Blog #325!!! Wil Wheaton Week: Legion of Superheroes

Good day and hello to Day 5 of Wil Wheaton Week and many are no doubt asking, “Jake is there anything else you want to touch base on?”  As luck would have it yes there is.  Wil Wheaton has had a voice-over career for over a decade now ranging from video games, independent cartoons via web and CW based cartoons.  I thought it might be nice to explore into one of those cartoons for two reasons. One it was a bit shocking finding a predominant character being helmed by Wil and two I love the obscure DC comics titles.   So stitch up that spandex, grab your flight ring and get ready for action.  This is Legion of Super Heroes.

Fear not Brainiac for I too was a child star!

Lightning Lad: Where’s Spoiler when you really need him?

It is the 30^th Century and a super villain gathering known as the Fatal Five has been slapping around the Science Police, the primary law enforcement on Earth.  An autonomous collection of young heroes known as the Legion of Superheroes; ranging from different planets in the Galactic Federation and allowing to be among fellow teens and harness their powers for the good of all.  With a skeleton crew watching over New Metropolis the team members are concerned they lack the necessary firepower to take on the Fatal Five.  Brainiac 5, the team’s resident tech whiz informs the group they can time travel and acquire a temporary legionnaire from Smallville.  

Okay, this is the last time I am showing you how to program the DVR.

That’s right teen gang the group is off to require Superman (would have been Superboy but there were some financial and copyright issues DC was stuck with).   So young Clark Kent/ Superman (Yuri Lowenthal of Rave Master, Dungeon Seige, SSX 3, Duel Masters and EverQuest II: Desert of Fire) tends to an accident in his hometown when he is greeted by Saturn Girl (Kari Wahlgren of Marvel Super Hero Squad, X-Men: Destiny, Spider-Man: Edge of Time, Fate/Zero), a telekinetic/telepath combo, Bouncing Boy (Michael Cornacchia of Hot Parts, Reservoir Dogs, Happy Feet, Wasting Away, L.A. Noire and Last Call) a lad that alters his body density and Brainiac 5 (Ada, Wylie of The Swan Princess,  Hey Arnold, Gilmore Girls and Superman/Doomsday) a living robotic humanoid that happens to be neon green with blonde hair.  Yeah he kinda stands out.   The trio persuades Clark to join them in their adventures as their time machine will get him right back the very same minute he left.

Primary leader Cosmic Boy (Wil Wheaton) is out helping other planets with little to no defense of their own and Lightning Lad (Andy Milder of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Weeds and Austin & Ally) is second-in-command is left in charge of which he is not thrilled with.

Grasping new fangled technologies such as a flight ring that translates almost any language into English, creates a life support force field for being in space, the air and underwater and heck the coffee pots must be baffling, Clark finds this timeline to be fascinating and makes new friends almost overnight.  Finding out that he will one day be the driving force that helps create the Legion of Superheroes is a bit overwhelming but hey take it in stride, kid.

Want some? Roll for initiative, tin man!

Wil Wheaton Week: Toy Soldiers

Welcome back readers for Day 4 of Wil Wheaton Week and I think this is a good example of his yesteryear work yet again.  As Wil himself confirmed this was the first film he made where he did not require adult supervision.  A hallmark for any child actor deemed mature enough in of itself but also a movie that provided a great deal of entertainment.  So prep those lacrosse uniforms, light some cherry bombs in the toilets and sneak a bit of booze on campus.  This is Toy Soldiers.

 

Sam Wise and Wesley are baffled.

Ricardo Montoya: It’s the first rule of prep spoiler etiquette. When you’re in a basement with no windows, don’t fart.

 A prestigious prep school known as Regis School which consists of lads on scholarships to children of influential standing and prominent in society ranging from international banking to politics; this all boys school has of course its share of troublemakers.  The most notorious are a gang of kids led by Billy Tepper (Sean Astin of The Goonies, Like Father Like Son, Rudy, Courage Under Fire and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) his best buddy mafia kid Joey Trotta (Wil Wheaton of Flubber, Fag Hag, The Girl’s Room, Deep Core, Book of Days, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Ghost Recon 2), wise ass Snuffy Bradberry (Keith Coogan of The Waltons, Gun Shy, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, The Power Within and Just a Little Harmless Sex), jock Ricardo Montoya (George Perez of Manhattan Merengue!, Tin Cup and Selena)  and rebellious Hank Giles (T.E. Russell of Trespass, Gladiator, Swimming with Sharks and City of Angels). 

These devious pranksters are hellbent to make the headmaster and dean’s lives very interesting. Dean Parker (Louis Gosset Jr. of An Officer and a Gentleman, Iron Eagle, Enemy Mine, A Good Man in Africa and Stargate: SG-1) sees great potential in Billy and wants him to clean up his act by putting him on restricted duty.  Joey’s bunkmate has been whisked up by the US Marshal’s service in protection of the boy and his family by a potential threat due to a trial his father is prosecuting one radical freedom fighter Enrique Cali.

