Holding true to the geek credo of the series, “The Big Bang Theory” celebrates May the 4th in style with official Star Wars props and sets that help the writers give a very entertaining glimpse in to the appeal of the iconic movie series. I don’t normally review single episodes of many shows these days, but “The Big Bang Theory” really helped remind me why I used to love “Star Wars.: No matter what you think of the prequels or how it’s being tailored these days, “Star Wars” has a meaning to everyone whose ever seen it, and it’s an important saga for anyone that’s followed it since its release. I was afraid “The Proton Transmogrification” was going to be one of those lazy scenario episodes like “Blue Harvest,” where the gang re-enacts the entire series in one episode. Especially since the news broke that Lucasfilm allowed the series to use many costumes and props for the episode.
Category Archives: TV Tomb
The PC Thug: Re-Visiting the Weekenders
The constant about kids animated programming is that we almost always see children going to school. From “Hey Arnold!” and “Rocket Power,” we always see them going to school. Heck, eventually “Ed, Edd, and Eddy” began featuring its core cast going to school. What was so fun about “The Weekenders” is that every episode took place during the weekend and only the weekend. Hence, the title. In 1999, Disney helped create the antidote to the wildly popular animated series “Recess,” which centered on kids going to school, and instead focused on a show about a group of friends whose weekends were almost always wild or eventful.
The History of WWE: 50 Years of Sports Entertainment [Blu-ray]
It’s surprising how “The History of WWE” feels less like a documentary and more like a press kit for the WWE organization. There’s only about two hours of a film here, and most of the more important facets of the organization are completely glossed over. I really would have loved to learn more about the WWF, why and when it became the WWE, and for the filmmakers to feature many more wrestlers in their profile. Surely, Hulk Hogan helped revive the popularity of the WWE for the eighties, but there were also folks like Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, and Stone Cold, all of whom really helped bring the WWE in to the new generation.
Breaking Well: Why Walter White is Better Than Dexter
Breaking Bad is the best television show of the 21st century (so far). It managed to offer week after week of not only compelling stories, but enough symbolism and alternate character interpretations to keep even the most snobby English-Lit major interested, while distracting less intellectually focused viewers with instances of “bad ass” behavior.
Vince Gilligan used to write for The X-Files (in fact, Bryan Cranston appeared in the episode directly before the first episode Gilligan wrote) a show I haven’t watched regularly since the nineties, but proves to me that he has a lot of talent. He knows how to tell a good story, obviously. His real genius with Breaking Bad is in how he draws characters, especially television characters. On TV, people don’t really change. There is an illusion of change, but very little actually occurs.
The PC Thug: “Game of Thrones” Renewed my Faith in the Fantasy Realm
People often ask me why I took so long to watch “Game of Thrones,” and it’s pretty simple, really. For one thing, at the time, “The Walking Dead” had premiered, and my attention was completely on its season runs, and number two: I just didn’t want to invest time in it until I understood what it was about. In the past I’d invested time in period series based on source material, and came up with no real rewards for my investment. I spent many years watching “Deadwood” only for HBO to give it the shaft and never deliver the finishing movie that we deserved. “Carnivale” bored me to tears, and despite my best efforts to dig in to the world unfolding, “The Tudors” was just a tedious droning drama that offered nothing in return. I gave up after the second season, and I never tuned in to “The Borgias.”
It’ll be a cold day in hell before I watch a period show on Showtime ever again. No thank you.
Captain America (1979)
Oh Reb Brown, where would cinema be without you? Without Brown, we wouldn’t have had the 1979 Television movie “Captain America,” a movie so inept, it can’t even mimic Evel Knievel well. Brown is Steve Rogers for some reason, who came back from the war, and now drives around in a very kick ass van that also sports his favorite motorcycle. He’s a an ex-Marine/surfer/artist/motorcycle racer who also happens to be involved with a scientist developing a new formula for super strength (with the acronym F.L.A.G.), so while he’s helping develop a potentially groundbreaking formula for humanity, he is constantly moping around about the war and his lack of money. The sad fact is that the serum can only work for the Rogers blood line. Why? Because it’s a Captain America movie.
The Top Ten Most Shocking Moments of “The Walking Dead” Season Four
Another season of “The Walking Dead” has come and gone. Massive headlines, massive ratings, and the phenomenon keeps chugging along. With season four split in to three very brutal and effective story arcs, we break down the fourth year of the series, and explore ten of our most shocking moments of “The Walking Dead,” season four.