in My Neighbor Totoro. The background looks like antique paper with characters animated on it.  This is part of end credit sequences of Studio Ghibli films.  We have the impression of a water drop, a shimmering almost hook shape, that looks like the kanji letter for “Hi.” The thick drop snaps and droplets splash into a pool of water.  A few droplets bounce upwards before multi-colored leaves float past. 

Very calm images with soft music like tinkling sounds.  The music is by Ludwig Goransson who also composed music for The Mandalorian. Then, we see Grogu floating like a dandelion puff, his long, purple ears spin him like a helicopter. He stops a bit above the water, slowly spinning, in a sleeping pose. The Dust Bunnies bounce in, dark spheres with eyes and spiky hair, shy around Grogu. Another bounces off his head and Grogu gives out a pinkish yawn. He opens his black, rabbit-like eyes. Grogu sees the Dust Bunnies and begins walking across the water. The Dust Bunnies that follow fall into the water!  Then, they gather behind him until Grogu starts to run. He turns and smacks into them! Both Grogu and Dust Bunnies have to work together in harmony. We end with Grogu's arm in the shape of a Zen symbol, ensō, a circle of togetherness. Perfection.  

Five Ensos out of Five! 

#ZenGroguAndTheDustBunnies, #KatsuyaKondo, #LudwigGoransson, #StudioGhibli, #Lucasfilm, #Grogu, #DustBunnies, #EnsoCircle  

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Review!

 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever picks up the story from the first Black Panther (2018) and the aftermath of Wakanda in a world without a protector! Ryan Coogler returns to direct, provide the story and co-wrote the screenplay. The other screenwriter is Joe Robert Cole, Coogler’s collaborator on Black Panther also wrote and directing his own drama, All Day and a Night (2020). Shuri (Letitia Wright) enters her lab saying, “Bast, help my brother.” Wakandan belief has the Egyptian warrior goddess, Bast. Wright is in the drama, Aisha (2022) and also Death on the Nile (2022). We hear the A.I. voice of her assistant, Griot (Trevor Noah) who was also heard in the first movie. She is trying to recreate the heart-shaped herb (which had given the Black Panther his powers) to save the life of her brother, T’Challa.  

Her mother, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) walks down the steps to her lab and says T’Challa is already with the ancestors! Bassett is in the first responder television drama, 9-1-1, and she was in the action movie, Gunpowder Milkshake (2021). Ramonda and especially Shuri step up to take central roles in the movie. Shuri has to struggle with the loss of her brother, her science failed, and Ramonda has to somehow fill her son’s place. There is a ceremony taking the Black Panther casket down the streets of Birnin Zana, the Wakandan capital, one of the pallbearers is Okoye (Danai Gurira). The actress completed her role as Michonne in The Walking Dead in 2020 and voiced the Dora Milaje general in three episodes of the animated series starting with “What If… T’Challa Became Star-Lord?” (2021). Chadwick Boseman’s last performance as T’Challa was in “What If… The Watcher Broke His Oath?” (2021). Okoye is developed at the beginning with a brief character arc.  

The family and other members are solemn dressed in a funeral white while the rest of the city dances and celebrates T’Challa’s life. Shuri’s face is almost concealed under her cloak and she carries the Black Panther helmet. Ramonda sees the drummers play above them next to a poster of her son’s face. They set the casket down, Shuri places the helmet next to it, and a Royal Talon Fighter takes them into its hold. I’m not certain where the craft takes the casket to, a royal mausoleum?, is it hidden?  The type shows Wakandan Xhosa letters that change to English informing us that it is “One Year Later” at the United Nations building in Switzerland. They are having a meeting about the use of Vibranium held by Wakanda. Present is the U.S. Secretary of State (Richard Schiff) and the French Secretary of State (Gigi Bermingham). Schiff is currently in The Good Doctor and was communications director in The West Wing.  

Queen Ramonda speaks and says that the Vibranium needs to be hidden from the present nations.  We move to the Wakandan Outreach Facility in Mali. Soldiers break in and then Queen Ramonda continues. A vault is opened at the facility by one of the personnel, Aneka (Michaela Coel). She created and starred in the drama, I May Destroy You and the romance film, Been So Long (2018).  Her character was introduced in Black Panther #8 (2009). Inside the vault is General Okoye and the Dora Milaje!  This includes Ayo (Forence Kasumba). Aneka removes her lab coat to join them using two energy knives given to her by Shuri. Ramonda remarks about “last night’s attack” and the Dora Milaje bring in the prisoners. They are dressed in black uniforms with gold collars, the new costumes by Ruth E. Carter are brilliant. This moves to the Atlantic Ocean. Two deep sea suits, the operators are Jackson (Judd Wild) and Rita Salazar (Amber Harrington), are dropped by a cargo ship. 

