Feature Category: Article

In the 19th Century, the fictional works of Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, along with a whole army of long-forgotten imitators, helped to set the foundations for what in 1926 Hugo Gernsback termed, ‘science fiction’. Their stories usually centred on marvellous machines and devices that could help us explore our world and beyond.

As an example, Jules Verne’s 31st novel Robur the Conqueror, starts with sightings throughout the world of strange lights in the sky. It transpires that these sightings are created by a flying machine invented by Robur. He abducts three sceptics and takes them on a tour of the world, whilst astronomers explain the sightings of this craft as optical and celestial misperceptions.

Such a scenario became real in the USA when newspapers throughout 1896 and 1897 reported hundreds of observations of strange objects in the sky and encounters with their inventors. Many of these sightings were probably produced by misidentifications of celestial objects, pranksters sending balloons aloft with lights attached to them or outright journalistic hoaxes.

Looking back, we can see these visions in the sky were based on the fiction of Verne and his imitators, the widely-distributed designs of aircraft inventors, and of primitive aircraft being tested in secret. The scientific romances of the nineteenth century and the science fiction of the twentieth century, all displayed a sense of wonder at the possibilities science and technology opened up for the future.

The initial optimism came to be mixed with several forebodings. H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds (1897) played with the fear of foreign invaders who are literally alien, whilst even Verne realised that technology could be used for evil as well as good. In 1904, the year before his death, he published The Master of the World, which was a sequel to Robur the Conqueror. The wonderful flying machine is aptly called the ‘Terror’ and Robur, its inventor, threatens that:

‘My machine will be neither French nor German, nor Austrian nor Russian, nor English or American… The invention will remain my own, and I shall use it as it pleases me…With it, I hold control of the entire world, and there lies no force within the reach of humanity which is able to resist me, under no circumstance whatsoever.’

The danger presented by aircraft in the early 20th Century dwelt heavily on the minds of politicians and the public. In Britain, the powerful German Zeppelins symbolised the new power of technology to usurp the Royal Navy that had protected these shores from invasion for hundreds of years.

Newspapers, magazines, comics, cartoons and plays all featured real and fictional aircraft. A new source of influence, particularly on the working classes, was the cinema. British filmmakers in the 1900s borrowed heavily from the popular literary invasion-scare sub-genre. The image of the airship or aeroplane was a powerful and highly photogenic expression of foreign intrusion. These films included The Airship Destroyer (1909), The Invaders (1909), England Invaded (1909), An Englishman’s Home (1909), If England Were Invaded (1913), Wake Up! (1914), and England’s Menace (1914). 

It is no surprise that with these images so firmly established in the media that in real life they were used as templates for interpreting anything unusual in the sky. In Britain, numerous sightings of what were regarded as enemy German aircraft were reported in 1909, 1913 and throughout the years of the First World War. The same occurred in other parts of the world where the shadow of the Zeppelin threatened their existence.

In our own Flying Saucer Age, any unusual object or light in the sky is now interpreted as an alien spaceship or something equally exotic, or explained away by the sceptics. Now, and in the past, we can see that the media has a powerful role in our beliefs, expectations and perception especially when we are dealing with ambiguous phenomenon in stressful situations.

You can read more about this wave of UFO sightings in the book UFOS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR: PHANTOM AIRSHIPS, BALLOONS, AIRCRAFT AND OTHER MYSTERIOUS AERIAL PHENOMENA – out now.

Given the glut of comic book-based shows either on TV or currently in development, it’s fair to say that The CW is firmly at the front of the charge with their excellent pairing of Arrow and The Flash. With Arrow currently on its third season, and with The Flash only in the infancy of a first season, both shows ended their 2014 runs by giving fans some truly explosive, jaw-dropping mid-season finales that threw up plenty of questions as to what lies ahead for the shared universe shows. With both shows returning to US screens this week, and with UK returns to follow in February, we thought we’d take a look at just what we’re looking forward to in the rest of the shows’ respective seasons.

 

Firestorm

Just as the particle accelerator accident gave Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) superspeed, The Flash has revealed that it wasn’t just Barry who was altered on that fateful night. As each new episode gave introduction to what could’ve easily come across as a new ‘freak of the week’ effort (much like how some of Smallville’s seasons played out), The Flash has managed to make most of its expanding villain roster memorable or at least a threat to the Scarlet Speedster. We’ve had plays on the likes of Weather Wizard, Multiplex, Girder, Rainbow Raider, Plastique, and a brilliant turn from Wentworth Miller as Captain Cold, but we now have another hero seemingly on the horizon: Firestorm! Ronnie Raymond, as played by Robbie Amell (cousin of a certain Emerald Archer chap), has been referenced at several points so far during Season 1, with poor Ronnie, fiancé of Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker), seemingly suffering a hero’s death when things went a little array with S.T.A.R. Labs’ particle accelerator. Having seen Caitlin often struggle to deal with the loss of her ‘one true’, the last few episodes of The Flash’s 2014 run saw Ronnie revealed to be alive. Now all dark and broody, and having likely partaken in his share of hobo fights for spare chips, Ronnie stepped out of the shadows and saved The Flash’s red-suited behind at the climax of the mid-season finale, The Man in the Yellow Suit. And before you could say “Flame on!”, Ronnie flew off into the night, all fire and brimstone. Even though the episode had earlier seen the show’s new hot-head channelling his inner Snake Plissken (apparently there’s no longer Ronnie Raymond… “Call me Firestorm!”), it’d be plain ridiculous of any viewer to not believe there’s still plenty of Ronnie inside the inferno that is Firestorm, with a whole lot more expected to come from him and former fiancé Caitlin. Expect to see inner turmoil, plenty of brooding, brief rekindling of an old romance, and some SFX work that will likely be better than what we’ll be getting in 20th Century Fox’s upcoming Fantastic Four reboot. It’ll be interesting to see how things play out for The Flash now that they’ll be introducing a new hero to Central City. Already there’s been speculation of a spin-off show for the character, but it’s far too early for any of that talk to be taken seriously. Either way, expect Firestorm to play a big role as Season 1 of The Flash plays out, especially as Martin Stein, often combining with Ronnie to create Firestorm in the comic book world, is set to debut later this season.

