Category: TV Articles

REVIEW: Titans Season 2 Finale!

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Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

Titans is a weird show. In a television landscape filled with superhero shows, Titans doesn’t quite feel like anything else on TV or streaming at the moment. It may share some superficial similarities to other comic book shows, but the series has an “X factor” that’s hard to define. Titans is about a group of young heroes (some only in their mid-teens) trying to find their place in the world. Though it isn’t made explicitly clear how old the most senior members of the Titans are, they seem to be in their 20s at the oldest. The series is also extremely dark, violent, and graphic. I have no doubt that the violence and language on this show would earn Titans a hard R-rating if it were a film instead of a streaming series. The combination of a young generation of heroes, the ultraviolent nature of the series, along with it’s willingness to dive headfirst into the rich character and story history of DC Comics, makes for a very unique tone.

The series borrows from some fantastic DC Comics stories and characters, both big and small. Some of which like Bruce Wayne (Iain Glen from Game of Thrones) who is recurring character throughout Season 2, were off-limits to television until just a few years ago. Warner Bros. used to have this pretty stupid rule where they did not want their A-list characters like Batman or Superman to ever appear on any of their live action TV shows when a big screen counterpart was currently being depicted in a movie series with a different actor in the same role. For example, while Christian Bale was still officially Batman, a show like Arrow could never introduce their own version of Bruce Wayne. I think people can tell the difference, it’s almost like they think the audience will be too confused by 2 versions of the same character in completely different mediums. Fortunately, this policy seems to slowly be going away bit by bit.

Iain Glen looking cool as fuck as Bruce Wayne

Titans always has a lot of balls in the air. I’m always surprised at the sheer amount of story and concepts that they introduce in any given season. I’d find myself thinking, how are they going to tell a cohesive, season long story with all of these disparate elements at play? For me at least, it works (in it’s own unconventional way). The strength of this series lies with it’s characters. The Titans themselves are the beating heart of the show. This might seem obvious or a necessity for any successful TV series (or streaming series, in this case), but some shows rely on the intricacies of a complex plot more than others. Shows like Lost, Battlestar Galactica, The Wire, and HBO’s recent Watchmen are all great examples of shows that work like a finely tuned watch (not to say that these shows don’t have fantastic characters, it’s just that these examples are much more dependent on plot driven storylines). All the pieces of the story come together to form something extraordinary. For Titans, the magic happens when the show is at it’s most character driven.  DC hasn’t been quite as successful as Marvel at bringing some of it’s less well known characters to life, but when it comes to Titans, they have some deep enough cuts that there’s excitement in just seeing these characters brought to life and brought to life well. Whether it’s Dick Grayson violently confronting the man who murdered his parents, or Raven banishing her demonic father, Trigon, back to Hell to save the world and her newfound Titans family. Truly great shows can have their cake and eat it too: a thrilling, well plotted story and rich, fascinating characters. I enjoy the hell out of Titans, but keep your expectations in check if you decide to give it a watch. So for this review of the Season 2 finale of Titans, I’m going to be focusing on the characters first and foremost.

Season 1 was very much Rachel and Dick‘s season. Things are spread out much more evenly through Season 2, I think to the shows benefit. With new characters being introduced and some side characters from season one now having larger rules, the show has become more of an ensemble. Which is exactly what it should be because Titans is team show. Characters like Donna Troy, Connor Kent, and even Hawk and Dove had some great material this season. Gar felt like the odd man out. Very interesting character and I wish they gave him more to do. The same goes for Jason Todd, while he did have a good amount of screen time, he took a backseat in the latter half of the season and we didn’t get much closure regarding where he’s heading going into Season 3.

Jason Todd – The 2nd Robin after Dick. He’s the kind of guy who for example.,

If I had to say there was a central character this season, I’d probably have to go with Dick. The last two years of the show have been about his emotional journey, culminating in his transformation into Nightwing. Season 1 was all about Dick’s search for identity. So much of who he is was defined by his relationship with Bruce Wayne, a man that he has a great deal of anger and resentment towards. A really nice recurring aspect to this season was that we slowly got to see Dick and Bruce rebuilding their relationship with one another. 

      Unfortunately, when you’re a superhero there’s always more torment and angst right around the corner. Dick may have worked through his issues with Bruce in Season 1, but Season 2 is all about him dealing with the guilt he for his role in how the Titans originally broke up and the lives that were destroyed during that time. 

The original Titans team: Donna Troy, Aqualad, Dick Grayson as Robin, Hawk, and Dove.

    In case it’s not clear, years before Dick met Rachel and began this new version of The Titans or Titans 2.0, there was an original teen that formed years before the group we meet in Season 1. The original Titans included Dick as Robin, Donna Troy, Hawk and Dove, and the tragically fated Aqualad. Garth AKA Aqualad was in love with Donna Troy and had been for years. She loved him too, but her sense of duty clouded her judgement and she repressed her feelings for Garth. I think a lot of us can relate to that situation, especially when you’re young pining after someone for years. You want to be with them so bought bad your chest aches.

