TV Reviews - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Okay, okay, I've put this review off long enough, though honestly I'm not sure what I can say about this show. Everyone and their mother has already said something about it, and thankfully the consensus seems to be that the show was really good. Super-short review, I completely agree with this consensus. I really loved the show. When I heard about it, and heard who would be spearheading it, I worried that it would be too Marvel, and not Whedon-y enough, or vice versa. Thankfully my worries were completely unfounded. This show reminds me so much of the Avengers movie on a smaller scale. It has great characters, made to shine even brighter by those great Joss Whedon character interactions, good humor, lots of surprises, and oh so much wit. The show, while clearly being a Marvel show, also features all of the hallmarks of a Joss Whedon show as well. All of the characters are fun and likeable on their own, and yet still become better and stronger characters when brought together as a whole. Anyone who has seen one of Joss' shows knows that this ensemble writing is really the greatest strength of any of his productions, and in this area, the show simply does not disappoint.

This show features many of the other Whedon hallmarks as well. It has a plucky, strong female character with a sassy, snarky wit in Sky, who is easily my favorite character so far, it has a hero in Ward, it has the cute, mousey tech chick in Simmons, whose almost symbiotic relationship with her counterpart Fitz makes for some of the funniest geek dialogue since Big Bang, and you have the mysterious backstory with a character attached in Melinda May. And then there is Coulson, a character who Whedon obviously loved writing, evidenced by the Avengers movie. Coulson may have died for real and come back, or he may have had his death faked, but either way he's back, and he's just as awesome as he ever was. He's calm, knowledgeable, and capable, and every time he says or does anything, it has a true feeling of weight to it. Not to mention his bitchin car. It even looks like this show will use actors from past Whedon shows, as his shows usually do. In fact an actor from the Buffy spinoff Angel already appeared as early as the first episode in the role of Mike Peterson, the "Hooded Hero".

Which brings me to my next point, in fact, that as much as this is a Whedon show, it is also a Marvel show. It exists within the established Marvel Cinematic Universe, making near-constant reference to the events of that universe in the Pilot episode. The anti-S.H.I.E.L.D. actions of Sky are a result of the cover-ups of various super-related events, most recently the events of the Avengers movie, known in-series as the Battle of New York, and the team's first case is indirectly related to the events of Iron Man 3. The Marvel Cinematic Universe isn't always great, but it has always been, at least, good, and has proven to be a lot of fun, and if the show continues to do things as well as it has so far, we'll be able to visit that universe weekly. This show does so many things right. The effects were great for TV effects. The characters are likeable and interesting and rich, and yet virtually all of them have these secretive backstories which the writers can have fun filling in over time. The rules of the world of the show have already been well established, and yet the vastness of the universe in which the show exists leaves the show open to take virtually any direction that the writers and producers may wish it to take.

If I had to fault the show on anything, it would be that...uh...hmm...I can't think of anything. And this is coming from the guy who insists that nothing, nothing, is ever perfect, even within the realm of it's own franchise. You know what, kiddies, I think maybe I was wrong, because I genuinely can't think of a single thing to fault this show on. Every action of the characters, every line of dialogue, everything felt necessary, and not a single moment felt wasted. This may be the best all-around new show to air in a long time, and while I won't go so far as to say that the show as a whole is perfect (I'm sure there'll be some dud episodes down the line), I will go so far as to give the show a preliminary rating, based on the pilot episode, of 10 out of 10. Seriously guys, this is a big deal. I think the simple act of typing that just melted part of my brain...

Updates! Hurray!!!

So while my mind continues to process the various degrees of awesome that the new fall television season has blessed us with, I've decided to go back and give some updates on some of the shows that I've reviewed on this site so far, now that they have been out for a while, and when I say some, I mean all! We'll start at the very beginning (it is, after all, a very good place to start) with one of the most disappointing new shows that I have had the displeasure to watch in recent memory: Family Tools. Ah, Family Tools. Didn't that get cancelled already? Because I don't remember hearing anything about it in forever. I watched it a couple more times, and while a few more of the jokes hit home in episode two than did in episode one, episode three was another bore fest of stale, poorly ripped-off humor and themes. My rating of this show has actually gone down from a 4 to a 2 out of 10, as all of my (very small amounts of) hope for the show going forward drained away very quickly.

Based on my review of the show, however, I think we all saw this coming, so let's move on to the next show I reviewed, Weird or What?, with the original Captain Kirk, William Shatner. I gave this show a good review, saying that it was an interesting sort of introductory look into the realm of supernatural phenomena, and that it evoked one of my favorite shows to just turn on on a boring day and watch: Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction?. My opinion of Weird or What? hasn't changed at all. I still catch it from time to time, as I still catch reruns of Fact or Fiction? from time to time. It is a good time-killer show, and, as I said before, a great way for people to see if the supernatural investigative genre is the thing for them or not. Weird or What?, congrats on retaining your above above average score of 8 out of 10.

Teen Titans Go! and Marvel's Avengers Assemble also retain their scores of 7 out of 10. I don't like either show as much as their predecessors, but I still find them to be interesting enough substitutes, and the TTG! episodes are more consistent now than they were in the beginning already. TMNT is actually pushing above it's 9 out of 10, just a bit. It had an amazing season finale only recently, and is already starting up again with new episodes on the twelfth of next month, giving the fans exactly what they want, and building a larger fanbase at a steady pace. It doesn't hurt that I just saw Sean Astin, who voices Raph, live at a Q and A at Wizard World Ohio last week. Still, Samwise aside, the show is great, consistently great, and I can't wait for more.

As a Batman fan, my review of Beware the Batman, the newest animated foray into the Batman universe, was pretty harsh, but I'm happy to say that I'm liking it more as time goes by. The newest episode revealed that Ra's Al Ghul will be featured in the series. As long as he is done well, this will open doors to include other long-standing and better-known Batman villains, like the Joker and Harvey Dent, just less-frequently and in bigger roles, and I really like our "mad villain" character, Anarchy, who manages to be Joker Lite and a badass physical threat, something that Joker rarely is. However, I am still only enjoying the series in a way similar to how I enjoyed The Batman. It is satisfyingly action-packed, but still lacks the deep, thought-provoking storylines and strong mystery elements of another animated Batman series that comes to mind. It also has still yet to develop the character of Batman at all. Yeah, we know him by now, but he's still the title character. He needs to have development, and the show never seems to give him any. It does, however, continue to show potential, so I have bumped my rating of Beware the Batman up to a 7 out of 10 rather than a 6.

And that's it, guys, that's every TV series that I've reviewed so far on this blog, but I still hope to review many, many more, as well as actually start to post more varied content here eventually. I also want to do what I did with Turtles and review some stuff that's been around a little longer, though not too long, so look forward to that.

TTFN!

Musings, Friday 9/27/13

So many new shows these past few weeks, so little time to review them. Not to mention all of the ideas and images swimming in my head after seeing them.

I've also been re-watching Firefly on Netflix, which hasn't exactly opened any holes in my schedule.

*sigh*

Well, anyway, expect reviews of the biggies to be forthcoming, starting with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. within the next few days, followed by reviews of Dad's, The Crazy Ones (Sarah Michelle Gellar and Robin Williams in one show, squee!!!), Sleepy Hollow and The Goldbergs within the next few weeks.

Videos for All Y'all

First up, I've got a new playlist going on called HealthQuest (if anyone tries to put a hashtag in front of that, I will hunt them down), where I document my, well, quest to, well, get healthy.

I guess that didn't really need explaining...

Anyway, HealthQuest can be found here.

Also, if you are interested at all in Pokémon, you should check out this video, and subsequently the other vids by the YouTuber who made it. Tamashii is adorable, and her videos are always logical, well-crafted, and interesting. Don't believe me? Then watch the vid and see!

Musings, Friday 9/6/13

So rumor has it Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillion have both been talking about reviving Firefly.

My mind = blown

*UPDATE*

Looks like it's a Dark Horse Comics series. Not quite what I was hoping, but certainly squee-worthy.