 

Black Canary

Ever since Arrow debuted, fans have been waiting for the moment that “Dinah” Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) would go on to follow in her comic book self’s footsteps. And by that we mean become Black Canary. The show has stepped in and around the issue at various points, leading fans to both believe that we will and will not see Laurel make the transition to suited-up heroine. Hell, it appears that after a few fleeting mentions in the first season, the whole “Dinah” part of her name has pretty much been ignored, almost as if the show were trying to distance her from the Canary stories. Then came the arrival of Canary in Starling City… only it wasn’t Laurel. Instead we saw believed-dead sister Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) joining The Arrow’s (Stephen Amell) crusade to protect Starling City and the greater good. The thing is, Sara proved to be a badass Canary! After initial uncertainty from fans on the matter, as in why is Sara Lance actually the show’s Black Canary, it was made clear that Sara’s character was Canary not Black Canary. Following the death of Sara (something we’re still struggling with), Laurel is on a crash course to become her own hero. With official shots having been released of Katie Cassidy’s Laurel suited and booted for action, not to mention the regular mentions of Sara Lance’s black jacket, it looks as if we’re finally going to see Black Canary in Arrow. Fans have pointed to the fact that surely only a few weeks’ worth of training from “Wildcat” Ted Grant (J.R. Ramirez) wouldn’t be enough to have Laurel holding her own against Starling’s meanest and baddest (and soon to be Vinny Jones – don’t you know he was the Juggernaut once, bitch?), and it looks as if the show will be taking the logical route on the transition. As in, Laurel will be getting the shit kicked out of her for a little while whilst she learns her trade and attempts to protect the city in The Arrow’s absence – and that begins with a three-episode Laurel-centric arc for the show as soon as it returns from its mid-season break. The character of Laurel Lance has been the most frustrating character on Arrow, so here’s hoping that the move to Black Canary gets the character on the right track and gives Katie Cassidy more to get her teeth into. And please, no more of the ‘Laurel has one glass of wine and so is automatically deemed an alcoholic’ plot arcs. Please. Pretty please.

 

The Future of Catilin Snow and Cisco Ramon

Those familiar with the DC comic book world will have instantly recognised the names of Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) and Caitlin Snow when they debuted in Season 2 of Arrow ahead of becoming stalwarts of The Flash. Much like how Oliver Queen has his ‘Team Arrow’ group of Diggle (David Ramsey), Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards), and Roy/Arsenal (Colton Haynes), Barry Allen has his own team assisting him as he strives to protect Central City. In the comic book world, Cisco and Caitlin actually have their own alter-egos. Cisco is the hero Vibe, whilst Caitlin takes a different path and becomes the cold-hearted villainess known as Killer Frost. Whilst the shockwave-powered Vibe is generally a lesser-known member of DC’s roster, Killer Frost is one of DC’s more notable rogues… not least because the moniker is one of many cold-based villains in the DC world, such as Captain Cold, Mr. Freeze, Icicle, Minister Blizzard, and Snowman. Over the years, there have been several different Killer Frosts, although the Caitlin Snow version of the character has close ties to Firestorm and his powers, which could well be something that plays out further down the line in The Flash. The big question is whether Season 1 of the show is too soon to expect Vibe and Killer Frost. We’d say it likely is. Whilst Cisco has shown a love for toys and technology, and Caitlin is clearly tied to Firestorm, it’s likely that the development of these characters may be delivered in a slow-burning way. One only has to look over at sister show Arrow to see how that has taken its time with its character development, particularly when it comes to making the step towards an alter-ego. For example, the transition of Manu Bennett’s Slade Wilson to Deathstroke was handled masterfully and gave us arguably the greatest rendering of a DC villain in any live-action format. Expect to see progression for both Cisco and Caitlin, but maybe not full-on Vibe or Killer Frost just yet. If anything, a lot of Caitlin’s arc will be dependent on what direction the show goes with Firestorm.

 

The Atom to Watch Over Starling City

Brandon Routh. Big, strong, stoic, put together, charismatic, and with a whiff of a hero complex. Surely he’d be the perfect shout to play Superman at some point, right? Oh… Well, in fairness, the faults of Superman Returns cannot be put at his door; there was a whole lot of things wrong with that film, and Routh wasn’t one of them. Having arrived earlier in Season 3, Routh’s Ray Palmer looks like he’s got a huge part to play in the future of Arrow, at least for this current season. Apparently Routh was initially to play Ted Kord, aka Blue Beetle, in the show, but things were changed up and his character was turned into Ray Palmer, aka The Atom. Now with Oliver Queen dead (don’t worry, we’ll get to that), it looks as if things could be taking shape for Palmer to step up and fill the hero void that Starling City will be experiencing. If we were in doubt whether Palmer would merely be a quirky, charming technological genius in the show, that was all thrown out of the window when he gave us (and then Felicity) a first glimpse at the shiny new tech he’s working on – that’d be known as A.T.O.M. Routh himself has stated in interviews how he’s seen the Atom suit, how he’s tried on the Atom suit, how he feels like a badass in the Atom suit… so now we just have to wait for Arrow to pull the trigger and unleash the suit on the show. For those unfamiliar with The Atom, his main power is the ability to manipulate his size (ooh err…) in a way similar to Ant-Man does in the Marvel world. With Starling City now Arrow-less, we’d bet our last slice of bacon (we’re mighty partial to bacon at Moonbase Alpha) that the latter part of Season 3 will see The Atom combining his efforts with Black Canary, Arsenal, Digg, and possibly even Wildcat. And maybe, just maybe, a returning hooded hero…

 

Mark Freakin’ Hamill!

