Nerd heaven

Wonder Woman is a fantastic addition to the DC Extended Universe. Where Man of Steel succeeded as a science fiction movie, Wonder Woman succeeded as a war story and a fantasy film. Join me as I delve into this story, discussing the themes, praising the balanced tone that maintains the depth of Man of Steel and Batman V Superman while adding character-centric humour, and see how the film connected emotionally with me on a level I was not expecting.

----more----

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of the stars

And I am a nerd

This is episode 31 of the podcast

This is episode 32 of the podcast

Today, we continue our look at the DC Extended Universe with Wonder Woman.

The description on IMDB reads

When a pilot crashes and tells of conflict in the outside world, Diana, an Amazonian warrior in training, leaves home to fight a war, discovering her full powers and true destiny.

The screenplay was written by Allan Heinberg

From a story written by Zach Snyder, Allan Heinberg and Jason Fuchs

The film was directed by Patty Jenkins

And it first released on the 25th of May 2017

So let’s talk about Wonder Woman

We are introduced to Wonder Woman in present day Paris. Working at the Louvre.

And we immediately get our first bit of connective tissue with the DC universe as the Wayne Enterprises van pulls up.

That photo that Bruce found and emailed to her in Batman V Superman. He’s found the original. He thought she might like it. Isn’t that sweet.

He still wants to hear the story.

And that takes us to Dianna’s childhood.

Thymiscera looks awesome. All those waterfalls and stone buildings. Incredible visuals.

They cast young Dianna quell. Not only is she a coll little actress, but I recently saw a photo of her beside a childhood shot of Gal Gadot. They look very similar.

It’s so cute seeing young Dianna mimicking the actions of the adults as they battle.

You’ll notice that this entire sequence in Thymascyra gives us no sense of time, all the way until Steve arrives. That makes sense. This is a world to itself. Completely cut off and self-sufficient.

To them, the outside world doesn’t exist. 

But I find myself wondering. How old exactly is Dianna when she meets Steve? When are these childhood scenes set? We know Amazons don’t age like humans. We know Dianna was created by Zeus in the times of the ancient greeks. So how long was her childhood? Did she take centuries to grow up? Or did she mature at a normal rate and then simply live as an adult for thousands of years?

Anyway, we get some backstory. The stories of Greek Mythology are already considered ancient at this point, having happened a long time ago. 

So this movie canonises the existence of the Greek gods as real in the DC universe.

The marvel movies present the Norse gods as real, but aliens.

This movie doesn’t make that claim. It leaves it a little uncertain, but the implication seems to be that Zeus and his mates were actual gods.

The implication also is that human beings were created by Zeus. At least, Antiope believes this.

After Ares corrupted the hearts of mankind, Zeus created the Amazons to influence men’s hearts with love.

So, did humans, male and female, not already know love? Or is the suggestion here that the Amazons were the first, females? Perhaps that human females are descended from them? Again, it’s not completely clear.

We know the gods can die, given that Ares killed all but Zeus, so they are in some form mortal beings. 

With his dying breath, Zeus created a weapon that could kill a god, just in case Ares returned.

The movie cleverly doesn’t explain exactly what the weapon is yet.

The look on Antiope’s face when Dianna asks to see the god killer means so much more on repeat viewing.

Note she never actually calls the sword the god killer. Dianna is the one who says it. She assumes, though clearly pushed in that direction.

Hipolita is hesitant to let Dianna train as a warrior, but when she eventually agrees, she insists that she be trained harder than any Amazon before her. But she must never know the truth about herself. This, of course, is our first clue that Dianna herself is the god killer.

But because she’s never been told the truth, when her powers begin to manifest, she has no idea what’s going on.

And then we hear the buzz of a propeller plane, as it passes through the forcefield protecting Thymiscira.

Chris Pine was a great pick to play Steve. I was surprised how easily I was able to seperate him from Captain Kirk. Possibly because, to me, Captain Kirk will always be William Shatner.

I love the visual contrast we the camera passes through the forcefield. The bright world of Thymiscira gives way to the dark fog surrounding the German ship. Does Thymiscira have the same day/night cycle as the rest of the planet? Because it looks like night time out there. Of course, fog does make everything a lot darker.

And the shot as the German officer puts his head in and out of the forcefield is cool.

Dianna’s sense of wonder as she sees a man for the first time is nicely played.

Here’s a question. Why didn’t the Amazon’s continue to advance their weapons technology? We’ll learn later that they are at least somewhat aware of what is going on in the outside world. They know many languages of the outside world, including English.

They’re a race of warriors, so certainly not against fighting.

Don’t get me wrong, they clean the floor with the German soldiers, guns or not, but they pay a hice price in casualties. Do they consider bows and swords more honourable, in some way, than bullets? Because that’s a perspective I don’t quite understand.

Of course, there’s no denying that swords are cool.

And so Antiope dies, sacrificing her life, taking the bullet to save Dianna. As she dies, she knows the time has come. War has consumed the world. Ares has returned.

The Amazon who argues against killing Steve on the spot is wise. “If we kill him, we learn nothing of who they are and why they came,” she says.

And we’re introduced to the laso of truth. A potentially cheesy addition to the Wonder Woman mythos, and yet this movie makes it work.

The scene as Steve tries desperately to avoid revealing that he’s a spy. He has a duty. He can’t willing reveal classified secrets in war time, but ultimately we has no choice. I like the way it’s portrayed as he endures as much as he can before the truth finally bursts out of his mouth.

Can I say that I love that they set this movie in World War 1. World War 2 has been used so many times, in so many stories, it’s practically a cliche. I mean it was a practical good idea to set this apart from Captain America, which was set in World War 2, but from a creative standpoint, I just enjoyed the earlier setting. I guess since the fairly recent century of the first world war, I’ve been thinking a lot more about it than I used to, when I was younger.

Steve is on a very important mission. If he doesn’t get word of Doctor Poison’s plan back to the British, millions will die.

Apparently, the Amazon’s haven’t been playing much attention to the outside world for a while, because they’re not aware of the great war.

And you can understand that from their perspective, hearing of this horrific war, truly a war like none the world had ever seen, it’s obvious that Ares has returned and is messing with humanity.

Dianna starts off this story as quite naive. But that doesn’t mean she’s wrong in wanting to go with Steve and help. This is why the Amazon’s were created. This is why Dianna was created. But, like the monks of old, the Amazons have shut themselves off from the world, rather than allow themselves to influence it.

This movie doesn’t quite portray Wonder Woman as being able to fly, in the same sense that Superman can fly, but she can certainly jump like no human ever could.

So she breaks in, steals the lasso, shield and sword, and armour.

She’s wearing the wonder woman costume from this point on, but it’ll actually be quite a while before we see it.

We see a lot of Dianna’s character when she says “I’m willing to fight for those who cannot.”

In the end, Hipolita knows what Dianna must do, so she lets her go with her blessing.

As a parent, I understand her reluctance. Who wants to willingly let their children go out into the wide world where they might get hurt? I haven’t faced this challenge yet, but for Hippolita, it’s greater, because there is so much danger out there.

Steve kinda plays along a bit. He doesn’t believe for a minute that Ares, the greek god of war literally exists, but he’s also seen the power of these people, so he knows there’s something to them.

Again, we see Dianna’s naivete. As soon as Ares is dead, the war will end and men will be good again. I mean, she’s not exactly wrong, but it’s nowhere near as simple as she thinks. She’s going to have to face up to the hard reality that things are more complex than she sees if she’s going to have a hope of fulfilling her destiny.

Steve has a bit of a cynical view of marriage. And if you look at the statistics, it’s not hard to understand why. But despite what he says, plenty of married couples still do love each other up until death.I fully intend to do so.

So Doctor Poison has developed a serum that gives Ludendorf greater than human strength. Okay. I can suspend disbelief enough for that. But the way his face glows, I dunno. It looks like something supernatural or alien. Not like a chemical concoction that could believably have been developed by a human in the early twentieth century.

It makes sense that Steve, though American, is working for British intelligence. The Americans didn’t enter World War 1 until very late in the game. Even now, as it’s nearing its end, they haven’t been involved that long. It’s interesting that not a single frame of this movie takes place in America. I kinda liked that. Not that I have anything against movies taking place in America. A lot of my favourite movies do, but it just made sense for this story that it took place elsewhere in the world, and frankly, there’s a whole planet out here. Not every Superhero story has to take place in America.

I love the idea of Superhero period pieces. I always have. There haven’t been many. I’ve got to admit, this one is my favourite.

It’s very sweet when Diana gets excited at the cry of a baby. She’s never seen a baby before. She’s been surrounded by adults all her life. Of course she’d want to see it.

I heard a lot of praise for this movie from female viewers, because it allowed Wonder Woman to be powerful, strong, and a mighty warrior, without being masculine. She was still allowed to be feminine, with all the varied things that means. They really appreciated that. And I think I can understand that.

And we’re introduced to Etta.

Etta is totally awesome.

She brings a lot of the humour to this film, but it all flows naturally out of her character. This movie had a lot more humour than Man of Steel or Batman V Superman, but unlike Suicide Squad, the humour was all character-based and natural. Much of it came from Dianna’s being a fish out of water, the rest came from Etta’s great personality.

So they make a little joke about slavery. The way Etta describes her job as Steve’s secretary does sound like the definition of slavery to Dianna, but I think she left out some important details.

Now, I’m not going to suggest that the world of 1918 was in any way an equitable society. Far from it.

But there Is a big difference between somebody who voluntarily enters into employment, offering services, for which they are paid money, and a slave. I think to seriously confuse the two runs the danger of understating the evils of true slavery.

But I may be reading too much into this. It’s a joke.

It does make sense for Dianna to put on setting-appropriate clothes to help her blend in.

I do love the scene of her walking through the building in her street clothes holding her sword and shield.

And the scene in the alley, where they are confronted by the german spies, and Dianna saves Steve, is awesome. It’s very reminiscent of the scene in Superman: The Movie, where Clark and Lois are mugged. The way Dianna catches the bullet. I’m pretty sure that was deliberate. It’s a great scene.

Steve realises in that moment just what an asset Dianna is in a fight. He doesn’t need to protect her. She ends up protecting him.

Her naivete continues as she asks the german spy where she can find ares. She’s taking everything at face value, assuming people know what she’s talking about.

And now we meet Sir Patrick Morgan. He’s telling everyone they need an armistice. Which is quite ironic if you know who he really is.

He sees Dianna and is taken aback. He says it’s because there is a woman in the room. But it may be that he recognises her.

And it’s Steve who comes up with her secret identity name, Dianna Prince. This is done in a realistic way. She can’t just walk around calling herself Princess of Themyscira.

Due to Dianna’s linguistic expertise, they learn of Doctor Poison’s plan. The creation of a dangerous gas against which masks will be useless.

Morgan continues to argue for the armistice, but by doing so, he prevents Steve’s mission to stop Doctor Poison. Dianna’s passionate argument to the generals is very satisfying.

And yet, after Steve tells Dianna he’s taking her to the front against orders, and recruits some backup, he shows up and helps them.

Given what I know about Morgan, I’m not quite sure why he’s helping Steve and Dianna. But as I watch I’m going to pay close attention and see if I can get my head around it.

Anyway, he gives them money to fund their illegal mission.

I love the moment when Dianna tries ice cream for the first time. Another one of those nice little moments that show her innocence.

I don’t think Steve believes that the greek god of war is behind all of this, not really, but he’s seen enough to know that Dianna and her people are powerful, more so than any normal human. He knows something is going on, and he knows she can help him. So he’s bringing her along, and acting as if what she says is true.

The more I think about it, the more I realise that it had to be world war 1 in this story. This is a war like none the world has ever seen. This is just what it would look like if Ares was trying to destroy the world. That wouldn’t have worked for world war 2. Don’t get me wrong. WW2 was horrific but wasn’t as unprecedented as WW1.

So once they meet chief, a nickname that would probably be considered politically incorrect in today’s world, we’ve assembled the team we first saw in the photo in Batman V Superman.

We see a little glimpse of the reality of war with charlie. He’s clearly suffering from post-traumatic stress.

Dianna has an eye opening experience as they near the front lines and she gets a sense of what war really looks like.

It’s a powerful moment as they walk through the trench.

Dianna learns about the town of Veld. The inhabitants have been enslaved.

Steve is not unsympathetic but helping those people is impossible.

Dianna doesn’t understand.

And yet, she has the power to do what nobody else can.

And so , she takes off her coat and finally, we see her in the wonder woman costume.

Can you believe this is the first time we see Wonder Woman? I didn’t realise until this moment that he hadn’t actually seen it. The character kept us so engaged. 

But it’s a wonderful moment.

So triumphant and heroic. 

And yet there’s not the slightest hint of cheese. It plays wonderfully.

I get a whole lot of goosebumps watching this scene. Words can’t do it justice. I can only say it’s awesome.

And we see her do a few of her super jumps.

So they arrive in Veld. 

This is a fantastic action sequence.

And finally we get a reprise of the amazing wonder woman theme from Batman V Superman. That music was incredible and I’m so glad they brought it back in this movie.

It fits even better here than it did in the previous movie.

Interesting fact, did you know it’s not actually an electric guitar playing those notes, it’s a cello put through the same kind of distortion usually applied to guitars. Very cool.

What a great moment of celebration as Dianna realises she has saved the people of the town. They’re all feeling the elation.

And we see the famous photo being taken. Wonderful.

And we get a nice little reminder that few of these people wanted to be soldiers. They all had different aspirations and dreams.

Morgan is insistent that Steve not go near the meeting to jeopardize the armistice. But if Steve doesn’t, and the poison weapon is deployed, there will be no armistice. Which, of course, is what Morgan wants. He wants to war to continue. So why did he give Steve that money to help him go?

Dianna thinks, quite logically, that Ludinorf is Ares.

So Steve and Dianna finally have a quiet enough moment to really draw close to one another. And they spend the night together.

Love is a tricky thing in a movie. In a TV show, you have time to let people slowly and naturally fall in love over a course of multiple episodes, just like in real life. But a movie has very limited time.

You almost have to make it happen faster than it logically should.

A good movie somehow makes it work despite that. I’m not sure how or why. But for me, in this movie, it works.

You know what I like about their relationship. It’s sweet, it’s genuine, and there’s not a hint of angst.

Dianna wants to storm into the castle, guns blazing, and take out Ludinorf. Steve is wise to advise a more subtle approach.\

Some stories with female heroes, Star Trek Voyager comes to mind, try to make their heroes perfect. They can never be wrong.

Wonder Woman doesn’t take that approach. It allows Dianna to be flawed. To be naive and to make mistakes. By allowing her to be human, in that sense, I think this movie portrays Wonder Woman as a more satisfying female hero. And I think that's what a lot of the female viewers who praised this movie appreciated. Certainly I appreciated that approach to Superman in Man of Steel.

So anyway, Dianna finds her own way to sneak into the palace. And to her credit, she is blending in.

Steve’s primary objective is to stop the gas weapon from being used.

Dianna’s primary objective is to kill Ares. Then everything will be good again.

Their objectives are at odds. Steve can’t let her kill Ludinorf until they find the gas.

Maybe Ludinorf is not Ares.

Or maybe Ares doesn’t even exist.

And then they test the gas weapon on Veld.

And we have that heart-breaking moment as Dianna goes and sees that all the people of that town, who she had saved, are dead.

It’s a tragic moment.

And Dianna blames Steve, because he stopped her from killing Ares.

In her mind, Steve has been corrupted  as well. Which kind of is some growth for her, because in any war, there aren’t really pure good guys and bad guys.It’s never entirely that simple.

This movie had a very successful tone. It had those comedic moments (which actually were funny) to satisfy those who prefer the light-hearted stuff, but it still had a lot of depth, and gritty emotion that I crave in a superhero movie. It was the perfect middle ground that seemed to work for everybody.

We have another great action scene as Wonder Woman battles Ludinorf.

So she kills him.

It’s over.

Except …. Nothing happens. No great world-shattering change.

The war is still raging.

And Dianna is forced to come face to face with the truth. She was seeing things in simplistic terms. The truth is a lot more complex than she had been able to see.

It’s a terrible moment of self-doubt for her. 

“Maybe people aren’t always good, Ares or no Ares,” steve ays. “Maybe it’s who they are.”

Dianna can’t accept this. After all she’s seen. People killing people they can’t even see. Civilians. Children.

Humans can’t be that bad on their own. Can they?

Her mother was right. MAnkind doesn’t deserve her.

It’s not about deserve. Maybe we don’t. Maybe it’s not about what we deserve. Maybe it’s about what we believe.

Don’t you think I’d like to believe it was all just due to one guy.

This is all wonderful thematic stuff.

So while Dianna questions everything she’s ever believed, Steve has to go. Someone still has to stop that gas.

And that’s when Morgan shows up.

And we learn the unexpected truth.

Morgan is Ares.

I thought this was a brilliant move.

First of all, I’m glad they didn’t make a German Ares. That’s too easy. Too black and white.

The charming posh old british man. Who would ever have expected him to be Ares?

So now we know that Morgan is Ares, we still ask, why did he help Steve come here to stop the gas? He wants the gas weapon to be used. He wants the war to continue.

“All I wanted was for the gods to see how evil my father’s creations were.” He says.

“I am not the God of war, I am the God of truth.”

There is so much here that resonates with me spiritually. So much biblical parallel.

As the sword burns, Dianna finally learns that it isn’t the god-killer. SHE is the god killer. She is the weapon Zeus left behind to protect the world from Ares.

We find that humans never needed Ares to make them fight. War and evil ARE in the hearts of man. It’s our sinful nature. IT always has been.

But he gives a little push here, and little push there. Gives them the weapons and let them use them.

All he did was engineer an armistice he knew they could never keep.

I think, in the end, he recognised Dianna when he first saw her in London. He wanted her to be here, and let her naivete make the war worse, not better.

I think that’s probably why he gave that money to Steve.

When Steve sees them fighting in the distance, he believes. Finally he has no doubts. Ares is real, and he’s here.

Steve has a plan. A way to get that gas out of here. He’s got to fly the plane out of here.

It’ll likely be a suicide mission, but that’s what soldiers do.

They make the ultimate sacrifice.

I like the intercutting between Dianna’s battle with Ares and Steve’s attempt to hijack the plane.

It’s a heartbreaking moment as Steve fires the gun that destroys the plane, the poison, and himself.

Was that necessary? I dunno, but it at least makes as much sense as Steve Rogers crashing the plane in Captain America. Probably more.

Ares’ aim here to to prove to Dianna how pathetic humans are. How evil and undeserving they are of her sympathy.

Doctor Poison ends up being the symbol of mankind.

And he’s right. The humans don’t deserve mercy. They don’t deserve her sympathy.

It was an interesting film-making technique to obscure the sound of Dianna and Steve’s final conversation, only to reveal it now in this moment. But he makes a good point. He can save today, but she can save the world.

“They’re everything you say, but so much more,” Dianna says. “It’s not about deserve. It’s about what you believe. And I believe in love.” This all lines up so well with what I believe. We ARE undeserving, but we are the recipients of love.

I didn’t expect this movie to be so thematically relevant. I really connected with this.

To use a Christian word, Dianna exercises grace. Undeserved favour.

I don’t mean to constantly bring my personal beliefs into this, but honestly, each of these movies just connect with me so personally in these moments. I can’t not talk about it.

Well, Ares is now dead.

And the war is over. Without the devastation of that gas weapon, the armistice has been signed, just as history records.

But the death of Ares is no quick and easy fix to the world’s problem. The sin in human hearts is still there. Each person must make their own choice every day. No hero can do this for them.

And that brings us back to present day, the framing device.

This is her mission now, to help where she can. And to help people daily make that decision.

As she dives into the air and sails over the Paris skyline, she appears to be flying. Properly flying. Not just jumping.

There is a lot of speculation that in the next Wonder Woman movie, which would have been released by now, were it not for COVID 19, she will gain the ability to fly. It’ll be interesting to see if that’s the case. Anyway, that movie will be set before the present day scenes here, so it’s conceivable.

This movie doesn’t have an after-credit scene, but there is an epilogue on the Blur-ray, in which Etta sends the team out to recover a cube-shaped artefact found near the western front, which if course, is a set-up for Justice League.

I love this movie.

Where Man of Steel triumphed as a science fiction movie, Wonder woman triumphs as a war movie, and a fantasy. It’s a mashup that I really really like.

Well, it’s been a wild ride. Man of Steel, Batman V Superman, Wonder Woman, even Suicide Squad. I count them all as great movies.

Next up, we’ll take a look at the theatrical version of Justice League. I’ll talk about what works for me, and what doesn’t, and try to settle in my mind exactly what it is that I hope for from the Snyder Cut which we’ll be getting next year.

In this episode of Nerd Heaven, I geek out over the things that stood out to me at this year's Comic Con At Home event, along with the Justice Con, which was dedicated to Zack Snyder's Justice League. I give my unfiltered thoughts on the lack of announcement for international distribution for Star Trek Lower Decks. I also talk bout Farscape, Bill & Ted Face The Music, Red Dwarf The Promised Land and NASA's Artemis Program which will take us back to the moon.

----more----

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd

This is episode #31 of the podcast.

Today, we’re taking a brief break from the DC extended universe so I can talk about some of the highlights that stood out to me from Comic Con and Justice Con.

While Covid 19 has introduced a lot of new problems in life, there have been some unexpected blessings. One of these was the transformation of Comic Con from an in-person event into a free online event. And while that has a number of disadvantages for those who were hoping to attend physically, it opened things up for everyone in the world, regardless of geography and finance to take part.

It may not be feasible for me to fly half way around the world to America, but I can watch the panels on youTube just like anyone else.

So, let’s get Nerdy and talk about what stood out to me.

We’ll start with Star Trek.

To be honest, I was expecting a lot more from the Star Trek Universe panel. I think a lot of people were. The only real solid announcement we got was confirmation of the title and logo for the kids animated nickelodeon show currently in production.

The name is Star Trek Prodigy. But we already knew that.

Interestingly, I’ve always said that word as Progidy. Not prodigy. With the d and g swapped. Is that just an American pronunciation, or have I been saying it wrong all these years? It looks like I’ve been saying it wrong all these years. It’s a little unsettling at 42 years of age to suddenly realise you’ve been making a mistake like this your whole life. But there it is. It’s about a group of delinquent teenagers who find a starship and decide to crew it. That may give the show something of a Farscape-esque feeling, where the cast are not a crew as such, with Starfleet discipline. They’re just a bunch of random people on a space ship, but contained within the Star Trek universe. Obviously, I’m not a kid, and I’m not the target audience for this show, but if the opportunity presents itself, I’ll check it out. It could be a great show to watch with my son.

We learned nothing from the Discovery panel. The table read of the final episode of season 2 was kind of interesting, from a film-making point of view, nice to see what a table read looks like, but ultimately, if I want to watch the episode, I’ll watch the episode.

We did, however, get an official release date for season 3 a few days later. Why they didn’t include this in the panel is a mystery to me. But I’m sure they had their reasons. Anyway, the show goes live on the 15th of October, just after Lower Decks will finish. Which, of course means, that North Americans will have 23 consecutive weeks of Star Trek.

As for the rest of the planet, we’ll just have to wait until October, because honestly, it’s not looking like we’ll be getting Lower Decks. The show is releasing in less than a week.