No, I am not Hans Grubber!!!

Violence beseeches the private school in the form of guerilla trained terrorist group led by Enrique’s son Luis (Andrew Divoff of The Hunt for Red October, Wishmaster, A Low Down Dirty Shame, Air Force One, CSI: Miami and Lost), a man driven by purpose and conviction with nothing to lose.  The kids are captured, herded and told behave or they will get shot or if they tamper with the explosives rigged all over the school campus they will explode taking all their friends and classmates in a huge fiery death.

Our young hellions begin to conspire together to try to get the word out to any member of authority handling this case from how many men they are facing to what positions they hold and even what armaments they are carrying.   While the FBI is frantically trying to slash through the red tape and arrange transport for Enrique they realize these monsters will get away scott free by doing this. 

Hmm, wonder how I would look in a beard.

I had just a few comments to make on the film.  While the director Daniel Petrie Jr. is primarily known as a producer and writer (Beverly Hills Cop, The Big Easy, Turner & Hooch and Shoot to Kill) this was his first motion picture under his directing helm and scoring as much talent for this very dramatic albeit a bit unrealistic film, I was deeply impressed.  Yes the notions of teenagers fighting harden commandos in a life and death struggle is a bit farfetched but altogether still entertaining.  Lot of comedy attached to an otherwise dark powerful film.

Wil Wheaton Week: Python

Howdy all you fun fans and greetings to Day 3 of Wil Wheaton Week.   Well not everything Wil has worked on has been stellar, original or genius for that matter.  Every once in a while you just need to work and what could be better than a CGI- Creature Feature?  Yeah that will never come back to haunt you as your friends tease you mercilessly.  So grab a firearm of unlimited ammo, run like a ninny and use bogus scientific facts to back it up.  This is Python.

 

Yikes, that is quite the do.

Tommy: Dude, you got me out of bed for a spoiler?

Well let’s just jump right into our film with an atypical cargo plane C-123 in a crazy rainstorm and the vast airmen of two…? Huh?  A large wooden box of cargo unknown gets busted open and the plane crashes in what looked like the hills of Vietnam but low and behold it looks like it landed around Tarzana.  But enough of that nonsense, let’s follow the bicycle cardio nut John Cooper (Frayne Rosanoff of To Protect and Serve, Longshot, Close Call and Hollywoo) with his eco ways demands his brother Brian (Chris Cooper of Lexx, The X-Files, Power and Beauty, The Recruit and The Line) close down and clean up the family plant and they have conflicting ideologies of what the family business should be…yawn.   Unnecessary back story and attempting to make one dimensional Johnny Boy deeper and let’s get back with our creature feature.  

What's a nudity clause, Dana?

The snake handler and resident mad scientist Doctor Anton Rudolph (Robert Englund of Eaten Alive, A Nightmare on Elm Street, V, Downtown, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, The Mangler, Justice League and Spectacular Spider-Man) explains the faux pas of the amazing species of mammoth python of inconsistent power scale and properties and how valuable an military asset this would be to Agent Bart Parker (Casper Van Dien of Starship Troopers, Shark Attack 2, Sleepy Hollow, Watch Over Me,  Monk and Born to Ride) NSA go to man with the constantly altering southern accent.  I kid you not it sound Cajun at one point then something around Tennessee.  It was very painful to listen to.   

  But hey we forgot all about Johnny and his amazing story arc.  John and his buddy Tommy (Wil Wheaton of The Good Things, Fish Don’t Blink, Neverland, Naruto, Eurkea and Big Bang Theory) a salmon pink dyed hipster who is all about the Benjamins via real estate.   If he can just be raking in the cash like he wants to he can treat his girl right and blah blah blah.  I won’t lie that was a fierce hairdo and seeing him as this twenty something directionless goober was a complete change of pace.

Now I have just a few critiques of our thrilling movie.   CGI was fair but our snake could go break neck speeds of 50 mph but managed to slow down just enough for our one dimensional characters to flee from its grasp.  It could bash through steel doors yet could not leave the confines of a wooden crate without a bit of assistance.  The prosthetic tail used in a few gore gags; well I saw the strings to put it bluntly.   The deputy that NO ONE liked wasn’t even worthy of an on screen death.  That part did make me laugh quite a bit there.   Yes Johnny boy somehow not attacked in the last reel or even scarred with acid from the snake during the climatic end.  Still at the end of the day this was a B-Movie worthy of mockery and a paycheck for those actors including our boy.

I think I just wet 'em.