Say it with us… Mark… freakin’… Hamill. The man is a legend to so many, but forget that Starkiller chap. No, no, no, this is all about another fan-favourite Hamill role of ours: The Trickster. Back in the early 1990s, when CBS gave us the John Wesley Shipp-starring live-action Flash series, Mark Hamill hammed it up as the villainous Trickster; a turn that resulted in the actor then landing the job of voicing The Joker in the legendary Batman: The Animated Series. With Shipp now playing Henry Allen, father of Barry, in this latest Scarlet Speedster show, and Amanda Pays reprising her Tina McGee role for the series, Hamill is another Flash alumni to have signed on for The CW’s Grant Gustin-starrer. And he’ll be picking up the Trickster mantle once more, although this time he’ll be behind bars as an upstart wannabe takes on The Trickster moniker for himself in order to torment Central City. Hamill’s James Jesse is to debut in Episode 17 of the current season and will help Detective West (Jesse L. Martin) and Barry in taking down Devon Graye’s Axel Walker, who is parading as a newer model of The Trickster. Whilst we’re always happy to see Hamill in anything (Body Bags represent, yo!), as well as being a brilliant blast from the Flash past, it’ll be a nice warm-up ahead of Hamill’s return to that other role later in the year.

 

The Suicide Squad’s Return

Arrow has managed to make the Suicide Squad, a team so often made up of B, C, and even D-level villains, an interesting and engaging group. Key to this has been how brilliant a job Michael Rowe has done as villain-cum-anti-hero Deadshot since appearing way back in Season 1 of the show. It’s his inclusion, not to mention Lyla Michaels, which ties the team to long-time Arrow cohort Diggle, giving Task Force X a more personal connection to The Arrow and his team. Barked do-it-or-die orders from Amanda Waller (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), the Suicide Squad has featured Deadshot, Bronze Tiger, Shrapnel, assistance from Diggle and Michaels, and even a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance from an unnamed Harley Quinn. Given how the key to the Suicide Squad is that the criminal members have a bomb implanted in them, what better way to show the serious nature of the team than by having one of them go boom? And so Shrapnel never made it out of Season 2. The Suicide Squad has already been confirmed as appearing in the second half of Arrow’s Season 3, but Shrapnel’s demise leaves a vacancy. As Nick Tarabay’s Captain Boomerang, shown to be a former A.R.G.U.S. agent, made his bow during the two-part Arrow and Flash crossover, he’d be a prime candidate to be a part of the Squad when they resurface. There’s also plenty of other names to choose from, such as China White, Clock King, Dollmaker, Count Vertigo, Cupid, KGBeast, and more interestingly Deathstroke, who is set to return to modern-day Starling City during Season 3’s second half. Then there’s villains from The Flash to consider. The fun thing about the Suicide Squad is that there are so many possibilities on just who will make up the team. Regardless, we’re just happy at the prospect of seeing Deadshot once more. Who he brings with him, though, we’ll have to wait and see.

 

Gorilla Grodd

Yes, The Flash has proved to be an ambitious series since its debut. Whereas Arrow has generally stuck with the ‘grounded in reality’ approach so far, The Flash has a bit more of a free reign when it comes to superpowers and things that are a little out of the ordinary. And in that regard, things don’t get much more out of the ordinary than Gorilla Grodd. When the character was teased during the show’s pilot episode, we all thought that surely they haven’t got the balls to do Gorilla Grodd, right? And if they did have the minerals to do so, surely it’d be a disaster, right? Well Grodd’s not appeared in present-day Central City just yet, so we can’t comment on what he’ll be like, but we have seen him, he’s definitely in existence, and will appear again at some point. Whether that is in this current season or a future season of the show remains to be seen. In fairness to The Flash, they have made literally every single character to date work in a way that feels tonally perfect to the show. So the appearance down the line of Gorilla Grodd, something we thought couldn’t possibly work, is not such a worry by this point; The Flash has delivered so well so far that the show has earned our trust. So much so, we’re looking forward to seeing what the show can do with a gorilla with super intellect, amazing physicality, and extreme psionic powers. Again, we don’t know if Grodd’s on the horizon to appear in the second half of The Flash’s first season, but we do know that he’s certainly out there somewhere in Central City, waiting to make his move in what could prove to be a monumental achievement for the show if handled correctly. And by “if handled correctly”, clearly we mean when the show does something special with this truly unique character.

 

Thea Queen, Murderer?

Whilst the title doesn’t evoke quite the same shock as Bruce Wayne, Murderer?, it was still a bit of a jaw-dropper to find out that Thea Queen (Willa Holland) was the one responsible for killing Sara Lance. When Sara was offed at the end of Season 3’s very first episode, it was a huge shock and an event that would lead to a whodunit through the entire first half of the season. After several angles were looked at, such as Komodo (Matt Ward), Malcolm Merlyn, Roy Harper and even Oliver Queen, it was revealed that it was indeed Thea who was the one that fired those fateful arrows into the chest of Sara. With that reveal came the reasoning for Oliver Queen putting himself in line for death at the hands of Ra’s al Ghul (Matt Nable), deciding to give himself the death sentence rather than sister Thea. In some ways similar to Laurel, Thea is a character who has been very ‘meh’ at stages throughout Arrow’s run. And by very ‘meh’ we mean very, very bland and boring at so many times, seemingly always on the cusp of becoming an interesting character before being returned to being just there. But with the end of Season 2 and her subsequent arc in Season 3, Thea Queen (or is that officially Merlyn by this point?) has actually become, dare we say it, relevant. Plus she’s also become a badass in her own right, having had some League of Assassins-lite training from daddy dearest. Added to that, you can’t help but think that Ra’s al Ghul, such an intelligent man of the world and somebody who isn’t to be taken for a fool, really believes that it was Oliver Queen who killed Sara. Ra’s has been used sparingly but effectively since his debut in the show, but he’s been delivered and portrayed wonderfully well; no wool can be pulled over his eyes, including who really killed Sara Lance. So with that said, how will Ra’s respond to not only the apparent demise of Oliver, but to the fact that it was some someone else who actually killed Sara. Then there is the question of how Thea will deal with Oliver Queen’s disappearance from Starling City, throwing up the idea that she maybe may finally find out just what her brother does with so much of his time. And just how long will Thea march to the beat of Malcolm Merlyn’s drum? Regardless of whether it’s revealed to Thea that she killed Canary, the younger Queen’s story has become infinitely more interesting this season; something which was way, way, way overdue.

