Goodbye, County General

This Thursday (April 2nd) NBC, and the world, will bid goodbye to the doctors and nurses of Cook County General Hospital on ER. A three hour finale extravaganza kicks off at 8:00 PM EST with an hour-long retrospective followed by the two-hour series finale. Many of the show's formers stars have appeared all this season, the series' fifteenth, and more will pop up in both the retrospective, offering their insights about the series, and in the actual finale, providing closure for their characters.

It's no secret ER has fallen in terms of viewership over the years, and quite possibly a bit in quality, but this season, which was granted by NBC due to the writers' strike last year so as not to rush the plot lines in an abbreviated season, has struck a fine balance between both tying up the loose ends of the current cast as well as sprinkling in those who have left County General years before in an organic fashion. The stories are even elevated to a higher level and not relying on gimmicks to attract viewers, aside from returning characters, such as a lack of the standard disaster episode leading to mass casualties which have grown increasingly ludicrous over the years. Remember when the ER was threatened by a tank? Yeah, stuff like that.

I honestly believe ER has been able to cross the finish line with its dignity intact and does not feel like it's running on fumes like some shows (sorry Friends) which have had similar longevity. It actually will leave the audience wanting more, which is the best a series can hope for when it goes off the air. ER will continue in reruns and DVDs (the first ten seasons being available already) but this Thursday will see the last veteran of Must-See TV sign off for the last time.

A new series, Southland, created by John Wells, one of ER's executive producers from the very beginning, takes on the once highly coveted NBC Thursdays at 10:00 PM spot, which was home to such former series as Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law. Unfortunately this will most likely be the last NBC flagship series to occupy that time slot. Starting next year Jay Leno will be hosting a nightly talk show during the 10:00 PM EST spot. In a continued effort to revolutionize its schedule, NBC has decided to keep Leno close by any means necessary, in this case forking over five hours of prime time. With its decision last year to devote most of the 8:00 PM EST slots to reality programming, it seems NBC has all but given up on scripted programming. With ER's passing it is truly the end of an era, for NBC at least. It hasn't come close to achieving the ratings it scored in the 1990s, but since everything is cyclical we can only hope that in five years, NBC will be on the rise again.

Prepping the Oven

A title sequence has in its power to either whet the appetite of the audience for the show about to begin or provide an extra bit of time on or before the first commercial break to go to the bathroom, get a drink, text a friend, etc. It's a difficult line to walk. How do you create something interesting and unique keeping it fresh over the course of several seasons while also maintaining a sense of familiarity?



First thing: you need a good theme tune. Everyone knows the words to "I'll Be There for You", the theme that launched Friends every week for ten years on NBC. Even though later seasons would see the title sequence whittled down to a mere two or three lines, Friends never went the way of some shows which cut a title sequence all together in order to increase time for the story. Another that comes to mind is Smallville's "Save Me", an appropriate title for a series about a fledgling superhero.

The song can work against you however and you need to be careful. Damages uses the song "When I Am Through with You" and has the same two lines play over and over. It's almost as if the writers are trying to hit you over the head with the "point" of the theme. Whereas "Save Me" is an actual song, "When I am Through With You" which I'm sure has more lines, is used very awkwardly and is a low point in Damages' otherwise can't miss aura.

The visuals are another key. Most shows go with shots of the main cast from episodes around that point of the season, changing up the sequence a few times over the course of the year. Friends followed this pattern all the way until the end mixing with images of the actors from the first season dancing around a fountain. Some shows will use scenes regardless of the cast names such as The Office which has used the same sequence since its first season. Unfortunately it seems a bit out of place considering how much of the characters' looks have changed over the course of the series. House, M.D. mixes images of locations around the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro hospital mixed with shots of human anatomy only ending with a wide shot of part of the main cast. Law & Order has used the same images of crime and overhead city shots for the past nineteen years, the only changes being the photos of the main cast as it has evolved over the years.



A show does not necessarily need a title sequence to provide that sense of familiarity and anticipation. ER eventually did away with its credit sequence leaving only the intertitle featuring a few chords of instrumental music that led into the "Previously on ER . . ." segments which signaled it was time for another trip to County General. Last year however the decision was made to change up the theme music, most likely in a effort to provide a fresh take. Longtime fans were disappointed with the change and numerous appeals on message boards have been made to restore the original intertitle for the last few episodes. A similar change occurred on Quantum Leap in its last season where the theme was "amped up" which left fans, especially those from the beginning, in a bit of an uproar. Other hour-long shows such as Reaper and Terminator: The Sarah Chronicles (using well recognized chords from the film franchise) have similar intertitles in lieu of an actual title sequence.

Title sequences are bit of a grab bag. Some shows work without them, launching right into the story, while other benefit from that welcoming refrain which starts off each episode. One of the best, in my opinion, currently on television is NBC's Chuck. Across stills of the main cast, an AOL man-type figure engages in stock spy moves, such as repelling down the side of the screen, avoiding an onslaught of bullets and high-speed driving. The instrumental "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" is a catchy and upbeat theme and the entire sequence provides an atmosphere of an exciting group of characters while the visuals suggest that it's not meant to be taken too seriously. A perfect segue into the show and a must see whenever it comes onto the screen. Any tasks will have to wait until the first commercial break. It helps that the cast is one of the funniest on television with anything delivered by Ryan McPartlin or Adam Baldwin worthy of at least a chuckle.