Wil Wheaton Week: Stand by Me

Welcome back readers for Day 2 of Wil Wheaton Week and of course we will speak about a film that captured our imagination and hearts and caused a lot of young boys to swear.  No seriously the Christian Moralition actually got into the MPPA’s butt about the vulgar language mouthed by these youths.   Yes it is a bit sad and pathetic but it happened dammit.   So let us venture with 4 young boys who are in search of adventure, discovery of self and even a dead body.   This is Stand by Me.

 

Beats doing a film with Dennis Miller!

The Writer: Now he said, “Sic’em boy!” But what I heard was, “Chopper! Sic spoilers!”

From the fevered and demented mind of Stephen King and brought to life on the screen via director Rob Reiner (This Is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men and The American President) gives us the tale of four boys in Castle Rock Oregon during the Labor Day weekend in the far away time of 1959.  The gang consists of Gordie (Wil Wheaton of EverQuest II, Rainbow Six: Lockdown, Grand Theft Auto IV, Ben 10: Alien Force, Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Fallout: New Vegas) who is a clumsy bookworm with a pension for telling and writing stories who is constantly ignored by his father who put Gordie’s brother Denny (John Cusack of Better Off Dead, One Crazy Summer, Say Anything, Grosse Pointe Blank, The Thin Red Line, Must Love Dogs and 1408) the football jock that died in an accident and truly connected best with Gordie than anyone else.  Gordie's best friend Chris (River Phoenix of Explorers, The Mosquito Coast, Little Nikita and Sneakers) whose entire family consists of thugs, thieves and general criminals and is tired of being lumped in with them or even labeled the same as.  Teddy (Corey Feldman of Gremlins, Lost Boys, License to Drive, Voodoo and Bordello of Blood) a squirrelly kid that is mentally and physically scarred by his father who had to be institutionalized and lastly Vern (Jerry O’ Connell of Sliders, Scream 2, Mission to Mars, Las Vegas, Crossing Jordan Do Not Disturb and Piranha 3D) a slightly overweight kid that ends up the butt of many jokes. 

Wait, I'm gonna be buff and marry a supermodel? Whatever future boy!

Hanging out in their tree house Vern tells his buddies about his older brother and buddy talking about dumping a stolen car and stumbling on the body of a missing boy that was in the papers.  The four of them get the bright idea to hike out, find the boy Ray’s body and become local heroes.

I could totally play Indiana Jones!

Lying to their collective parents about going out to camp; our stalwart foursome follows the train tracks to where Ray would be lying.  Taking a short cut through the junkyard the lads find the steadfast protector dog that is the fear of all boys this age as he is known to go for the balls and we ain’t talking tennis or baseballs. 

A few notes on this particular movie now if you will.   From the soul bearing throughout this film to the amazing performances in such young actors you could almost feel the camaraderie in the group.   They are typical boys growing up trying to figure out what to do with their lives, where they go from here and what is waiting for them later on.

Now I am sure the nitpickers that have reviewed this film prior want to point out the flubs or goofs like seeing 1980s cars in the background in and around the junkyard or seeing Topps baseball cards before they were created but you know what?  This is a great, clever film and I really don’t give enough of a crap over minor mess ups.

I DIDN'T GET MONSTER SQUAD!!!!!!

Wil Wheaton Week: The Buddy System

Howdy all and welcome to Day 1 of Wil Wheaton Week and I have dug through the archives of both memory and IMDB to bring us Wil’s first major film role after the TV movie known as: Hambone and Hillie.  I recall viewing this particular movie of topic with my folks and thoroughly enjoyed it so yes like myself, it is also dated.  So grab some S’mores, toast them by a fire and take in this light hearted romantic comedy.  This is The Buddy System.

No I don't want candy or a ride ya perv.

Tim: I said he could follow me home and that you weren’t really seeing anybody and you know…spoiler

Precocious Tim Price (Wil Wheaton of Stand by Me, The Curse, Toy Soldiers, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Teen Titans, Legion of Superheroes, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and The Guild) doesn’t live in the best neighborhood, has a tendency to speak whatever is on his mind and lives in a single parent environment.  

His mother Emily (Susan Sarandon of The Front Page, Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Witches of Eastwick, Bull Durham, Thelma & Louise and The Client) is struggling to become a court reporter but manages to flunk her test every time due to nerves and frustration.  Forced to live with her mother (Jean Stapleton of Bells Are Ringing, Something Wild,  All in the Family, Archie Bunker’s Place, Lily Dale and Michael) who showers her boy with affection but somehow has forgotten her own daughter at times.  To keep her son in a great school they have lied on the address to where they live but Tim is lonely and can’t have friends over to visit or even play after school. 

So I am thinking a career in Sci-Fi...too obvious?

Joe (Richard Dreyfus of American Graffiti,  Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws, Stakeout, The American President and Mr. Holland’s Opus) an aspiring Great American Novelist/ Inventor and the truant officer the school is hip to the big fib and catches Tim in the act of checking the mail.