 

The Man in the Yellow Suit

Of course, what we’re most hotly anticipating about The Flash’s return is the whole conundrum that surrounds Reverse-Flash. Who is he? Why did he kill Barry’s mother? Is there more than one Reverse-Flash? And how will time-travel come into play? They are just a few of the questions that instantly spring to mind. Of course, one immediate question that we had from the very first episode of the series was whether the minds behind the show were really going to go ahead and gives us Reverse-Flash in the very first season. Whilst one could’ve been mistaken for thinking that the culprit of Nora Allen’s death may have been dragged out and saved for another season, The Flash is most certainly addressing that now in the form of the Man in the Yellow Suit. As the first half of the show’s first season came to a close, Reverse-Flash had arrived on the scene, beat the red off of Barry, slapped Harrison Wells around, given Joe a few stiff shots, sniffed around Eddie Thawne (Rick Cosnett), gone to town on The Flash once more (with Firestorm’s timely arrival saving the day), and then audiences were given a shot of Harrison Wells (the ever-engaging Tom Cavanagh) with a Flash ring and seemingly being revealed to be the Reverse-Flash. Wells? But only 10 minutes prior we were seeing Reverse-Flash giving Wells a smackdown of Stone Cold Steve Austin proportions? The plot thickens, and now there’s a plethora of ways that things could play out from here. Could the real key here be Eddie Thawne? After all, why did the Reverse-Flash pause when he put eyes upon Detective Pretty Boy during the mid-season finale? Given how long-time Flash foe Professor Zoom, who just so happens to be one of the comic book Reverse-Flashes (yes, there are a few), also goes by the name of Eobard Thawne, many presumed that the show’s inclusion of “Eddie” Thawne was going to be The Flash’s adaptation of the Professor Zoom character. Certain logic suggests that the Reverse-Flash that we saw in the mid-season finale was either an ancestor of Eddie’s or possibly even a future version of Eddie who has come back in time to torment Barry. But why would Eddie have a grudge against the loveable Barry Allen, we hear you ask? Quite simply, Iris West (Candice Patton). Comic book couple Barry and Iris may not necessarily end up together in The Flash, but it looks as if the relationship between Eddie and Iris won’t stay the course, regardless. As the series headed to its mid-season break, Barry finally revealed his long-time love for Iris, with it pretty obvious that there will be plenty of repercussions to come from this admittance. What if Eddie were to find out that Iris actually had feelings for Barry (she totally does!) or what if he was given a persuasive nudge on the matter by, oh, we don’t know, say Harrison Wells? Surely that’d be enough to put a mighty big chip on one’s shoulder. But would it be enough for you to harbour a grudge until a point in time where you have a badass-looking yellow suit and the ability to travel ridiculously fast through time? Then you could go back and give that Barry Allen fella what for, right? Ruin his life, right?

Thing is, if the Reverse-Flash we saw in present-day Central City was a future Eddie Thawne or an ancestor of Eddie’s, then just who is Harrison Wells? A new character created for the show, Wells certainly has a darker side to him, as shown by his effortless killing of folk who may be looking to get in the way of Barry Allen’s ascension to full-on superhero. Taking things into consideration, you could make a certain argument to suggest that Harrison Wells will end up being a play on the comic book character of Hunter Zoloman, himself a Reverse-Flash known as Zoom (not to be confused with Professor Zoom). Despite Zoloman generally being viewed as an antagonist of the Wally West version of The Flash, Wells definitely shares some of Zoloman’s personality… not least his hunger to push The Flash to becoming a better hero. But what of the other speedster that was present at the death of Nora Allen? The sensible money is that this is a future version of Barry Allen (hence the “future” headlines of The Flash being missing), but the other option is that there is another Flash. The option of another Scarlet Speedster seems too farfetched at this stage, but Grant Gustin has gone on record as saying that how the second half of Season 1 plays out took even him by surprise. It’s far more likely that, much like in the Flashpoint comic book arc, the future Barry Allen went back in time to try and save his mother. Either way, the issue of the Man in the Yellow Suit, not to mention the possibly love triangle between Barry, Iris and Eddie, has us chomping at the bit for The Flash’s return and to see just how things play out for the Sultan of Speed and Co.

 

The Death and Return of Oliver Queen

We’d really like to think that if you’re reading this, especially if you’ve made it this far, then you’re fully aware that Oliver Queen is no more. Apparently. We say apparently purely because, you know, the whole ‘comic book character death’ thing was made pretty much redundant by a certain Man of Steel back in the early ‘90s. Thanks for that, Supes. So yeah, let’s throw it out there right now: Oliver Queen will be back, make no mistake about it. The big questions are how and when, though. With Ra’s al Ghul now a part of Arrow and The Flash’s shared universe, as well as being responsible for the death of The Arrow, Ra’s’ inclusion in the show also opens up the possibility of a Lazarus Pit. Those not familiar with the DC comic book world, Ra’s Lazarus Pits are famous (or is that infamous?) for bringing certain characters back from the dead. Hell, Ra’s himself even regularly uses them to stop the whole aging process. Certainly beats Botox, face-lifts and boob jobs if you ask us. And so most people’s first thoughts were that Oliver Queen would be brought back to life courtesy of taking a dip in one of Ra’s luxury pits of rejuvenation. But this will not be the case. Star Stephen Amell has gone on record recently to say that Oliver will not be involved in any Lazarus Pit-type shenanigans. Hmmm, that certainly makes things interesting.