I’m sure it’ll appear on a streaming service somewhere, at some point, but by then the conversation will be over. I won’t be a part of that conversation. The best I’ll be able to do is talk about it in retrospect, like I do with TNG, and the DC movies, but honestly, I don’t think it will have been long enough for anyone to want to look back nostalgically on the show.

Here’s my real problem. I want Alex Kurtzman to just be honest and say to the world, “I’m sorry, guys. We don’t have an international distribution option for you at this time. You won’t get to see it.” At least then he’d be acknowledging out existence.

But this silent treatment, this complete ignoring of us, the failure to acknowledge that we even exist or matter. I gotta say, it’s a little hurtful. It shows the people behind Star Trek really don’t have any regard for us. They don’t care about us. We don’t matter.

Back in the 80s, you coil get away with showing a TV show to Australia years after it was shown in America. We didn’t know any different. But this is 2020. There’s a little thing called the internet. We’re a global community now. We’ve been following the progression of these shows from day 1, and supporting them in any way we can. You can’t get away with excluding people based on their geography any more. It just doesn’t fly.

Now, I realise there are practical and business concerns. The industry is still very old fashioned in the way it works. Still very focussed on country borders. They may have tried and failed to secure an international distribution deal, maybe nobody wants to buy the rights to the show. They might want to see how well it performs before committing.

But that comes back to what I said earlier. I think Alex Kurtzman should make a little statement. “Hey, guys, we tried, we failed. I’m sorry.” That’s all I need. But by not addressing the issue at all, it’s like a giant gormagander in the room. It’s looming over him and he’s just pretending it’s not there.

Okay. That’s my rant.

We did get a trailer for the show just before Comic Con, and an extended look at the first scene during the panel, plus an interview with the cast. This was definitely the meatiest part of the Star Trek Universe panel, and I quite liked it.

So what do I think of what I’ve seen. Well, it’s complicated. Comedy is a tricky thing to do. Humour is very subjective. To be honest, I generally prefer British humour to American humour. How well will an animated comedy show work in canon. I have no idea, but I’m fascinated to find out. One thing I really noticed, looking at the footage is that in animation, everything is ramped up. When Mariner is trying to get the pad from Boimler to read his fake captain’s log, she’s practically combing on top of his shoulders. She’s screaming like she’s deranged. IF we were to transpose this performance frame for frame into live action, it would look absurd and ridiculous. I think they ramp things up like this because they can’t portray subtleties in animation like they can with a human actor. I guess you have to interpret animated shows through that filter. But Boimler actually having his leg sliced in two by Mariner’s bat’leth like that. It seems too extreme a situation to believably happen were this not an animated show. So, like I said, tricky in terms of canon. But not insurmountable. Ultimately, I think the way I’d like them to handle it, is to have Lower decks pay attention to canon and respect it, but without the need for other shows to have to be impacted too much by it.

And honestly, from looking at what we’ve seen, I think this show is gonna honour canon much greater than Discovery ever has. Which is pretty ironic.

The one thing I wish is that they’d kept the First contact / Nemesis uniforms. Not only is that my favourite uniform, but it would give the show a much firmer sense of placement in history. Tho show is set in the TNG movie era, not the TNG tv era. They’re different. I guess it’s sad to know that directly after Nemesis, Starfleet abandoned the gray uniforms and went straight back to these colourful things. Although the people behind the show have made a cryptic remark about maybe not every ship has the same uniform, so not sure what they’re doing there. Perhaps if we see a TNG cameo, they’ll be wearing the gray uniform. Dunno.

But personal taste aside, the big problem is the com badges. These uniforms have the delta without anything behind them. But Picard established that up until the time Jean Luc was booted out of Starfleet, they still have the TNG movie era com badges. I imagine the animators went with the simple delta because the true com badge was too much find detail to work in animation.

Maybe we just need to assume that in reality, they’re wearing the proper com badge, even though we can’t see it.

There is a very clear love of Star Trek coming through in this show. And it really does feel like the Star Trek universe.  They’ve got the 24th century aesthetic nailed down. The look of the okudagrams, the sound effects. It’s actually pretty impressive. 

Ultimately, I think what I’d want to watch this show for is all the Star Trek trappings, rather than the comedy itself, which may be hit or miss for me. It’s hard to tell.

Kinda like how I like to kick back with The Big Bang theory, when my brain is tired. I watch that show for the character development and the nerd references first, and the comedy second.

I think Lower Decks is probably a show that I could really enjoy, even though there may be some things I have issue with.

Star Trek Strange New Worlds. We learned that all 10 episodes have been broken in the writers room, but they still need to write the scripts. That’s a lot more progress than I would have expected. And I’m not downplaying the time needed to write all those scripts, but that means, whatever the show is gonna be, good or bad, it’s already nailed down. The stories have been decided. Amusingly, I find myself a little nervous about that. Which is kinda weird.

Okay. Now let’s talk Farscape.

I enjoyed the Farscape panel, listening to the actors and writers share their stories.

They said that Rockne O'bannon and Brian Henson are still actively working on ideas for revive the show. This isn’t really new information, but it’s nice to know that they’re still trying.

They did make it clear that if there ever was to be a new Farscape show, they’d definitely want to come back here to Australia to shoot it, using the old cast and crew. That’s really cool, and I think for it to truly be Farscape, it needs to be shot here. So much of what made the show what it was came from that Aussie spirit.

Australia had never done a show like this, so we didn’t know it impossible. Therefore, we just went for it, and made it happen. And by We I mean out country. Obviously I had nothing to do with it.

The writers were all told to really push it, to go places you woldn’t think you can go on television.

They talked about the different work ethics between Australian and American crews. The aussie crews threw themselves into the work 100% until home time. They they were done. Overtime just wasn’t a thing. Apparently, American TV crew kill themselves with overtime.

Gigi Edgley talked about how American actors get pidgeonholed into genres. You’re a sci-fi actor, or you’re a comedic actor. But Australian actors are all-rounders. They do everything.

The panel closed with the actors sharing their thoughts on where their characters might be now, after all these years, at the time of a new series’ first episode. It was fun to hear their speculations.

In addition to Comic Con at home, we were treated to an entire convention devoted to the Zack Snyder cut of Justice League at the same time. Zack had some interesting things to say. He confirmed he would not use a single frame that was not shot by him, so no Joss Whedon scenes will be in his movie. This will give us some interesting insight into which directors were responsible for which scenes in the theatrical cut.

Zack voluntarily made the decision to leave the project after the tragic death of his daughter, but he had no say in who was brought in to replace him. As he said, he was quite distracted at the time.

Zack showed a little clip of superman coming to meet Alfred, while dressed in his iconic black suit. Apparently, the studio were not at all keen on Snyder using the black suit in the movie, so he shot it with the blue suit, in a way that he could colourise it later. Smart bloke.

There is another DC fandom event coming up in the next month or so. At that event, we’ll have confirmation of the title (Zack wants it to be “Zack Snyder’s Justice Leaue” but there are some legal issues to work out), we’ll have confirmation of whether it’ll be a movie or a series, and we’ll get a teaser trailer. So lots more to still look forward to.

I haven’t seen all the panels from Justice Con yet. There was an entire panel devoted to suicide prevention, which is great. Zack said that because of the ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign, lives have been saved. People are alive today who would otherwise be dead. And that’s so much more important than a movie.

We also learned that Zack Snyder is making this movie for free. It really is a labour of love for him.

Back to comic con, I watched the Red Dwarf Promised Land panel.

This is a feature-length movie in the works. They showed a couple of clips from the movie, and it looks pretty funny.

It’s going to address a question that was raised all the way back in the first episode of the show, in 1988. What happened to the cat people?

Doug Naylor’s use of science is interesting. Sometimes he uses real science, sometimes he uses speculative science, and sometimes, he uses made-up science. But he draws from a lot of the latest real-world discoveries.

He also revealed that he never wants to do a big grand ending to the show. He feels that endings like that usually fall flat. So he just wants Red Dwarf to simply stop one day, with no great fanfare.

I get what he’s saying here, and I respect it, but I don’t really agree. As a writer, a reader, and a viewer, I prefer stories to have a definitive satisfying ending.

Next, I checked out the Bill & Ted Face The Music panel.

The moderator said that this movie, despite being a comedy, was very emotional. In fact, it moved him deeply. He called it a beautiful movie. And that really gets me excited for it.

I learned some fascinating stuff about the history of the franchise. The writers of the movies actually started playing these two characters themselves, as improv comedy.

They weren’t responsible for the casting of the characters, but they were waiting in line at Maccas one day, and two young people were in front of them in the line. The writers thought, these two guys would be perfect to play Bill and Ted.

When they got to set the next day, it turned out, those two people were Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter.

Turns out that Bill’s daughter Thea is played by an Austrlaian actor, Samantha Weaving, who happens to be the neice of Hugo Weving, so...Aussie Aussie Aussie.

Oh, and I learned that death in the Bill and Ted movies was played by none other than William Sadler, who, of course, portrayed the section 31 agent Sloan in Star Trek Deep Space Nine. How awesome is that?

The final panel I want to talk about was the “Back to The Moon” panel by NASA.

William Shatner moderated this, talking to real life NASA astronauts and scientists about the plans to return to the moon this decade, and I gotta say, it was really exciting stuff.

I can’t believe William Shatner is 89 years old. He’s still so active. He looks a lot younger than his years.

So they talked about the Artemis program, which is the new moon program. Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology, so that makes sense.

They plan to send a robot mission to investigate the south pole of the moon in 2023. They know there is ice there, but they don’t know if it is safe to drink.

Then, in 2024, they’ll be sending humans in an Orion vehicle. The first woman and the next man will set foot on the moon. They’re also going to build an orbital space station above the moon, called Gateway.

And then from 2028 into the 2030s, they plan to make moon habitation sustainable. That means they’ll have a base where people can actually live on the moon. Not just go in for a quick visit, but to stay.

This stuff is amazing. I mean, it’s like science fiction is actually happening around us. This isn’t just fictional space exploration, it’s real space exploration. It’s an exciting time to be alive.

Shatner’s excitement was infectious. He was so into it and kept interrupting them just to marvel at what they were saying.

The NASA people talked about how science fiction had inspired them into their fields.

Which is interesting, because as a science fiction writer, their real-life eveavours inspire me.

So that was my first comic con experience. Lots of cool stuff gooing on at the moment.

Did you watch any panels? What did you find most exciting? I’d be interested to know. Leave me a comment on youtube, or wherever you listen to the podcast, or even drop me an email at [email protected]

Next time, we’ll be talking about Wonder Woman, and then the episode after that, we’ll look at Justice League, the theatrical cut.

I’ll catch you next time, out there, in nerd heaven.

Suicide Squad is the next movie in our journey through the DCEU. This movie added some memorable characters to the DC Extended Universe, such as Will Smith's Deadshot and Robbie Margot's Harley Quinn, not to mention introducing us to this universe's version of the joke played by Jared Leto. So let's look back at this movie and see what we can dig out of it.

----more----

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars, and I am a nerd.

This is episode 30 of the podcast. Today we continue our look at the DC extended Universe with Suicide Squad.

The description on IMDB reads

A secret government agency recruits some of the most dangerous incarcerated super-villains to form a defensive task force. Their first mission: save the world from the apocalypse.

This movie was written and directed by David Ayer.

It first released on the 3rd of August 2016

I kinda like the aesthetic of bright neon colours over the titles and the  studio logos

Will Smith is great as deadshot. He gives a more serious dramatic performance than I think I’ve seen from him in anything else. And yet he still blends his signature humour into his character. It’s a balance that I really like.

Harley Quinn is terrifying. I love the scene that introduces her. She’s hanging from a ribbon like a gymnast. The fact that these big grown men are so terrified of this young girl that they have to keep her in a cage and shock her before they’ll go inside speaks volumes.

And then we meet Amanda Waller. In her voiceover, she explains that the world changed when Superman appeared. And then it changed again when he didn’t. We get more footage of Superman’s funeral.

That’s why I’m here, she says.

The death of Superman has left a big void. Earth has been attacked twice by alien beings. First Zod and his crew, and then Doomsday. Now, with Superman dead, who’s going to protect Earth next time it happens?

Waller thinks she has the answer. 

The problem with a metahuman is the human part. We got lucky with Superman. He shared our values. The next might not.

The film now has to introduce a bunch of characters and explain their origins. It’s a lot to ask in such a short space of time, but I think it does a great job.

Deadshot’s daughter really humanises him. The fascinating thing is, this girl’s dad is an assassin for hire, and he’s the good parent! The mother is a real deadbeat.

And you can tell straight away that he really loves his daughter. 

And then we get our first Batman cameo. I love it! So good to get more Batfleck, especially given that this would end up being his second last appearance.

In the end, it’s deadshot’s humanity, for the sake of his daughter, that leads to his capture. IF she wasn’t there, Deadshot would be free and Batman would be dead.

The story of the transformation of Dr Quinzel into Harley Quinn is terrifying. And we meet Jared Leto’s Joker for the first time.

This is a controversial opinion, but I like Leto’s Joker.

The thing these early DC movies did really well was take classic characters, who had been portrayed very very successfully in previous movies, and presented them in a very different way.

Heath Ledger’s Joker was amazing. The man won a posthumous oscar for that performance. There was no topping that. So instead, they created a version of the Joker that looks very different, and acts different. The tattoos were unconventional but they made sense. Some felt the word “damaged” tattooed on the joker’s forehead was overkill, but David Ayer had some cool backstory behind that. The teeth too. It’s a pity none of that stuff made it into the movie.

Then we get our second Batman appearance.

He’s chasing the Joker and Harley through the streets of Gotham.

It’s nice to see the Batmobile from Batman V Superman again. Ilove it when Harley says “Stupid Bats, you’re ruining date night.

Sorry, I’m gushing over the Joker when I should be talking about Harley.

Waller says that Harley is even crazier than the Joker, and I think she might be right.

The joker re-made her in his own image.

Batman got Harley but the Joker got away, just like the song says. He kinda left her to drown.

Next, Waller introduces Captain Boomerang Digger Harkness.

First of all, Amanda, it’s Aussie not aussie. Hard S sound. Gotta get it right.

Digger is an interesting name for this character. Digger is a slang term used for an Australian soldier. Especially a veteran of world war 1, but really any member of the Australian armed forces. It’s a title that carries a lot of affection but also a great deal of respect.

Anyway, we get our final cameo from a Justice League member as we see Ezra Miller as The Flash captures him.

This was nice. We got to see a long-haired Barry Allen in a shop surveillance video, and a weird bearded Flash from the future, in the last movie, but we never really saw The Flash in his true form. This time we see him in his costume for the first time. It was only a few seconds, but it was very welcome.

El Diablo is a fascinating character. Next to deadshot, he’s one of my favourites. His story is truly tragic, but all we get in this little introduction is that he has the ability to create first, and he surrendered to the police.

Next is Killer Croc. I Wasn’t happy with his portrayal in this movie at all.

Have you ever played Batman Arkham Asylum? I have. Killer Croc, in that game, is freaking terrifying. One of the few times I’ve been truly afraid playing a game is when I Was sneaking through Killer Croc’s lair. That’s the type of Killer Croc I wanted.

Instead, this movie made him the comic relief. I wasn’t happy with that at all.

Now I’ll admit, I’m not super familiar with the character. In fact, that video game is really my only previous exposure to the character, so what do I know? All I know is this wasn’t the version I wanted to see.

The movie doesn’t spend any time trying to explain how this reptilian-looking man came to be. It only says that evolution took a backward step with him.

But then Waller says He looked like a monster, so they treated him like a monster, and he became a monster. I like that line. That’s a line we should all ruminate on for a bit, and think about how we treat people.

Finally we get an introduction to Enchantress. What I like is that she starts off as just another of the gang, but is later revealed to be the villain of the movie.

Of course, the interesting thing about her character is that she is two people. Kind of a jekyll and hyde character. The ancient witch inhabits Dr. June Moone.

Enchantress is fascinating. An extra-dimensional entity. She shares Moone’s body and can be summoned when necessary. I want to know more about her, a lot more, but this movie doesn’t take the time to explore this character in any depth, and that’s a shame.

Yes, it’s really hard to give sufficient time to any one character when you have such a large cast, but this is the villain of the movie. The little bit of set-up they give us for her is compelling, but it’s not enough.

So this is Waller’s plan. We’re fresh out of heroes, so we’re gonna use these villains. “But they’re bad guys,” the man she’s talking to says.

“Exactly. They’re expendable.” Who better to send in as canon fodder when the monsters attack?”

And that’s what makes the suice squad, as a concept, really work for me.

At this point, it’s clear that DC are doing something quite different than Marvel with their cinematic universe. Marvel movies tell individual stories with characters, and then have them come together once in a while. Very slowly, over time, a long-term narrative began to unfold, but there were a lot of individual stories going on as well.

DC’s approach was different. They’re just trying to tell one long story. Each movie is just another chapter in that story. They’re not trying to set up multiple parallel franchises, like Marvel. They’re just telling a story.

First, we introduced the world to Superman, and aliens.

Then We saw Superman die, thanks to Lex Luther’s manipulations.

This movie examines the idea of a world without Superman.

Just as we realised how much we needed him, he’s gone. This movie explores what people do to try to fill that void.

It’s almost a pause. We’re gonna slow down the story for a bit and take this little detour, to let you sit with the fact that Superman is dead for a while.

And that’s important. I’m so glad they didn’t resurrect Superman immediately at the end of Batman V Superman. We needed to sit here and really appreciate the hole he’s left behind. To that end, this movie is very important.

The men are not convinced that Waller can control these freaks, but she says “convincing people to act against their own self interests for the national security of the united state of America is what I do for a living.”

And let’s face it, she’s good at her job.

Viola Davis does a wonderful job of portraying Waller in this movie. I really like her performance. Best version of the character I’ve seen on screen.

We round out the team with Col Rick Flag, the good guy soldier who is supposed to keep the others all in line.

The twist is, he’s in love with Dr. Moone.

Waller set him up to fall in love with her.

Waller controls Moone with the heart, and Moone controls Flag.

We begin to see here how Waller is a manipulator who uses people and cares little for them as people. All humans are just tools.

She’s not so different than Lex Luthor, although she may be even better at it than him.

Waller makes the point that the Americans are not the only ones kicking up rocks looking for metahumans. The next war will be fought with them.

The way Enchantress’s fingers appear and curl around Moon’s hand is super creepy.

But it’s clear that becoming Enchantress takes a huge toll on Moone. She’s not sure she can keep doing it.

When Waller comes to see her new team, Harle asks her, “are you the Devil?” That’s a very interesting question.

We get a little more understanding of El Diablo. He’s not willing to use his powers. He says “I’m a man, not a weapon. I want to die in peace before I ever raise my fists again.”

He’s a reluctant meta-human. Refuses to use his abilities. But he wasn’t always that way. Something happened in his past.

So they bring deadshot out to show what he can do with a gun. So he points it at the abusive guard, who is afraid for a moment, but then suddenly gets this cocky smile and says to his men, “If this man shoots me, I want you to kill him and then go clear my browser history.”

Now, this got a momentary chuckle out of me, in the cinema, but then I realised, this is completely unbelievable. A man who is in feat for his life is not going to care about what’s in his browser history. That moment killed the scene for me.

This was the first movie to really suffer from interference from Warner Bros. Batman V Superman got cut short in the theatrical cut, but here, they made significant creative changes. In fact, I hear they took the final cut out of the director’s hands and gave it to a trailer company. In David Ayer’s words, they took his soulful drama and turned it into a comedy. And I think that’s a terrible shame.

Moments like this silly browser history joke are symptomatic of the problem.

The exchange where Deadshot explains his price is cool. It’s mostly about his daughter. He wants out of jail, but he also wants full custody, and he wants her education paid for.

I like the moment when Flag says “you’re in no position to make demands”, and deadshot say “Oh, you thought I was talking to you, no, I was talking to your boss.” and points to waller, while all the while making eye contact with flag.

See, this is the kind of humour that works better for me. Character based humour that feels natural in the situation.

Now I can’t possibly say what jokes came from which film-maker. All I can say is what I like and what I don’t like.

The Joker is still keeping tabs on Harley. He’s aware that she’s been taken from her prison to be a part of this special operation, and he’s not happy about it.

He still cares about her, in his own disturbing twisted evil way. I mean, she’s more of a possession to him than a person, but he cares.

So Enchantress escapes. It’s not completely clear how it happens. Moone whichers “Enchantress” in her sleep. Is that just because she’s dreaming and talking in her sleep? A freak occurrence that the witch takes advantage of? Or is it something more? I’m not sure.

But she threatens to kill Moone if Flag calls Waller, so now he’s being manipulated by her as well. She takes a statue containing her brother and flees, taking an unsuspecting man as a host for her brother.

Apparently these two were worshipped as gods by ancient humans, but no more. Now she is going to take her revenge by building a machine to take over the world.

Moone asks Flag to stop Enchantress, if it ever comes down to a decision, always stop enchantress, even if it kills Moone.

That’s a hard thing to ask of someone who loves you.

Meanwhile, her brother starts taking humans and turning them into foot soldiers.

It’s time to activate Task Force X.

The brother is nasty. All those tentacles.

Enchantress can use his power to protect herself from damage to her heart. Waller has officially lost control of the witch.

So her new taskforce are gonna be called in to deal with one of their own.

Again, we get some humour from Harley. And it’s true to her character.

We meet another member of the squad. Slipknot, who can climb anything. We didn’t get a proper introduction to him. That makes him a redshirt, as we’ll see shortly.

The squad members have all been injected with nano explosives. Just another control to keep them in check.

One final character is introduced. Katana, who wields a sentient sword containing the soul of her late husband. It’s said her sword traps the souls of its victims. That kinda feels like many a step too far for me. No explanation is given for such an incredible claim.

As they take off, Harley gets a message from the Joker. He’s coming for her.

The suicide squad haven’t been told the truth about what they’re facing. Rick says it’s terrorists with a dirty bomb. But these guy’s aren’t stupid. They can see the magic energy hovering over the city, or as Harley calls it, pretty lights.

So the chopper is shot down and they’re now on Digger is convinced the nano bombs in the neck are just a ruse, and he’s planning to leave. He convinces slipknot.

Then of course, Rick sets off Slipknot's explosive and he dies.

Question. Was Digger serious about this, or was he just trying to talk someone else into cutting and running first, so he could find out if the bombs were real? I suspect the latter. It shows that Digger is smart, but also, really cold.

This scene was needed to show the squad that the bombs were real. Somebody had the push the boundaries and die. Otherwise these characters would never have followed orders.

The character to die, of course, was the one we knew the least about. He didn’t even get a proper introduction like the rest of the squad. In fact, the first couple of times I Watched this movie, I had no idea who just died. Who WAS that? They introduced this character at the last second so they’d have a redshirt to kill. Personally, I think this moment would have been a lot more meaningful if they’d killed a character who’d been introduced at the beginning with the rest of them.

Deadshot is still planning a revolt, but he’s hoping The Joker can disable the neck bombs. Nothing can happen until then.

The converted foot soldiers look pretty cool. Their pulsating heads are pretty creepy.