Being a sly rascal (euphemism big pain in the tuckus) Tim thinks this is an opportune time to get his mother dating again since his father walked out on him given the guy she is on and off seeing is in Tim’s eyes a bit of a peckerhead. 

Joe is having his own dating hell as he and his self-obsessed girlfriend Carrie (Nancy Allen of Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Blow Out and Robocop) keep a steady diet of on and off relationship and strikes up a friendship with Tim and starts to feel genuine emotions for Emily but hang on kids because we need the cliché twist whether or not he should stick with the old girlfriend or pursue this new and amazing relationship with Emily and Tim.

Well at least I am not starring in a film with a Sheen. Phew!

I have just a few side notes about the film itself.  The director Glenn Jordan (The Promise, The Typists, Particular Men, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Echoes of Darkness, Barbarians at the Gate, Jake’s Women and A Streetcar Named Desire) is known primarily for doing dramatic and heart wrenching TV movies and while foul mouthed Wil was a bit of a shocker for the audience it was also true to life that an eleven year old boy would swear up a storm. The timing and reaction between Dreyfus and Sarandon felt like a couple with all the ups and downs. You can really believe what you see on the screen and Wheaton’s performance just steals the movie.  I feel the comparison to the Good Bye Girl and The Buddy System is a bit unfair but I cannot speak for all viewers.

Wil Wheaton Week

Greetings readers I have a bit of an unusual week ahead of us but this should be no real surprise for the lot of you.  I felt I would pay attention to a man who formally a child actor, stemmed away from the scenes for about 5 years only to pick it back up in his adult years.  His characters have warmed hearts, sadden many and downright annoyed others.  I speak of none other than Wil Wheaton.  

Cmdr. Riker, some wheat grass should help that bowel issue.

Now I am sure many of you are asking, “WTH are you bothering us with this, Jake?”   From voice over works, TV and film, Wheaton has managed resurrect his walk of life and carry on when many believed it improbable.  Very simply put few people outside of Jackie Coogan and Dick Van Patten have managed to salvage their careers to the lengths that Wil has and I feel we should take a glance at his works of yesteryear and today.  

Doctor's Regeneration Week: Spearhead in Space

Welcome to the later day of the Doctor’s Regeneration Week and this time around I thought we would take a look at that Jon Pertwee fellow for the time being. The Timelords are merciful as much as they can be cruel and now and then they must administer justice.  So grab your sonic screwdriver, prep flight and dimension coordinates for the journey.  This is Dr. Who: Spearhead in Space.

 

Yes it is an improvement.

Lethbridge-Stewart: In the last decade, we’ve been sending probes deeper and deeper into spoiler.  We’ve drawn attention to ourselves, Miss Shaw.

Towards the end of his trial with the Timelords, War Lord protested his guilt of his war games and noted that the Doctor interfered in the progression of their life, with a further accusation of the Doctor assisting me directly.   The Doctor (Patrick Troughton of Doctor Who, The Two of Us, Yesterday’s Dreams and Knights of God) denies everything and claims to never break the sacred oath of non-interference to other planets and different races.  Directly after the War Lord’s trial, the Doctor finds himself on the hot plate of justice and boy howdy it burns.  The Timelords choose to strip him of the knowledge of traveling through time and space and regenerate him into a form that is blissfully unaware of the full use of the TARDIS.  

Kryten??

The Doctor (Jon Pertwee of Will Any Gentleman…?, Jackanory, Doctor Who, The House That Dripped Blood and The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Attack of the Hawkmen) falls in and out of consciousness in a local hospital in Oxley Woods at the same time UNIT is investigating a shower of bizarre meteorites.   They would not of even bother until a few people went missing in the area of Oxley Woods when the hospital reports a strange tall man that has no ID, has two hearts and does not seems to be human.

Brigadier Sewart (Nicholas Courtney of All Creatures Great and Small, To Catch a King, Doctor Who, Then Churchill Said to Me and The Sarah Jane Adventures) recruits Dr. Liz Shaw (Caroline John of Doctor Who, The Woman in Black, P.R.O.B.E.: The Devil of Winterborne, Love Actually and Doctors) to observe the meteorites and the Doctor is abducted by three plastic men with a shoot out with UNIT soldiers.  After that, the Doctor manages to acquire some clothes, some of his memories and gets hold of a buggy car to visit UNIT HQ to facilitate in the investigation knowing full well that UNIT is ill-prepared to the situation.

The Doctor explains to Dr. Shaw and the Brigadier that the meteorites are actually a living plastic known as the Nestine consciousness and how they plan to take out the planet for its toxics and chemicals.  The Brigadier is cautious to trust this man and realizes that he is indeed the Doctor regardless how much he has changed.  Organizing UNIT to do intelligence gathering on the local plastic companies to find out where the Nestine is held up at and stopping this impending invasion.

Blimey, England again??! *kicks TARDIS*