It may not be until the latter moments of Season 3, but The Arrow will return to prowl the streets of Starling City. With a Lazarus Pit session now out of the question, could we maybe see some sort of Lazarus-like serum used to bring the Emerald Archer back to life? That’s certainly one option; maybe something with extracts of Mirakuru in. Another possible reasoning behind Oliver’s return from the grave is that maybe, just maybe, he didn’t actually die after all. Yes, we saw him schooled by Ra’s al Ghul, run through with a sword, his life seemingly flash before him, then booted off a cliff top in a moment reminiscent of 300… but we never actually saw Oliver Queen die. Regardless of whether the Grim Reaper did or didn’t come for Ollie, he’s in a bad way. A very bad way. Promotional videos for Arrow’s return have shown someone looking for the body of the fallen Queen, but who? The logical options would suggest Malcolm Merlyn or Karl Rune’s Maseo Yamashiro, but Rila Fukushima’s Tatsu Yamashiro could be an outside bet. After all, we’ve yet to see Tatsu in the modern-day setting of Arrow, and in the comic book world she is also known as the heroine Katana. Despite how Katana saving the day would be rather cool, it’s most likely that it will be Malcolm Merlyn rescuing the Master Bowman, not least because his fight with Ra’s is still raging on, meaning that The Arrow being in the equation makes day-to-day living in Starling City a whole lot more safe for the father of Thea Queen/Merlyn (*delete as applicable). Make no mistake about it, the modern-day world of Arrow won’t be seeing Oliver Queen alive and kicking for at least a little while. Instead, we’ll see those closest to Oliver/The Arrow struggling to cope with their loss whilst the likes of Arsenal, Black Canary and The Atom do their utmost to protect Starling City from a whole number of threats, both familiar and new. Given how Arrow gave us arguably the strongest season of genre TV of the last few years with the wonderful Season 2, plus how Season 3 has continued to reach the previous season’s high standards, we’re expecting a lot from the show. As ever, though, whenever you wonder if Arrow will deliver, it always does. Here’s hoping that the rest of Season 3 follows suit.

With all of that taken on board, what are you looking forward to or hoping to see from the return of these excellent shows?

Whilst both shows return to US screens this week, The Flash returns to Sky1 on February 10th, with Arrow following on February 12th. 

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW OR ON TWITTER @STARBURST_MAG

Find your local STARBURST stockist HERE, or buy direct from us HERE. For our digital edition (available to read on your iOS, Android, Amazon, Windows 8, Samsung and/or Huawei device – all for just £1.99), visit MAGZTER DIGITAL NEWSSTAND.

CLICK TO BUY!

MORE FROM AROUND THE WEB:

With the concluding part of Peter Jackson’s HOBBIT trilogy nearly upon us, the cast and crew of the trilogy gathered for the press in order to give their thoughts on the film. Here’s the report of what went down at the event:

In 1997, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh wrote a treatment for a film based on The Hobbit, that if successful would be followed by two films based on the Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien’s groundbreaking novels. Fast forward to today, the eve of the release of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, and we have three Lord of the Rings films, three Hobbit films, thirty-six Oscar nominations and five billion dollars at the international box office. At the end of Jackson’s nearly twenty-year long odyssey, it clearly hasn’t worked out too bad for him.

So spirits were understandably high at the press conference for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies in London. There was an air of nostalgia, finality, and reflection on one of the most ambitious film projects ever undertaken, as despite the nine years between The Return of the King and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the filmmakers were keen to think of the two trilogies as all part of the same series.

 

Director Peter Jackson said that in the next few years we would see a generation of people viewing the two trilogies in the story order, rather than the order in which they were shot. “Very soon it will be six films, the story that it should be,” he said. “When we knew we were going to do The Hobbit we were always thinking of the full arc of the story. There is a lot of stuff in The Hobbit that we planted which is designed so that when you view it in order it makes sense…I hope that when people do view the six films as a series in the right order they will get a sense there was some sort of vague design behind it all.”

Producer and screenwriter Philippa Boyens found making The Hobbit after The Lord of the Rings much easier. “We would have made a very different Hobbit if we had started with it, probably much more of a children’s tale.” Everyone agreed they were keen to make the films using The Lord of the Rings as a backdrop, and Boyens used the relationship between Gandalf and Galadriel as an example. “Now when she’s told that he has died in Fellowship, it is going to play in a completely different way. That experience makes it special for people who see it in that order.”

The actors were keen to make it clear what a unique filming experience it was. Luke Evans, who plays Bard the Bowman, said a sequence at the beginning of the film was one of the first things he shot, four years ago. Orlando Bloom, returning as Legolas, was 21 when he first started making Fellowship. Now he’s 37. Martin Freeman (Bilbo) said that playing the same character over several films “gives you the opportunity grow and expand. You learn patience.” He also praised the ‘everyman hero’ story the films explore, saying that despite being done before it’s always a story worth retelling. “Most people who you would consider brave, heroic or inspirational don’t look like Dolph Lundgren.”

The Hobbit films, like The Lord of the Rings before them, have seen Jackson and his team utilise all manner of new technologies from motion capture to High Frame Rate. Despite the criticism of the use of 48 frames per second in the previous films, Jackson is convinced it is the future of filmmaking. “It’s a much better way to make films,’ he said. “A hundred years ago, movies were black and white, silent, 16 frames per second. A hundred years from now what are they going to be? I think we can absolutely guarantee they’re not going to be 24 frames a second. They’re not going to be 2D…ultimately the audiences for movies are beginning to dwindle, there’s so much competition for seeing films on iPhones and iPads…it has become a very serious issue for the industry.” His solution to this problem? “It is important that filmmakers do look at technology thats available and just think of how we can use it to make the experience in the cinema more exciting.”

 

Andy Serkis, who set up his own motion capture studio The Imaginarium following his performance as Gollum, and directed the second unit on The Hobbit, was keen to express that story and performance are at the heart of motion capture. Jackson agreed whole-heartedly. “The technology is always driven by the needs of the story that you’re telling,” said the director. “It’s the actor that provides the soul. The technology doesn’t provide that.”