When Deadshot realises there’s something supernatural going on here, his thoughts begin to turn away from escape. He’s the voice of reason in the group. Harley is happy to let Rick die, but Deadshot points out, if he dies, we die.

Digger is a really stereotypical Australian. I mean, drinking a beer in the middle of the battle? Come on.

That said, I kinda like him. His Aussie mannerisms, while sometimes over the top feel comfortably familiar in this landscape of freakish villains and even freakier monsters.

But…..I just don’t get the pink unicorn fettish. I have no idea what that’s about.

El Diablo is still refusing to use his powers.

We get a cheap joke about Harley stealing a handbag, but an emotional moment as Deadshot sees a display mannequin for a child’s jacket. And thinks of his daughter.

Now we get a flashback scene that wasn’t in the theatrical cut. It’s one of the only additions in the so-called extended cut. However, this scene makes a huge difference. It gives so much more context to the relationship between the Joker and Harley.

We see Dr. Quinzel chasing the Joker on a motorbike. She forces him to stop his car and screams, “You’re not leaving me.”

The Joker used her to escape from Arkham. He manipulated her into a severe case of Stockholm syndrome, messed up her head really badly, and then left her. He didn’t need her anymore.

But she was still in love with him. Well, love isn’t the right word. She was obsessed with him.

The Joker treats her like an unwanted pet who won’t get the hint.

You see, the Joker doesn’t love. He isn’t loved. I don’t think The Joker is capable of love. Not real love.

So it would make no sense for him to continue this relationship. Harley was a tool. Nothing more.

This scene explains that. But it also shows how relentless Harley is. How she’s starting to wear him down.

It adds to the believability of their story. It’s a fantastic scene.

Back in the present, I like how Harley’s past as a psychologist is still with her, but in her crazed state, she uses it to mess with people’s minds for no other reason that she’s bored.

Margot Robbie’s portrayal of lovable crazy is a big part of why this character stole the movie for so many people.

As they are ambushed in the building by more monsters, Deadshot is sick of El Diablo not doing his bit. He pushes him and pushes him until finally he uses his powers. He shoots fire at the monsters burning them all.

Then we flashback to the fulfillment of Harley’s origin. She and The Joker are at the chemical factory. This scene is greatly enhanced by the inclusion of that previous scene with the motorbike. That scene set this one up. This is the payoff. It’s a real shame the previous scene was cut from the theatrical version.

The Joker asks Harley if she’ll die for him. Yes. That’s too easy. Will you live for me?

She has to think about this one a moment longer. But she says yes. Living for the Joker is a commitment. A commitment to a truly crazy man.

And so, faced with her unwavering devotion, the Joker accepts Harley into his life. He sees her fall into the chemical vat, and for a moment, I think he’s gonna let her drown, but then he dives in and saves her. Now she’s like him.

Like I said earlier, I don’t think the Joker is capable of true love, but I think he has come to feel some genuine affection for Harley. Sure, it’s more about possession. She's an object that he owns, but he cares something for her and is willing to risk himself to rescue her.

And then we get the big reveal of the truth. The true objective here was to rescue Amanda Waller was was trapped in a building in this city.

Deadshot is not impressed about this.

So then, Waller guns down her own people. Not the Suicide Squad, the administravie people. Those running the office, monitoring the situation on the computers. She puts bullets in each of their heads. Killing them in cold blood because they weren’t cleared for any of this.

I submit that Amanda Waller is the single most evil character in the whole DC universe.

Even Deadshot, a serial killer who takes credit card, has more of a soul than this woman. 

She is cold to the depth of her heart. A pure pragmatist, devoice of any conscience.

Anyay, the actress playing her does a fantastic job, to make me hate her so much.

Of course, their rescue chopper has been hijacked by The Joker.

Harley runs off with him.

Apparently, her nano bomb has been disabled. This isn’t explained. It’s actually quite an unsatisfying plot hole. I imagine the explanation is on the cutting room floor.

I think Deadshot is genuinely tempted when Waller offers him his freedom and his daughter if he kills Harley, but is he really going to trust Waller? After what she’s just done? I don’t think so.

The Joker and Harley appear to have died in a crash.

Enchantress now has her heart back, which makes her even more powerful.

And Waller gets what’s coming to her at Enchantress’s hands, well tentacles.

So the Suicide Squad learn the truth that all of this is Waller’s fault. She’s the one who unleashed Enchantress and her brother on the world.

With this knowledge, they decide to go have a drink.

Which allows us to have a quiet moment for some character reflection. Which is quite nice.

Deadshot has a code. He doesn’t kill women or children. I’m not saying that makes him a good person, but it makes him a step above Waller.

But El Diablo, he’s something else again. He finally tells his story.

He was born with this fire ability. The older he got, the stronger it was. This made him powerful on the streets.

He had a wife and two kids. She didn’t approve of his life of crime. She’d pray for him, but one day she’d had enough.She threatened to take the kids away.

And in an uncontrollable fit of rage, he burned them all. He killed his wife and kids.

And he’s been living with that ever since. That’s why he doesn’t use his powers.

It’s a heart-breaking story. There really are no words for it.

Flag joins them to confess his own sins. He played a part in all of this, because of his feelings for Moone. Turns out, he may be not much better than the rest of them. So he smashes the controller for the nano bombs. They’re free.

But then he shows Deadshot that his daughter writes letters to him every day. Letters he’s never seen.

And that’s what motivates him to finish this. He has to save the world for her sake, to show his daughter that her father’s not a piece of …. Well….you get the idea.

Harley’s in for a party.

So they all come along.

Now they’re a team. Now they’re committed to this mission.

Killer Croc is, of course, the obvious choice for the underwater mission. I love how he says I live underground. the rest of you are just tourists.

I love how Flag and Deadshot are on even terms now. Deadshot even says I got your back.

Enchantress gives them a vision of what they want most out of life.

Deadshot wants to kill Batman. Harley dreams of a proper happy life with The joker. He get to see Jared Leeto out of makeup. They even have a child. This, of course, is an impossible dream.

El Diablo wants his family back.

But he knows this can’t be. His pain helps him see through the trick. He can’t undo what he did. That’s the source of his pain.

Now matter how much he wants to, he can’t change what he did that night.

So he goes out there, fire blazing, to take on Enchantress’s brother.

He becomes the fire.

He distracts the brother long enough to get him in position to be taken out by the bomb.

In the end, El Diablo sacrifices his life to take down the monster.

David Ayer described this movie as a redemption story, and that’s one of the things I really like about it. But a friend of mine pointed out once that it’s not strictly a redemption story. It’s actually a repentance story.

Most philosophies teach that redemption for past crimes can be earned through good acts. The turning away from the old life and making a conscious decision to be good instead. That’s basically the definition of repentance.

Interestingly, Christianity teaches that redemption can’t be earned. It’s a gift that is given freely to the undeserving. I think that’s an interesting distinction.

I haven’t talked much about the music in this movie. It’s not on the same level as Zimmer and JunkieXL’s work in the last 2 movies, but I do really like the Task Force X theme in this film.

But after all this, Enchantress is still here, but they’re all kinda powerless against her.

Harley poses the question. What’s this world ever done for us? Why should we save it?

But in the end, what motivates her is friendship. Enchantress messed with her new friends.

Enchantress promises many things. Bow to me and I’ll give you all you desire.

But as we all know, evil makes many promises, but you can’t trust them.

But Harley plays along just long enough to get close so she can remove the heart.

Previously, she was only able to operate without the heart because she fed off her brother’s power. But her brother is dead now.

Without her heart, she’s vulnerable. They can defeat her.

The final solution makes good use of the skills of multiple characters, as it should be for an ensemble movie like this.

But Flag has to face the heart-breaking reality that June isn’t coming back. So he crushes the heart. Only to find that was another of Enchantress’s lies. June is alive in the rubble. And Enchantress is gone. Really gone forever.

But sadly, it turns out Waller is still alive. What a shame.

They get 10 years off their sentences. Plus a few favours. Harley and Croc’s requests are kind of absurd. But Deadshot gets to have a visit with his daughter, which is a touching if uncomfortable moment, when they start using assasination as a metaphor for geometry.

If he ever gets out of prison, I think he really might put his life of crime behind him, for her sake.

And then, the movie ends with the reveal that The 

Joker is still alive, and he’s here to break Harley out.

This was the first of the DCEU films to have an after-credit sequence.

It ties it into the larger narrative.

Bruce Wayne is making a deal with Waller. He offers her protection from those who want her head for her mistakes.

In return, she gives him the info she has on the known metahumans, such as The Flash and Aqua man.

As he leaves, he tells her to shut down Task Force X. The world doesn’t need a suicide Squad of villains to fill the whole left behind by Superman. The Justice League are gonna protect this world.

I like this movie. I have no doubt that David Ayer’s original vision of a soulful drama would have been a better movie, but in its current state, it’s by no means a bad film. The forced comedic elements didn’t bother me as much this viewing. It was a bit of a side-story, but a worthwhile addition to the ongoing saga.

So Star Trek Lower Decks is coming out in a couple of weeks, and we've got a trailer, which looks interesting. The show is clearly made out of a deep knowledge of, and love for, Star Trek.

Unfortunately, I probably won't be covering the show when it comes out, because at this stage, we still haven't had any announcement about where people can watch the show outside of USA and Canada. So I'm not really expecting it to be available at this point. I think it's pretty sad that only two countries in the whole world will get to see this latest Trek show. It feels like the 90s again. It will likely appear on a streaming service some day, but I won't be able to be a part of the conversation while it's fresh and relevant.

Still, talking nostalgically about things of the past is a big part of what I do here on Nerd Heaven, so who knows.

Speaking of which, the next DC movie I'll be covering will be, of course, Wonder Woman. But I might sneak in a little Star Trek episode before that, talking about news, and the lower decks trailer. It depends what happens in the Trek-sphere over the next week or so.

So I'll just leave that as a bit of a mystery for you.

In any case, I'll see you next time on Nerd heaven.

We're back for part 2 of our discussion on Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. We pick up right where we left off, with Superman surrounded by flames.

There's definately a lot to talk about in this movie, which is why I split it into two parts. Let's dig deep into this fascinating movie.

----more----

Transcript

Lex is conspicuously absent from his seat in the hearing. Finch finds a little message he left behind for her, referencing an earlier conversation. And then the wheelchair explodes, taking out the senate building. 

And Superman is distraught as he stands there, surrounded but unharmed by the flames that kill the vulnerable humans around him.

At that same moment, Bruce sees the final message from Wallace. “You let your family Die.”

This of course, is referencing his employees. It seems this guy not only blames superman, but he blames Bruce as well, for not protecting his workers from an alien invasion. That’s pretty unreasonable.

But these words really set Bruce off. His family DID die. He watched his parents be gunned down.

At this point in the story, we’re faced with a question. Did Lex hide the bomb in the wheelchair without the knowledge of Wallace, who sat in it, or was Wallace a willing martyr?

This now, is the moment when the movie starts to get dark. Until now, it really hasn’t been.

Superman is Helping bring survivors out of the building. It’s not much, but it’s all he can do.

This explosion wasn’t his fault, but he can’t help but blame himself. He knows that someone is using him, everything he stands for, to hurt people. And that brakes him.

Now here’s the one moment that does make me a little uncomfortable in the movie.

Superman leaves.

Are there still survivors in the building? The movie doesn’t really say at this point. If there are, and he’s abandoning them because he can’t handle the pain of this moment, then he’s being very un-Superman.

But I have to believe that he’s already got all the survivors out that he can.

Although a news report in a later shot seems to suggest there may still be survivors.

If there’s one thing in this movie that I’d change, it would be this.

I’d say that may have gone a step too far in actually having Superman abandon the suffering like this.

But it shows the turmoil he’s in. I would suggest that right now he’s feeling like his help is not wanted. That it may even be inappropriate for him to be there.

Haven’t you ever felt that? When someone is upset because of something you’ve done. You want to walk away because you feel like you’re the last person they’d want to comfort them. And yet, you’re wrong. They don’t want you to walk away.

I know I’ve been in that situation. So I think I understand what they were trying to portray here.

Having the final push he needed, Bruce steals the Kryptonite from Lex. He’s gonna do it. He’s gonna kill Superman.

In true Batman tradition, he begins to plan. He readies the Kryptonite, and he strengthens his body. He’ll never be as strong as Superman, of course, but he needs every edge he can get.

Superman is doubting himself. He’s doubting everything. He’s been living the life he believed his father wanted him to live. Saving people for a ghost. How arrogant to have thought he was here to do good, like some biblical prophet. A man with a destiny. How could he have thought so highly of himself.

He says Superman was never real. He didn’t see the bomb because he wasn’t looking for it.

Superman has come face to face with his fallibility. But worse than that, he’s come face to face with the consequences of his fallibility. He has such power, that when he makes a mistake, the consequences are huge.

He can’t do that anymore. He can’t be that.

People criticise this movie, saying that Superman spends the whole film brooding, but that’s supposed to be Batman’s thing. 

But, this is the first or maybe two scenes in the film that Superman has actually brooded, if you really want to call it that. 

Personally, I’d call it taking a good long look at himself, which is exactly what the dictates of story-structure demand, by the way.

No, up until now, Superman has been the idealistic reporter. The complete opposite of Batman.

Given all he’s going through, you can forgive the guy for losing his faith and his hope.

But Lois reminds him that the symbol he wears on his chest means hope. That hope is real for a lot of people. Clark acknowledges that it stood for hope on Krypton, but he’s not convinced it does here. Not anymore. But we’ll come back to this.

Now Lex puts the next step of his plan into motion. This isn’t exactly a backup plan B. It’s just another part of the complex web he’s weaving. He puts Zod’s body into the Genesis chamber, he learns that Zod was from the city of Kandor.

Lex blends his own DNA with Zod’s to create a monstrosity once known, and outlawed, on Krypton.

Now we get a little tease for the future of the DC extended Universe. Bruce looks at the meta-human research from the hard drive he stole from Lex.

There he learns of Wonder Woman, who apparently hasn’t aged since 1918. I love how we see this photo which depicts a scene from the Wonder Woman movie, which hasn’t even come out yet. It was really cool.

Lois finds proof that Wallace didn’t know he was going to die. He’d bought groceries. The wheelchair was made from the same metal as the bullet. And it was lined with lead so Superman couldn’t see the bomb. It’s all becoming even more apparent that Lex is manipulating the entire situation from the background.

The world had accepted Superman, but Lex couldn’t handle that, so he’s been pushing his pieces around the board to heighten the natural fear people had of Superman’s power. Fears they had mostly put to rest. But he’s been waking them up again.

So we get a nice little scene where Clark sees his dead father. He’s come to the top of a mountain, is it Everest? He needs advice, but he’s got nobody to go to. Both his father figures are dead. So his subconscious, his imagination, re-creates his dad, Jonathan Kent, the man who raised him, the man who made him what he is. Desperately hoping for some words of wisdom.

Jonathan tells a story, Probably one he told Clark in the past, that he’s now remembering, of a time he worked hard to save his dad’s farm, only to realise his actions had doomed the neighbour’s farm. It was an unexpected consequence from his actions which had been nothing but good-intentioned. It’s a story Clark can relate to. Jonathan also explains how Martha helped him see there is good in this world.

See, there’s a lot of positivity weaved into this movie. I don’t deny that it’s dark, although it’s nowhere near as dark as some people like to make out.

But personally, I find, as others have said before, that the light shines brightest in the dark.

A story needs both. If you don’t see the darkness in a story, then you don’t get to see the triumph of light.

Some have referred to this movie as Grimdark. I strongly disagree. I think a much better descriptor of the genre of this film is, as I first heard E Stephen Burnett of Speculative Faith say, is Nobledark.  Because ultimately, this movie shows the triumph of nobility over darkness.

Alfred tries to talk Bruce out of his suicidal plan. You can’t win, not against Superman.

Bruce notes that he’s older now, that his father ever was. That must be an unsettling realisation. Bruce has spent 20 years stopping criminals. But as he says, they’re like weeds. You pull one out and another takes its place. Bruce is looking for something more. He’s searching for purpose. He wants to make a lasting difference in this world.  I guess you could say he’s having something of a mid-life crisis, but as Batman, he does everything bigger and more intense.

As he sees it, ridding the world of Superman may be the one thing he ever does that matters. In his own way, he’s wanting to save the world.

Lex pushes Lois off a building to get Superman’s attention.

It’s time to put the final stage of his plan into motion.

And this is where we begin to understand what this is all about. Why Lex is doing this.

As a child, Lex was abused by his father. Nobody intervened. No Superman. Not God.

Lex has come to the conclusion that if God is all powerful then he can’t be all good, and if he’s all good, he can’t be all powerful.

You see, this is the age-old question of suffering and evil. A question that philosophers and theologians have been debating for centuries. Millennia. In fact, when Superman appears, Lex says outright, this is about the problem of evil in the world.

Lex likens Superman to God, the God he feels failed to help him as a child.

Lex can’t abide the idea of a heroic Superman because of his perceptions of God. Superman cannot be good, given his power. And he wants the world to see that. He wants to expose Superman as the fraud he believes him to be.

This whole thing is because of Lex’s theological beliefs.

Of course, Superman is not God. He is neither all powerful, nor all good.

Superman has unimaginable powers, when compared to a human, but those powers have limits. Superman cannot shape the entire world to his will.  He couldn’t save the people in that senate building. And he’s not all good, either. He may not be human, but he’s still a man.

A man with all the frailties, and flaws that come with the package.

Lex confirms that the red notes were not from Wallace. They were from him.

Lex has spent two years setting this up, pushing Bruce bit by bit until he goes over the edge.

Lex never intended to use that Kryptonite himself. He’s not gonna get his hands dirty like that. And frankly, he doesn’t have what it takes to defeat Superman in battle. Lex isn’t a fighter. He’s a manipulator. He wanted Bruce to use the Kryptonite. He wants Bruce to try to kill Superman.

But ultimately, he wants Superman to kill Bruce. He wants Superman to be exposed as a killer.

Either way, Lex wins. Either Superman is shown to be good, or powerful, but not both.

And now he reveals that he’s kidnapped Clark’s mother.

If Clark doesn’t kill Batman, Martha will die.

Clarke and Bruce have very opposing philosophies, but it’s taken all this manipulation to make Superman and Batman fight.

I think this movie makes it all very believable.

So just when Clark thought he had worked through his issues, He says those words which critics of this film love to quote. “Nobody stays good in this world.”

And that’s how he is honestly feeling at the moment. It doesn’t mean he is right.

But he says outright to Lois, his primary intention here is to convince Batman to help him. He’s not going there to kill.

He wants to find another way out of this.

He’s been in this situation before. In the last movie, he was forced to kill Zod And that broke him.. He’s in a similar situation here now. He doesn’t want to have to kill again. He’s determined to find another way. Once again he’s in the position of having to choose between taking a life, or letting the innocent die. This time it’s not all the people of the world, it’s his mother, who he loves.

You see, in his desperation, his words say that nobody stays good, and yet, his actions tell a different story. His actions show that he is still looking for another way.

And yet, he can’t let his mother die.

Meanwhile, Dianna finds an email from Bruce. He cracked the data, which she hasn’t been able to do.

She sees the photo, that meant so much to her. She hasn’t seen that photo in almost a century.

But he’s got more for her. We see information about other metahumans.

The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg.

This was all setup for Justice League, and it was a fun tease.

In true Superman form, he starts by talking. “Bruce, I was wrong. Lex is--”

But Bruce isn’t interested in talk. He never gives Superman the chance to explain.

Clarke gives an effective demonstration of his power before saying “If I wanted it, you’d be dead already.” See, it’s hard to even call this a real battle. Because Superman doesn’t really fight Batman. He’s certainly not trying to kill him.

But this is when Bruce employs the Kryptonite in gaseous form.

Superman feels fear for the first time when he realises his strength is gone.

Bruce makes a good point when he says Superman isn’t brave. He isn’t. He’s never had to be. Men like Bruce are brave, because they can be hurt.

 The fight between them is a very small piece of the movie.

If this film had a failing, I’m convinced that failing was bad marketing. Possibly even the wrong title.

I think a lot of people came into this movie with the wrong expectations. I think a lot of them were expecting a popcorn superhero battle. You know, the age old question, who would win in a fight. It’s a very geeky question, but ultimately pointless.

So they came in for popcorn, but were served a nice steak dinner. And then they complained that the steak dinner wasn’t very good popcorn.

I remember going into the cinema to see this movie. There were posters saying “Who will win.” They even had stickers, with Batman and Superman logos you could put on the poster, to predict who you thought would win.

That’s not the point. That’s not what this movie is about.

As long as they’re fighting, they’re both losing.

So Bruce finally has Superman at his mercy. He pulls out the pre-prepared Kryptonite spear.

He’s gonna use it to kill superman.

He stands over him, with the deadly weapon.

And says what I already discussed. “You were never a god.

This is Clark’s last chance. So he forces out the words. “You’re letting him kill Martha.”

And while he doesn’t know it, those are the words that are gonna really speak to Bruce.

Ok.

This is the most ridiculed moment in this movie. And quite unfairly in my opinion.

Bruce wants to know what Clark means.

Did Clark know that Bruce’s mother was also called martha? Maybe. Perhaps that’s why he says Martha, rather than “My mother.”

Bruce’s whole life has been defined by the death of Martha Wayne. But Bruce couldn’t save Martha. Martha was taken from him. 

Lois arrives just in time to explain that Martha is Clark’s mother’s name.

Now, they don’t suddenly become friends because their mothers have the same name, as the memes suggest.

Bruce realises a bunch of things at this moment.

First of all, this humanised Superman in his eyes. Superman has a mother. But Bruce had already acknowledged Superman’s parents earlier in the battle.

But it raises an important question. Why is Superman talking about his mother? Now, at the moment of his impending death. Why ask Bruce to save Martha?

He realises at this moment that there’s more going on. He realises that they’re both being manipulated. Manipulated by Lex Luthor.

Superman is only here because he’s being coerced.

If he kills Superman, then he becomes the thug from that ally. He kills Martha.

And that cannot be.

Martha cannot die. Not again. Bruce won’t be that guy.

He thought he was saving the world from a monster, but now he realises that he’s just the pawn of the monster. The real monster.

Bruce won’t kill martha and he sure as hell won’t do Lex Luthor’s dirty work.

That’s why he drops the spear.

It makes sense. It’s dramatic. It’s emotional. It’s powerful. Dare I say, it’s beautiful.

And that music, we get a reprise of the music from the opening credits, where we saw the Waynes killed.

I’ll say it again. Hans Zimmer and JunkieXL are absolute masters of their craft.

Something is happening at the Kryptonian scout ship. Superman is needed, but his mother needs him too.

And that’s when Bruce says those beautiful words. “I give you a promise, Martha won’t die tonight.”

This is Bruce’s chance to finally put his demons to rest. Tonight he saves Martha.

Superman makes the decision to trust Bruce to save his mother, and goes off to do what only he can.

What follows is a truly epic battle as Batman takes out Luthor’s thugs to save Martha.

It’s a wonderful action movie sequence. Some have criticised Batman for killing in this scene. I’m fine with it. We’ve established this is a battle-hardened Batman who has lost any idealism he may have once had. He’s here to save Martha. Nobody is gonna stand in his way. Tonight, he’s a soldier.  He’ll go through anyone that stands in his way.