Garth AKA Aqualad not only had sick water-kinesis powers, but he was also in love with Donna Troy. Very shortly after they finally got together, Garth is killed by Deathstroke

Speaking of Season 3, like the Superboy and Krypto teaser at the end of Season 1, we get a brief teaser at the end of the episode showing Kory’s sister Blackfire arriving on Earth, presumably to wreak havoc on her sisters life. Lex Luthor is also directly referenced at one point in the episode. When the shit hits the fan with Cadmus as the Titans fuck up that whole operation, Lex puts in an angry call to Mercy Graves. Mercy is Lex’s right hand woman and the person responsible for brainwashing and weaponizing Connor and Gar. With Superboy now a big part of the team and such a public disaster for Cadmus in the season finale, I wonder if we will get to see this show’s version of Lex Luthor, much in the same way we got to see the show’s version of Bruce Wayne this year? At the very least it seems like Blackfire (Kory’s evil sister) will be a major villain in Season 3 since it was just announced that she would be joining the show as a series regular in the next season.

Connor Kent AKA Superboy and his superpowered dog, Krypto

 By the end of the Season 2 Finale, the team finally looks and functions like a classic version of the Teen Titans from the comics. A big part of this is the fact that finally, at long last, Dick Grayson has become Nightwing. A debut that fans have been waiting for since pretty much the first episode of the series. This a good example of how the series can struggle with pacing and the problems with how they choose to unfold their stories. Most fans of the show would probably say Dick finally becoming Nightwing is about a season and a half overdue. However, despite the wait, the long overdue debut of Nightwing was pretty fucking awesome. The costume look great and seeing Nightwing swoop in to save his friends from Deathstroke was sick. Dick’s final face off with Slade, swords clashing against Nightwing’s classic electrified batons and all, was very fun and satisfying. 

This Nightwing uniform is pretty damn perfect.
Slade’s estranged daughter jumps into the fray to help Dick, now Nightwing, take her father down.

    As much fun as the fight was, it was another example of how the series struggles to handle plot and pacing. Deathstroke has been the main Season 2 antagonist, but about half way through the season, a subplot was introduced involving Superboy (Connor Kent), Beast Boy (Gar Logan), and the sinister Cadmus Labs. Cadmus is a front for Lex Luthor, run by his right hand woman Mercy Graves, to sell meta-human weapons on the black market, with the captured Conner and Gar as the star products. Cadmus was certainly a cool and interesting element throughout the season, but it was a little jarring to see Deathstroke finished off so early in the episode with the focus of the finale entirely shifting to rescuing Connor and Gar and taking down Cadmus. 

Gar and Connor shortly before they’re captured by Cadmus.
Gar AKA Beast Boy in his Tiger form

  The sequence itself was a lot of fun and had some great moments, but then a major character is killed off almost out of nowhere with relatively little fanfare. Again, while it didn’t kill the episode, it was certainly an odd choice. This episode is a great showcase of what’s great and what doesn’t work with Titans. 

This man has Batarangs and he knows how to fucking use them.

     I’d also be remiss if I didn’t comment on Iain Glen‘s great performance as Bruce Wayne throughout Season 2. I didn’t think he would be as much of a presence on the show as he was. I thought he would maybe have one or two cameos in a few episodes, but he ended up being in quite a few. I really liked his take on Bruce Wayne, it’s definitely not a side of the character we’ve seen much of and certainly not at all in live-action. He’s an older, more paternal version of the character and despite his darkness and cynicism, you can see the genuine happiness it brings him to reconcile with Dick. There are a few scenes where you see that Bruce is just as emotionally vulnerable about their relationship as Dick is. It’s in moments like those that show us glimpses of the man whose trauma stunted him somewhat developmentally. He never quite grew up completely. It’s a really insightful take on Bruce Wayne and I applaud the writers and Iain Glen for going there. My only complaint would be that a significant portion of Bruce Wayne‘s presence in the season was a hallucination in Dick’s mind. Since this wasn’t really Bruce, just Dick’s perception of Bruce within his subconscious, Glen is basically playing another character.  There’s hallucination Bruce and there is real Bruce. Even though we got quite a bit of the real Bruce present throughout the season, the hallucination Bruce probably represented a third of his appearances throughout. I wanted to see much more of the real Bruce. I really like the actor and his take on one of the most complex and multifaceted individuals in all of fiction, was always fun to watch.  

To wrap things up, Titans is by no means a perfect show but it is a lot of fun. Season 2 was a large improvement over Season 1, but they still have some work to be done when it comes to plotting and execution of their storylines. If you’re a DC fan in particular, there’s a lot to love here. The characters are great and by the end of the season the show is starting to look a lot like the Teen Titans we’ve read in the comic books for years. If you don’t have DC Universe, Titans Season 2 will probably be available on iTunes and Blu-ray soon. This show gets my recommendation as long as you go into it keeping your expectations in check.

TITANS Season 2 Finale = 8/10

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again!

-Paul

UPDATED! Check Out New Teaser Trailer & Poster For CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS!

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UPDATED: Hey Everyone, it may be short, but this is the first real trailer we’ve seen for Crisis On Infinite Earths and it’s pretty damn exciting. Seeing the old, spiderweb covered, Batman suit for a long retired Caped Crusader, and Brandon Routh once again proving he’s an excellent Superman, by pulling of that great line “Hope is the light that lifts us out of darkness.”. December 8th can’t come soon enough!

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!

PODCAST: The State Of The Arrowverse!

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Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

   Mike Cole is one of the most interesting co-hosts I have on the show. So, I was happy to have Mike C return for back to back episodes. Mike co-hosted last week’s episode with me and it came out great. So if you haven’t had a chance to listen our last show, definitely check it out. So this week on The World’s Best Podcast, you get to hear part of my back to back episodes with Mike Cole.

  Mike and I are both big fans of The Arrowverse , DC’s TV Universe, that consists of multiple, interconnected shows that take place in the same DC Universe. It’s referred to as The Arrowverse because it all began with, Arrow, the first TV show in this universe. From Arrow came it’s first spinoff, The Flash. With The Flash surpassing the still very successful Arrow, The CW had lightning in bottle. The network had the gritty, dark, Nolan influenced, action series with Arrow alongside the bright and fun new series The Flash which followed it’s extremely effective formula of heart, humor, and spectacle. It wasn’t long until shows like Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, and Batwoman followed.

  There was a time when Arrow and The Flash were appointment television for me… and I was in the only one. People I knew from work, friends and family members, all people I thought would never normally tune in to this type of show, were just as wrapped up in the world of Oliver Queen and Barry Allen as I was. However, while all of the shows (except for Batwoman) have reached unbelievable heights they’ve also reached some lows. While the first 3 seasons of both Arrow and The Flash were excellent, both series developed issues that they needed to overcome. Legends of Tomorrow, after a somewhat rocky first season has been consistently silly entertainment for its entire run. I do enjoy Supergirl, but it can be very hit or miss and it’s only truly great season, was last year‘s Season 4 featuring Jon Cryer‘s incredible performance as Lex Luthor. Unfortunately, as much is I love the character of Batwoman and I want the show to succeed, I don’t see it getting a second season. So far it’s been pretty poorly written and executed. 

   Anyway, this is a big season for the our offers all leading up to the mega crossover Crisis On Infinite Earths. Every year all The Arrowverse shows do a epic crossover. They’re always fun and I look forward to them every year. Each crossover seems to be better than the last. When the Justice League movie came out in 2017, a few weeks later The Arrowverse did their annual crossover which was called Crisis on Earth X, and it was basically their version of a Justice League movie. It was a better Justice League movie the actual Justice League movie. This group of TV shows on the basic cable had outdone some of the biggest directors, actors, and big budget filmmaking in Hollywood. 

    This year’s crossover has been teased and hinted at since the first episode of The Flash. Crisis On Infinite Earths is on of the biggest stories in the history of DC Comics, so this crossover is one of the most ambitious basic cable TV projects that I can think of. All of our favorite heroes from the regular Arrowverse TV shows, plus appearances by Superman, Batman, Lex Luthor, and many, many more. This is going to be a real fucking blockbuster. With Crisis on the horizon, Mike and I talk about each of the shows in The Arrowverse and how they are performing so far this season. Some of the shows are doing some of their best work, others are at their lowest point, and others still are going strong. You’ll hear all about it in this entertaining podcast!

Listen here: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/19932599 

Or subscribe on Stitcher, Spreaker, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, & Apple Podcasts/ITunes! 

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-worlds-best-podcast/id1246038441?i=1000457235141

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=65380695&autoplay=1

Thanks for listening! Follow me on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, which go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again!

-Paul’s

New Photos & Teasers: Crisis On Infinite Earths! *UPDATED*

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Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

UPDATE: New pictures including our first look at Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne! The rumor has been since his casting announcement that he’d be playing a version of Bruce Wayne from the future, specifically some version of Batman Beyond Bruce Wayne. In this photo, you can see Bruce is wear some kind of exo-skeleton suit around his clothes, which is how Bruce Wayne appears in Kingdom Come. Which makes a lot of sense because Brandon Routh will be playing the Kingdom Come version of Superman in the crossover. We also get a look at Tom Welling returning to the role of Clark Kent. Take a look at the new pics right here!

Kevin Conroy as “Kingdom Come” Bruce Wayne
“Kingdom Come” Superman
Tom Welling returning as Clark Kent, at The Kent Family Farm

The CW‘s epic superhero crossover, Crisis On Infinite Earths is almost here. With the first installment just a few short weeks away, anticipation is building! This without a doubt, one of the most ambitious television projects in recent memory especially for basic cable network. Sure, you see this kinds of epic storytelling on HBO, Netflix, as well as other cable networks and streaming services, but The CW is a whole different animal. They don’t have the budget that some of these other networks do and you have to respect the sheer amount of balls it takes to attempt adapting one of the biggest stories in comic book history to the small screen. 

Now The CW/Warner Bros have revealed some of the first official images from Crisis. The pictures all appear to be from the first installment of crisis which will be on Supergirl, Sunday, December 8. The CW has also released some brief teasers for Crisis. They’re all pretty short and they all entail Lyla Michaels (Diggle from Arrow’s wife and head of A.R.G.U.S., which is basically The Arrowverse version of SHIELD) who goes by Harbinger on missions. Lyla, or Harbinger, has been working with The Monitor to prepare for the coming disaster. Each short teaser sees Lyla (and sometimes a few other heroes) Approaching each of the major heroes in the our overs to ask them for their help in stopping The Anti-Monitor and the death and destruction he brings with him. Fortunately, all of the short teasers have been put together in one compilation so you can watch them all in one video. Below are all the official photos for the first installment of crisis released so far and after the photos you can check out the Crisis compilation teaser video below the photos.

It all begins with the first 3 Parts of the 5-Part crossover, with Supergirl on Sunday, Dec. 8, followed by Batwoman on Monday, Dec. 9 and The Flash on Tuesday, Dec. 10. When the show’s return from the annual winter break, the final 2 chapters of the crossover will continue on Tuesday, Jan. 14, with Arrow at 8 p.m., and conclude with Legends of Tomorrow at 9 p.m.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, which go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again!

-Paul

FIRST LOOK: The Villain of Crisis On Infinite Earths:The Anti-Monitor! New Character Photos! & More!

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Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

This poster was done by my favorite artists, BossLogic. It’s a direct homage to one of the most famous images in Crisis On Infinite Earths, which I’ve posted below.
Left: The famous Death of Supergirl image from Crisis On Infinite Earth; Right: A promo poster for a Season 2 Supergirl episode, that directly referenced this iconic comic book image.

The CW’s Ultimate DC Superhero Crossover: Crisis On Infinite Earths is coming! This is like DC‘s version of endgame in many ways. The Arrowverse , like the MCU after Endgame, will be fundamentally altered. Heroes will live. Heroes will die. They’ve been building to this since the very first episode of The Flash. I’ve loved every annual crossover The Arrowverse has done, but this is one of the most iconic stories in the history of comics, I just really hope they knock it out of the park with this one. Despite the looming threat he’s been posing for more then a year and a half, we have yet to see the biggest bad, The Anti-Monitor himself, in the flesh. Well, we don’t have to wait any longer due to this exclusive, very cool unveiling of the character from EW.com. Take a look!

The Anti-Monitor

You may notice how similar he looks to The Monitor, that’s because not only are they played by the same actor (Lamonica Garret), but they’re also brothers. The Monitor, The Anti-Monitor, and a being called The Forger (though don’t expect to be seeing him popping up), were three of the first living beings in creation. Each brother was tasked with a sacred duty by their Mother, the creator of the entire Multiverse. However, these roles and duties sometimes brought the brothers in conflict with one another, like in Crisis. The Anti-Monitor needs to destroy The Multiverse and The Monitor will stop at nothing to ensure that he does not succeed. 

  • LaMonica Garrett as The Monitor

Though not quite as exciting as the reveal of The Anti-Monitor, official photos have been unveiled to show a few characters we know, but in a way we’ve never seen them before. First, there’s Digg’s wife Lyla Michaels (The Head of A.R.G.US.) as the character, Harbinger. I knew actress Audrey Marie Anderson, who plays Lyla, would be playing a character called Harbinger in Crisis. Without saying too much, Harbinger had a role to play in the original Crisis On Infinite Earths. When I heard Anderson would be playing Harbinger. I assumed that this was one of Lyla’s doppelgängers from another Earth, but considering that her call sign on missions has always been Harbinger and the recent reveal that she is actually working with The Monitor, makes me think that this is probably the Lyla and we know from Earth-1. Then we have an image of what seems to be a new “Wells”, as the character Pariah. I don’t wanna say too much about Pariah and the role he plays in Crisis from the source material, for fear of accidentally spoiling certain key plot points. However, like Lyla, when Tom Cavanaugh was revealed to be playing Pariah, I initially thought Pariah would be just another version of Wells from The Multiverse, but with the recent introduction of Nash Wells (and he is very personal, intense desire to find and learn more about The Monitor, to some thus far unknown end). I don’t think it’s too far of a stretch to say that Nash Wells is Pariah.

  • Audrey Marie Anderson as Harbinger
  • Tom Cavanaugh as Pariah

It’s also been revealed that the iconic DC character The Spectre will appear in the crossover. The Spectre is one of the most powerful and terrifying beings in the DC Universe. Regarded as literally the right hand of God, he is the spirit of vengeance personified. While neither good nor evil, his immense power and tendency to deal out brutal punishment to those he sees as evil, make him one of the most feared beings in The Multiverse. The Spectre needs to bond with the spirit of a recently dead human, most famously crooked cop Jim Corrigan. Which is the iteration of the character we will be seeing in Crisis, played by Stephen Lobo. 

The Spectre is a being that exist on a completely different power level than even the strongest DC characters and he doesn’t bother to get involved in “minor” mortal events. So, his presence in Crisis means that the shit has REALLY hit the fan. Regardless of how it all turns out, this is going to be a blast to watch! So don’t miss the full schedule for each show that’s part of the crossover, which I’ve posted below.

It’s always fun to see John Constantine interacting with other characters from the Arrowverse. He always mixes things up in a fun way. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to hook up with Oliver‘s daughter, Mia. Which would be pretty funny. Plus, Jonah Hex is always excellent!

It all begins with the first 3 Parts of the 5-Part crossover, with Supergirl on Sunday, Dec. 8, followed by Batwoman on Monday, Dec. 9, and The Flash on Tuesday, Dec. 10. When the show’s return from the annual winter break, the final 2 chapters of the crossover will continue on Tuesday, Jan. 14, with Arrow at 8 p.m., and conclude with Legends of Tomorrow at 9 p.m.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, which go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again!

AWESOME!!!

-Paul

NEW TRAILER & IMAGES: Netflix’s The Witcher!

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Hey Everyone,

Paul here…


The various streaming services have been absolutely fucking crushing it this year with their original programming. With only a few exceptions, all of my favorite shows of the year have all come from Netflix, Amazon Prime, and even DC Universe. I’m talking about shows like; The Umbrella Academy, Good Omens, Young Justice, Stranger Things 3, The Boys, Titans, Jessica Jones, Doom Patrol. Each and every one of those shows are spectacular (with the possible exception of the flawed, but still great, Titans)! In my opinion, this is the year streaming’s content stepped things up big time and the year isn’t even over yet! We still have The Mandalorian to look forward to, as well as the subject of today’s article: Netflix’s The Witcher!

   The Witcher, hitting Netflix on 12/20, is one of the most highly anticipated genre projects of the year. It took a while, but Netflix finally announced the 12/20 release date for The Witcher last week. A brand new trailer accompanying the release date announcement, which you can watch below. In my opinion, it looks spectacular. Though some people are fans of this story and these characters through The Witcher video game series, those games were based on a series of classic fantasy novels. It’s the fantasy novel that the series is adapting. 

    You can tell from the trailer how much care and attention went into creating this brand new fantasy world. If I didn’t know this was a streaming series, I’d probably think it was a movie. If The Witcher is a success, it will be yet another example of how some of the most exciting storytelling in genre entertainment is being done on TV, rather than in film.

    Even though I’ve never read the books that the show is based on, I’ve been looking forward to this series pretty much since it was announced a few years ago. It has so much that is right up my alley. Whether it’s Abraham Van Helsing from Bram Stoker‘s classic novel Dracula or Sam and Dean Winchester in the TV series Supernatural, I love stories about people who hunt monsters. As much as I enjoy the monster hunters, I love a really cool monster/creature even more and it looks like this new series has that in spades! I’ve always been drawn to stories involving magic, monsters, and bad ass sword fighters. Despite the fact that some people have criticized his casting in this role, I love Henry Cavill and I think he looks fantastic as the show’s anti-hero Geralt of Rivia. If The Witcher is able to stick the landing and give us a truly great show, this will have been, without a doubt the best year so far for excellent content from streaming services. Something tells me The Witcher is really going to deliver. Please comment below and let me know what streaming services you’ve been really digging these days! Check out the trailer right here:

New Trailer & Posters For The Mandalorian!

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Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

THE MANDALORIAN The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and the Trandoshans


I can’t wait for The Mandalorian! It had so much positive buzz, the first trailer was fantastic, and the people working on this project are some of my favorite creators in Hollywood. As if my anticipated wasn’t already high enough, today Disney and Lucasfilm released a beautiful set of character posters and second trailer to get us hyped up for the shows November 12 release! It’s short, but God damn if it ain’t sweet! As cool as the visuals and production value are, I really love the strange, but fucking wonderful cast assembled to star in this series. You got Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martell from Game of Thrones) as the titular Mandalorian and there are solid mainstays of film and television like Giancarlo Esposito and Carl Weathers. Finally you have these fantastic, weird, out of left field, pieces of casting that sound nuts, but are fucking awesome. Guys like Taika Watitti as the vicious droid bounty hunter, IG-88 and the always delightful Werner Herzog popping up as some kind of imperial officer or local official (I love to see pop up in these random roles). But I think my personal favorite piece of casting is seeing Bill Burr of all people, blasters in both hands and a mechanical shoulder rig, popping out a third gun out from behind his back! This truly is the best of all possible universes! Watch the trailer right here and check out the cool characters posters below:


PODCAST: Review HBO’s WATCHMEN!