As The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies opens in cinemas on December 12th, it was a chance for those involved to reflect on the last seventeen years. Jackson admitted having a great time making the films. “I’m going to miss the fun on the set. Making films is very hard, and if you’re making them like this 266 days of shooting can be bloody hell if you’re not having fun. I want to go to work in the morning and enjoy myself.” But what did he hope to achieve from making these films? “I hope I inspire children to make films. I’m sitting here today being a result of TV and films I saw when I was a kid.” Freeman agreed, explaining that story is always at the heart of these huge projects. “Any effect you can have on people is a plus,” he said. “It’s ultimately why we’re doing it. You want to touch people and communicate something.”

After all these films, all this success, an entire generation inspired – is this really the end of MiddleEarth on our screens? Jackson seems to think so. Aside from the extended cut, which will have around thirty minutes of extra footage, “the Tolkien Estate owns the writings of Professor Tolkien.” The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are the only two works of his that have ever been sold. More films based on the author’s work can’t be made “without the co-operation of the Tolkien Estate.”

 

However, Ian McKellen, reprising his role as Gandalf, says the films will live on, describing them as classics. He commented on the age of the fans at the premiere and the enduring quality of the series. “Some of them weren’t even born in the last century when we started making those films, he said. “They’re now going to show these films to their own kids. It’s not the end, it’s the beginning.”

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES is released in the UK on December 12th.

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW OR ON TWITTER @STARBURST_MAG

Find your local STARBURST stockist HERE, or buy direct from us HERE. For our digital edition (available to read on your iOS, Android, Amazon, Windows 8, Samsung and/or Huawei device – all for just £1.99), visit MAGZTER DIGITAL NEWSSTAND.

CLICK TO BUY!

MORE FROM AROUND THE WEB:

To celebrate the upcoming release of THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1 at your local cinema, we take a peek into the future and look at what we’ll all be watching and betting on in the not too distant future…

“Are you not entertained?” asked Russell Crowe’s Maximus in Gladiator. Well frankly, no, my dear Mr Crowe, we’re not. The general populace are losing faith in their sports heroes due to any number of criminal activities that they find themselves linked to, on top of the media over saturation and frankly ludicrous pots of money that is paid to these supposed role models. You could say that reality television was society’s first furtive step towards changing the entertainment that we’ll see in the next few decades. We can sit safely at home and toy with these fame-hungry fools via our interactive buttons and mobiles; watching them squirm for our viewing pleasure. Who’s to say how far we’ll go as an autonomous target audience? Can we honestly say that it is that much of a leap from voting to keep our favourite Z-list celebrity in a cut-off house to voting for who gets to die next in an extreme sports arena?

We may not live in the dystopian society that many of these films convey, but socially, due to the recession, terrorism, and an increasing distrust in those that are supposed to lead us (amongst a myriad other things), are we that far away? We don’t think so. So, bring on the death and destruction as we guide you through the future sports subgenre.

 

Probably the earliest example of this kind of film was The 10th Victim (above), a 1965 cheesy curio about a group of people who enjoy violence so much that they form a club and take it in turns to be hunters or prey, and try to capture the kills on camera in order to make adverts out of the footage. Although this is probably the first film of its kind, it’s not until the ‘70s, when America was crashing down from their hedonistic ‘60s highs, that the real future sports started to crop up with more regularity.

1975 saw the release of both Rollerball and Death Race 2000. The James Caan starring Rollerball is set in 2018, in a world without war, poverty or violence and the general public work out any frustrations they have cathartically via the ultra-violent sport of the title. A mixture of a roller derby and the arcade game Speedball, the most famous player, Jonathan E. is told that he has to retire – a request which he ignores. This culminates in the bosses of the sport making it even more violent than before, but this only galvanises the hero and his team. The big question is, why hasn’t this been turned into a real sport yet? Death Race 2000 boasts a cast of Sylvester Stallone and David Carradine and is set – yes, you guessed it – in the year 2000, when the USA has been destroyed by a combination of a financial crisis and a military coup. As a result, entertainment has been really dumbed down, and culminates in the Annual Transcontinental Road Race, where competitors spend the three-day duration gaining points for both speed and knocking down and killing innocent pedestrians. It’s kind of a sadistic Wacky Races, and takes road rage to a whole new level!

 

Richard Bachman – actually Stephen King under a pseudonym – penned a short story which was brought to life on the screen with another muscle-bound actor taking the main role. Arnold Schwarzenegger starred as Ben Richards, framed for a crime he did not commit, and was thrust into The Running Man game show, having to try and survive the attacks of numerous killers, including the incredibly campy Dynamo and Buzzsaw, among others. It was pure ‘80s Arnold in all his pomp. This was predated by about four years by a little known film with a very similar premise, The Prize of Peril, which is very hard to track down these days.

The manic Robot Jox (1989) was set in a post-World War III society, where war is outlawed and countries who are disputing any territories have to battle with huge robots. So imagine Rocky IV or a game of ‘Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robots’ to decide the owner of landmass on a huge scale. The effects may look really bad these days, but hey, we wonder where del Toro got his idea for Pacific Rim from…? Arena came out the same year, showcasing an intergalactic fighting competition between champions of various worlds, and starred a pre-Babylon 5 Claudia Christian.

We were also treated to Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome – although perhaps it’s best if we forget that one (how did it go so wrong after Road Warrior?) – and The Salute of the Jugger which has Rutger Hauer trying to fight his way back into a sport that can only be described as a brutal version of hurling.

The ‘90s were quite sparse for the subgenre, which was surprising considering the number of techno-babble movies that were released in the decade. The only notable entry was Futuresport starring TV’s Superman himself, Dean Cain. It was basically a cheap rip-off of Rollerball that also featured Wesley Snipes with an embarrassing Jamaican accent. Fortunately, the sports of tomorrow would make a big comeback at the turn of the century.

With reality television starting to become part of the daily zeitgeist in real life, film-makers began to notice the opportunities to create some new ideas, with some more violent than others. With Hollywood seemingly happy to remake anything, there’s one title that appears to be too hot to handle for the studios. Thankfully.