And Batman HAS killed before in multiple media.

I mentioned in my Man of Steel podcast, that in the 1989 movie, Batman murdered a minor thug while cracking a joke.

I really like the moment when Bruce finally arrives and saves Martha.

And then we get yet another joke.

“It’s ok, I’m a friend of your son’s.”

“I figured. The cape.”

This was a nice little chuckle-worthy moment.

This movie DOES have humour in it.

So this is the next stage of Lex’s plan.

After Superman had  been discredited as a killer, he still needs to be taken out. Doomsday was there to actually kill him.

But it makes me wonder, what was Lex’s plan for deal with Doomsday if Batman had been victorious?

So let’s talk about Doomsday. He’s pretty creepy I might have preferred if he looked a little more like he did in the comics, with the spies sticking out of him, but I do like his appearance. He looks suitably hellish, .

But what really makes Doomsday scary and effective as a villain? It’s not what he looks like.

Doomsday brings out our deepest fears because he killed Superman in the comics.

If even Superman can die, then what can possibly save us?

But surely they weren’t going to do that in this movie.  What a waste of doomsday to bring him in now as a last minute threat.

I think that’s what a lot of us were thinking.

Dianna sees what’s happening and sets off to help.

So does Bruce.

The president is willing to let Superman die as an innocent casualty if it means killing doomsday, but the nuke doesn’t do the job.

Doomsday falls back to earth and continues his rampage, with no Superman to stop him.

Enter Batman and Wonder Woman.

The nuke seems to have made Doomsday even more powerful. And now he’s starting to look more like he did in  the comics.

Of course, Superman’s not dead either.

He just needs to be recharged by the rays of Earth’s sun.

We don’t see a lot of Wonder Woman in this movie, but what we do see is pretty darn awesome.

Her introduction as she saved Bruce from a blast of doomsday’s heat vision is fantastic.

And yet again the movie gives Lois a chance to make a significant contribution to saving the day as she tries to retrieve the kryptonite spear.

There’s another humorous moment when Superman asks, about Wonder Woman, “is she with you?”

And Batman replies “I thought she was with you.

So then, as the music that will become the new wonder woman theme plays, we see them standing together for the first time, the trinity of DC comics. It’s such a wonderful moment.

The battle that ensues is a feast for the senses.

Bruce and Dianna are fighting a losing battle against this thing. They’re trying to keep it busy, but they can’t kill it, although Dianna does some significant damage,but it just grows back stronger.

As soon as Clark says “I love you,” to Lois, we know what’s coming, and so does she.

It’s a very emotional moment. She cries out as he flies off, grabbing the kryptonite spear.

Every second he holds it, he weakens.

Superman is the only one who can get close enough to stab Doomsday with the spear, but in his weakened state, he is vulnerable, and doomsday stabs him through the chest, symbolically, through the symbol that represents hope. So has doomsday destroyed our hope by taking Superman from us?

This is the moment that Superman redeems himself. Superman had said earlier, that nobody stays good. Superman has proven himself wrong. He resolved the situation with Bruce without bloodshed, and now, he makes the ultimate sacrifice. He gives his life to save the world. Superman proved himself wrong. And he proved Lex wronth.

I’m watching this in that cinema, and thinking, I can’t believe it. They’re really going there. They’re going to have Doomsday kill Superman! They’re actually doing it.

Despite what those critics said, I think this movie is dripping with hope and nobility.

I saw this movie opening night in Australia. It was Good Friday.

That made this moment all the more poignant. On a day that I had been remembering the sacrificial death of Jesus, I watched the sacrificial death of Superman.

It impacted me in a powerful way. It moved me deeply.

We get that quick image of Steppenwolf. It’s a little confusing. Is it meant to be a hologram? I mean, he’s not actually there in the scout ship, right?

Lex is captured. And he has his head shaved in jail, giving us a more classic Lex Luthor look (but let’s not forget, early versions of Lex weren’t bald, they had orange hair, just like the lex in this movie)

So we see two funerales.

A state funeral for Superman (clearly with no body).

And a small funeral for Clark. I think it’s fitting that the body is in Smallville, with his family.

It’s nice to see the minister from Man of Steel performing the ceremony. No doubt the local pastor in Smallville. Martha probably attended his church.

We also see Pete Ross there.

And this is a very emotional moment, as Lois sees the engagement ring Clark had intended to give her, and would have, had he not died. I got choked up when I first saw this.

Bruce is a changed man. He’s been truly impacted by Superman’s example and his sacrifice.

When he says “Men are still good”, it pays off that moment when Superman said “Nobody stays good.”  Bruce has finally found his purpose.

This last moment in the movie is filled with optimism and hope.

And when you see the Superman logo with the words “If you seek his monument, look around you” it shows how Superman has inspired the words, and it proves that Superman’s symbol still stands for hope. It always will now. No, Doomsday hasn’t robbed us of our hope. That symbol stands stronger than ever before.

Bruce knows there’s more danger coming from out there in the universe. He knows this from questioning Lex, who says “The bell’s already been rung, and they’re heard it.” Lex has sent some kind of message.

And so he asks Dianna to help him find the other meta-humans. They’re going to need to come together and fight, if they hope to save earth from whatever is coming, now that Superman is no more.

This of course, is setting up Justice League.

And that very last shot as the dirt begins to move, on Clarks coffin, gives us hope, that Superman may rise again.

One of the biggest issues some people have with these two films is the portrayal of Superman with flaws. It’s one of the few criticisms I give any credence to, even though I disagree with it.

I have a theory as to why this bothers some people, but not others.

And to explain it, I need to talk about Star Trek.

Let me quote Jeri Taylor, one of the writers on TNG and Voyager. In this quote from the book Star Trek The Next Generation - The Continuing Voyager by Judith and Garfield reeves-Stevens, she is speculating on the reason for the appeal of Star Trek.

“We don’t have them anymore. We have lost the traditional arenas of heroes. We don’t have gods and legends and myth anymore. We have lost sports figures as heroes--they have been proven all too human and vulnerable. We have lost politicians. We have lost movie stars. We’ve even lost royalty, who have feet of clay also. So, there doesn’t seem to be those icons, now, that are the role models, larger-than-life people who are better than we are, who are heroic, who stand for something. I think that what Gene gave us in Star Trek characters is these larger-than-life people who are committed to an ethical and moral way of life, who are not afraid to go into the wilderness and to confront the feats and terrors of the demons and dragons that are out there, who have a moral principle and a moral centre, and who will not stray from that, no matter what. Star Trek presents godlike figures for us to admire and emulate. And I think that is a need that people have deep inside them that is not being satisfied otherwise today.”

I think this also explains why Superman is popular to many people. They’re looking to him to fill that same need. That’s why some fans want to keep Superman on that pedestal, and not let him have any flaws.

But, I haven’t lost my god. I’m a Christian. I still believe. I have Jesus to fill that need deep inside me. I don’t look to fiction to fill that need.

So I prefer flawed characters in my fiction. I still want heroes with that moral centre, but I don’t expect them to be perfect. Because none of us are.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying all atheists hate this movie, and all people of faith like it.

But we all come to stories for different reasons. Not every story is going to satisfy every person’s reasons.

And that’s okay.

I’ve never been under any illusion that this movie is for everyone.

But I’m one of the people who loved it. For me, it worked. I was in the target audience.

And I for one, was very  glad that Warner Bros chose to make this niche movie for people like me, rather than water it down and produce something with mass appeal.

Of course, as we’ll see, as we continue through these movies, that wouldn’t continue to be their approach.

But that’s another story.

You can go a lot deeper into this movie than I have in this podcast episode. If you’re interested in going further down the rabbit hole, I’d like to recommend another podcast. It’s called Batman V Superman By The Minute. This podcast will spend an entire episode talking about 1 minute of the movie. It’s pretty full on. But now that I’ve recorded my thoughts, I intend to go through and binge their episodes. Should keep me busy for a while. I invite you check them out.

Next time, I plan to talk about Suicide Squad. That should be a shorter episode.

Catch you then.

Batman V Superman was an incredibly divisive film. People tend to love it or hate it, and always with passion. I'm excited to look back on this movie as part of my journey through the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Love it or hate it, there's one thing we can all agree on with this movie - there's plenty to talk about. So much, in fact, that I had to split this discussion into two podcasts. So today we cover part 1, up until the explosion in the senate building. Next week (yes, just one week) we'll continue with the rest of the film.

----more----

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd

This is episode 28 of the podcast

Today I’m continuing my look at the DC extended universe with Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.

And I am, of course, talking about the ultimate edition.Because what other version would you watch?

The description on IMDB reads

Fearing that the actions of Superman are left unchecked, Batman takes on the Man of Steel, while the world wrestles with what kind of a hero it really needs.

The movie was written by Chris Terrior and David S. Goyer.

It was directed by Zach Snyder

And it first released on the 23rd of March 2016.

As always, this podcast contains full spoilers for the movie, So let’s talk about Batman v superman

The poetic voiceover that opens the movie tells us right away that this is going to be a more literary movie than we might have been expecting.

This movie starts in a familiar place. With the murder of Bruce wayne’s parents. As all movies that introduce a new Batman do. While we’ve seen this many times before, this was totally the right way to start. Because this moment in Bruce’s life is what this movie, thematically, is all about.

The intercutting between the murder itself and Bruce running away during the funeral and finding the cave beneath his family’s estate, while the incredible music by Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL plays, is very very effective.

Yes, just like the last one, this movie has an incredible soundtrack.

As young Bruce is carried upward by the bats, it’s clear that this is very symbolic. Another indication that this is going to be a deeper movie than the average popcorn superhero flick.

Bruce is carried upward toward the light, a light that he refers to as a beautiful lie. Perhaps because Bruce lives his life in darkness and isn’t really capable of believing that there is any light in this world.

Then we jump forward to the climactic battle during Man of Steel, and see those terrible events from Bruce Wayne’s perspective, which I think was a truly inspired choice.

And already, I’m loving this version of Bruce Wayne. This is a Billionaire CEO who runs headlong into danger because his employees are at risk. He cares about his people. Having seen so many examples of the stereotypical evil business manager, I love this! 

This scene is an important counterpoint to the equivalent scene in Man of Steel, because we get to see it all happen from the perspective of a normal person, well, as normal as Bruce Wayne can be.

He’s seeing an alien invasion.

He’s seeing two inhuman creatures of incredible power having a fight which is destroying the city. Brue is seeing the human cost firsthand. He’s seeing the ordinary people that are getting hurt as a consequence of the conflict between Kal-El and Zod.

Man of Steel did a good job of demonstrating consequences, but this scene takes it orders of magnitude further.

Seriously, the devastation of this attack must have bankrupted the economy of Metropolis.

Bruce is truly heroic. And he comes within millimetres of death when he dives under the falling metal to save that little girl.

When he asks her where her mum is, and she points up at the destroyed building, Our hearts break.

But as Bruce looks up, from the rubble of the destroyed lives, he sees those two aliens, still gripped in battle, smashing through buildings, his eyes burn with righteous anger. Earth never asked for these aliens to come here. Look at all the devastation they’ve caused. But we see that devastation most strongly, not in the skyscrapers, one after another that continue to fall, but in the eyes of one little girl who will never again see her mother.

This is powerful stuff.

And I have to say that Ben Affleck’s acting is wonderful in this moment. That look he gives Superman and Zod. It says so much.

A lot of people were concerned about Ben Affleck playing Batman. This is nothing new. People seem to doubt every new actor that gets announced to play Batman.

Well, it didn’t take long for Mr. Affleck to put aside people’s doubts. He was a fantastic Bruce Wayne, and he was a fantastic Batman.

But we’ll talk more about that as we move through the story.

18 months later.

It’s not surprising that the wreckage of the world engine in the Indian Ocean would be an area of great interest to tourists. Especially divers. But also to those hoping to find advanced technology. And that’s how we are introduced to Kryptonite. There was some present on the ship. Makes sense. This alien mineral probably played an important part in the terraforming process, or maybe it powered the ship.

Now we’re in Nairomi Africa. And we meet the DCEU’s version of Jimmy Olsen. He’s not in the movie for long. In fact, his identity was never even established in the theatrical cut, but I had my suspicions. 

This is a very different take on Jimmy. We quickly learn that he’s not just a photographer. He’s actually a CIA agent. 

There is a civil war in this country. America is neutral. But men of power obey neither policy or principal, the terrorist leader says. No one is neutral.

Jimmy is discovered. He’s here to propose something to the terrorists, but before he can make his offer, he’s shot.

So much for Jimmy Olsen.

You couldn’t dream up a more unconventional version of the character. I did notice Jimmy’s absence from Man of Steel. I wonder if they thought he just didn’t fit in with this more serious version of Superman. I mean, the problem with Jimmy is, he’s even more nerdy than Clark.

This version is a tough as nails spy.

I don’t mind that change, but I’d have liked to have seen a lot more of him.

Apparently, the Americans were planning an attack on these terrorists, but the surviving guys on the ground are trying to call it off because there are civilians in the area. Not just Lois, but locals.

This whole sequence is an exciting way to re-introduce us to Lois, and show us just how tough she is, and maybe how fearless, even reckless, she’s becoming since she met Superman, but it is very important to the story later on. The teactrical cut majorly dropped the ball on this. So much was lost that none of it made sense.

For some reason, the attack wasn’t called off, but Superman prevents the missile, saving Lois and the other civilians in the area.

But in saving these innocents, Superman allowed the terrorists to live. And a lot of other innocents got killed in the crossfire of the subsequent battle.

A woman named Kahina Ziri is raising awareness of this.

Senator Finch says, The world has been so caught up with what Superman can do, nobody has asked what he should do.

And that’s a very valid question.

She’s holding Superman responsible for these deaths. He took it upon himself to intervene in this situation, but did his actions make things better or worse?

Superman has incredible powers. That’s a huge responsibility. He can’t know what all the consequences are of every action he takes. Yet taking those actions is so easy for him. It’s a dangerous position to be in. Quite a scary one, to be honest. There’s a LOT riding on his shoulders. He can’t afford to make a misstep. Can you imagine living with that kind of pressure?

In the next scene, we get to see Batman in action. This movie presents a Batman who is older and more established. He’s been Batman for a long time. We’ve never seen a Batman so established on screen before, and I was all for it. We’d just come off the Dark Knight trilogy. A series that showed us Batman’s early career. There was no need to go and re-visit all that again.

This was something new and interesting.

And it made sense that Batman had been active as a small-time vigilante for a long time. Not yet famous. He hasn’t yet made a major impact on the world. 

This movie takes Batman up to a whole new level. By the end, he’ll be a hero concerned with the fate of the world, not just local crime in Gotham.

We also get to see that this older hardened batman is quite harsh. He brands crooks with his mark. Ouch! This is not a Batman you want to be on the wrong side of. This is the classic Batman who is pursued by the police just as much as the villains he battles against.

Lois finds a bullet embedded in her notebook, from the terrorist attack.

I like how this movie gives all our characters their own quests. It takes a while, but they all link up and weave into one story.

Lois and Clark are well established as a couple that are very much in love. When I first saw this I was surprised by that. In the previous movie, we saw Clark and Lois kiss for the first time, after they’d been through a lot. They were at the very beginning of a mutual attraction that might lead to a relationship over time.

I thought we’d see that relationship develop. Instead, it all happened off screen.

Looking back, I realise this was the right decision. It’s been 18 months. This wasn’t insta-love. We just didn’t see it all happen. And we don’t need to see the angst of Clark slowly wearing Lois down over time. Been there. Done that. Much better to just have them together so we can tell a story about two people in an established mature relationship.

Clark doesn’t care what people say about him. He did what he believes was right to protect the woman he loves. Despite what people are saying, he didn’t kill anyone. 

Lois is concerned. Something doesn’t add up and she wants to know the truth. Because she’s Lois Lane.

There’s a cute moment where they’re all serious and then Clark gives Lois a look, and she gives him a look, and he jumps in the bath with her. It’s a fun moment between a loving couple. To those critics who say this movie was devoid of anything light, happy, optimistic, or humorous, I would just point you straight to this scene.

At this moment, Clark and Lois are very happy. And yes. Superman smiles.

Honestly, I don’t know when it became gospel that the way to judge a Superman movie was how much the man smiles, but this movie has him smile when it’s appropriate.

We meet Alfred. And once again, this is a very different interpretation of the character than what we’ve seen on screen before. Jeremy Irons plays a strong battle-hardened Alfred who is equally capable of keeping up with Batman in the fight against crime as he is in serving drinks to Bruce Wayne. I really like this Alfred. Not just because he’s capable, but he serves as Bruce’s moral conscience. At least, he tries to.

So very different from Michael Caine’s portrayal in the Dark Knight Trilogy (which I also loved). That was more of a father figure. You don’t mess with perfection. You do something different. Something equally cool.

And Alfred speaks gibberish into Batman’s voice distorter to test it. Again this is a nice comedic moment. See, this movie DOES have humour in it. This moment made me laugh out loud. It’s …. Such a British moment. We aussies appreciate the British sense of humour, but I suspect the American critics who trashed this movie don’t.

But this is how I like my humour. Fitting naturally into the story, where and when it is appropriate. It doesn’t feel forced or fake.

Bruce is investigating someone called the White Portugeuse.

Alfred is concerned that Batman is becoming too violent. Too cruel, after seeing the branding in a newspaper article.

Brue points out that they’re criminals. They always have been.

And this is true. Batman is a vigilante. He operates outside of the law. That’s a crime.

Now you can argue that in a city like Gotham, where a corrupt police force is incapable of protecting the citizens from especially heinous crime bosses, that Batman is necessary. But we do need to acknowledge that Batman is a criminal.

I kinda like the way Bruce owns this reality here.

But things have changed. Alfred has seen the way Bruce has hardened since Superman appeared. Since the battle over metropolis. He talks about the rage that is slowly building in Bruce. That turns good men cruel. This line is thematically important to the movie.This whole idea of good men becoming bad is a major idea explored by the story. Here, Alfred is specifically talking about Bruce. There’s no denying his anger is making him more cruel than he used to be.

And now we meet our new Lex Luthor.

And yet again, this is a very different interpretation of Lex. And while many people, even some who liked this movie, hated Jessie Eisenburg’s Lex, I have to say, I’m with it.

This is a modern Lex Luthor. This is a young millennial business tycoon. This Lex has often been likened to Mark Zukerberg, the creator and CEO of Facebook. It’s a version of Lex that works in today’s world.

But it doesn’t take long to see that Lex, while brilliant, is a little unhinged.

And scarily, he’s the one in possession of the Kryptonite that was discovered in the wreckage of the world engine.

They tested the Kyptonite one General Zod’s corpse. They know it is lethal to Kryptonians.

Lex has some reasonable things to say here. They’ve just survived an alien invasion. The only reason that humanity isn’t extinct is because Superman saved them. Now what if there’s more Kryptonians out there? What if there are other powerful beings or meta-humans, as he calls them.

To be honest, humanity would be insanely foolish not to be looking for ways to defend themselves after their last encounter.

Yes, Superman has proven himself a friend to earth (although Lex doesn’t believe this) but you don’t put all your eggs in one basket. If they have a weapon of their own, they don’t have to rely on “the kindness of monsters” as Lex puts it. And it’s hard to argue with that.

What if something happens to Superman and he can no longer protect us? Or what if, God-forbid, we need to be protected from HIM?

Can we rely on the goodness of Superman? Some fans are offended that we’d even ask that question. But I think this movie does a great job of examining the goodness of Superman, and we’ll talk lots about this as we go,because I have some things to say.

Lex wants access to the crashed Kryptonian spaceship. He wants Zod’s body.

And we get another iconic piece of music - The red capes are coming.

We meet a man, Wallace Keefe, who has lost both of his legs,his wife, and his child, in the Kryptonian invasion.

I love the monument with the names of all those who died in the attack, and the big statue of Superman.

Wallace climbs the statue and desecrates it with spray paint.

He paints the words False God on Superman’s chest.

This is an interesting statement. 

Is Superman a God?

Is he a false God?

He is a being of immense power. But he is not a perfect being. He has flaws. He has the same human brokenness that exists in all of us.

It could be argued that he IS a false god, but then, Superman has never claimed to be any kind of god.

We see journalist Clark Kent at work in his office at the daily planet. Perry has assigned him a sports story based on a recent football game between Metropolis and Gotham.

We learn that Gotham is over the other side of the bay from Metropolis. I had never expected these two iconic fictional cities would be so close to one another. But for the purposes of this story, it works. And the interesting thing about this is that Metropolis is the place where the well off live. The professionals. Gotham is the darker seedier place. The wrong side of the train tracks, so to speak. I find this very interesting.

Despite his brief from Perry, Clark has no interest in pursuing this football story. He’s got more important fish to fry. In Gotham.

He’s looking for Kahina Ziri. He wants to talk to her about her accusations against Superman. 

It seems some people, even good people, are afraid of Batman. There’s a new kind of mean in him, one man says.

Perry’s sarcasm regarding Clark’s newfound interest in the Batman vigilante was pretty funny.

Clark takes his role as a journalist just as seriously as he takes his role as Superman.

He says to Perry “when you assign a story, you’re making a choice about who matters, and who’s worth it.”

Perry is much more pragmatic about it. He just wants to sell newspapers.

Lois has been investigating that bullet. Turns out it’s from an advanced military weapon, so how did these backyard rebels get the latest high-grade military equipment. She thinks the US government are arming the rebels while claiming to support the elected government. She’s on her way to Washington to investigate.

Senator Finch comes to see Lex. She’s blocking the import license for the kryptonite.

She sees it as a weapon of assascination, not a deterrent.

He fails to convince her that “the red capes are coming.” Demons come from the sky.

I think he really believes that. I think in his own way, he thinks he’s right in what he’s doing.

Bruce dreams of visiting his parent’s tomb. We get our second reminder that his mother’s name was Martha. Yeah, we’ll get to that.

Bruce doesn’t live in the Wayne family manor. He lives in a modern home. And he’s connected the White Portugause to Lex Luthor.

And luckily enough, he’s been invited to a charity event at Lex’s place.

And that’s where we see Robin’s suit, with “The Joke’s on you Batman” painted on it.

This was a cool little set-up that we’re sadly unlikely to see ever payed off at this point.

Most people assumed this suit belonged to Jason Todd, who was killed by the Joker in the comics. Zack Snyder has since confirmed that it was actually Dick Grayson.

David Ayer actually had some nice little backstory regarding this, that never really made it into Suicide Squad.

Clark is covering the same charity event that Bruce is attending.

We get our first glimpse of Wonder Woman, who is also there. I love the look she gives Lex as he tells the story of Zeus. It’s priceless. Lex, of course, think Zeus was just an ancient legend. Woman Woman is thinking, ‘that’s my dad you’re talking about.’

Alfred is guiding Bruce through the building, looking for information to connect him to the illegal weapons imports, and Clark, of course, can hear it.

Clark basically knows, from this point, that Bruce is Batman.

Alfred is like a worried father, wanting Bruce to settle down and provide some grandchildren. His comments have elicited yet another audible laugh from me.

Lex isn’t a good public speaker. Being rich doesn’t necessarily make you eloquent. But money does allow the unhinged to be re-classified as eccentric.