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Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

   On this week’s episode of The World’s Best Podcast, I review the new HBO series WATCHMEN, from creator Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers)! This new series serves as a quasi-sequel to the original WATCHMEN comic book, a brilliant deconstruction of the superhero genre. Written by the legendary Alan Moore with amazing art by Dave Gibbons, Watchmen is a true masterpiece of the comic book medium. TIME Magazine listed the graphic novel among their list of 100 greatest novels of the 20th century.

The graphic novel was adapted into a 2009 film by director, Zack Snyder to a mostly positive reception. DC Comics has published multiple prequel comic book miniseries’ under the banner “Before Watchmen”, telling stories about classic Watchmen characters like Rorschach, Doctor Manhattan, The Comedian and more.

Set 30 years after the classic graphic novel in an alternate 2019, police wear masks to protect their identities from a brutal terrorist organization. Following a shocking crime, characters both new and familiar find themselves in the middle of a vast conspiracy. Who Watches The Watchmen? Thanks for listening! Enjoy!

Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher, Spreaker, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, & Apple Podcasts/ITunes: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/19690891 

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-worlds-best-podcast/id1246038441?i=1000454920527

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=64847470&autoplay=1

Thanks for listening! Follow me on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, which go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again!

-Paul

We’re also continuing our attempt to bring attention to fundraising for cancer research and support for people fighting cancer and their families. At the beginning of the episode, we announced that we’d calling attention to a great charity dedicated to fighting colon cancer. The organization is Colon Cancer Coalition of Boston, you can check out their website right here: https://donate.coloncancercoalition.org/Boston Where you can make donations and find out about upcoming events! Make sure you donate and support #teammichelle 💩 (Michelle’s favorite emoji!)

We’re also trying to raise money directly for the family of Michelle Fabri, who recently lost her fight with colon cancer. Every donation, no matter how small helps, so check out their Go Fund Me page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/michellefabri

REVIEW: Arrow The Final Season Premiere!

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Hey Everyone,

With Episode 2 of Arrow Season 8 airing tonight at 9pm on The CW, I wanted to post my review of last week’s season premiere….

Arrow deserves a lot of credit for being the show that changed the landscape of superhero television. Arrow’s the show that started it all, they don’t call it The Arrowverse for nothing. Besides being the birth place of The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow, I’d even go so far as to say that shows like Titans, Doom Patrol, and a lot of other series, would not have existed without Arrow. Other high profile TV projects have taken the spotlight from Arrow a bit over the years, but going into it’s final season, the series deserves a lot of recognition for making superhero television main stream. The series certainly has it’s critics, but I’ve always been a big Arrow fan. 

  Crisis On Infinite Earths loomed large in the Season Premiere. I think it was pretty clear after last year’s Elseworlds Crossover, that Arrow was setting things up for the series to end with Oliver Queen’s death. I think it’s a good way to end the heroic journey Oliver has been on. Plus, he still has a debt to pay to Mar Novu (The Monitor), as we saw in last season’s finale. 

      In the finale episode of Elseworlds, Oliver faced down The Monitor and made a deal with the cosmic being to save the lives of Supergirl and The Flash, in exchange for his own. As Oliver puts it his confrontation with The Monitor “ They are the best of us! And if you can’t see that… well, as gods go, you’re not a very smart one.“. So it was only a matter of time before The Monitor came around to collect. However, in classic Arrow fashion, Oliver has achieved a hard-fought peace and happiness. No more running around the city and putting himself in mortal danger, instead he’s living happily in his new cabin in the woods with Felicity and their newborn daughter Mia. But surprise, surprise! That’s when The Monitor decides to crash the party. A lot of the set up for the Season 8 was accomplished in last season’s finale, so the show hits the ground running in an awesome way.

   When it comes to Arrow, they are not fucking around for their final season. Thins show clearly wants to go out on a high note and that’s very apparent from the thrilling season premiere. This episode of Arrow just kicked all kinds of ass. The whole thing was a blast from start to finish. If the rest of the season lives up to (or surpasses) the excellent standard set by this premiere episode, then we are in for one hell of a final season of Arrow.

   Leading up to Arrow‘s final season, interviews with the cast, as well as the show’s writers and producers, have indicated that the structure of the final 10 episodes would look like each episode would serve to both be in homage to past seasons while also tying up certain loose ends from the series. Along with Oliver helping The Monitor prepare from the coming Crisis. This episode did a damn near perfect job of marrying those ideas. If each episode is going to be an homage to past seasons, this episode was a excellent call back to Season One, it’s the mission that Oliver is sent on by The Monitor that precipitates this celebration of the show’s past. It was very impressive how they weave together saying goodbye to the show in it’s final season, without forgetting that a lot of prep work needs to be done to lead into Crisis On Infinite Earths.

  Of course this wouldn’t be Arrow without some spectacular action sequences and the episode delivers in a big way. There are a few fights scenes in particular that are very well executed. There’s a brutality and viciousness to the fights that adds an emotional edge. Especially because a few of the people Oliver finds himself fighting are surprising to see on the show again. One or two of the fights have a few small moments of confusion just because two characters in one of the fight scenes happen to be dressed very similarly, but that’s just a nitpick. Like I alluded to before, this episode has the added benefit of having some of the show’s best actors and characters from the show’s long run, return in this episode. Many of whom are in vastly different places in their lives than they were when Oliver last encountered them. There are also one or two killer Easter eggs that will put a big smile on this face of any DC fan. And this episode has on hell of an ending!

  Overall this wasn’t just a great season premiere, it was a great episode and the beginning of a great send off to one of the most beloved shows in recent memory. If you haven’t been watching Arrow for a while, tune back in. It’s pretty easy to follow what’s going on and it’s definitely worth going out of your way to check it out again if you’re a lapsed fan. This was probably my pick of the week for best episode on TV (really my pick for LAST week because I didn’t get the damn article up in time). Make sure you check it out! Thanks for reading!

Episode Score

Arrow Season 8 Premiere: 9/10

Episode 2 of Arrow Season 8 airs tonight at 9pm on The CW!

-Paul

Fall 2019 TV Preview (Part 2): The Arrowverse & Crisis On Infinite Earths!

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Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

In Part 2 of our Fall 2019 TV Preview, we’ll be focusing on one of my personal favorite corners of pop culture, The CW’s Arrowverse. The Arrowverse, as it’s come to be known, began 8 years ago on The CW with the series premiere of Arrow, a dark, gritty take on the story of classic DC hero, The Green Arrow. The series premiere of Arrow was, at the time, the most watched episode of television in the network’s history (that record went on to be broken by The Flash and Riverdale). Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy was clearly a massive influence on the series in its first season. Even the most grounded and “realistic” superheroes, like Green Arrow and Batman, still require some level of suspension of disbelief. Having said that, the show’s first episodes showed us a world where there weren’t other superheroes, super powers didn’t exist, and any “crazy, comic book elements” you’d normally see in a story based on a long time DC Universe character, were absent in the first season. Boy, did that fucking change! When they introduced Barry Allen in Season 2, they began with super soldiers, from there we got The Flash, The first real super powered superhero in The Arrowverse. From there this universe has expanded to include time travel, meta-humans, aliens, the multi-verse, psychic gorillas, demons, alternate timelines, and literally thousands of other batshit crazy things. I think the smartest thing Arrow ever did was the show’s decision to stop trying to be a cheap carbon copy of Christopher Nolan‘s Dark Knight Trilogy and instead create their own identity by embracing some of the more in sane and out there aspects of the DC Universe. In this article, I’ll be previewing what we know about the individual seasons of the shows that make up The Arrowverse, as well is the up-to-date news about the mega crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths. The annual crossover is by far one of the most ambitious things ever attempted on television so it’s going to loom large over all of the shows for the first half of their seasons.

Arrow Season Premiere: 10/15/19

   As far as what the final season will look like, Season 8 will consist of 10 episodes. 7 of the episodes will each act as an homage to specific parts of the show’s history from Season’s 1-7, while also tying up any loose ends associated with that part of the show’s journey. At the same time, the first 7 episodes will also serve to help set up Crisis on Infinite Earths, with Oliver traveling the world with The Monitor in an attempt to prepare for the coming disaster. Episode 8 will be Arrow’s installment of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Once the crossover has ended, the final two episodes, airing at the beginning of 2020, will serve as the show’s true series finale. A new trailer for Season 8 has been released, check it out below:

The Flash Season 6 Premiere 10/8/19

There hasn’t been much news from The Flash Season 6 since the first trailer for the season dropped during Comic-Con A few months ago. However, as we get closer to the show’s season premiere, more content is becoming available. Like this new trailer released today. Check it out, then I’ll can give you some of my thoughts:

I think it looks very cool. The Flash used to be one of my favorite shows, but I felt over the last few years, it had lost its way a little bit. I think the series can only benefit from tying into Crisis on Infinite Earths. After all, Crisis was first teased in the pilot episode of The Flash and no other show in The Arrowverse has more consistently referenced the event since. Barry Allen is one of the most significant and important characters in Crisis On Infinite Earths, so I think this is the perfect opportunity for the show to get back to the greatness it once had. It should also be mentioned that unlike other seasons, season six will have two big bags.

One for the first half of the season, the character Bloodwork played by Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes) and an unknown villain for the second half of the Season 6 in 2020. Considering that both The Thinker in Season 4 and Cicada in Season 5 were both pretty lackluster villains, I’m on board with any kind of new strategy to inject some life into the threats that Team Flash faces.