 

Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale takes the idea of extreme sports to a whole new level. Set in a future where the authorities are trying to keep the unruly youth in line via the Battle Royale act and subsequent annual last man standing death match, a class of school children is randomly chosen and sent to an island. Once there, they get to take a backpack which has provisions and could hold any weapon, from a saucepan to a submachine gun, it’s pure luck what they get. Then they have three days to kill everyone else in their class, friends or otherwise. It’s brutal, and so un-PC it’s scary. But this is surely the film on which all others are marked in this subgenre. There’s more than a little similarity to The Hunger Games, to say the least.

Series 7: The Contenders has a similar synopsis, but it’s adults who are randomly chosen to kill each other. It really is like Big Brother, but with authorised death and destruction. It may be low budget, but you should definitely seek this one out.

Most films on this list are more action orientated, but My Little Eye takes the Big Brother template and mixes it with a horror model. Five young people apply to live in an isolated house together, with no access to the outside world while they are continuously watched by numerous cameras and broadcast over the internet. The rules state that if anyone leaves, everyone loses the right to try and win the jackpot of $1 million. Featuring an early role for Bradley Cooper, it’s certainly a creepy film.

The remake of Death Race, transplanted the action inside a prison, where the races are run using convicts with the promise of freedom if they win five races. Of course, it’s all unfairly balanced, so there’s no real chance to win five, so the convicts begin to team up to plot their escape. It’s fun, it’s brash, and there are some smart inclusions that you’ll be familiar with from console games of a similar ilk. The two sequels to date fall foul of the law of diminishing returns. Another remake was the frankly awful Rollerball with Chris Klein and LL Cool J, but as with Beyond Thunderdome, let’s not dwell on that for too long.

Perhaps the natural successor to Robot Jox is Real Steel, based on a story by Richard Matheson. It features Hugh Jackman as a father who’s a former boxer, but can now live vicariously by entering a robot into machine versus machine boxing competition. Sure, it’s so family friendly you can almost see the saccharine seeping off of the screen, but it’s harmless enough.

 

The Condemned has ten convicts dropped onto and island to fight to the death (sounding familiar?) and Gamer, which at least tries to be original in that death row convicts are used in an online computer game in which they must win thirty sessions (which sounds like a mammoth session on Call of Duty to us) to claim freedom. The Tournament has an interesting premise in that every seven years, an unsuspecting town is chosen and the world’s thirty greatest assassins will convene and have twenty four hours to kill or be killed. The only problem is that Robert Carlyle’s priest is mistaken as one of the assassins.

Of course, not every future sport is about violence. Starship Troopers has Jumpball, which appears to be a softer version of American Football, with lots of cushioning and very bright kits. Star Trek has Spock’s favourite game, tri-dimensional chess and even the Star Wars universe has a strange mixture of games and sports – Holochess is relaxing enough, as long as you don’t beat a Wookie, and the Pod Race is the Roman pastime of chariot racing brought screaming into a new technological age.

Of course, it’s not just on celluloid that future sports have been immortalised. Check out the ten-issue run of Dragon’s Claws from Marvel UK in the early ‘90s – imagine an uber-violent game of British Bulldog where one team has to make it to a certain point in a futuristic city, whilst their opponents can do anything in order to stop them. Set in 8162, it’s a really brutal comic that takes a load of pointers from films on this list and is well worth reading, if only for the introduction of Death’s Head!

We all like to be entertained and it’s only natural for mankind to enjoy a little schadenfreude – Formula 1 hasn’t been the same since they made it safer and cut out most of the crashes – but maybe the only thing stopping our society from finally accepting these kinds of extreme entertainment is the health and safety brigade. Honestly, let’s just get rid of them and get our phones out. That minor celebrity that keeps hogging the front page needs to be taught a lesson!

THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1 hits the multiplexes on November 20th.

Any local horror fans out there are probably aware that the annual Grimmfest has recently passed, and are no doubt eagerly awaiting the next. Serving a thick slice of horror for both young and mature audiences, Grimmfest has been the hub of Manchester based film screenings of this genre for its sixth year. This year was unarguably the company’s greatest success, with over 2000 tickets sold to screenings of a variety of films, including the cult classic Suspiria and What we do in the Shadows, which is not yet released in the UK. It owes largely to the diversity of films, hard work and additional fringe screenings that this year’s Grimmfest has been so popular.

When asked how it begun, Simeon Halligan, Co-Founder of Grimm Up North explained ‘Well actually the festival came about by mistake really. We put on a night on Halloween 2009 to showcase our film Splintered and a few others, but as more people found out about the event, we ended up screening 25 features over a prolonged Halloween weekend. Grimmfest was born and we were a little in fear of what we had created.‘

‘We describe the festival as embracing the darker side of cinema, focusing on multiple genres, and cinema that challenges. We like to invite the film-makers and stars to come do workshops and seminars so there’s also an educational aspect to the festival.‘

People in the industry like Shaune Harrison – a make-up artist famous for his work on films such as Harry Potter and World War Z – often do demonstrations. Some actors also do Q+A’s with the audience.

‘People love to meet and chat to actors and film makers and Grimmfest is a very open festival that allows and encourages close contact.‘

STARBURST MAGAZINE attended Day 2 of the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention, LONCON 3, at London’s ExCel Centre. This report presents a few highlights.

Science fiction fans from all over the world gathered at the ExCel Centre in their thousands for the 72nd World Con. The formal event runs from the 14th to the 18th of August 2014 with one of many highlights being the presentation of the Hugo Awards on Sunday evening.

STARBURST attended the second day of LONCON3 and managed to dip into a wide range of talks, catch up with some people and take in the atmosphere.