Then we finally see Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne meet. I think it’s kind of cool that their first meeting is in their secret identities.

This scene nicely demonstrates the vast ideological difference between these two men.

Clark is taking a very righteous, almost self-righteous stance against Batman.

Bruce sees this is hypocritical, given the way they praise Superman - an alien, who, if he wanted to, could burn the whole place down.

Bruce and Lex have something in common. They’re both nervous about somebody with Superman’s powers being out there. It’s a theme that was explored a lot in the previous movie, but that doesn’t mean it’s fully resolved. Oh, Superman has proven himself, don’t get me wrong. But  it’s completely believable to me that people would still be nervous about him. This movie does a good job of exploring why.

And I love the joker reference where Bruce points out Gotham has a bad history with freaks dressed as clowns. I never thought to compare Superman with the Joker, but I get it.

Clark isn’t able to see what Bruce is really up to because Superman is needed to help save people from a factory fire in South America. 

So Superman saves the day, to the wonderful Man of Steel theme by Zimmer.

And we see the veneration these people have for him as they reach out to touch him. This is another little Jesus metaphor. Reminds me of the woman who wanted to touch Jesus’ cloak so as to be healed. Superman doesn’t look overly happy about this veneration.

Dianna has stolen the data that Bruce extracted from Lex’s computer.

We get a segment with a bunch of talking heads. Most, if not all, are real life personalities. It jumps between them all, with a whole lot of different opinions, and I think that’s the main takeaway here. Everyone has their opinion. As one puts it, “is it surprising that a man of this power would be a topic of controversy?” Another points out, “maybe he’s not a devil OR a Jesus figure. Maybe he’s just a guy trying to do the right thing.”

Senator Finch has some real concerns over Superman, and the way he’s making decisions and interventions that affect the whole world. He’s not controlled by any government. He’s a god-like alien with no accountability. But what do you say to those whose children Superman could have saved, but we told him not to? Finch isn’t saying Superman shouldn’t act, but that he shouldn’t act unilaterally.

And Clark is watching all of this, taking it in. Just like everyone else, he’s trying to figure out where he fits in the world. To what level should he act?

So he does what any wise person would do. He calls his Mum. He’s not looking for specific advice, he just wants to talk.

We get to see that Lois also has a sense of idealism, though maybe not as strong as Clark’s. The scientist testing her bullet is “this is why you’re a great reporter. Stuff like this still shocks you.”

Meanwhile, Clark is learning that batman’s brand is a death sentence in jail. Many feel Batman is going too far.

To be honest, I’m not sure why the crooks in jail kill anyone with a bat brand. What obligates them to do Batman’s dirty work for him?

Lex comes to visit the Wallace. Now, in a nice suit and an electric wheelchair, he goes to meet Senator Finch. He blames Superman for his situation and he wants to face him.

And now we get to see General Swanwick, from Man of Steel.

His opinion is that  Lois went where she shouldn’t have. Superman acted like a rogue combatant to rescue her, and some people died. Don’t invent a conspiracy to put back his halo, or yours.

But this doesn’t address Lois’s evidence.

She admits that she made a mistake going into the desert. She got people killed. It keeps her awake.

But she doesn’t believe Superman is bad, and she doesn’t think Swanwick does either.

He agrees to take the bullet and pursue this himself.

Clark really doesn’t care what Perry instructs him to do. He’s refused two stories he’s been assigned. Clark is on a crusade for justice against the Batman. He thinks the Daily Planet should stand for something. Perry’s perspective is that principles don’t exist anymore. It’s not 1938 anymore. The world is a harsher place. It’s all about the money now.

This is an interesting little meta-commentary on the fact that Superman has changed. Superman was created in 1938. The character has certainly changed from then to now. This appears to be a not-so-subtle statement from the filmmakers that this is a different type of Superman for the times. Deal with it.

Turns out Dianna wasn’t interested in all Bruce’s data, she just wanted a photo that Lex had. She returns the drive.

And as Briuce starts to look at the data, he has a vision.

This is the nightmare sequence, the source of much confusion in many a movie-goer.

I’m not going to pretend to fully understand all of it myself. I’m not a comic book expert, but the more you know the comics, the more you’ll understand.

We’re clearly seeing a dystopian future.

The music and the visual make that clear very quickly.

Batman is trying to secure some Kryptonite from Lexcorp.

But it’s a trap. A bunch of storm-trooper style soldiers with Superman logos on their arms try to kill Batman.

In this future, Superman has gone evil, he has neo-nazi thugs working for him, and flying aliens rule the world.

Once he’s captured, Bruce is visited by Superman. The soldiers bow in reverence to him.

And he’s looking pretty mean.

He ruthlessly murders people with his heat vision.

“She was my world, and you took her from me.” Superman says before he kills bruce.

And then Bruce wakes up. A weird bearded Flash warns him that Lois Lane is the key. You were right about him, you’ve always been right about him. 

This is the Flash sending a message back through time from the future. Trying to prevent that nightmare future. But the message has gone back to a point in time too early. Before Bruce even knows The Flash.

Honestly I don’t think you need to understand all this to appreciate it. It’s a tease. It’s setting up cool stuff for the future. Now you can criticise this “evil Superman” all you want, but this stuff is straight from the comics. Superman hasn’t just decided to go bad. From what we’ve heard, Zack Snyder intended that this was a Superman who was being mind-controlled by Darkseid using the anti-life equation. He hasn’t just abandoned all reason because the woman he loved died.

I have zero problems with this stuff.

But I wonder if we’ll get a decent payoff to all of this in the Snyder Cut of Justice league coming out next year?

The data on the drive reveals that the white portugeuse is a ship. Turns out Bruce has known more about this than he’s let on to Alfred. This is the ship that is smuggling the kryptonite to Lex. Bruce wants to intercept it. To use it. He’s actively considering killing Superman with it.

Bruce says, look at the dead. This guy brought the war two years ago. If there’s even a 1 percent chance that this guy could turn on us then we have to take it as a 100% certainty and take him out.

Bruce doesn’t want to see Superman become a threat, and look back, wishing he’d done something to prevent it. He has the means to stop Superman. And honestly, that vision the Flash sent him, has only served to make him even more fearful of Superman. Because he’s seen a glimpse of that future. He HAS to prevent it from becoming a reality.

That’s why the nightmare sequence is important to the movie. It directly impacts Bruce’s motivations.

Alfred is convinced Superman is not our enemy.

Not today, Bruce agreed, but what about the future?

How many good guys are left? He asks. How many stayed that way.

This line is interesting. I think this might be the reason for some theories that were popular, at one point, in the internet, that rather than being killed by the joker, Robin actually became the joker. That would make the message “The joke’s on your Batman” even more powerful. But it seems this wasn’t actually the plan.

Somebody has sent photos to Clark of the victims of Batman’s brand. And it makes him angry.

The police won’t tell Clark what happened to the inmate who died, but a sympathetic cop nods him in the direction of the inmate's widow. “One man decides who lives and who dies. How is that justice?” She asks.

But that’s what others are asking about Superman. He has the power to influence our lives, but does he have the moral right to make those decisions for himself?

Clark’s cover for never being where he’s supposed to be, in this version, is simply that he’s not a good employee. He’s always pursuing his own stuff against orders. This makes it work. It’s more believable than versions where he’s one of the paper’s star reporters, Perry’s golden boy. It’s hard to show true dedication to your job and be Superman at the same time.

We really do get some decent Clark stuff in this movie. There’s been surprisingly little Superman. Most we’ve seen of the character has been as Clark, investigating the Batman.

Batman goes to the ship to steal the kryptonite.And we get to see the new batmobile in action for the first time. This new batmobile is a tank of a thing. Armoured and armed with machine guns. Super high tech. It’s the perfect vehicle for this older more established Batman.

It’s really cool.

But superman is there to interfere. Makes sense. He’s been investigating batman this whole time. Now he sees Batman is out and about causing mayhem. So he goes to stop him.

And he gives Batman a verbal warning. “Next time they shine your light in the sky, don’t go to it. The bat is dead. Bury it.”

Batman failed to get the kryptonite, but he managed to put a tracker on the truck. Now he knows where Lex is holding it.

Finch asks the question “How do we determine what’s good?” and she invites Superman to come and meet the people who say they suffered in that desert. The world needs to know what happened. To know what he stands for. How far will he take his power? Does he act by our will or by his own?

These are not totally unreasonable questions.

Meanwhile, Martha encourages him with her perspective.

“They see what you do and they know who you are. You’re not a killer, a threat.”

Superman’s actions speak for him. The fruit of his life, if you like. He may not be perfect, but he’s not an enemy of this world.

She tells him to be this world’s hero, or don’t be. You don’t owe this world anything. You never did.

It’s not out of some kind of obligation that Superman does the things he does. He doesn’t help others because he owes them. He does things out of love. Love for humanity. Love for strangers, because he sees value in people and he chooses to help them. That’s what love has always been. A choice.

At this point the truth starts to come out. First of all, struck with a guilty conscience, Kahina Ziri goes to Finch and reveals that she didn’t tell the truth. She lied to set Superman up.

Then General Swanwick confirms to Lois that It’s a setup. Someone wanted Superman to look guilty. The bullet Lois found was developed by a private company. Lexcorp. He had private contractors at the desert compound.

Lex Luthor is setting Superman up. Trying to destroy his reputation.

Lois wants to run the story immediately. Superman needs to know he’s being set up because it might affect what he says to the senators. But Perry is afraid of litigation. And I don’t blame him. As he says, without proof, Lex could sue the Daily Planet out of existence.

Wallace is an employee of Bruce Wayne. Bruce has been taking good care of him, because he cares about those who work for him. But the cheques are all returned with aggressive messages.

Lex keeps saying that the oldest lie in America is that power can be innocent.

He truly believes in the old saying that power corrupts. Therefore, a being with Superman’s power cannot be good.

And he has Ziri murdered so she can’t tell the truth.

Lex is conspicuously absent from his seat in the hearing. Finch finds a little message he left behind for her, referencing an earlier conversation. And then the wheelchair explodes, taking out the senate building.

As I re-trace Frodo and Sam's journey from the Shire to Mordor, I'm revisiting the book and the movie. Join me as I discuss the story in detail. In this instalment, we travel from Buckleberry Ferry to Rivendell. We'll meet Tom Bombadil, Strider, and either Glorfindel or Arwen, depending on what medium you're enjoying the story through.

----more----

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd.

This is episode 27 of the podcast.

Today, I’m doing part 2 of my Lord of The Rings Read, Walk, and Watch Series.

I’ve been using the Walk To Mordor App, and a fitbit, to retrace the steps of Frodo and Sam on their epic journey from Hobbiton to Mordor.

As I walk the story, I’m also revisiting both the book and the movie and discussing the story.

We pick up this second installment at Buckleberry Ferry.

So let’s talk about Lord of The Rings.

So Frodo and his companions cross on the Buckleberry Ferry and make their way to Frodo’s new home at Crickhollow - the next milestone on my walk.

Its strikes me that Hobbits take such joy in simple pleasures. Frodo sings his favourite bath song. Favourite, implying there is more than one song 1 specifically dedicated to baths.

Frodo learns that Merry and Pippin know a good deal more about his current situation than they’re supposed to. It seems Sam has been feeding them information. Frodo is conflicted about this. He’s a little hurt and almost feels betrayed, but he’s also amused.

Sam reminds him that Gandalf told him to take a companion he could trust with him on his adventure.

“But it does not seem that I can trust anyone,” Frodo says.

And Merry says

“It all depends on what you want. You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin  - to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours - closer than you keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends , Frodo. Anyway, there it is. We know most of what Gandalf has told you. We know a good deal about the ring. We are horribly afraid - but we are coming with you; or following you like hounds.”

One of the strongest themes that comes through this story, to me, is that of friendship.

If there’s one thing that Hobbits are good at, it’s friendship. Sam, Merry and Pippin demonstrate true dedication to their friend.  Sam especially. I think that’s one of the things we all love so much about this story. Because we all want a friend as true as Sam. and perhaps we all aspire to be a friend like Sam.

In any case, it gives Frodo great joy to know his friends will not let him embark on this journey alone. And it gives me great joy to read about it.

So they finally leave the borders of shire. They’re really out of their element now.

The hobbits have a real fear of the forest.

I may not fully appreciate this fear of the woods. European woods are very different to the Australian bush. As I understand it, they’re more closed in, dark, and claustrophobic. A far cry from the wide open spaces Australia is known for.

And this is where we get our first hint at the idea of sentient trees. These plants are not mindless. They have thoughts. Wills.

And this brings me to my next milestone. Old Man Willow.

Old Man Willow is pretty darn creepy. This ancient tree with a mind of its own, and seemingly malicious intent entices them to sleep, and then traps Merry and Pippin, and tries to drown Frodo.

Enter Tom Bombadil.

Now, Tom Bombadil has always come off as a little bit silly to me.

The hobbit’s propensity to sing doesn’t bother me in the same way as Tom’s.

Why is that? Is it the nonsense words? Or does it just seem out of place?

When they ask Tom who he is, his first reply is “I am.” I can’t help but see this as a biblical allusion. In the bible, when asked the same question by Moses, God identifies himself as “I am” In English, we translate this as yahweh.

Is Tom claiming to be God here?

Tom says he is the master of wood, water and hill.

And now I can’t help but liken him to Adam. Not me, Adam & Eve. Adam was tasked with tending the garden. Caring for the earth.

I’m not saying there’s any direct allegory here. Tolkien has been quoted saying he didn’t like direct allegory. But there’s got to be some of his Christian influence coming out in Tom Bombadil.

The more I read of this, the more convinced I become that, yes, the nonsense words really do annoy me. All this “Derry Dol Dillo.” It bugs the snot out of me.

The next day, in Tom’s house which is my next walking milestone, he tells the hobbits stories of wonder. But we don’t hear those stories. So we’re kind of left in the dark about what’s so great about this odd fellow.

We learn the trees, like Old Man Willow, have grown old and hateful because of the destruction wreaked by people. (and by people I suppose I mean all humanoid sentient beings, such as humans, elves, dwarfs, hobbits.)

Tom indicates that he was first. Older than everything. This seems to confirm that he is this world’s Adam.

It actually reminds me of Lorien in Babylon 5 - the first sentient being to arise in the universe.

(and of course, the name Lorien is likely a Lord of The Rings reference)

Lorien was a fascinating wondrous character. I was entranced by him.

Tom Bombadil could have evoked similar wondrous feelings in me, but he just ruins it with his silly name and all the rhymes and prancing about. That kills the wonder, in my opinion.

But one of the most fascinating things about him is that he seems to be immune to the ring’s powers. Which raises the question, why doesn’t HE take it to mount doom? 

We’ll address this question a little later.

So, they leave Tom’s house and get caught in a fog.

Again, fog and mist are much more intimidating in the UK than here. We get a little bit of fog, and it means you have to turn your headlights on. Big deal.

And my hometown sits in a valley, so we can get some decent fog sometimes. But it has very rarely been bad enough to cause me any anxiety. To make it impossible to see where you’re driving, or even walking.

I’ve heard that in Wales, fog can be terrifying and quite dangerous, because you really can get lost and not be able to see your hand in front of your face.

So I have to read this passage with that knowledge in mind.

At my next walking milestone, the hobbits are captured by Baron Wright. This whole passage feels pretty weak. We don’t even really see the character. It’s just. Oh, Frodo bumps into someone. Now he’s in a cell.

And then they’re immediately rescued by Tom, who they summon with a song. He appears instantly. It seems old Tom can teleport.

Tom sings, and the door opens. And just one more biblical reference for you, this reminds me of Peter’s escape from jail in the books of Acts.

This whole sequence feels completely pointless to me. Just Filler.

But we learn that Tom’s powers are limited to the region where he lives, where he is master. So that explains why he can’t take the ring to Mount Doom.

I remember reading all of this for the first time, after I had already seem the movie. And thinking to myself, I can see why they left all this out. It really doesn’t add anything to the story.

And then, they arrive in Bree, my next milestone. It’s dark, cold, and wet. The comfort of the inn seems very inviting.

They use some great camera tricks in the movie here to make the hobbits look smaller. It’s very basic stuff, using odd angles to shoot, but it’s surprisingly effective.

Their joy at arriving at the inn is tempered by the fact that Gandalf isn’t here.

Pippin’s reaction when he learns that beer comes in pints is priceless. A nice example of character-based humour. But Pippin still doesn’t understand the gravity of their situation. He forgets to keep the name baggins secret.

We get our first mention of Rangers, as they are so called by the people of Bree. they are thought to have strange powers of sight and hearing. It’s said they can understand animals. They wander about and are rarely seem.

One thing I love in the book is the mystery about what happened to Gandlaf. He was supposed to meet them in Hobbiton but he never showed. And all this time, they’ve still had no word from him. As Frodo’s anxiety buits, we can’t help but wonder, what has become of him? Will we ever see him again? If we don’t, what is Frodo to do?

And again, Tokien has this ability to make a hot meal and a comfortable bed feel like the most desirable things in the world. Things we take for granted in the modern world, but in a world like middle earth, and indeed in most of human history, these things were treasured, dreamed of by those who suffered the hardships of travel. We just don’t appreciate that in today’s world.

Once, they’ve been shown their room, and given a meal, the hobbits are invited to join ‘the company’. The movie presents a pub setting that’s quite familiar to us. Individual tables. People sitting in their own groups, talking with those they know. Maybe a few sitting at the bar getting to know each other. But that’s not what Tolkien describes in the book. All those who are staying at the inn that night are gathered together in a room, all talking and getting to know each other. It’s quite an alien concept to me. But it makes sense. There’s no TV. No phones to look at. What did people do of an evening? They met other people and talked with them.

I like the tension of trying whether or not to trust Strider. They don’t know if he secretly means them harm. He claims to know Gandalf, but ultimately, he’s a stranger. 

But they get a letter from Gandalf. They at least know he was here. This letter, plus the revelation of Strider’s true name, Aragon, seems to put to rest any distrust of Strider. And, they’re pretty much at a loss by themselves right now, without Gandalf to lead them. So it seems like Strider or no one.

But they still don’t know where Gandalf is, or what he’s up to.

The way they shot the sleeping scene is clever. We get shots of Frodo and Sam sleeping, cut with the Riders in the room the hobbits were supposed to occupy. And then we see the pillows.

So they set off toward Rivendell.

And we learn that the ring wraiths were once the kings of men, who were given the 9 rings. But those rings are ruled by the one ring, so they were corrupted by it.

And that’s when we get the famous second breakfast scene, which is just delightful. It’s funny, but also revealing of character. I know this scene has spawned a billion memes on the internet, but let’s just appreciate  the scene in it’s original form.  It’s great.

We pass through my next two walking milestones, midgewater marshes west, and midgewater marshes east. There’s not a lot to talk about here. Plenty of complaining about bugs. I don’t blame them. I’d probably be complaining about the bugs as well.

Souron orders Saruman to build him an army. This is where we see them clearing the forest and constructing a factory deep in the earth, while Gandalf is trapped on top of the tower.

The factory senes are great. We get to appreciate the visuals as the camera swooops around, being the eyes of the butterfly. They’re making weapons, but they’re also making soldiers. The scene where the Uruk Hai is born out of the mud looks amazing. Very creepy, and very alien.

As they walk toward weathertop, Frodo tightens his belt. He notes there is less of him.

Welll, it’s working for Frodo. Will it work for me?

It hasn’t yet. But we’re not at Weathertop. This milestone represents 386.23 Kilometres. That’s a lot of walking. The difference is, Frodo has done it over the course of a couple of days I’ve been doing this for months. I’ve definitely been going out to walk a lot less during the COVID-19 lockdown. We ARE allowed to leave the house to exercise, but honestly, I’ve just been really busy. I need to step this up a bit and try to get in more steps per day.

Strider tells them the story of Beren and Lúthien. And it’s very briefly mentioned in the movie. They were, of course, a human and an elf that fell in love. It’s quite fitting that Strider tells this story, given his relationship with Arwen, as we’ll see later. As I understand it, the story of Beren and Luthien is told in more detail in The Silmarillion, which I should read some time. But there’s some cool tidbits I hadn’t noticed before, here. Strider talks of The Great Enemy, of whom Souron was but a servant. Now That’s interesting. And we learn they stole a jewel from the the enemy’s crown - a silmaril. So that’s where the Silmarillion gets its name. A Silmaril is a type of jewel. All very interesting, the stuff Tolkien just drops in here casually.

The same carelessness from Pippin and the others, that we saw in the pub , also leads the nazgul to the fortress where they sleep. Their fry-up does sound good, but they’re trying to go under the radar.

So Frodo gets stabbed.

The flight to Rivendell after the stabbing is much more dramatic in the movie. It heightens the severity of Frodo’s condition. In the book, he’s awake and chatting with the others. I just don’t get the same sense of how much danger he really is in.

So we pass through the Trollshaws and encounter Mr. Bilbo’s Trolls. These are my next two milestones. Finding the stone remains of Bilbo’s trolls is a nice little nod to the previous book.  It does make sense they’d stumble upon them, because they’re following the same path to Rivendell that the party did back in The Hobbit. And this scene briefly appears in the extended cut of the movie.

Then they meet Glorfindel at 632 km. And he helps them get Frodo to Rivendell quicker, so he can receive medical attention from the elves.

Of course, in the movie, it’s Arwen.

I can see why they did that. First of all, it saved them casting another character for a relatively minor role, but it also allowed them to introduce Arwen’s character a little earlier and establish her relationship with Aragorn.

They reach the Ford of Bruinen, my next milestone, with the ring wraiths hot on their tail.

Glorfindel / Arwen uses magic to call the rushing water to sweep the wraiths away.

I love how this is visualised in the movie, galloping horses makde out of water. It looks great, and adds to the magical aspect of it.

And so that brings us to Rivendell. 737 km into my walk. That’s quite a distance.

This is also the end of book 1. No, not the physical book, Fellow of The Ring. This is Tolkien’s original division of the story into six books. The publisher, of course, chose to publish the story in three volumns, each containing two books.

So next time, we’ll see the formation of the fellowship, and we’ll truly set out, on our journey to Mordor.

I’d better get out there and do some more walking.

I begin my look at the movies of the DCEU with Man of Steel from 2013. Written by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan and Directed by Zack Snyder. I'm a life-long fan of Superman. I was obsessed with the character as a child. Christopher Reeve was my childhood Superman, but I was ready for my adult Superman. Enter Man of Steel. I loved this movie because it took Superman seriously as a first-contact science fiction film. This is exactly what I was wanting and Man of Steel delivered.

So join me as I review and analyse this story in detail, and geek out over why I love Man of Steel.

----more----

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd

This is episode 26 of the podcast.

Today, we’re beginning a look at the movies of the DC Extended Universe, with Man of Steel.

The description on IMDB reads

An alien child is evacuated from his dying world and sent to Earth to live among humans. His peace is threatened, when survivors of his home planet invade Earth.

The screenplay was written by David S. Goyer

Based on a story by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan.

It was directed by Zack Snyder

And the movie first released on the 12th of June 2013.

And this podcast will contain full spoilers for the movie.

I should start with a quick overview of my history with Superman.