In charge of their mission is Dr. Graham (Lake Bell). Poison Ivy is voiced by Bell in the Harley Quinn animated series and also Black Widow in What If…? The divers find a machine that struck Vibranium. This is an interesting complication, the Vibranium meteorite had struck only pre-Wakanda, but that was only in a folk tale and the five tribes didn’t have the technology to detect other sites of Vibranium. The diving lights fade and then a soldier on the cargo ship hears a song. This is similar to the siren song, the mythological creatures that drew sailors to their deaths. I wonder if this is only sung by females. Dr. Graham wants a report from Salazar and asks about Jackson. She turns to see a frayed diving cable and then screams. The soldiers start jumping off of the ship. Dr. Graham realizes what is happening and has ear plugs. She has a whistle disrupting the song from the last soldier, but he is lost to the ambush by underwater people with blue skin.

Dr. Graham shoots at them and gets to a helicopter which is pulled back! There is an undersea woman, later identified as Namora (Mabel Cadena). The character is a very early Marvel Comics character first appearing in Marvel Mystery Comics #82 (1947). In the sky is the dark figure of Namor played by Tenoch Huerta Mejía. The actor was known for the Narcos Mexico series and also starred in The Forever Purge (2021). Namor first appeared in Marvel Comics #1 (1939), two years before Aquaman!  Namor's people wear the outfits of ancient Mayans.  At the Wakandan river border, a boat has reached the barrier, Wakandans bring up pillars with water that they drum to open the gate.  At Shuri’s lab, a pod lands with Queen Ramonda. She looks at Shuri’s new armor, the Midnight Angel Armor, they were introduced in Black Panther #1 (2016). The queen wants her daughter to recreate the Heart-Shaped Herb and then takes her away to a camp. The elephants passing by reminds me too much of Coming to America (1988).   

Ramonda has taken her there to show her a ritual she used where she felt T’Challa’s hand on her shoulder. It requires her to burn her funeral gown. Shuri says she wishes the world would burn.  On the moonlit river, Namor appears, and Ramonda and Shuri have Vibranium spears out.  Shuri mentions to her mother that he is wearing Vibranium. Namor offers an alliance with Wakanda against the American military.  He lays down a conch to contact him under water.  Namor leaves and they turn to find the Vibranium detection machine.  M’Baku (Winston Duke) enters the throne room with the elders. Duke was in the action comedy, Spenser Confidential (2020),  and of course the Jordan Peele horror movie, Us (2019).  Shuri has looked over the Vibranium machine and knows who she can contact.  In Alexandria, Virginia, jogging through a forest is Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), when he faces a gnat-like drone.  Freeman was in the series Breeders and the comedy, Ode to Joy (2019). Ross follows the drone and gives Shuri the location of the scientist.  

Okoye volunteers to go with Shuri to protect her on the mission.  Then, Ross meets the new director of the CIA.  At a university at Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT, is student, Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne). The actress was in the drama, If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) and of course is the lead in the upcoming Ironheart Disney+ series. Riri is the innocent caught up in the conflict between multiple interests. Her character first appeared in Invincible Iron Man #7 (2016) and became Ironheart in Invincible Iron Man #6 (2017). Shuri goes to talk with her and Riri recognizes her.  At her apartment, Riri admits she built the Vibranium detector for Metallurgy class, and then is confronted by Okoye who has brought her Vibranium spear! This is confusing, I thought the Wakandan outreach program was to help develop scientists and Riri was only found by the military?  She takes them to a warehouse that stores all of her work including a cobbled together suit, so Stark Industries also didn’t notice her?  Stark fully funded the student projects at MIT in Captain America: Civil War (2016). They are surrounded by CIA vehicles, Okoye escapes in Riri’s car and Shuri on a motorcycle.  

Riri crashes through the roof window in her cobbled together suit (later her new suit looks almost Mecha-like, close to the comics).  Okoye takes care of a pursuing car using her Vibranium spear.  Shuri has detected a surveillance drone above them.  Riri goes after it, but doesn’t have a breathing mask or system on her suit. She destorys the drone, but falls and manages to make it to a bridge.  A whale suddenly appears, the blue people seem to have control of cetaceans, how? Namora confronts the agents while Attuma (Alex Livinalli) battles Okoye. Livinalli starred in the thriller Blind Trust (2022) and was the Shotgun Whisperer in The Walking Dead. Attuma and Namora are not really identified in the movie and no backgrounds. Later, Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) is contacted to go on a mission.  Her part is short, but turns out to be very important.  Namor has a flashback to his origin and the story of his people.  There is some unexpected cameos and story points with only a mid-credit scene, and no end credit scene.  The movie has some plot problems and is extremely long, 2 hours, 41 minutes.  Black Panther: Wakanda Forever highlights Shuri, Ramonda, and Riri while they deal with the threat of Namor and his people!    