Legends of Tomorrow Season Premiere 1/21/20/Crisis On Infinite Earths begin 12/8/19:

   Easily one of the coolest pieces of news concerning a member of the Legends Of Tomorrow cast, is the first photo of Brandon Routh (Ray Palmer AKA The Atom on Legends) as Kingdom Comic Superman! We already new Routh would be returning to the role that made him famous, just not quite the EXACT same Superman, but actually seeing him in the Kingdom Come Superman uniform is really exciting!

  Speaking of The Atom, a new bit of casting news broke today, reports surfaced that actor Osric Chau, Best known for playing Kevin Tran on one of my all-time favorite television shows supernatural, will be playing DC character Ryan Choi in the upcoming Crisis Crossover. According to EW.com, Ryan Choi is an Ivy Town University Physics professor with a “key” role to play in the crossover event. In the comics, the character is a protégé of Ray Palmer who takes up the mantle of The Atom alongside Ray Palmer and in his absence. This makes a lot of sense because unfortunately Brandon Routh will be leaving Legends of Tomorrow by the end of this coming season. So you can see why they would want to have a character in place to become The New Atom, if need be. Osric Chau looks great on supernatural and I’m sure he’ll fit right in with the Legends cast. Right now he’s only being reported as a recurring guest star role in the crossover. But don’t be surprised if he ends up becoming a part of The Waverider crew on Legends.

Another interesting last-minute addition to the ever growing cast of this massive and ambitious event will be Ashley Scott reprising her role as The Huntress from the short lived and god awful Birds of Prey series in the early 2000’s. Considering how many characters are involved in this project I have a feeling that appearances like this one will be closer to a cameo status then a significant role. More like just a fun wink and nod to the audience, but we’ll see.

Even though it had been heavily rumored to the point that most people considered it a foregone conclusion, last week it was confirmed, 100%, that Tom Welling would be returning to play Smallville’s Clark Kent in Crisis. A pleasant surprise is that Smallville’s Lois Lane, Erica Durance, will also be returning in the crossover. Unfortunately, Michael Rosenbaum will not be reprising his iconic role as Lex Luthor in the project. He was approached about appearing, but for his own reasons, declined to participate. 

     I think what’s really interesting here is that it’s very clear that Welling will be playing Smallville‘s version of Superman in the crossover. Which should be exciting to Smallville fans because despite all of the heroics we saw Clark perform across 10 years of television, we really only saw him as Superman for about 20 seconds in the series finale. It looks like his role in Crisis is a significant one, so multiple episodes of that Clark Kent in his prime as Superman will be really cool to see. It’ll be especially exciting to see Welling as Superman alongside Tyler Hoechlin‘s established and already beloved take on Superman in The Arrowverse, and Brandon Routh playing the Kingdom Come version of Superman. All three are pretty different takes on the character, so I imagine seeing 3 different Supermen in the mix will not only be thrilling, but it’s also a great way to show just how much of a threat The Anti-Monitor poses. Below I have two cool pictures, one is from the set of the currently filming Crisis on Infinite Earths and shows Tom Welling and Erica Durance reunited at The Kent Family Farm. I also have a fantastic rendition of what the Smallville Clark Kent could look like in the full superman costume, in this awesome piece of fan art. Check out both below:

Supergirl Season Premiere 10/6/2019:

Last but not least we have Supergirl. Supergirl has a tough act to follow after it’s phenomenal 4th season. I think it was probably my favorite Arrowverse show last year and that’s saying a lot. That was due in no small part to Jon Cryer’s unexpectedly spectacular performance as Lex Luthor. Luckily, he’ll be back for Crisis On Infinite Earths, so it’s pretty likely he’ll pop up in Supergirl Season 5, as well. As far as the story for Season 5, I have heard that this Season will be very much about Kara and Lena‘s relationship. That will be the main focus of the season. Will they repair their friendship? Or are they doomed to repeat the same pattern that Superman and Lex fell into? Along with the looming threat of Crisis On Infinite Earths, when it comes to villains this season, the secret society Leviathan will be making their presence known after their introduction in the Season 4 finale. J’onn J’onzz’s evil brother, Ma’alefa’ak. so it will be interesting to see how the show in ports that relatively new concepts from the comics. Another really interesting development on the show this season, is Supergirl will be introducing Atlanteans, like Aquaman Atlantean’s! It’s pretty fucking cool. With superman and Batman pretty soon officially becoming part of the hour of hers maybe we’ll get to see the arrow verse version of Aquaman?. This is not the first time Aquaman has been referenced, in fact there have been multiple references to The King of The Seven Seas in The Flash. Anyway you can check out the latest trailer below. And by the way? I ❤️her new costume :

Crisis on Infinite Earths will kick off on December 8 in Supergirl. Part 2 will hit Batwoman on December 9, before The Flash takes part 3 on December 10. Then on January 14, 2020, Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow will wrap up the crossover

Finally,

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty shown to us by our fans, so thanks again!

-Paul