I’ve been a lifeline fan of Superman. Seriously, I can’t remember a time in my life before I was a fan. My earliest memories are of begging my parents to let me watch Superman The Movie on TV.

I had all the colouring books, a cape that I got on a holiday in Queensland. I consumed everything Superman that I could get my hands on. I’m sure that included a couple of comics, but from memory, they were mostly the kind of comic you were meant to colour in. Comic books just weren’t a huge thing around here when I was growing up, so it wasn’t until much later that I could catch up on some of the proper comics, thanks to archives on the internet, and later, comixology.

I caught the occasional animated show when I managed to find one, I watched Lois and Clark in the 90s, but for me, Christopher Reeve always epitomised the character.

In my late teens I “grew out” of superman, as teens often do. Only to rediscover the character as an adult in my mid-20s.

Coming to Superman as an adult, I saw different things in him. It wasn’t just about the colourful costume, and the fact he could fly. I saw a science fiction story about an alien trying to fit in on earth, and use what gifts he’d been given for the benefit of others.

Superman returns came along and I enjoyed it. My wife and I laughed at all the in-jokes calling back to the Reeve movies, while the rest of the theatre was silent. I appreciated the way this movie tied into the old Christopher Reeve stuff, but I was disappointed that it also continued some of the cheesier elements as well.

Ultimately, I felt Superman Returns was a fitting end to the Superman movie saga I’d enjoyed all my life.

I was ready for something different.

Christopher Reeve would forever be the Superman of my childhood, but I was ready for my adult Superman.

Enter Man of Steel.

Now I’d loved the movie Batman Begins. I heard somewhere that while working on his trilogy, Christopher Nolan and one of his creative partners (presumably, David S Goyer) started to brainstorm an idea they’d had about how they could approach Superman in the modern age.

When I heard this I was excited.

Yes. I’d loved Nolan’s new take on Batman and couldn’t wait to see what he’d do with Superman - my favourite superhero.

I’ll drop a spoiler on you and just say it now. I wasn’t disappointed.

This movie presented a brand new interpretation of the classic character. It was everything I was looking for in a superman movie for grown-ups. It was the right movie for the right time.

So let’s talk about.

--

The movie starts with the deep resonating tones of Hans Zimmer’s iconic score. So let’s talk about the music right off the bat.

I love the music in this movie. In the lead up to seeing it, I was wondering how they could possibly create something as memorable and iconic as John William’s Superman theme.

Hans Zimmer delivered something very very different, but just as awesome.

It’s not the kind of music you can hum. It’s a modern theme for a modern movie.

It fits in so well and I love it.

So Krypton is incredible!

I get a sci-fi Lord of The Rings vibe from it. It’s a vibe I can’t get enough of. The alien animals, the unique technology with tactile displays like those pin pictures that you push your hands into.

The city-scape.

The costumes of the council remind me of the Time Lords on Doctor Who. They should look silly, but they work. It fits the ostentatiousness of the council who have lost touch with the common people of Krypton.

The world-building of Krypton in this movie is absolutely top-notch. I could watch a whole movie set on this planet. Again, very different take from the 1978 movie, but very good.

I also like the armour worn by Zod and Jor-el. I like how they kept the idea from Donner’s film, that each Kryptonian family have a crest. Superman’s S symbol is his family’s crest. I remember when they were marketing this movie, there was a website you could go to and it would generate a personalised family crest for you.

Russel Crow is great as Jor-el. I like how, in some ways, he and Zod are on the same side. They both have similar goals, and under different circumstances could have been like brothers.

Jor-el’s aim is to reason with the council. Zod’s approach is to eliminate them and take over.

Already, we’re seeing a lot more nuance and depth. In the Christopher Reeve movies, Zod tried to take over Krypton because he was an evil bad guy. Here, Zod takes over because he believes it is the best way to save his people. But I’ll talk more about my love for this interpretation of Zod later on.

I love Jor-el’s line. “I will honour the man you once were, Zod, but not the monster you have become.”

At first, we’re not sure what all of this is about. What’s this codex? How can Jor-el use it to save their race?

I love that the Kryptonians are an interstellar race. They once explored the galaxy. But like the first ones of Babylon 5, they have retreated to their homeworld. There, they have become old, and as Zod says, degenerate.

Krypton feels like a fully-realised lived-in world.

Jor-el’s flying dragon thing is really cool.

Another thing this chapter explores is the way laws and rules no longer seem to matter when you genuinely believe the world is about to end.

Zod takes this to extreme, but even Jor-el is willing to break a few rules by entering the codex chamber.

We see that the codex is an ancient portion of a skull with glowing yellow symbols. This evokes so much mystery. I wonder who this skull belonged to. No doubt somebody very important in Kryptonian history. I’d love to know more.

Jor-el’s escape is so cool as he flies on that dragon while spaceships fire lasers at each other around him.

I like how earth is just one of the planets in their database. Probably catalogued centuries ago by their ancestors during their explorations.

Lara knows she needs to let her son go. She knows she needs to send him to the planet she’s found. But it’s hard. As a parent, I get that. You can know intellectually what must be done, but to say goodbye to your son, to send him away knowing you’ll never see him again.

How do you do that?

You do it with the knowledge that if you don’t, he’ll surely die.

Did I mention I love the 3d display technology they have? Not only can it display, but it can create objects. Kind of like a replicator using nanites or something.

And we get our first glimpse of the key.

So Kryptonian faster-than-light technology is called a phantom drive. We’re not given details of how it works, but there’s a clear link between their ship’s FTL capabilities and the phantom zone.

Kryptonian society is all about controlling bloodlines. Zod doesn’t want to change that. He just wants to be the one to choose which bloodlines thrive and rule.

Jor-el wants freedom for all Kryptonian bloodlines.

And this is where we get more interesting worldbuilding. Natural childbirth hasn’t been a thing on Krypton for centuries. Kal-el is the first natural-born child in a long time. To Zod, this is heresy.

They breed their people through careful genetic engineering. Again, we’ll learn more about this later.

But I’m impressed how much world-building and culture this movie crammed into just half an hour.

You really get a sense of both sides in this fight between Jor-el and Zod.

The codex is so precious. It’s the key to saving Krypton, something both men want to do. The problem is, only one of them can have it.

Zod is so distraught when he realises it’s out of his reach. He can no longer save his people.

In a rage, he kills Jor-el.

In the end, Zal-el’s ship is saved from Zod’s fighters when the council’s forces get the upper hand.

Zod refers to his prison as a black hole.

It seems the same technology that allows their ships to jump to other star systems can also be used to send the prisoners into that black hole, perhaps an artificial one? The phantom zone.

But it’s all too late. Realising there is nowhere to run. Lara just stands there and watches the world explode around her.

Her final words - “Make a better world than ours, Kal-el.”

After an indeterminate period of time, we see Kal-el’s ship jump into earth’s solar system and descend toward Earth.

End of Act 1.

I remember when I first heard they were making a TV show called Krypton, written by David S Goyer, and serving as a prequel to Man of Steel. I was so excited. I was gonna get to see more of this world.

When the show was finally ready to premiere, I was disappointed to learn that I would have no way of watching it. It wouldn't be airing in Australia at the same time as it was in American.

But, that disappointed as overshadowed by the sad realisation that Goyer was no longer involved in the project and it was no longer part of the DCEU.

At that point, I just kinda lost interest. Pretty sad.

The next section of this movie employs a lot of flashbacks. Y’know I’ve even heard people criticising this. Non-chronological storytelling is a commonly-used technique. Especially at the time, this movie was made. It’s an efficient way to get the necessary information to us without becoming bogged down.

They could have gone the route the Donner film did, show us Clark growing up in Smallville, and then move to Metropolis, and that’s a valid way to do it, but we wouldn’t even see an adult Superman, nor the character playing him until around halfway through the movie.

This is a modern movie, made with modern sensibilities.

It works.

I like how we actually get to see some pre-superman adult Clark. In many tellings of the Superman story, Clark spent his early adult years travelling the world, learning all he could about Earth and it’s various cultures, before finally putting on the suit.

We’ve never really seen this part of the character’s life on screen before, although Lois and Clark in the 90s regularly referred to it as backstory during the first season or two.

I like that we meet Clark here as we’ve never seen him before. A bearded man, unsure of himself, working on a fishing boat.

It could be argued that Superman shouldn’t be able to grow facial hair, but hey, this is a particular interpretation of the character. And I like it. It’s just a step toward him become the character we know. I like it.

In the oil rig rescue scene, we see Clark has superpowers, but not infinite power. I liked how we saw him struggling and straining to hold the weight of that massive structure.

Clark doesn’t yet know his limits. So his actions here are brave and selfless. Traits he learned from his adopted father.

Our first flashback takes us to Clark’s early school days. We see him struggling with his senses, his x-ray vision. His super hearing. It must be terrifying for the poor kid. He doesn’t understand why he’s like this. He doesn’t know how to control these powers. It’s a fantastic scene.

“The world’s too big Mum.” “Then make it smaller. Focus on my voice. Pretend it’s an island on the ocean.”

Not only is this a beautiful character scene, that shows how his mother helps shape who he would become, it also nicely foreshadows some cool stuff that will happen later.

Little scenes like when Clark has to steal the clothes from the car after his were burned up in the fire add some nice believability to his world. These are the practical things he has to deal with.

When he sees a school bus, it triggers another memory.

The bus crash scene gives Clark his first chance to use his powers to help others. Maybe for the first time in his life, they’re not a burden or a curse. They’re a gift. A gift he can give to others.

And hear Zimmer’s man of steel theme play again as Clark pulls the bus from the water.

This movie allows Lana to see him do what he did. But who will believe him?

People are starting to notice Clark, and that REALLY worries Jonathan.

He loves his son and he’ll do anything to protect him.

Now, this is a somewhat controversial part of the film.

An important part of the Superman mythos has always been the way the Kents raised him. They instilled into him the values that defined what it meant to be Superman.

Some people felt this movie betrayed that though Jonathan’s words here.

I believe, the instilling of values from the Kents is still in this movie, but, because this is a slightly darker, slightly more emotionally realistic take on the character, it’s all a bit more nuanced and ambiguous.

The truth is, Jonathan doesn’t know how to raise a superhuman. There’s no manual. He’s got nobody else’s example to follow.

Clark asks “Was I supposed to let them die?”

Jonathan hesitates and says “maybe.”

Note, he doesn’t say yes. He’s not promoting cold hard pragmatism.

He’s giving a raw honest answer.

“I don’t know.”

He does want Clark to fulfil his potential, to be a good man. To use what he has for good.

But he also wants his son to be safe. And he’s not convinced that the world is ready for him.

See, that’s one of the big themes of this movie. What if Superman was real? What if he appeared today, in our world, the real world. How would people REALLY react to seeing a being of that kind of power? That’s a question I really enjoyed seeing explored. It’s a psychological realism we hadn’t seen much in superhero stories before. There was such an unreality to the way people reacted to Superman and characters like him.

This is the type of exploration I really wanted to see.

And the movie allows the Kents to be good people. But flawed people. People who are doing their best at an incredibly difficult job. It allows them to be uncertain, and even wrong sometimes.

I applaud that.

I mean, heck, as a parent, I’ve been wrong before.

Ultimately, Jonathan doesn’t want Clark to end up being directed in a lab. He’s overprotective because he doesn’t comprehend how powerful Clark will become, but mostly because Clark is his son. And he loves him. As a parent, I get that.

This is the moment Clark is told the truth about who he is. He sees the spaceship that brought him to Earth.

What would it feel like to learn that you’re an alien?

And then there’s a beautiful moment that always chokes me up.

Clark says “Can’t I just keep on pretending that I’m your son?”

And Jonathan says “You are my son.”

I love that.

Clark stands up to a bully who is treating a woman very inappropriately.

But when the bully tries to pick a fight by humiliating him, Clark has to make himself walk away.

You can see the conflict in his eyes. He could flatten this bloke. But he can’t do that. He has to be in control. All the time. Because if he lets himself go, somebody could get hurt. Clark can’t let that happen.

He must want to hit the guy so bad. But he doesn’t.

This is the first time I really see Superman in Henry Cavil’s performance. It’s great.

Of course, the movie does allow us the satisfaction of justice, as the bully see his truck mangled.

At this point, it’s clear Clark is in Canada. He overhears some military types talking about something of interest.

And he’s not the only one here. We get our first glimpse of Lois Lane.

Amy Adams seemed like an unconventional choice when she was announced, but I was open to it. And I really like her portrayal of the character. I’d previously seen her in the movie enchanted, a very different kind of role. It was great to see what she could do in a serious dramatic role like this.

The mystery of the 20,000-year-old object in the ice captured my imagination straight away. It gives a very logical reason for Lois and Clark to meet and become part of each other’s stories.

And we learn it’s an ancient Kryptonian space ship. Been here since the days of exploration. Clark knows he’s found potential answers when he sees a slot that would fit his key. The key Jor-el; left for him.

The security robot stops attacking him as soon as he inserts it. Jor-el’s software has now been downloaded into the ship’s computer and has taken over.

I imagine Jor-el suspected there was a crashed ship on Earth, and that Clark would eventually find it.

Maybe it wasn’t crashed. Maybe these people were hibernating waiting for colonists to come join them. Colonists that never arrived because Krypton changed their policy of expansion through the galaxy.

The security program doesn’t recognise Lois so she is still attacked by the robot. Clark has to reveal his abilities to her in order to save her life.

And then, he flies the spaceship off to the north pole.

And here we come to understand that this movies version of the fortress of solitude is that Kryptonian spaceship.

Again, unconventional, but I love it. Everything in this movie has a real sci-fi flavour to it.

Exactly the flavour I was craving.

We now meet Perry White. Laurence Fishbourne isn’t an actor I would have thought of casting for this role, but it turns out, he’s perfect for it. Christopher Nolan has a certain way of casting superhero movies. He always gets an unknown for the lead, as is right, but he then surrounds that lead with top-end Hollywood stars. I mean, how great was it to see Michael Cain as Alfred, and then Morgan Freeman in Batman Begins.

Man of Steel was cast in a similar way.

I think some small part of Perry does believe Lois, but aliens? It’s a tough one to sell.

And Lois isn’t afraid to tell it like it is. She’s not scared of looking silly, because she’s Lois Lane.

Perry says he’s not going to publish a story about aliens walking among us. Never going to happen.

And yet, we know what’s coming…

So Lois gives the story to a tabloid website. She wants Clark to know she knows the truth about him.

Jor-el uploaded a holographic copy of his consciousness into the key. That program is now running on the ship’s computer. So we get the classic superman scene where Jor-el explains to Clark who he really is.

This is very nicely done with the graphics as Jor-el plays.

We learn more about the history of Krypton’s space program. IT lasted for 100 thousand years.

They terraformed alien worlds.

Every child is designed to fill a pre-determined role. This is how Kryptonian society works.

Jor-el and Lara thought something had been lost. The element of choice.

Jor-el’s speech is nice. He hopes that his son will embody the best of both planets. His human upbringing will help him grow beyond the weaknesses and failures of Krypton.

I love that the symbol for the house of el, the superman symbol, means hope. That’s beautiful.

And so, he gets the suit and he puts it on.

He walks out into the snow.

Now he’s Superman.

And at his father’s recommendation, he begins to test his limits.

This sequence, where he learns to fly is brilliant.

The visuals are awesome and Zimmer’s music is incredibly powerful.

I love that he fails a couple of times before he succeeds. It’s like a toddler learning to walk. They have that ability, but they have to learn how to form the right neural connections They have to strengthen the right muscles.

When he finally succeeds, it’s such a triumphant moment. We see him soar into the sky over grassy plains and oceans. Through mountain cliffs and then into space.

And we see that classic superman shot of him orbiting the earth.

YES! This is Superman.

What a moment!

The character in this movie IS superman. In every way that counts.

Then we have a nice little bit where Lois is tracking Clark through the urban legends he’s left behind, the lives he has touched. She’s a great reporter. Of course, she’s going to track him down. IT would be insulting to her character if she didn’t.

This is a big departure for Lois in a Superman Story.

We’re not gonna drag it out, having Clark have to pretend around her for years. No, she knows he is Superman from the very beginning. And I think the story is better for it.

It gets rid of all the angst. We had more than enough of that in Smallville. For all the things I loved about that show, man, it sure had a lot of angst.

People love to make fun of the whole, wearing glasses thing, and nobody recognising Clark.

But in this version, anyone who really knows him would not be fooled. Anyone who knows Clark and has had a meaningful encounter with Superman is gonna know who he is.

This movie makes it work.

Not that Christopher Reeve also made it work, but in a different way. The way he changed his performance between Clark and Superman was incredible. Two different approaches. Both good.

I gotta say, they cast the adult and child versions of Pete Ross very well. I totally believe they’re the same person.

When we see Lois approach the Kent farm, we know she’s reached the truth. It’s very satisfying.

Clark doesn’t want his story told. Lois rightly points out that someone else will figure it out.

Then he’ll just run away again.

She also rightly points out that the only way he can truly disappear is to stop helping people, and that’s not an option for him.

I think this is our final flashback. Clark is a young man, perhaps in his late teens. He and Jonathan are arguing about what he’s going to do with his life. I don’t think Jonathan really wants him to stay in Smallville and be a farmer. But there’s that fear again, holding him back.

In the heat of the moment, Clark says you’re not my father. You’re just some guy who found me in a field.

They never really get to resolve their conversion, but the last thing Clark says before they see the tornado is “Look….Dad….”

I love that he calls him Dad because he’s showing he didn’t mean what he said earlier.

Clark takes his mother to safety, while Jonathan tries to help others.

See, again, he’s modelling the Superman values to his son.

Jonathan doesn’t want Clark to reveal himself. He still doesn’t think the world is ready for him.

And being a good son, Clark trusts his father’s judgement.

It’s not like he delivery left his dad to die, he didn’t know what was going to happen.

But there’s this one very brief moment when it looks like it’s over for Jonathan. Clark is going save him, but Jonathan signals No.

And he obeys.

Could he have saved him? Maybe.

Should he have? I guess we all have to make up our own minds on that.

Poor Clark will be asking himself that question for the rest of his life.

When Lois makes the decision, to drop the story, for Clark’s sake, Perry is pretty much convinced that she’s telling the truth.

And then he asks the question that sums up the whole movie.

“Can you imagine how people would react if they knew there was someone out there like that?”

Martha has very mixed feelings when she hears that Clark has found where he came from, his true parents.

She’s happy for him, but at the same time, she’s worried she’ll lose him to them.

OF course, that will never happen.

Martha talks about how, as a baby, Clark struggled to breathe Earth’s atmosphere.

I love that. Just a nice little sci-fi touch to make Clark a more believable alien. I think that’s important, since Krpytonians look human on the outside.

And of course, it will become important later on.

We meet General Swanwick. For the first time. He’s a cool recurring character. I like him. And, of course, Zach Snyder has revealed there’s much more to this character than meets the eye. I guess we’ll see how that pans out in the Snyder Cut of Justice League.

And horror horrors, something is approaching Earth. And it looks Kryptonian.

The little gag with the alert on a computer screen that turns out to be low toner in Lois’s photocopier is pretty funny. See, these movies do have some humour in them!

And this is the big moment.

The aliens arrive.

A UFO is spotted in the sky. Martha sees something up there. Clark recognises it.

And then the lights go out.

There’s silence

And then the tv starts making that spooky sound.

And the voice says “You are not alone.”

Oooh, that gets me every time.

So many goosebumps.

At this moment, I think we begin to understand what that plan was that Christopher Nolan and his mate had while they were writing the dark knight trilogy.

Their plan for a modern Superman was to treat it as a serious science fiction story.

They realised that the minute Superman is revealed to the world, it’s a first contact story.

As soon as Zod appears, it’s an alien invasion movie.

Man of Steel embraces its role as both of those.

No wonder I love it so much.

Most other interpretations of Superman on screen never really accepted what a world-changing thing it is to have an alien walking among us. I remember an old episode of Lois and Clark where people were being abducted by aliens and nobody believed it. But ….. There was an alien flying above Metropolis every week. The episode tried to handwave that away but it didn’t work for me.

So Zod has come to earth and he wants Kal-el. If he doesn’t turn himself in, earth will suffer the consequences.

I love the moment when the power comes back on, the globe explodes, and Martha jumps. Such an honest moment. We’re all feeling the same way.

The tabloid rats Lois out. “Lois Lane knows who this guy is.”

The FBI are after her. The government want to find this alien. Because the survival of the human race is at stake.

Then there’s a nice little scene where Clark goes to a church to consider his options.

The moment is subtle about it, but there is a clear indication that Christian faith was some part of Clark’s upbringing.

I was wrong. There’s another great flashback. Clark is being bullied. Forcing himself not to fight back, and Pete Ross, who had previously bullied him too, gives him a hand up. I guess they became friends after Clark saved his life.

Jonathan asks if they hurt Clark. “You know they can’t.” That’s not what Jonathan meant. He’s referring to emotional hurt.

Clark’s self-control, his deliberate choice not to use violence against others is an important part of his arc in this movie. Good man or bad, he will change the world.

Clark confesses to the pastor that he is the alien Zod is looking for.

The pastor’s not sure how to respond to that.

And there’s a symbolic picture of Jesus behind his head as Clark talks.

It’s obvious Zod is a bad guy, but can Clark trust the people of earth?

Some times you have to take a leap of faith first. The trust part comes later.

Clark makes the decision to surrender himself to the US military, but he wants them to release Lois.

He submits to the handcuffs because it makes the soldiers feel more comfortable.

You don’t control me and you never will, Clark says, but that doesn’t mean I’m your enemy.

Clark lets them turn him over to Zod. That’s why he’s here. He’s sacrificing himself for the sake of Earth.

The Kryptonian shuttle is cool, as is the breathing mask.

Fiaora says Zod wants Lois as well. She agrees to go.

I’m not sure why they want Lois. The movie doesn’t really explain it. This is perhaps the biggest plot weakness of the movie for me. 

Clark has an escape plan for her. He gives her the key. Installing the Jor-El program should give her a way off.

I love that the Kryptonian ship has an atmosphere not breathable to humans.

Clark is reflecting their atmosphere because he’s spent a lifetime adapting to Earth.

He has to let this run its course.

While he’s out, he has a vision of Zod.

I guess this is a type of telepathic communication? Perhaps using technology? Again, it’s not really explained.

Zod recounts some information we already know, but gives further details as well.

Turns out the destruction of Krypton freed their prison ship from the phantom zone.

They retrofitted the phantom projector into a hyperdrive. Remember, the two technologies are very simple.

They were to the old colony worlds, but without support from Krypton, these colony worlds withered and died.

But Zod did find a world engine for terraforming.

Clark triggered a distress beacon when he boarded the ancient scout ship. He brought Zod here.

And we finally learn about the codex. The genetic code for every Kryptonian yet to be born is stored in it. The purpose of sending the codex was so that Krypton could live again on another planet. Maybe on earth?

But Jor-el never planned for it to happen Zod’s way. Zod wants to terraform Earth into a new Krypton. The people of earth will die.

The scene where Clark is drawing in skulls is very symbolic and creepy. But kinda cool.

Zod admits he killed Jor-el. There isn’t a day it doesn’t haunt me, but if I had to, I’d do it again.

Remember those words. They’ll be important.