The overall impression of LONCON3 was that there was a lot for people to do, everyone was enjoying themselves and seemed very relaxed. Apart from socialising and the main programme of talks there were art exhibitions, dealers’ tables and a massive, tented fan village on the lowest floor complete with real ale bar, TARDIS, and a very popular throne from the TV series of Game of Thrones. The ExCel is a good venue, right by hotels and public transport and LONCON3 took the eastern end of the building. There was also a tremendous range of food and drink, plenty of places to sit and although not the cheapest prices could have been a lot worse. It isn’t every day you can Tweet someone to arrange to meet by the TARDIS for a beer! The venue also organised into several floors with all the talks / panels in a set of rooms on the uppermost floor, below that a green room area for participants then the various floors for food, dealers and the gathering fans. With plenty of space, it was easy to move around and was busy without seeming crowded (except when every panel finished at the same moment!).

There were up to 14 tracks of talks / other events running at the same time and all seemed to run exactly to time and fans debated every topic in the universe with the various panels. In no particular order STARBURST checked out a talk on bad science in science fiction, use of social media for authors and a fascinating talk about Springheel’d Jack courtesy of the Wireless Theatre Company.

There was a Missing Presumed Wiped talk, which didn’t have any new Doctor Who to announce. What it did have was a whole host of programmes such as Object Z (an obscure ITV offering from the mid-1960s), Moonbase 3 and Adam Adamant Lives among others. The room was packed but not as crammed full as the Paul Cornell reading which was turning people away. Paul is about one-third of the way through writing his third Shadow Police (called James Quill by Amazon) novel. Sadly, we are sworn to secrecy regarding the title and the plot but we can say it features a universally recognised London figure. We could say more but have been threatened with horrors to dark to describe even for STARBURST readers. Paul also took questions and confirmed that he will not be bringing back Neil Gaiman in to do any more novels. On the strength of the fan reaction, the third book may well be the most successful yet and Paul gave a brief though enlightening insight into his approach to accuracy in his writing.

As the day moved from morning to late afternoon, more and more costumes appeared and sitting down to tea opposite Lara Croft, while listening to someone playing the Indiana Jones theme in the distance gives a brief sense of the flavour of events. Even with social media and free Wi-Fi, it still wasn’t possible to do everything listed on the online agenda and that, if nothing else, is the sign of a good event.

It was nice to note that, despite having passed away, Iain Banks was still very much a Guest of Honour and there were several pieces of art / exhibits in his memory. I think he will be pleased and maybe raise a wee dram along with everyone else at the convention.

If you haven’t been to an event this large in recent years, the sheer quality of the organisation and the amount of volunteering would have surprised anyone with memories of some conventions in the past and while it may (just) be too late to catch this one there is always another convention coming along somewhere.

Image Gallery:

Photo Credit: Tony Jones

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW OR ON TWITTER @STARBURST_MAG

Find your local STARBURST stockist HERE, or buy direct from us HERE. For our digital edition (available to read on your iOS, Android, Amazon, Windows 8, Samsung and/or Huawei device – all for just £1.99), visit MAGZTER DIGITAL NEWSSTAND.

CLICK TO BUY!

MORE FROM AROUND THE WEB:

In addition to Comics, Cosplay and Film Festival tracks, this year’s event also featured LGBTQAI Fandom, Podcasting, Food Geekery and Fan Fic channels, as well as many more. This sort of spread pretty much guaranteed that even the most focused of people would have something to watch, see or interact with.

Inclusivity is the key to the Nine World’s experience; the organisers worked very hard to generate clear and open policies that meant anyone could join in. This included a special ‘tag’ system so one could indicate if they wanted to be left alone or were only comfortable amongst friends. Badges denoting which pronoun you preferred to be referred to by were also available for those so inclined and these were adopted by a good number of attendees.

Nine Worlds draws from both the more commercial ‘pay on the gate’ shows and the traditional ‘lots of panels and discussion’ styles of convention common to the scene, being both packed with intelligent discussion, panels, workshops and lectures, but also plenty of provision for cosplayers and those looking for a spot of geeky shopping. The atmosphere leaned more firmly to the latter; inclusive it may be, but this was an event for those keen to see Kieron Gillen extolling the finer points of Alan Moore’s The Watchmen or learn circular Gallifreyan, rather than those looking for a simple family fun day out. Those with kids however, would find plenty to keep to small ones entertained.

Some of the tracks were better organised than others; the literary track “All of the Books” took centre stage and was slickly produced. It also attracted the great and the good from the genre world, including the likes of Gail Carriger, Scott Lynch and Paul Cornell. Those feeling particularly social got a chance to mingle with these bestselling authors at the Gollancz Prom Party, which also gave out free drink as well as something even better… free books!  The Steampunk track, despite being located in one of the farthest corners of the hotel, was packed with some brilliant events, including one workshop on building corsets in an hour, which went down very well indeed. Other tracks weren’t quite as tight or suffered from a lack of exciting guests, but the joy of Nine Worlds is that it is lots of little conventions under one big roof so there’s always something worth going to see.

Not everything ran smoothly, of course, and they are some niggles. Registration on the Thursday was surprisingly short, only running for a few hours which left late arrivals disappointed and anxious. The venue itself suffered from a few issues. Despite a discount and special menu, bar prices were still very high (even for London), which meant that the nearest fast food restaurant did very well for itself indeed. Convention goers were also surprised to discover that one of the suites had been rented out for a private function on the Sunday, which did seem a little odd.

These are relatively minor issues for such a young convention however. The broad range meant that those geeks looking to sharpen their knowledge had plenty of opportunity to do so, and those with a more social leaning were afforded every chance to make new friends. Each separate element is clearly improving and there is growing demand for more events of this nature. We can’t wait to see what it will be like in the future as this year’s event was very good indeed. Those considering Nine Worlds as their UK nerd adventure of choice would be strongly advised to give it a go.

Image Gallery: 

Photo Credit: Anne Davies

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW OR ON TWITTER @STARBURST_MAG

Find your local STARBURST stockist HERE, or buy direct from us HERE. For our digital edition (available to read on your iOS, Android, Amazon, Windows 8, Samsung and/or Huawei device – all for just £1.99), visit MAGZTER DIGITAL NEWSSTAND.

CLICK TO BUY!

MORE FROM AROUND THE WEB: