Hill Street Blues (1983) – Midway to What?, and Honk If You’re a Goose

There are some interesting things going on in Midway to What? written by Jeffrey Lewis, Michael Wagner, Karen Hall and Mark Frost, from a story by Lewis and David Milch. First airing on 1 December, 1983 the episode shows Belker (Bruce Weitz) interacting with a wheelchair-bound man, Gerry (Gary Frank) after Gerry spray paints Belker’s…

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 (2013) – Jay Oliva

The second installment of The Dark Knight Returns continues the adaptation of the iconic 80s graphic novel. Redefining Batman for a whole new generation, and putting the dark in Dark Knight, the story continues its exploration of an older (now no longer retired) Batman/Bruce Wayne (Peter Weller – who still can’t separate his Batman and…

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 (2012) – Jay Oliva

The Dark Knight Returns is an iconic graphic novel, a story that redefined Batman in the 80s, and was, perhaps, the one adaptation that I was looking forward to most. I liked that the creative team knew to tell the story properly, they had to take their time with it, setting everything up, which meant…

Justice League: The New Frontier (2008) – Dave Bullock

Darwyn Cooke’s now iconic graphic novel Justice League: The New Frontier gets the DC animation update and brings a cavalcade of stars to the animated incarnations of some of DC’s biggest hitters. Set in the 1950s the animation style perfectly reflects that of the original comic panel art, as it follows a collection of heroes…

The Fury (1978) – Brian De Palma

Kirk Douglas and Amy Irving star in De Palma’s first film after his success with Carrie, and this one is another supernatural tinged thriller, but this one boasts a score by John Williams, and viewers should watch for brief appearances by Daryl Hannah and Dennis Franz. John Farris pens the screenplay from his own novel,…

V – The Series (1985) – The Hero, and The Betryal

Carleton Eastlake pens this episode that first debuted on 11 January, 1985. Nathan Bates (Lane Smith) has created a new police force to keep the open city of Los Angeles safe, but more importantly to keep the Resistance under control. When they seize a group of rebels including Robin (Blair Tefkin), a deadly plan is…

V – The Series (1984) – The Overlord, and The Dissident

While Julie (Faye Grant) confronts allegations of treason, Donovan (Marc Singer), Elias (Micheal Wright) and Tyler (Micheal Ironside) could be walking into a trap when they agree to help a small mining town take on some Visitor backed villains. The Overlord was written by David Abramowitz, and first aired on 30 November, 1984. The town…

V – The Series (1984) – The Sanction, and Visitor’s Choice

The battle for Earth continues this week, along with a healthy dose of melodrama, as I continue exploring V – The Series. Up first is The Sanction, written by Brian Taggert, who worked on The Final Battle, this story first aired on 16 November, 1984. Mike Donovan’s (Marc Singer) son, Sean (Nicky Katt) is being…

V – The Series (1984/1985) – Breakout, and The Deception

Plot holes, and continuity errors begin to crop up in the V The Series already, when Breakout comes to the screen this week. Written by David Braff, this episode, the third in production, and intended to be broadcast as such, wasn’t aired until 24 May, 1985. This causes some problems with characters meeting, and the…

V – The Series (1984) – Liberation Day, and Dreadnought

V – The Series brought the Visitors and the renewed battle for Earth to television on a weekly basis, and despite being a costly production (a calculated one million dollars per episode, which was unheard of at the time), it just seemed doomed to fail. I mean with a budget like that, you think someone…