This version of Zod is a fantastic villain. Possibly my favourite villain from any superhero movie.

You see, he is truly the hero of his own story. He passionately believes he is doing the right thing. He’s fighting for his people.

As planned, the Jor-el AI helps Lois escape back to Earth.

So why was she here to begin with? As I said, we never learn the answer to that.

I like the black versions of the Superman suit we see both Jor-el and Zod in.

With the ship’s environment changing to human norm, Clark has his powers back. Technically, the other Kryptonians have powers now too, but they’re not adapted to this atmosphere.

Now that Clark knows Zod’s plan, he can’t just surrender to them. He won’t save earth that way. He has to escape and oppose Zod’s forces.

Jor-el wanted Clark to learn what it meant to be human so he could be a bridge between two people’s. Jor-El’s plan for the codex was for the two species to live oin peace.

When they land back on Earth, I think Lois actually explains why they wanted her. They probed her mind. They wanted to know about Kal-el from the perspective of a human who knew him

There we go. Mystery solved.

I love it when Martha tells Zod and the others Kryptonian thugs to go to hell.

They find Clark’s spaceship, but the codex is not there.

When Clark learns that Zod threatened his mother, he doesn’t hold back. For the first time, here is a foe he can let loose on. He doesn’t have to stop himself.

HE really pounds into him with his fists. Man, it must have felt so good!

And now we pay off that flashback scene in the school. With his mask damaged, Zod is not only struggling with earth’s atmosphere, he’s getting all the visual and auditory information.

He hasn’t spent a lifetime learning to control his senses. And so he retreats. Wonderful moment.

The big shootout in Smallville is cool.

This is the most visually impressive Superman film we’ve ever seen.

I mean, the donner film was just as impressive for its time in 1978, but this is a modern film exploiting all the advantages of over 30 years of technical advancement.

Incredible effects and stunt work

Superman has one big weakness.

No, it’s not kryptonite, it’s his morals.

He cares about the innocent. Fiora claims this gives her an evolutionary advantage over him. In one sense it kinda makes sense. They can fight harder, to hell with the consequences, because they don’t care who gets hurt.

He can’t.

But is she right? Or can compassion be an unexpected source of strength?

The soldiers are told to engage all targets.

“What about the guy in blue?”

“I said all targets.”

But by the end of the fight, Clark has proven himself, using that compassion we talked about.

In the end, the soldier says “this man is not our enemy.”

They regarded Superman as an enemy at first, as they should.

But he’s proven himself. And now they know he is an ally.

Fiora says “You will not win. For every one you save, we will kill a million more.”

This is also a very important line to understanding the end of the movie.

The battle has been won, but it’s not over.

Fioras words are no doubt haunting Clark.

I love it when Martha says “It’s just stuff. It can be replaced.”

We learn what happened to the codex. Jorel stored the information in the genes of Kal-el’s body.

They can extract it from his cells. He doesn’t need to be alive.

And so they release the world engine.

They’re going to terraform Earth, making it uninhabitable to humans.

The world engine is in the south Indian ocean.

The main ship hovers over Metropolis. Two parts to accomplish the terraforming.

I love how the water droplets go upward when the process starts.

The noise the world engine makes is creepy as hell. The stuff nightmares are made out of.

It’s wreaking havoc across the ship.

Clark is finally given the name Superman. That’s what they’re calling him.

Lois knows how to stop Zod. I think Jor-el told her.

They use Clark's ship like a bomb to trigger the phantom drive and open a singularity, sending the Kryptonians back into the phantom zone.

I love how everything in tihs movie has a slightly more scientific spin. Even if it’s just fictional science.

One of the things I love about this movie is that it allows Lois and the US military blokes to play equal parts in the salvation of Earth with Superman.

They’re gonna execute the plan to open the singularity but Clark has to stop the world engine.

The scout ship has a genesis chamber on board, which means, once Zod has the codex from Clark’s dead body, he can breed a new race of his people.

The defensive systems on the world engine are cool, another application of Krypton’s nano display replication technology.

It’s chilling seeing the skyscrapers dissolve. BRings back memories of September 11.

We’ll see the horrors of this moment from Bruce Wayne’s point of view in the next movie.

Jor-el is actually in a lot of this movie, and it’s fitting because the whole narrative has been about the conflict between him and Zod.

Even Perry has his moment to be a hero in this third act.

Superman is weakened by his battle with the world engine, but the first rays of sunlight rejuvenate him.

The climactic scene as they battle to open the singularity is filled with tension and thrills.

Clark chooses to destroy the scout ship to stop Zod. By doing so, he destroys Krypton. His people can never be reborn now.

He is unable to fulfil his father’s plan. Zod has ruined that.

Ultimately, his loyalty is to earth. Krypton had their chance.

The plan works. The singularity is created, and the Kryptonians are all sucked into the phantom zone.

All except Zod, who was in the crashed scout ship.

Lois and Clark have a quick moment together. It’s the first time they really express anything romantic between them.

This movie doesn’t really give much time for their relationship to develop, but it does make sense Lois is the one Clark would fall in love with. She’s the first one he was able to open up to. The first one he was able to trust with his secret.

The next moment between Superman and Zod is fantastic.

Zod exists only to protect Krypton. That is the sole purpose for which he was born.

And every action he takes no matter how violent or cruel was for the greater good of his people.

That’s why he sees himself as the hero, and Clark as the villain.

But now he has no people.

That is what Clark has taken from him.

So now it’s personal. Now it’s revenge.

Zod vows to take the humans from him. One by one.

He’ll make them all pay.

That’s how you hurt Superman.

It’s fitting that after the rest of the Kryptonians are gone, the final showdown is just Clark and Zod. The two of them, one on one.

It’s a thrilling fight, but it takes a huge toll on Metropolis.

We’ve never seen a Superman fight like this on-screen before.

There’s only one way this ends, Kal. Either you die or I do, Zod vows. That’s important.

Zod has spent his life training as a warrior to master his senses. Clark may have the same powers, but he doesn’t have the military training.

The music in this scene is phenomenal once again.

And then the moment that caused the most controversy in this movie.

And I’ll admit, it took me a while to sort out how I felt about it.

Superman kills Zod by breaking his neck.

Zod is using his heat vision to try to kill some civilians.

Clark stops him.

So many people felt this was a betrayal of Superman’s character. Superman should never kill.

I respect that opinion, but ultimately I found I disagreed with it.

Some have said Superman should have just flown upward to save those people.

And that might have worked temporarily, but it wasn’t just about those people.

Zod had made it abundantly clear that he would never stop killing humans. He would keep going until the end of his days.

Clarks pleads with him to stop. He says never.

The Kryptonian ships are gone. The phantom zone can’t be re-opened.

No prison on earth can hold him.

“This only ends when you die or I do.”

And so Clark takes the only option he can see available to him.

And it absolutely guts him.

You know, having pondered it for quite some time, I’m okay with Superman killing Zod?

It’s because of that gut-wrenching scream he gives afterwards. The hurt, he feels at having to do something he swore he would never do.

Zod says there isn’t a day he isn’t haunted by the fact he had to kill Jor-el.

Clark will also be haunted by his killing Zod for the rest of his life.

But both men did what they felt was necessary, to save their people.

It’s powerful symmetry.

This is what I love about the emotional honesty of this movie.

In Superman 2, he pushes Zod off a cliff with a smile on his face.

In the 1989 Batman film, Batman kills a minor goon while cracking a joke.

Not in my superhero movie. No. This movie takes death seriously. Death has consequences. Killing takes a toll. This movie acknowledges that. And I love that.

And I think ultimately, the pain of this moment, the guilt he’s feeling will only help to further cement his desire to never kill again.

The US military are trying to find where Superman hangs his cape. But he’s not going to let them. He destroys their tracking satellite. “How do we know you won’t one day act against America’s interests?” the general asks.

I grew up in Kansas, he says. I’m about as American as they come. Clark is interesting in that he’s not human, and yet he was raised human. He was proven his loyalty to Earth. And yes, he will feel an affinity for the nation he grew up in.

I’m here to help, but I have to do it on my terms, he says.

In the end, the US government are just gonna have to trust him. It won't be easy, but superman HAS proven himself.

There’s a nice conversation at the end. Martha says Jonathan always believed in Clark.

Clark is sorry his dad never lived to see it, but Martha says he saw it. He saw it in the boy that Clark was.

And I think that’s beautiful, and ultimately it redeems Jonathan’s weakness earlier in the film when he said “maybe”

Clark has given thought to what he’ll do while he’s not saving the world. A job where he can keep his head to the ground, where people won’t think twice if he goes into danger and asks questions.

So finally, after the whole movie, we see journalist Clark kent, with the glasses.

I don’t mind that it took all movie to get there. It was a very satisfying moment. It made sense for the origin of the character through the plot.

And I love the double meaning when Lois says “welcome to the planet.”

And I love the goofy grin they give each other. She knows it’s him. Those glasses ain’t gonna fool anyone who knows you buster.

It’s a nice little humorous moment to end the film on.

I love this movie. It’s my favourite superhero movie of all time. Probably my favourite movie full stop.

Not only is it a fantastic superhero movie, but it’s also a fantastic science fiction movie. It blends the trappings of superman, the red and blue suit, the S, the flying, and it mixes it with a brilliant first contact alien invasion film.

And ultimately, that’s why I love it.

Star Trek Insurrection was released in 1998 and pitted Captain Jean-Luc Picard against his Federation superiors. The movie explored the classic 'fountain of youth' concept, and asked questions around hard far people are willing to go to help a large group, at the expense of a smaller one, and the theme of displaced people. In this episode, I look back on this film and discuss what worked for me, and what didn't. I find I enjoy watching this movie more now than I did the first time. It missed the mark for me when I saw it at the cinema, but nowadays I can just watch it for what it is and enjoy it as a part of Star Trek history.

----more----

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd

This is episode 25 of the podcast.

Today, we’re talking about Star Trek Insurrection. I’ve already covered the other 3 TNG movies on the podcast.

The description on Memory Alpha reads

"The Battle For Paradise Has Begun"

As the Dominion War ravages the Alpha Quadrant, an idyllic planet in the middle of an unstable region within Federation space serves as home to the peaceful Ba'ku – and a veritable fountain of youth. When the Son'a and the war-torn Federation plan to exploit the planet in order to rejuvenate themselves, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Starship Enterprise-E must rebel against the Federation in order to save the Ba'ku and expose the atrocities that are about to take place.

The screenplay was written by Michael Piller based on a story by Michael Piller and Rick Berman.

It was directed by Jonathan Frakes 

And first released in cinemas on the 11th of December 1998

Make it so

This movie shows the title card and then jumps straight to footage, showing credits over the action.

It’s great music. First contact stil has my favourite music but still really enjoy the theme of this movie, and it fits the film quite well.

Also let’s appreciate the set design of this village.

We get an Idyllic view of primitive living. Looks lovely, and yet, constant manual labour is hard work.

There’s a reason people invented machines to do the mindless work so we can pursue more interesting things, which I appreciate.

This sequence definitely portrays thee people as happy

There’s a sudden Contrast in the music as the camera pans up to eveal the village is being watched. And then shock of all shocks, it’s startfleet who are watching them.

We’ve seen this before in TNG season 3 who watches the watchers. That’s the first big plot idea stolen by this movie. But it works. Makes sense this is something starfleet would do multiple times.

When we realise it’s Data attacking the village, we can only assume there is something wrong with the starfleet people. I mean, they were shot creepily.

The holographic suit is kinda cool. I like it.

And while Brent spiner’s green suit is a very simple visual effect, it works for me.

Michael Piller actually wrote a book about his experience writing this movie. It’s an interesting read. I still haven’t gone over the whole thing in detail, but what I’ve read has been enlightening. It’s called Fade In, From Idea to Draft The Writing of Star Trek Insurrection.

It really highlights the struggles of being a writer in hollywood.

As an indie author, I only have to answer to myself. Sure, I need to listen to beta reads and my editor, but ultimately, nobody but me chooses where the story goes. It’s my baby.

But when writing a movie, there are so many different voices that get to have an opinion. It’s a wonder any script ever gets completed.

So, while I may speak critically about some things in the writing of this movie, I don’t want to sound like I’m coming off too hard on Pillar. First of all, he’s a much more experienced writer than I am. Second of all, Star Trek owes a lot to this man. He came in and revolutionised the show in season 3. He made it good. And I think  a lot of the credit does belong to him. He made TNG a much more character-driven show. He shaped what Star Trek would be from here on, though DS9, Voyager and even Enterprise (which he wasn’t involved in). Our most beloved Star Trek shows wouldn't be what they are without his input.

This is the first time we’ve seen new dress uniforms to match the standard uniforms introduced last movie. I like them. I like them a lot.

Picard and crew are involved in a diplomatic mission, entertaining alien representatives. And it’s nice to see them engaging in this kind of thing. We haven’t seen them doing diplomacy in a movie before. 

But are we forgetting that we're currently in the middle of the most brutal war the federation has ever faced?

They try to hand wave this away by saying the federation needs all the new allies it can get right now, which does make sense. But why would they send their flagship, a sovereign class vessel, to entertain these people.

The federation diplomatic core is tied up with dominion negotiations. Ok.

But this isn’t the hard negotiating. That appears to have already been done. This is a party. Any minor ship and crew could have done this. 

The enterprise should be out there fighting for the survival of the federation.

Michael Piller and Rick Berman both wanted to do a light-hearted movie.

And while I don’t have a specific objection to that, this hardly seemed like the time.

I can understand why they felt this way. First Contact was a much darker Star Trek movie. And both DS9 and Voyager were in pretty dark times at this moment. DS9 was in the midst of the Dominion War, and Voyager had recently been through a frightening encounter with the Borg and Species 8472.

Frankly, I was loving it. This was one of my favourite periods in Star Trek history. But I like the dark stuff. And it wasn’t so dark that I felt the need for relief. I mean, this was hardly Battlestar Galactica.

Some might have wanted some relief from that the darkness in Trek, but not me.

This movie felt very out of place. ….. Very out of time…...to me.

I do like the conversation in the turbo lift, that hints at these being difficult times for the federation. Including picard’s line. “Anyone remember when we used to be explorers?”

And then we meet Worf.

Picard asks him what the hell he’s doing here.

And his voice fades out as he gives his explanation.

I hate this. I really really hate this. 

What a bloody cop-out!

First contact had a very good valid reason for Worf to be on the Enterprise.

Theoretically, so did Nemesis, although they mishandled that as well.

The aliens that Picard is welcoming as a Federation protectorate look awesome. Very nice makeup design by Michael Westmore.The thing the alien puts on Picard’s head is silly.

I think perhaps it was supposed to be amusing. I dunno.

In a lot of ways, this movie feels like an extended TV episode. I think from the moment Rick Berman told Michael Piller he wanted the next movie to be more light-hearted and comedic, it was never going to have the epic feeling that the last two movies had.

Star Trek IV was practically a comedy. And it worked. It’s a favourite movie of most Star Trek fans, including me. But I think that’s an outlier. It shouldn’t have worked as well as it did, but somehow, it did.

They were deliberately trying to model this movie on Star Trek 4.

See here’s the problem.

Comedy in Star Trek can work. DS9 did some hilarious episodes. (They also did some real stinkers in the name of comedy). But we were getting 24 episodes a year at the time.

We were getting a movie every couple of years. To dedicate an entire movie to comedy. Well, it feels like a bit of a waste to me.

 Anyway, let’s see how this plays out.

So data was scheduled to observe the baku village for one week. He should be back on the enterprise by now. And admiral dougherty is calling, asking for Data’s schematics.

Data has taken the other starfleet observers hostage and is refusing to respond to orders or anser hails.

Dougherty very much views this as a malfunctioning piece of technology. Which, of course, it could be, but that probably shouldn’t be the first thing that comes to mind when dealing with a sentient android like Data.

Doughtery keeps trying to discourage Picard from approaching the planet. And Picard keeps ignoring him.

And this is where we get the one and only reference to Data’s emotion chip.

Apparently, he didn’t take it with him.

What?

In generations, it was fused into his neural net, and couldn’t be removed.

In First contact, he could de-activate it.

And now, he has apparently removed it and left it on the enterprise.

This was so badly handled, in my opinion.

You see, Michael Piller wasn’t a fan of the emotion chip idea. He felt that since Data had finally gained the thing he’d wanted all of his life, that he’d lost of the most interesting part of his character.

I disagree.

And I would say that first Contact proves my point. They did some interesting stuff in that movie with Data’s emotions. They introduced new vulnerabilities to him that he’d never had to deal with before.

But the interesting thing is, in an early draft of this script, Piller actually did some interesting stuff with Data. He had him dealing with some new realities. He’d gotten what he’d always wanted, but it had brought some unexpected disadvantages. For instance, he longer enjoyed playing poker. This was interesting. He could have done a lot with this.

But instead of moving forward, he went backwards, and he essentially erased all of Data’s character development since Generations.

I was really unhappy about this.

This was a mistake.

Data’s arc in this movie was about him learning what it’s like to be a child. It’s something we might have seen as a subplot in a TNG episode. And I found it very unsatisfying.

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

Anyway, given this strange turn of events with Data, Picard decides to delay Worf’s return to Deep Space Nine, and ask him to join them. I’m not sure that’s especially warranted, story-wise, but it keeps Worf in the movie.

Picard all but disobeys the Admiral here, by setting a course for the briar patch.

I guess Dougherty didn’t explicitly forbid him from coming, he just discouraged it. He said “It’s not a good idea. Just get me Data’s schematics.”

Picard thinks something is off about this whole affair.

This is also the first appearance of the new Admiral uniform. In DS9, while most characters wore the new grey movie uniforms, admirals continued to wear the bright red admiral uniform. It was a bit glaring. We actually see Admiral Ross transition to the new uniform during the early part of season 6, after this movie had shown.

And this is our introduction to Ruafo, the movie’s alien villain, played by legendary actor F Murray Abraham.

Although he’s hardly recognisable under the alien prosthetics. And frankly I’m not sure this movie gives him a chance to really show why he’s such a legendary actor.

I like the dinosaur-esque aliens that work for the Sona.

The Sona ship is also pretty cool. A bit of a unique design for Star Trek.

I also like the ship that data is flying. Very federation, but quite unique. Bigger than a shuttle but smaller than a starship. And quite different to a runabout.

The visual effects for the briar patch are nothing out of the ordinary by today’s standards, but at the time they looked amazing, and they still look great today. There’s some clear inspiration from real hubble telescope images.

Riker and Troi are investigating the sona, to see what they’re all about.

Not only have they enslaved two primitive races, but they are known to have produced mass quantities of ketracel white.

Every Star Trek fan at the time knew what this was. It’s the drug used by the founders to control the Jem Hadar soldiers.

Sisko and his crew risked everything to destroy a ketrecel white facility in Cardassian space. Very recently.

We are at war with the dominion, and the Sona are helping them create the very weapons that are killing our people.

The sona are the enemy.

Troi’s question “why would we be involved with these people” is the understatement of the millennium.

It makes absolutely no sense.

Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate the DS9 reference. I appreciate that they are again, at least acknowledging the war, but it just doesn’t work.

Riker and Troi are acting like “Oh, so they’re drug dealers. That’s not nice.” But it’s so much more than that. The sona are enemy agents. They’re working for the dominion. In season 7 of DS9, we even hear Damar and Wyoun talking about how the sona are requesting dominion assistance to protect one of their ketrecel white factories.

In this scene, we also get our first hints of something rekindling between Troi and Riker

For some reason, they changed the hologram-esque viewscreen sound from First contact with the standard cut and beep in this movie. Not sure why. It’s just another thing that gives this movie a more TV feel.

Picard and Worf go out in a shuttle to capture and deactivate Data.

So Picard tries to distract data by singing a gilbert and sulivan song that he’d recently been rehearsing.

I think this was supposed to be funny. It just makes me cringe.

Picard asks Worf if he knows Gilbert and Sulivan, and he says he hasn’t had time to meet all the new crewmembers. Why would Picard expect Worf to know 19th century earth composers? Sure he spent much of his childhood on earth, but still.

I think this was supposed to be funny as well.

The bit where the two ships are connected together is pretty suspenseful.

So they’ve captured data and they beam down to the baku village.

This movie has one big strength over most of the other TNG movies. They get out of the soundstage and do a lot of location shooting. Generations had those beautiful vistas on Veridian III but nothing in First contact or nemesis can compare to the beautiful exterior shots we see in this movie.

And as I think I’ve already said, I really like the outside sets for the baku village.

The baku, while aliens, look completely human. This is a general weakness of Star trek, dating back to the 60s. Back then, it was often a budgetary issue, and I guess that could still be the case even here. I read that at one point they had considered doing something to the baku, some dots on their faces somewhere, to make them look at least a little alien.

It does seem a shame that in a big screen movie, that had supposed aliens that just looked human.

Anyway

The initial conflict wraps up pretty quick. The starfleet crew are not hostages of the backu. It was data who wouldn’t let them leave. But there’s still the mystery of what data was up to.

And then we learn that the baku are technologically advanced. They understand positronics. They once explored the galaxy with warp drive. But they have chosen not to employ their technological knowledge in their daily life. It does seem, however, that they do not wish to lose that knowledge all together.

Their leader says they believe  that “when you create a machine to do the work of a man, you take something away from the man.”

I don’t agree with that statement.

Dougherty now orders Picard to leave the briar patch, but apparently, he’s not finished here. He says he has a few loose ends to tie up, which sounds suscisious.

Now Riker comes into Troi’s office to flirt.

It’s clear that something strange is happening with these two. And yet it’s welcome to see them finally sorting themselves out. I think every TNG fan is now saying “it’s about time.”

Troi’s reaction to kissing Riker with a beard for the first time was amusing. I did actually find that funny.

Anyway, something about the way these two actors work together, I really feel the emotions between them.

It turns out, the sona, and doughtery were lying. They shot data first, before he malfunctioned.

Why would they do that? Then his ethical and moral subroutines took over.

Data’s last memory of the mission is following some children in the hills in his isolation suit.

So, we beam down to the planet to try to retrace his steps.

The kids have a little alien animal as a pet. By today’s standard’s it’s not great CGI, but at the time it was pretty significant and impresive.

This is the beginning of Data’s relationship with the baku boy. The boy is uncomfortable around data, even afraid, because these people have rejected technology. As data says, I am the embodiment of all they have rejected.

Cut back to riker and troi, who are sharing a bath together. Troi is shaving riker.

Apparently, they had to very carefully place the soap bubbles around Troi’s chest so as to maintain their intended PG rating.

Data finds the lake. And it looks incredible. They found a beautiful place to film the scene, and the water with the snow-capped mountains stand in wonderfully for a paradise planet.

I love it.

Picard tells the boy that Data doesn’t breath.

Which is wrong, because it was established in Birthright part 1, in a conversation between data and Bashir, that he does breath.to maintain thermal control of his internal systems.

Anyway, data uncovers a cloaked ship under the lake. A federation ship.

The effects for the cloacked doors opening looked pretty cool. And this is the second major plot point stolen from a TNG episode.

The ship is a giant holodeck containing a duplicate of the baku village.

It seems they plan to beam them on board during the night, they wake up in a holodeck, not knowing they aren’t on their planet any longer.

