Episode 45 The Man Behind The Bag Head
This week we talk about David Lynch, how TV is produced, and more!
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Devin’s Top 12 For 2012
2012 was awesome. I don’t care what anyone else says because 2012 was just awesome. There were disappointments, and more than a few horrible things that happened this year but they don’t belong on this list and they don’t dampen a great year.
I’d like to say that this list is my list. That is I don’t pretend to be an all knowing source. I did not see every movie, or video game, or book that came out this year. This list is not meant to be comprehensive in that sense. Instead it is meant to reflect my experiences this year. What follows are the things that were the most important to me in 2012.
Then I’d like to say that I worked on a ton of shit this year. All the video content. All the podcasts, and reviews were fun. And I wrote a damn book. I mean wow. Now that stuff doesn’t belong on this list. This list is about what I enjoyed about what others have done.
Before we begin – honorable mentions to Fringe, The Hunger Games(maybe my soundtrack of the year), Being Human, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Hyperion.
Favorite Movie of the Year:
The Avengers
It’s hard to believe I was worried during the pre-release of the Avengers. The trailers just weren’t really doing it for me. But like I said I shouldn’t have been worried. I’d thoroughly enjoyed every Marvel produced movie yet and this one was being written and directed by Joss Whedon.
I think I was worried because of what this film would mean to me. In 2008 Iron Man came out in theaters. I saw the trailer and knew I had to see it. So I did and I loved it. Later that year I saw The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton which is a great movie as well. When I saw Tony Stark show up at the end of The Hulk I knew something special was happening. I ran to the library and asked where I could find the Avengers books. I came out of the library with a smattering of volumes including a retelling of the Avengers origin story. Shortly after that I began my descent into full geekery. There’s more to the story but this is not the place for it.
Needless to say Marvel’s plan to create a series of films culminating in The Avengers is inadvertently what lead me to asking Tim if he wanted to make a website with me. Which is crazy for me to think because I can’t imagine my life going any other way. OK so all that aside: I don’t think I need to say that I loved the film. But I did. It was more than I could have hoped for. I also love it for just the ballsiness of it. I mean nothing like The Avengers has ever happened in cinema before. And I love that Joss Whedon is finally getting the widespread renown that he deserves. And I love that his success is not changing his projects, well it sorta is cause there’s that whole Avengers 2 thing, but he’s still writing comics, and webseries, and making independent stuff like Much Ado. Anyway even without all of the Avengers significance to me it would still be one of my favorite films of the year.
Review: Buffy Season 9 Freefall
Buffy’s back. That was the idea for Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8. Only to me, and I think to many, it didn’t feel like the Buffy that we had left standing on the edge of the crater of Sunydale.
But a lot of people myself among them didn’t care. We kept reading through GIANT Dawn and Nic Furry Xander(how god damn ironic is that) and hundreds of slayers and maybe we cared about the continuity error but we kept reading anyway. I never finished season 8 because I just didn’t care – it was trying to be something that it wasn’t.
I’m glad to say that so far Season 9(or at least this trade) is an improvement. It’s still not the show. No, I don’t think the comics will ever capture the show completely, how could it, but the writing feels more true to what made Buffy great.
Why S.H.E.I.L.D. will either make or break the Avengers franchise
You’ve probably heard that Agent Coulson will be starring in the S.H.E.I.L.D TV show helmed by Joss Whedon and Jed Whedon. This was troubling news to me. Don’t get me wrong I love Phil as much as the next guy – his death was among the most emotional moments in Avengers.
Upon hearing the news I immediately asked the question any rational person would ask, why is Coulson alive?
The way in which they decide to treat Agent Coulson’s return will ultimate decide for better or worse the fate of the entire franchise Marvel has tried and succeeded at building over the past 6 years.
Outrageous Anecdotes 22: AnimeDotes
This week we talk about going to the dump but coming back with stuff, and a local anime convention.