Four Kimoyo Beads out of Five!  

#BlackPantherWakandaForever, #RyanCoogler, #LetitiaWright, #AngelaBassett, #DominiqueThorne, #TenochHuertaMejia, #LupitaNyongo, #WinstonDuke, #MartinFreeman, #MichaelaCoel, #FlorenceKasumba, #MabelCadena, #AlexLivinalli 

Zootopia+ Review!

Zootopia+ shines the spotlight on the supporting characters and returns the fun to Zootopia!  It is currently streaming on Disney+. The show is an anthology of animated shorts about ten minutes long.  The original film, Zootopia (2016), was a reflection of our world through animal, in this case, mammal, eyes.  It was directed by the trio of Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Jared Bush.  They also contributed to the story and Bush co-wrote the screenplay.  The rest of the story crew were Jim Reardon, Josie Trinidad, Jennifer Lee, and Phil Johnston who was also the co-screenwriter.  The world was almost similar to the cute mammals of The Busy World of Richard Scarry.  It focused on Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) who dreamed of being the first rabbit police officer in Zootopia.  Her parents, Bonnie (Bonnie Hunt) and Stu (Don Lake) worry about her leaving their country home of Bunnyburrow to the big city.  

She encounters dispatcher, Benjamin Clawhauser (Nate Torrance), he is a fan of the songs of Gazelle (Shakira), and there is also Chief Bogo (Idris Elba).  Judy encounters con artist and fox, Nick Wilde (Jason Basteman) who becomes her partner.   Then, she chases after the sneaky thief Duke Weaselton (Alan Tudyk) and in the process saves Fru Fru (Leah Latham), the daughter of crime boss, Mr. Big (Maurice LaMarche). Along the way, the duo on the missing animal case, gets help at the Department of Mammal Vehicles (DMV) and finds a clue from the vveeerrry slllooww sloth, Flash (Raymond S. Persi). He has a cooooo-woooorrrker sloth named Priscilla (Kristen Bell).  The first episode is “Hopp on Board”!  The show’s opening shows a quick overview of life in Zootopia.  This episode is directed by Trent Correy and Josie Trinidad.  It features the original voice cast!  

It starts at the Bunnyburrow train station with Judy’s massive family (mostly kits and kittens) and a sign, “Good Luck, Judy!” Hanging on the station that has bunny decorations!  Judy’s parents are again worried about her in the city when the Zootopia Express arrives.  I think the express horn is from the monorail!  We see the animals exiting from three different sized doors!  Judy says her goodbye, but runs back for a hug goodbye.  Stu starts to cry, Lake’s performance is just funny!  Judy says her last goodbye as the Zootopia Express leaves.  Stu is still crying and mentions baby pointing to Baby Molly sitting at the back of the train!  Bonnie tells her father to watch after the kids while they chase after the train!  Little Molly crawls over to the bubble window to see Judy (she starts to play Gazelle’s “Try Everything” on her headphones).  

Molly falls down from the window into the train.  The slipping in and out of the original film is brilliant!  I think of the clever Back to the Future II (1989) scenes within scenes.  Stu throws Bonnie the keys for their Hopps Family Farm truck, but they fall into a grate!  Still, Bonnie is resourceful and hotwires the truck!  She takes off with Stu clinging to the truck.  Molly crawls along a train seat and just passes the behind of a hippo!  Stu regrets not doing a head count of his family, it is so long that it becomes hilarious!  Bonnie races the truck until they see the train below!  She looks for her phone as Stu turns the steering wheel to avoid a collison with the van of Gideon Gray, the fox who was the childhood rival of Judy.  The truck leaps across a stream and lands on the other side!  Bonnie gives Stu the phone, he can’t get the password so takes a face scan (it looks like an Apple cell phone) of his wife, who gives a smile.  This short is so fun!    

Stu can’t type in Judy’s number with sweaty paws, Bonnie uses the voice function, Deeri (complete with a deer icon!) to call Judy.  Deeri instead plays “All Groovy”, there is just countless jokes thrown in on this adventure!  Stu is happy, though, since it was their wedding song and they happily sit together.  The truck is climbing up a forested hill and Stu accidentally drops the cell phone outside!  A comedy of errors and the hits keep coming!  The yak guru, Yax (Tommy Chong) has his Mystic Spring Oasis Retreat members stretch down. The truck soars over them and Stu is stunned after what he had just seen!  Bonnie points out that they are now parallel to the Zootopia Express!  Molly slides down and is almost stomped by a massive rhino hoof!  Bonnie is driving next to the train and Stu decides to climb over the truck to hop onto it!  He brings a pitch fork and manages to pin it against the train.  Stu sees through the window, Molly haplessly walking around a sleeping tiger’s mouth!   The adventure takes them through the Zootopia districts!  Zootopia+ has some funny moments behind the movie!  

Five Zootopia Express Trains out of Five! 

#ZootopiaPlus, #TrentCorrey, #JosieTrinidad, #GinnferGoodwin, #BonnieHunt, #DonLake, #Molly 

Re:tro Re:view - Gamera: Guardian of the Universe!

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995) has interesting characters that investigate phenomenon that leads to the Kaiju, then we have a world that explains the Kaiju, and shows the consequences of their battles! Gamera was introduced in Gamera, the Giant Monster (1965), it was Daiei Film’s answer to Godzilla, but lapsed into a silly Saturday morning fare.  I thought this even as a kid!, especially with Guiron, a Kaiju that was a green, half-shark and half-curved knife. Then, Pacific Rim (2013) had a Kaiju named Knifehead, not so silly now, huh?  Then, there was Gamera: Guardian of the Universe! The film was directed by Shūsuke Kaneko who directed the Gamera trilogy and also Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001). Screenwriter, Kazunori Itō, wrote the screenplays of the Gamera movies and previously wrote the sci fi anime, Ghost in the Shell (1995).  A “plutonium transport ship”, Kairyu-Maru, travels the night seas.  A helicopter flies and then we see Marine Safety Agency patrol boat (really ship), Nojima. They sail next to each other with Nojima in the lead.    

The captain enters the bridge, he worries about the ton of plutonium on the Kairyu-Maru, and before they near Japan an alarm sets off!  Marine officer Yoshinari Yonemori (Tsuyoshi Ihara) picks up the phone and gets the report that the transport ship has run aground in the middle of the Philippines Deep!  Ihara was in third Gamera film and also Letters from Iwo Jima (2006).  The captain asks if there any radiation leaks.  The Kairyu-Maru captain (Akira Kubo) orders a stop of all engines so they can check for leaks. Kubo is one of my favorite actors in the Godzilla series including Destroy All Monsters (1968).  Sailors look at  what they struck with flashlights and believe they hit an atoll.  The ship suddenly lurches!  Yoshinari reports that sonar shows the atoll underneath the patrol ship!  Underwater, we see the dark shape of what was called an “atoll” with the ship above and a hammerhead shark swimming away from it.  At the base, a report is made about the transport ship leaking, but still intact.  

A “special rescue squad” is sent by jet to assist.  We see a few newspaper headlines, a pan across dark seas, and there is also dramatic music.  This moves to an aquarium with two teenage schoolgirls wondering about a city like Atlantis. One of the schoolgirls is Asagi Kusanagi played by Ayako Fujitani, known as the daughter of Steven Seagal, she also starred in the rest of the trilogy and also the Seagal action film, The Patriot (1998).  I really, really like that there is a strange occurance, but nothing unusual like the sudden appearance of a kaiju.  At the Marine Safety Agency office, Yoshinari feels responsible for the incident and wants to be part of the investigation.  This moves to the Fukyoka Municipal Zoo where we see a caged condor which is being sketched by ornithologiest Mayumi Nagamine (Shinobu Nakayama).  The actress was a J-pop singer and appeared in the Jet Li action movie Fist of Legend (1994).  She gets a phone call, but no answer. Mayumi hopes Professsor Hirata won’t ask her to go to the island.  

We see the island, Himegami Island struck by a night storm in the Goto Archipelago.  Two people are running to a boat, there is some flapping and one of them screams!  The survivor in the boat screams into a radio that it is a bird!  So we have the atoll and an island with some kind of bird kaiju. Yoshinari enters a store to ask about Mr. Kusanagi’s house. He is answered by his daughter, Asagi. Naoya Kusanagi (Akira Onodera) enters his home to see Yoshinari preparing dinner.  Naoyo mentions a job going to the atoll.  Research ship, Kenzaki, heads to the atoll the next day.  Naoyo is at a map tracking the movement of the atoll and places a marker at one location. Inspector Osako (Yukijirō Hotaru) talks to Mayumi about Professor Hirata.  I recognize Hotaru as the comic relief in Zeiram (1991) and he was also in the 2001 Godzilla movie. He tells her the report about the bird. A helicopter takes her and Inspector Osako to Himegami Island.  Two police officers go through the ruins of Professor Hirgata’s lab.  

Mayumi asks how many people were on the island and Osako says seventeen people. She finds a pellet, a white lump, which she checks Jurassic Park-style reaching in with a glove.  Mayumi finds a pen that belonged to the professor.  Both teams are close to finding the kaijus and investigating which is great.  Yoshinari detects what he thinks is the atoll on sonar. The atoll is spotted and the ship heads towards the rocky shore.  Mayumi, Osako, and the other policemen are move through the forest. Inspector Osako worries that it will dark soon.  Then, they hear a screech as at giant form flies overhead! She wants to chase after it. The kaiju appearances are only rocks and a fast moving creature.  At Nagasaki Airport, an operator finds it on radar.  On board the helicopter, Osako say it has a wingspan of 50 feet!  The prehistoric Arambourgiania had a wingspan of 43 feet.  The kaiju soars above Himegami Island and Osako warns the control tower to divert any air traffic. A dog barks at it as the kaiju descends and rips it away!

The wind from its wake tears through buildings, a shopkeeper goes out to check, and is just able to escape the swooping kaiju!  Then, we see the full form of Gyaos, it has a slooped, pointed head and beak. Mayumi wants to divert Gyaos’ attention, opens the helicopter door, and uses the camera’s flash on it!  I really like resourcefulness and just plain braery of Mayumi.  The kaiju shrieks and flies away. Two jets from the Self-Defense Forces fly in. Mayumi notices that there are two other Gyaos!  At night, a female reporter notes Dr. Yagamine’s discovery.  She is mobbed by reporters and Mayumi stresses that they are not birds and don’t have feathers.  At the Kenzaki, the atoll is analyzed, it looks like a walnut or turtle shell. The scientists land on the atoll with their equipment. Yoshinari finds a curved object, like half of the yin and yang symbol, and pulls it free.  It is later known as an amulet made of orichalcum (a rare metal connected to Atlantis). Another researcher has a box of them that he says are all over. Another discovery, a right triangle-shape, rock formation. Naoyo orders them to dig it up. 

In the day, Mayumi is followed by Osako who wants her to continue the investigation, but she is still mourning the death of Professor Hirata. He apologizes and then she agrees to see the Cabinet, a group of experts and military officers who want to capture the Gyaos. They forward the capture, but Mayumi warns about their behavior without studying them.  A pit is dug around the strange formation which has strange patterns and runes on it like a Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Yoshinari notes that the formation is warm and hears a sound from it.  Suddenly, cracks appear, and it shatters!  Then, Yoshinari and the research team struggle through tremors on the atoll.  Naoyo sees from the ship that there is a glow from the atoll.  Yoshinari and the others are thrown into the water.  He sees an eye a tusked mouth!  At his office, Osako thinks an anesthetic gun could be used on the Gyaos, but Mayumi says it would kill them.  She wonders if there is a place to trap them.  Osako has an idea, the Fukuoka Dome baseball stadium. A military operation is set up there and helicopters are sent out to get the Gyaos.  

Yoshinari lands in a helicopter to warn them about a creature 195 feet long headed their way!  Slabs of meat, several cows worth, are laid out as bait and the stadium lights are turned off.  Soldiers are in the dugout with anesthetic rifles.  Searchlights encircle the three Gyaos and they descend with Kaiju Vision to the piles of meat.  Mayumi orders the stadium ceiling to be closed. The Gyaos are too busy feeding to notice.  The ceiling hasn’t fully closed, but Mayumi has them open fire.  One Gyaos falls, another escapes, and the last one flies towars the dugout!  Mayumi backs into the wall as soldier unload their rifles with the darts. An officer sets off flashing lights above the dugout. A helicopter pursues the remaining Gyaos. The pilots use nightvision and then see something explode out of the water!  It is Gamera!, prehistoric turtle kaiju, that slaps the Gyaos into electrical cables!  Mayumi wants to check on the Gyaos, then Gamera rampages in the city!  Two Kaiju, Gyaos turns into a super form to match Gamera. He has a supernatural connection to the teen girl Asagi through the orihalcum amulet, and Tokyo becomes the battleground of Gamera vs. Gyaos. Gamera: Defender of the Universe has some world building for Kaiju, giving background to them, consequences to their rampages, and some great characters!  

Five Orihalcum Amulets out of Five!                           

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