Author: Neil Vagg

With ‘Gotham’ beginning to settle in to a real rhythm and proving to be a hit amongst fans and critics – although perhaps not the hit that Fox were hoping for – it’s time for the series to being to ramp up some of the weirder aspects but more importantly also time to start to flesh out the characters to allow the melodrama to become less daytime soapy and more in line with the tone of a show set in a comic book world. ‘Spirit of the Goat’ gives us a glimpse into the past of Harvey Bullock. A brief…

Bringing us up-to-date on our ‘Gotham’ reviews is 20th Octobers fifth episode ‘Viper’. Checkout our review of previous episodes here. Trailers for the episode made it look like your average, run-of-the-mill drug on the street drug gone wrong episode which would see Bullock and Gordon chasing after some seedy scientist in a lab somewhere cooking up some new trendy drug a la ‘Arrow’ and it’s interpretation of Count Vertigo. The episode we got? A precursor to the story of Bane and a great chance to show some super powered forces on the streets of Gotham. ‘Viper’ slows down the pace…

After three weeks of setup and a couple of throw-away references it was time for a major setting from the world of Batman to make an appearance on ‘Gotham’ and this week it comes in the form of episode four ‘Arkham’. I actually expected this episode to delve full on in to the world of the asylum itself which was probably asking for a bit much in only the fourth episode of the series, instead what we get is a great amount of development towards the gang war on which Gotham sits on the cusp of whilst delving further in…

Going in to its third week ‘The Flash’ is flying high after securing an order for the back 9 episodes taking the season to the full 22, it’s now only a matter of time before the second season renewal is made but before we get ahead of ourselves and start thinking about the future we’re got to deal with the present day and the threat of Kyle Nimbus, otherwise known as the villain Mist from the comics. The writers are not letting up on the comic book villains, throwing them at us on a weekly basis so far rather than dream…

Having steered itself in to dark territory with its second episode (reviewed here) with its third episode ‘Gotham’ has veered off in to the extremely weird for ‘The Balloonman’ although its less of a light relief episode and more of a great example of the kind of story that being a comic book property can allow for. ‘Selina Kyle’ was a great episode that allowed for some violence amongst all of the procedure and protocol whilst allowing some development in the Gordon-Wayne relationship which continues to lay the foundations for their future crime fighting partnership so in stark contract ‘The…

Following on from an excellent pilot presentation, reviewed here, comes ‘Fastest Man Alive’ a second episode which successfully holds back from making Barry an instant hero and instead focusses on blowing the universe wide open. Where ‘Arrow’ initially held back from introducing too many characters from the DC Universe ‘The Flash’ is diving right in with the inclusions of Simon Stagg and Danton Black and as it eventually did with ‘Arrow’ it works really well for ‘The Flash’. Gustin is still a little doe-eyed to front the series but his ensemble cast a helping to push him to be the…

Following on from a pretty wall-to-wall pilot episode jammed with references to comics and characters from Batman-lore and proving itself to be more than an average crime procedural in an unusual setting ‘Gotham’ takes a slightly darker tone to its second episode by delving into the world of human trafficking with its unusually titled second episode ‘Selina Kyle’. It’s unusually titled in that Selina (or Cat as she likes to be known…) is not the full focus of the episode although she is present for much of the action. Following on from the pilot Gordon is still hiding the truth…

Finally after an extra three months of waiting the latest incarnation of the heroes-in-a-half-shell has been released to UK cinemas as of 17th October! Directed by relative newcomer Jonathan Liebesman (‘Battle: Los Angeles’, ‘Wrath of the Titans’) and based on a screenplay by Josh Applebaum (‘Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol’), André Nemec (‘Beverly Hills Cop 4’) and Evan Daugherty (‘Divergent’, ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’) the film stars Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fitchner plus the voices of Alan Richson, Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard and Johnny Knoxville. ‘TMNT’ 2014 is a full on reboot of the franchise takes cues from the…

The second episode produced for ‘BtAS’ was planned as the big introduction for two major characters to the animated universe: The Joker and Dick Grayson/Robin. The episode would also the first starring role for supporting cast member Summer Gleason, the ‘BtAS’ equivalent of journalist Vicki Vale from the comics and ‘Batman’ 1989. ‘Christmas with the Joker’ first aired on 13th November 1992 as the series 38th episode putting slightly closer to Christmas than the shows September debut on US screens. The story sees Joker escape Arkham Asylum on Christmas Eve and he has a special Christmas planned for Batman and Robin. Kidnapping Commissioner Gordon, Summer Gleeson, and Harvey Bullock,…

Where better to start with ‘Batman the Animated Series’ that with the original pilot episode ‘On Leather Wings’. Although the episode appears on home video releases of the series as the first episode it was screen as the second episode, the first aired being ‘The Cat and the Claw pt1’ which was bumped up from episode 15 due to the popularity of the Catwoman character portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer in Tim Burton’s ‘Batman Returns’ released a mere 11 weeks before the episode aired. Whilst the films of Tim Burton were rated 12 in UK ‘BtAS’ shutting out the younger audience to the…