Dominion and Heavy Metal Reviews (SBU Podcast)

A review of the new SyFy series pilot for Dominion, and Ken From Honolulu's thoughts on "Heavy Metal"!

Son Of Batman Review (SBU Podcast)

Free Marvel Anime and a review of "Son Of Batman"!

Justice League: War and Plan 9 From Outer Space (SBU Podcast)

A review of "Justice League: War", the DC animated movie, and Ken From Honolulu's review of "Plan 9 From Outer Space"! Plus, part 2 of our look at Christian Geekery And "Escapist" Entertainment.


SUBMISSIONS/FEEDBACK

Submit Questions, Comments or Content(written or audio file) to:
paeter(at)spiritblade(dot)net
OR
visit spiritblade.net/underground to leave a recorded message with your phone or computer for me to play on the show!I'd love for you to be a part of this podcast!
(For more information, visit spiritblade.net/submissions)

MORE CONTENT
 For Community, Free Stuff and TONS more, explore the rest of the growing "Spirit Blade" universe at-  http://www.spiritblade.net

CREDITS
The Spirit Blade Underground Podcast is written, recorded and produced by Paeter Frandsen, with additional segments produced by their credited authors.
Copyright 2014, Spirit Blade Productions
Music by Wesley Devine, Bjorn A. Lynne, Pierre Langer, Jon Adamich and Sound Ideas.
Spazzmatica Polka by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Freesound.org effects provided by: FreqMan















DIRECT DOWNLOAD- http://www.spiritblade.net/podcastepisodes/SBU-305-Justice_League_War_and_Plan_9_From_Outer_Space.mp3

Tolkien Talk and Flashpoint Paradox Review (SBU Podcast)

Paeter compares thoughts on the Tolkien movies with a hardcore Tolkien geek and Matt McKinney reviews DC's "The Flashpoint Paradox"!

Avatar: The Last Airbender Series Review (SBU Podcast)

A review of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, our final "Summer Of Free" Segment for 2013 and what it means for geeks to "honor thy father and thy mother".

Superman/Doomsday (DVD Review)

Partially master-minded by Bruce Timm, the man who brought us all things "DC Animated" since the 90's "Batman: The Animated Series", this film should have been better than it was.


The animation was not much better (if at all) than the Justice League or Superman animated tv shows, and I've enjoyed multi-episode story arcs from both shows more than I enjoyed this film. Although the aim was to re-tell the classic story of Superman's death and return, the script strayed too far from the source material to bring any of the magic of the comic book to life.


Now, I'm a reasonable comic book fan. The cast of characters in the comic book story was FAR too big to include here. And they must have felt they didn't have time to do the "Reign of the Supermen" story. In it's place, we have a pretty uncreative story of Lex Luthor creating a clone of Superman to do his bidding in the absence of the real McCoy. But even a nod to the Eradicator by using his Superman costume for the clone would have been nice.


Instead we have a ho-hum fight with Doomsday (and this is due largely to mediocre animation), an odd mix of Lois KIND OF knowing Superman is Clark and at the same time not, and an "evil Superman" plot that feels like a real disappointment compared to the original story concept. With great animation coming from the line of Marvel animated movies, this offering from DC falls incredibly short. I purchased it only because no Blockbuster in my city is carrying it. Good for them.


Despite all of these failures, I really loved this DVD. The reason? The special features! Namely the documentary about the creation of the original comic book storyline. I thought I knew the hows and whys of DC's choice to kill Superman, but I didn't know the half of it. Here's a hint. "Lois and Clark" the TV show, actually gets the credit for killing Superman, even though he was killed in the comics before the first episode aired!! Curious how it came about? I couldn't believe it myself!


The documentary runs about an hour and kept me glued to my seat as the writers and editors of DC (at the time of the "death" story arc) all returned to tell the amazing tale. Some of the writers even get choked up as they talk about the "Death Of Superman" story, and I'll admit, I wiped away a couple tears as well while I was reminded of the great drama that grabbed us from the comic pages in the fall of 1992. The documentary also does a great job of taking you back in time to when the events unfolded on the news and in mainstream newspapers and magazines. This documentary alone makes the purchase valid for me.


Also included is an exciting preview for DC's next animated feature, "Justice League: The New Frontier". This project looks MUCH more promising in terms of animation quality. This mini-documentary on the making of New Frontier may be included on that project's DVD, but it's still very enjoyable to watch.


In terms of Relevance, watching the "Death" documentary with another comic fan may allow opportunity to discuss the definition of heroism, or to draw comparisons to Christ.


The Movie-
Quality: 6.0
Relevance:5.0

Special Features-
Quality: 8.0
Relevance:7.0

Doctor Strange (Movie Review)

Although I'm not a huge Marvel Comics fan, I am a huge superhero fan, and so it was only a matter of time before I picked up a copy of Marvel's latest animated feature film, "Doctor Strange".
Like it's three predecessors, the animation in this film was fantastic, and the visual design remarkable. After watching this film, I felt a strong desire to play some more "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" and to swap Doctor Strange into my team. The score was a great compliment and the musical "theme" during the opening credits felt very appropriate, if slightly derivative of Danny Elfman. The voice acting was also very well and done.
The weaker point for this film, in my opinion, is the amount of time spent on the origin of Doctor Strange. The film is essentially just his origin story, and not until the very end do we see a glimpse of the real power that we know Strange has in the comics. So if you're looking for a Doc Strange film where he's really cutting loose and behaving like the "Sorcerer Supreme", you'll want to wait for a sequel and just rent this one. That said, there is still a lot of great magic happening through Strange and the large supporting cast of mystics.
In terms of Relevance, there's not a whole lot in this film that will spark meaningful coffee house conversation, although you might find some opportunity to discuss eastern philosophy or relativism after watching the movie with someone. As Strange is being trained, one of the lessons he must learn implies that reality is directly linked to perception. A very relativistic concept.
In the end, I almost wish I had rented instead of bought, but I was also a little sleepy while I watched it, and was interrupted a few times while viewing. I may have a better appreciation for it after watching it again in a few months. But for now:
Quality: 8.0/10
Relevance: 6.5/10