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Timothy’s Thoughts on Angel Season 5 (and the entire series)
Over the past while I have been watching and giving my thoughts on the show Angel, which is a spinoff of the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I just finished the 5th and final season, so I’ll be giving my thoughts on that, and the entire show in the text below.
It’s All Over
Right after I finished this season, I went back and watched the first episode of Buffy, just to see the characters at the beginning. It’s amazing to see how Cordelia was a whiny popular girl, Angel was a complete stranger, Fred was a helpless captive, Gunn was a gangster, and just how different all the characters have become. I think the characters in Buffy/Angel are some of the best examples of dynamic characters in any media.
He literally has one facial expression
The reason I have a section called It’s All Over is because for me, Buffy is actually over. Timeline wise, this is the last thing that is put out in the form of television. I probably won’t read the comic continuations of the story so it’s the last I’ll see of these characters.
Fred/Illiria
I think that easily the best part of the season was Illyria. I thought that Fred’s death was done perfectly, and I wanted Fred and Westley to ship from the beginning so it really hit me emotionally. Then Illyia jumps in, and the thing with Holtz, and maaaaaannn that was a HEEELLLLAAA tight story arc.
Ah man look at those burning blue eyes
Another thing to bring up is Amy Acker’s god damn acting. I completely believed the changing between the two characters, and everything from her voice to her eye movement is just perfect. One more thing about Fred, why does her Texas accent just go away? Devin said this isn’t true but I AM RIGHT.
I said before that I wouldn’t read any Angel comic probably, but if there’s a series centered on her I will probably check it out.
Note: I also read that there was one centered on Spike being a puppet like in the episode “Smile Time” and JESUS I would read that so hard.
The Finale
Overall I think that this was a GOOD season, but it was not GREAT (probably good.4). I remember I was on the penultimate episode, and I was thinking “How the BALLS are they going to close this all up in a single episode????” and boy DID THEY. It was just really COOL to start with, just with them all going after single members of the club, and them teaming up with Lindsey (and killing him) was very interesting. But beyond all the strong points it has, nothing sticks out to me as much as the Westley/Illyria scene. I loved how she became Fred just to comfort him, and on that note it was just nice to see her gradually start to care for him. Then there’s the part where she simultaneously turns back into Illyria and CRUSHES HIS ENTIRE HEAD WITH A SINGLE PUNCH. All though the head animation was somewhat laughable, it was the perfect way to show what she was feeling.
So overall I think that Angel is a terrific show that I would recommend to any Buffy fan, and I rate the five seasons as follows.
10 Points a Post-Avengers Whedon made at SDCC’12
Joss Whedon exploded from being a cult icon to being the writer/director of the third largest movie of all time. Chances are if you’re reading this blog you already were in love with Mr. Whedon, but now he’s know by a much wider audience. We now know that Joss will be working on Avengers 2, and the Avengers universe TV show for marvel, and that is all very exiting, but he didn’t talk about that at SDCC. What he did talk about are his comics, and smaller projects as well as some of his wisdom.
Buffy comics will continue to spread
As far as the main Buffy and Angel comics go Joss will continue to oversee them and do the high level writing. This means he’s not actually writing the scripts.
Joss also said that Willow and Spike mini-series will be coming soon. He would also like to make more Fray comics. Now that’s news I can get behind. I loved Fray and after season 8 we see that she is very tied in with the Buffy verse.
7 Key Moments You Missed from the Firefly 10th Anniversary Panel
I’m not the biggest firefly fan out there certainly however I have seen it all, and read all of the comics(I think). With that said I do love firefly and I was very exited to see what the 10th anniversary panel at SDCC was going to be. It did not disappoint, but your lives our busy, I know that. That’s why I’ve compiled this list of the best moments funny or insightful. Without further ado:
The entire cast was there, excluding Gina Tores, Ron Glass, Jewel Staite, and Morena Baccarin unfortunately. Joss Whedon, Tim Minear, and Jose Molina were there representing the creators and writers.