And so this is Worf’s arc in the movie. He gets pimples. Great.

We get two important pieces of information from Crusher. The sona refuse to be examined, and the federation crew from the planet are in suprisingly good health. Better than they should be.

Picard puts it together and beams down to the planet.

The Baku came from a solar system where terrible wars with technology weapons threatened all life. They came here to escape it. They haven’t aged in 300 years. There’s a metaphasic radiation in the planet’s rings that keeps them from aging.

Aging vs growing up

Admiral dougharty and the Sona planned to discreetly move the baku from this planet so they can harvest the radiation for themselves.

Anij explains that some young baku are attracted to a faster pace of life.

Picard points out that those in the federation would sell their souls to slow it down.

Picard is temped by perpetual youth, but darkest chapters in earth’s history are the forced removal of a small group of people to satisfy the demands of a large one.

This ties in the with classic Star Trek theme of the needs of many vs needs of few.

There’s a nice character scene between Picard and Anij. Almost romantic.

I don’t mind the relationship between them, but ultimately, it’s just a romance of the week and will never be addressed again. I hate romances of the week. I find them a ridiculous artefact of 20th century TV. But ultimately, I, like I think a lot of others, felt this was just a distraction from the real relationship between Picard and Crusher, which still, to this day, really hadn’t been explored.

They wanted to give Picard some romance. Fine, so use the character he already has such a connection to. 

Also, nice moment with geordi, where he gets to see a sunrise for the first time. 

Picard gives one of his famous speeches. It’s a  reasonably good one.

This planet is in federation space. The sona have the technology to harvest the particles. That means Starfleet and the Sona are partners in this. They need each other.

There is some nuance here, though. The sona are dying. That’s why they’re constantly going through horrific surgical procedures to replenish their bodies. The particles in this planet’s rings could save their lives. Many of them are so far gone that the slow exposure just from living on the planet won’t be enough. They’ll die before it has a chance to improve their condition.

These particles could also save the lives of the sick throughout the Federation.

So by refusing to vacate the planet, in a sense, the Baku are condemning these Sona to death. But can you force a group of people out of their home to help the sick? And don’t forget, these sick are enemies of the Federation, working with the Dominion.

And is the Sona’s current state natural? We’ll talk a bit more about this a little later, after we learn more about their nature.

Dougherty says we’re only talking about 600 people.

Ad Picard asks an important question. “How many people does it take, Admiral? Before it becomes wrong?”

Again, needs of the many vs needs of the few.

So Picard is ordered to release the Sona and leave the system.

There’s nothing more he can do, short of outright disobeying.

And so, he goes to his quarters, and removes his rank pips.

Now that the big secret has been uncovered, the Sona see no need to bother with the holo ship anymore. They’re just going to move the Baku by force.

Picard’s senior crew find him getting ready to sneak off the ship. Of course, they’re with him. I like the moment where Data points out that the effects of the radiation could be stimulating feelings of rebelliousness common to youth in all of them, except him.

To be honest, this is probably true.

But that does change the fact that they believe this is the right thing to do. And so does Data. But I like how they ask him for an objective opinion.

Picard’s hope is that they won’t begin the procedure while the planet is inhabited. This is likely true of Dougharty, but what of the Sona? Will they really hold back from killing the Baku if necessary?

Picard says “It’s too easy to turn a blind eye to the suffering of a people you don’t know.” so Riker is to take the Enterprise out of the brier patch to blow the lid on this whole conspiracy.

The goal is to get the baku to some caves where natural minerals will prevent them from being beamed away.

Then we get a nice action scene as fighters fly down and shoot up the village. I felt the tension.

Also, the Sona transporter effect is pretty cool.

There’s some tension between Dougharty and the Sona. They’re willing to go a lot further than he is. He still wants to keep his support in the Federation council. But Ruaffu talks him around to taking that next step over the line. He agrees to let the Sona ships go an dintercept the Enterprise. To fire on a Starfleet Ship. At a Starfleet admiral’s orders.

I like the scene as the Baku trek through the countryside. This gave me Lord of theRings vibes.

So the little boy is finally starting to talk to Data.

And we get the next stage of Data’s arc in this movie. We’ve long explored his desire to be more human, but in this story, he wants to know what it’s like to be a child. There’s a nice little conversation between him and the kid, as they discuss the constant change experienced by a child. It’s a nice enough scene, but it feels like it belongs in a season 3 episode, not a movie, and not at this point in Data’s development. He is so far past all this.

So the Baku have super powers. They can slow down time. That’s an astonishing thing. Or is it just the perception of time they can manipulate. But time slows down for Picard as well. So, what? She’s causing his brain to process information at an accelerated rate, so that time appears to have slowed?

Either way, that’s pretty incredible, and the movie does virtually nothing with it.

But I must say, the visual effects here are pretty cool, especially for the time it was made.

And then we get the weird boob scene. Data overhears Crusher and Troi talking about their boobs. And then he goes and repeats their words to Worf. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Data doesn’t have boobs. Worf doesn’t have boobs. Data knows that neither Worf or himself have boobs. And this has got to be the record for the number of times I’ve ever said boobs in a podcast. Sorry about that.

I’ve got no idea what I’m supposed to take away from this scene. Probably another of those things that are meant to be funny.

The drones that tag people for transport are kinda cool. Another nice little action scene.

So Geordi is sitting at the helm, instead of in engineering, just so he can be in the scene. I guess he’s acting first officer, so makes sense for him to be on the bridge, to exchange opinions with Riker. When things get dicey, he does go straight down to engineering.

So the Sona use an illegal subspace weapon against the Enterprise. If they have this technolgoy I can’t help but wonder why the Jem’ Hadar aren’t using it against the Federation and their allies, but anyway.

It doesn’t bother me that Riker is now sitting at the helm. They’re doing a complex menouvre and it’s been well established in TNG that Riker is the best pilot on the ship.

So they eject the warp core and detonate it to stop the weapon.

Ok.

So now they’re stranded. It’ll probably take them decades to get to the nearest starbase now, unless they’re towed by another ship, but at least they’re in one piece.

And then we get our obligatory minor swear word that seems to have become a part of Star Trek movies since Star Trek 5. Just one per movie to keep it edgy.

And then Riker activates the manual steering column. Which is a joystick.

Ok.

I don’t really have an opinion on this. It seemed unnecessary and felt a little out of place, but whatever.

All in all, the space battle was pretty weak, but the visuals of the gas were nice for their time.

There’s a wounded or dead Sona soldier on the ground. Not sure where it came from, since the Sona are using automated drones to tag the Backu, but Crusher learns something important by scanning his body. So I guess it’s just a plot convenience.

So what happens in every movie that stars a kid? They lose something, a pet, or a teddy bear, and they run back to get it, which means our heroes have to go after them.

Yep, that happens here too.

So Picard an Anij are trapped by a cave-in.

Anij is injured. They need to get through the rocks quickly so he can get medical attention.

And so now, Picard also has the Baku super magic powers.

The movie makes it pretty clear it’s picard who does this, not Anij,

So...ok. Picard is a human. And he “learned” how to stop time.

The only explanation I can come up with is it’s something to do with the radiation on this planet.

So we now have super radiation that can not only regenerate human cells to prevent aging, but also grants people magic abilities to manipulate time.

That’s a lot to ask of radion. And is a number of steps too far for me.

This is the one time they actually do something meaningful to the plot with this magic power. It’s never used to solve their primary story problem. It all falls a bit flat for me.

Those beautiful vistas in this movie continue to impress me. It’s the main thing that keeps this movie feeling cinematic.

Of course there’s no reason for the drones to hover menacingly before attacking.

So Picard and Anij get tagged and are beamed up to the Sona ship.

Ruaffu has had enough of this. If the baku want to stay on the planet, let them. He’s going to launch the injector, which will kill everyone down there.

This is one line that Doughtery doesn’t feel he can cross, so we’ll see where that takes us in a minute.

But first, Picard reveals what Crusher learned from her scan.

The Sona and the Baku are the same race.

Ok. So years ago a group of young baku wanted to live the ways of the offworlders. They wanted technology. So instead of going off on their own, they tried to take over the colony. When they failed, they were exiled to die slowly.

What this means exactly, we’re not sure. We know they were young when they left the planet, so their lives haven’t been extended unnaturally at this point. It seems more than just the fact that away from the planet they became mortal like the rest of us. No, I’d say their bodies became dependant on the radiation which means that away from it, their bodies deteriorate more quickly than they should.

This opens up all kinds of cans of works.

First of all, it means that by removing the baku from their planet, we’d be killing them too.

It also means that the Baku condemned their rebellious children to death.

This movie tries to play itself very black and white, and I do agree, obviously, that what Doughtery and Ruaffu have been trying to do all this time is wrong. I believe some things in life ARE black and white. But sometimes, these issues are difficult. There is more subtlety and complexity to this whole thing than I think the movie fully allows itself to explore.

Dougherty now realises he’s been wrong all along. This was an important moment in the movie. Gene Roddenberry always hated the idea of the Federation being the bad guys, and Rick Berman very much carried Roddenberry’s flame. It woldn’t suprise me if a last minute redemption of dougherty was madated by Berman.

The tragedy of it all is Doughterty says “It was for the Federation. It was all for the Federation.”

But, you can’t bring good out of evil, can you?

So doughtery tries to stop Ruaffu and fails. Ruaffu kils him in a somwhat gruesome scene.

The camera zooms out before it gets too bad.

There’s a nice little moment when we see Picard tampering with a control panel. He didn’t succeed, but it shows that he wasn’t just sitting on his hands in that cell. Of course he’d be actively trying to escape.

So Picard tries to talk Gulnar out of it all. To make him feel guilty so he’ll change his mind.

It’s the same thing he tried with Soran back in Generations.

Trying to sway the bad guy with his words.

The twist is that this time, it works.

This was a cool moment and I wasn’t really expecting it, although Gulnar’s discomfort with the latest development was foreshadowed.

Picard has a clever plan. As long as ruaffu doesn’t know anything is wrong, he won’t override Gulnar’s authorisation.

Data weakens their shield and then beams the bridge crew into the holoship. Into a simulation of their bridge. The same trick they planned to use against the Baku. Nice one.

But i’m very suprused none of the bridge crew know what it feels like to be transported with their own technology. That’s a hard one for me to swallow.

We see the moment it happens. There’s a glow and Ruaffu says “What was that.” As an audience we don’t yet understand what just happened.

So ruafuu deploys the collect and we get to see it in all its horror, but it’s fake. Ruaffo notices a glitch in the holodeck, but it’s too late.

And we get that terrible scream. Was that meant to be reminiscent of Kirk’s Khaaaan in Star Trek 2?

Now ruaffo has to go directly to the collector to re-activate it. So Picard has to go on board and stop him.

They technobabble a way to beam Picard through the shields.

And this movie continues the trent from First contact, making Picard an action hero.

This time he gets to have a shooting fight with ruaffo.

So this planet has helped Riker and Troi remember how they feel about each other, and that will continue on in the next film, which is great.

Picard arranges a reunion between baku mother and sona son. To start the healing process.

He hopes the two groups can over come their differences.

Except those sona who are too far gona and will shortly die from their condition, of course. But we won’t talk about that, because this movie is light-hearted and “Fun”

Picard intends to continue pursuing a relationship with Anij. He says he’ll use his shore leave to come back to her when he can.

Of course, we’ll never hear of her again. In the end, it’s just another stupid romance of the week.

The movie closes out with Data playing the hay with the kid. “It’s time to go home now.”

This is the culmination of Data’s arc, learning about what it is to be a child. And it falls really really flat for me.

So then the crew beam back up to the ship as the TNG theme plays and the enterprise warps off to it’s next adventure.

It feels so much like a stock weekly TV ending. Nothing has changed in the universe. And apart from Riker and Troi, nothing has changed in our characters.

I came out of the cinema, having seen this for the first time, feeling a little empty.

Is that it?

There was a lot of elements in this movie that I liked, and I can enjoy this film on re-watches, but it kinda missed the mark for me.

But it’s still lightyears better than what would follow it in the form of Star Trek Nemesis.

So by now, I’m sure you’ve heard the news. The Snyder Cut is coming. That’s right. The much hoped-for Zack Snyder cut of the Justice League movie is going to be a reality. It’s expected to go live on HBO Max some time next year.

I’m very excited to see how Zach’s original vision plays out for this movie and perhaps bring about a better conclusion to the story arc that began with Man of Steel.

But my first thought, when I heard the news was “that’s nice, but will I get to see it?” HBO Max is an American streaming service that’s about to go online. However, there’s a lot of talk that they plan to go international with the service and it’s hoped that it will be available in many countries once the Snyder Cut releases. I’m holding my breath, hoping that Australia will be one of those. So it seems a perfect time to be delving into the DC Extended Universe movies. And that’s exactly what I’m doing. 

Next episode, in two weeks time, I’ll be talking about Man of Steel. I can’t wait to geek out over this movie with you.

Catch ya then.

It's finally official. CBS have announced that the next Star Trek show they'll be working on is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which will set set on board the USS Enterprise and will see Anson Mount reprise his role as Captain Christopher Pike, Ethan Peck as Spock and Rebecca Romjin as Number One.

It's been almost ten years since that fateful day when Stargate Universe was cancelled. Since then, we've had virtually no Stargate. However, there was a web-series produced by Stargate Command called Stargate Origins. But how did it measure up? Was it a worthwhile addition to the Stargate Universe? Let's watch it and find out.

----more----

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd

This is episode 24 of the podcast.

Today I’m going to be talking about Stargate Origins.

This movie was originally produced as a web series in 2018 as a way of testing the waters for bringing Stargate back to our screens.

It was edited into a feature length movie and titled Stargate Origins Catherine.

The series was available on the dedicated streaming service Stargate Command. I watched the first couple of episodes which were free. I always intended to pay for the subscription to finish it, but life got in the way, and the next thing I knew, the service was cancelled.

I guess I should have given it my support earlier.

Anyway, the film is available to buy or rent on youtube, so I’m gonna give it a go.

Now as I understand it, the story was created to follow on from the original Stargate movie, but perhaps not specifically intended to fit in with the canon of the TV shows.

So I’ll be very interested to see if I can make it work in canon, in my head.

The description on imdb reads

Stargate Origins explores the journey that sets a young Catherine Langford on the way to helping unlock the secrets of an ancient technology that could change the very course of humanity.

It was written by Mark Ilvedson, Justin Michael Terry

Directed by  Mercedes Bryce Morgan

And it first aired on the 19th of june 2018

Let’s watch Stargate Origins: Catherine.

We open in Giza, Egypt 1928

These Scenes mirror very closely the original Stargate movie, as the gate is discovered.

Then we just forward 10 years.

It’s 1938

Catherine is all grown up. She’s studying the gate, still trying to figure out what it is

Catherine is played by Aussie actor Ellie Gall. She’s using an American accent. In the original movie, she sounded european.

Her father is played by Conner Trinier who we’ll know as Trip Tucker in Star Trek Enterprise, or as Michael in Stargate Atlantis. Surprisingly, he looks the part, although I’m really not sure he’s quite old enough to be playing Catherine’s father.

The gate is still in Egypt. That’s where they are.

They’re out of funding so it looks like it’s all over.

And then some Nazis break in.

Note that this is just one year before the stargate will be transported to America, where the Nazis will make a second attempt to get their hands on it.

The Nazis have a Picture of the stargate transporing people. We’ve seen it before in the movie. On Abydos, I think.

Nazis are always a good mix with acherology adventures. So their inclusion here is logical and welcome.

They are powering the gate themselves and dialing it manually. That’s concistent with SG1.

We see the standard whoosh effect and then the backwards whoosh out the back of the gate, just like in movie. The TV show never did that but, it is canon according to the movie.

The Nazis have figured out the address, but the Langfords don’t see what the dialing sequence is. So that kinda works.

The Nazis push langford through the gate and follow him.

Catherine steals the notes from the Nazi guard.

Then we cut to Catherine’s boyfriend. He’s a british military officer stationed in Egypt.

Catherine goes to him and his mate Wassif  for help.

Now we get to see langford arriving through the gate.

This is clearly meant to be Abydos. It’s looking a lot more pristince. Like a brand new movie set. Not an ancient pyramid.

And we see a DHD. This is a piece of lore that was introduced by SG1, so it’s clear at this point that they’re not abandoning the TV shows. Which is wonderful.

They mention it is just like the one they have in Berlin. So that’s interesting. That’s where the Earth DHD is at the moment. The Russians will eventually have it. Perhaps they take it as spoils after Germany is defeated at the end of world war 2.

There are instances of rather silly humour in this movie. Not the kind of humour in SG1. Jack O’Neil gave some great one-liners. This is a much sillier and a more juvenile kind of humour. Which I’m not really into.

We get to see areas of the abydos pyramid we haven’t seen before. There’s a throne room.

Langford tries to speak to them in ancient egyptian. It took Daniel a while to figure out why to pronounce it. The aliens don’t seem to understand, or at least, don’t care to respond.

Langford assumes they’ve travelled through time into the past. An interesting assumption and not entirely unreasonable. Except for the advanced weapon used by the Goa’huld lady.

So at this point, thanks to the Nazi’s notes, Catherine has the address to dial abydos.

Even earnest didn’t figure that out, back in SG1. He went to another planet entirely.

Catherine never figured out how to dial Abydos until Daniel offered his help.

How are they going to explain this?

And she knows to use the point of origin symbol for earth. That’s a real problem.

Jame’s reluctance to enter the gate is emotionally believable. Catherine wants to rescue her father. She’ll risk anything for that. But for James, this represents a very dangerous unknown. He’s a military man. He’s used to doing things a certain way. Walking into that thing like this would be an irresponsible act.

But, they are convinced by the threat of the nazis bringing back an unknown technology.

Catherine takes a moment to appreciate the wonder of the gate.

Just like Daniel does in the movie.

Then she steps in and we are treated to the first person view through the wormhole. Man, I’ve missed that.

It’s a good reproduction of the original effect.

The temple is clean because it’s being maintained by the human slaves. It still looks too new, though.

So how did the Nazi know the address for Earth? Daniel found it on a tablet here on Abydos. Maybe Catherine was just typing in the same code that brought them here, but of course, the point of origin symbol is different, so she doesn’t know what to do.

The floating balls are new. I wonder what they’re about.

I’m wondering why is the warrior hitting them with her staff weapon when she could just shoot them?

And where do the rings beam her to? There’s no ship above, is there? It might be in orbit.

We see a boy with a bucket …. And I wonder … could he be a young Kursaf? That would be cool.

Things get interesting here. The Goahuld woman has a baby, and we learn this is a harcesis. The offspring of two goahuld hosts. Strictly forbidden because it will contain the genetic memory of the goahuld.

They really are drawing on the lore of SG1. This is cool.

So the warrior is Serqet. An Egyptian scorpion goddess. Generally thought of as a protective godess but she also had a darker side. It seems she and her queen are  hiding here to raise the illegal child. Ra doesn’t know of it. It also seems they’re part of a revolution. I wonder … could they be Tok’ra?

We Still don’t know the name of the queen.

And it turns out, I was right. The kid is Kasuf!

He reminds me a lot of Skarra. Which makes sense. Since Skarra will be his son.

But I’m confused. James name is now Bill?

So, in the struggle, trying to escpae from the human slaves, Wassif is stabbed. But the slaves have a goa’huld healing device.

Of course, when they see the pendant with the symbol of Ra, they react much the same way their descendants will in the original Stargate movie.

So having seen the home movie footage of Hitler, the go’huld resistance are considering allying with the nazis.

I could think of better allies to choose.

So the queen wants more slaves for her cause. Guess she’s still got that evil streak we would expect from a guahuld.

The queen offers the nazis a small piece of naquata. Of course, they don’t understand its value.

Until  she demonstrates.

Apparently it also can be used to offer eternal youth. I suppose it is one of the active components of the sarcophagus.

The queen’s name is Aset. She has fallen out of favour with Ra, which we already know.

Aset is another name for Isis.  Goddess of magic, fertility and motherhood. Makes sense that she’d be the mother of the hecsis.

Isis has been mentioned in SG1 before. Apparently, in the future, her symbiote will end up in a jar, imprisoned by Seth.

The big mystery here is, how did the nazi know so much?

Catherine begins to understand there is more at stake here than just her father. The Nazis cannot be allowed to have access to this alien technology. But she kind of already knew that, because that’s how she convinced her male companions to join her through the gate.

So Catherine and Jamess/Bill are offered Kasuf’s tent for the night. I always find it odd in period pieces like this where people have sex outside of marriage. I’m sure it happened, but it certainly wasn’t accepted in the way that it tends to be nowdays.

Next morning, the goa’huld appear with langford in tow.

James/Bill is wise to advise caution to Catherine. They can see her father is ok. But they can’t effectively rescue him right now.

And the Nazi woman is realising how evil her boss is. Even amongst other nazis he stands out as bad.

At the same time, Kasuf begins to see that Aset is not all she’s cracked up to be.

There’s a nice little callback when Kasuf says reading is forbidden.

Kasuf sends them to the same cave where Shari takes Daniel, where they can find the address to dial earth.

So at this point in time, the tablet with the address is complete. The point of origin has not yet worn off, but it’s cracked. Nice little touch.

And then we learn that catherine deliberately destroyed the seventh symbol so the nazis couldn’t find the way home. That’s kinda cool.

So just as the nazi leader is gonna kill langford, Ra shows up in his spaceship.

I also find it a little surprising that Catherine and James are not at least a little shocked when Wasif and the man who stabbed him begin to kiss.

Again, of course there were people with same-sex attraction in the 30s, and I have no doubt they acted on it, but it wasn’t socially accepted then as it is now. The scene just felt a little forced, especially since the relationship is portrayed so shallowly. For that matter, Catherine and James’ relationship is pretty shallow too. Romantic relationships are definitely not the strength of this movie.

The nazi no longer cares about serving Hitler. He’s beyond earth politics. He wants to rule earth as a god, just like the goa’huld.

And so he’s killed by his own associate. She kills him in the name of Hitler, but at least she kills him.

And then, sequet turns out to be working for Ra!

And this is how they make this movie work in canon. Aset erases all of their memories.

More than that, she plants the suggestion in their minds to assemble a team to one day return through the stargate to defeat Ra.

Which of course, is exactly what will happen.

So Wassif and the other guys are turned into Horus Guards! That could even explain why some of the Horus guards in the movie don’t have Jaffa pouches.

And it turns out, that wasn’t the same temple as in the movie, which explains why it didn’t quite look the same. The gate is moved and that temple is destroyed.

Poor Catherine isn’t very lucky in love. James gave his life for her and she doesn’t even remember him. And then later, earnest gets stranded on an alien planet.

So that was an interesting little story. It adds a little to the Stargate mythos, but in a lot of ways, it feels like an inferior copy of the original movie. It certainly mirrors most of the story beats.

Still, it was nice to see something, anything, stargate, on screen again.

I can see why this web series didn’t exactly set the fandom on fire, and it’s sad that nothing more has happened since 2019. I can only hope that this isn’t the last we’ll see of Stargate.

Reportedly, MGM are interested in talking to people like Brad Wright to maybe bring the franchise back to life.

Only time will tell, but the recent return of Jean-Luc Picard to our screens proves that it’s never too late.