How did the idea form?
Firefly began in Joss’ mind as a piece of sci-fi that would feel real, like a piece of history. He wanted to tell a immigration story, but couldn’t do it without spaceships.
Timothy’s Thoughts on Angel Season 4
In case you somehow hadn’t realized, we here at Get Geek loooooooooooooooove Buffy The Vampire Slayer and all associated media. Devin, being a Geek 2 or so levels higher than me, has seen all of Buffy and Angel, and while convincing me quite a while ago to watch Buffy, I only recently got around to starting to watch Angel. My report for the fart(h) season is: Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh pretty good…. I will elaborate below in three main parts.
Connor (Reprise)
In my season 3 thoughts I talked about how much I hated Connor, and how I feared that he would only get worse. I am hear to say that he gets mostly better! I think after he realizes how much he ballsed up with Angel, he kinda matures a little bit. He kind of gets better through the first half of the season, then has a gradual decline for the second half (along with the show itself). Most of it revolves around Cordelia and his obsession with her, and I think that if she hadn’t banged him then he would have been great.
Devin’s Thoughts on Breaking Bad Season 1
Breaking bad is…really great. It’s extremely well acted, and written. Breaking Bad is the Emmy award winning show on AMC starring Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. It’s fifth and final season is airing now, and I can’t wait to catch up.
What is it? The show follows Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who is quite overqualified and who discovers he has lung cancer. He decides that he needs to leave money behind for his family, as he’s sure he won’t make it through the cancer. To do this he partners up with an old student and together they begin to cook meth.
As you can imagine, a lot of things can go wrong when you make the decision to cook meth and get involved with the criminal world. The show plays with Walters dealings with criminals and that aspect of his life along with his problems at home with his pregnant wife and his crippled teenage son. Skyler, the pregnant wife in question knows something is going on and investigates on her own time what Walter is getting up to. His son with cerebral palsy is wonderfully acted as a son who is grows distant from his father as cancer and stress take him. Rounding out the cast are Walters brother and sister in law who are a DEA agent and a doctor respectively.
What do I think about it?
The show is expertly shot with great sweeping shots. The creators really know how to let the camera tell the story.
Walter is a character who is both sympathetic and horrifying at times. He only wants what is best for his family but the lengths he will go to get it, and what that does to his family life can be terrible. Let it be said that every one in the show is a character and I mean that in the way that your parents would call a weird guy at a party. Everyone has problems and baggage, but they all want desperately to be good people. Even Jesse Pinkman who we meet as a drugged up dealer wants to get out. No one is happy with the decisions they’ve made that seem to spiral out of their control. It’s watching the characters reacting to decisions they made and dealing with the consequences that really make the show. If there’s one thing I’ve taken away from Breaking Bad it’s that bad choices lead to having to make more bad choices.
Each episode has a story in it, but every episode strings into the next. There is not always a cliffhanger, but episodes generally pick up right where the last left off. This gives the show a sense of intensity that things like LOST and BSG captured so well.
If you are skeptical if you will be able to like a show with a at times unlikable main character I’d recommend just giving the pilot a watch. I think the show is successful at making Walter sympathetic and if the Pilot doesn’t catch your attention than rest assured the show is not for you.
The first three episodes really start off the show with a bang. The rest of the season is very good, but they are slower and less action packed. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this show, but I think it helps if you know that this isn’t an action show. Most of the show is people talking, and lying and doing things behind the others backs. This isn’t a bad thing, there are tons of action shows out there to watch, but just know what your getting into. It’s a deliberately paced series with excellent points of tension and character building.
I can’t really think of anything bad to say about the show. I can only say that it won’t be for every one. If you are easily offended by drugs or language or sex, then this is not the show for you. If you don’t like real crime, or you don’t want a serious drama then this may not be for you. Know that going in.
I have seen the first few episodes of season 2 and it is really amazing. The tension they are able to create from the crazy situations that manifest in the show is truly incredible.
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