Shooting Gallery - Part II

Halo 2

Release date: November 9, 2004 (Xbox)
Genre: First-person Shooter
Developer: Bungie Studios

The original Halo described itself as "Combat Evolved." And although it didn't redefine the rules of war, it certainly redefined a genre.

Halo 2 could just as easily have been called "Multiplayer Evolved." Its multiplayer modes and networking options were second-to-none when it arrived in homes in late 2004; it's still a blast to play in 2009.

The one-player campaign mode in Halo 2 is shorter and more episodic than that in its predecessor, but to call it an afterthought would be wrong. Although brief (somewhere between 10 and 15 hours), the campaign in Halo 2 is nothing short of brilliant, with inspired level design, incredible production values and top-flight mechanics.

Players once again play as Spartan 117, a genetically enhanced super-soldier known by his rank: Master Chief. The Master Chief is a key cog in the military forces of the United Nations Space Command (UNSC). The principal enemy of the UNSC is the Covenant, a confederation of highly religious alien species who have declared war on humanity.

Halo 2 goes a long way in revealing much more about the Covenant hierarchy, history, technology and social structure as well as UNSC protocals and defense strategies. If players read a prologue of the Halo mythology in Halo 1, they read a dissertation in Halo 2.

The most remarkable aspect of the Halo 2 campaign, and something which separates it from its predecessor, is the ability to play as a member of the Covenant in several missions. Players control a disgraced Elite, chosen by the Prophets to assume the role of the Arbiter, a generational hero of the Covenant. Playing as the enemy is an exhilirating experience, something that makes Halo 2 very special indeed.

It is in the multiplayer arena that Halo 2 makes the biggest splash, however. Players can join parties made up of gamers from all over the globe and participate in games of Deathmatch, King of the Hill, Capture the Flag, etc. Members of the same team can communicate with each other via a microphone headset - be wary, though, enemy forces can actually pick up rival communications if their character is within earshot. Small details like those make the multiplayer experience like nothing seen before on consoles.

Score: 97/100

Video Game Classics - Part III

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

Release date: September 19, 1997
Genre: Platform
Developer: Oddworld Inhabitants

With the appearance of Super Mario 64 in 1996, the first great 3D platform game was born. It became the prototype for an entire generation of games, including Banjo-Kazooie and Spyro the Dragon. In some cases, however, many franchises which had their roots in 2D platforming remained in that genre: Mega Man and Castlevania, for example. New platform franchises sprouted up also, eschewing 3D polygons in favor of 2D sprites: Rayman, Yoshi's Story and Oddworld. Of the new breed, the first installment of Oddworld, Abe's Oddysee, was the most unique, challenging and cinematic.

Abe's Oddysee was developed by Oddworld Inhabitants to be the first part of a quintology, which would follow the adventures of denizens on Oddworld, an alien planet. Somewhere along the way, that plan fell apart; only 2 installments of the quintology have been released, along with several "bonus" titles.

In Abe's Oddysee, players control Abe, a naive Mudokon working in RuptureFarms meat processing facility on Oddworld. Mudokons have been enslaved by the evil corporate entity controlling RuptureFarms, personified by Molluck the Glukon, the fatcat running the facility.

It turns out that Molluck has overfarmed the animal populations on Oddworld and has sent at least one species into extinction. His solution: raise profits by turning the Mudokon employees into the next big snack item. When Abe overhears the grim news, he decides to escape. Along the way he attempts to rescue his fellow employees, outwit pursuing security forces and discover his part in a much larger plan for Oddworld.

When it was released, Abe's Oddysee was unfairly critized for its level of difficulty and shortage of save locations. The game can be frustrating at times, but most great games dish out healthy doses of frustration to sweeten the eventual reward of success.

Apart from a steep learning curve, Abe's Oddysee infuses traditional platform elements (running, jumping, crawling) with new and creative options. One of the most unique additions is "Game Speak," the ability to communicate with enemies, friends and animals with everything from words and whistles to growls and flatulence.

In addition to excellent gameplay, Abe's Oddysee boasts several first-rate full-motion animation cut-scenes throughout the adventure. Graphics, sound and play control are all superb.

Score: 96/100

Iron Man 2 Casting Scoop

Not letting his defeat for Best Actor at this year's Academy Awards keep him down, Mickey Rourke has signed onto Marvel's Iron Man 2. Rourke, who will be playing the villain Whiplash, joins Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson as the newest additions to the franchise, which also includes Don Cheadle replacing Terrence Howard as James Rhodes, the man destined to become War Machine. Director Jon Favreau returns along with Robert Downey, Jr., Gwenyth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson and Paul Bettany, all reprising their roles from the first film, the breakout hit for Marvel Studios as an independent film production company. Iron Man 2 will kick off the 2010 summer movie season on May 7, much as the first did last year and went on to gross almost $600 million worldwide. Iron Man is one of four cornerstone franchises culminating in The Avengers to be released in 2012. The other franchises whose characters have, and will continue, to pop up in each other's films include The Incredible Hulk, also released summer 2008, Thor and The First Avenger: Captain America, both scheduled for summer 2011.

Resident Evil REtrospective

WARNING: This post contains scenes of extreme violence and gore.

On Friday, Resident Evil 5 arrives in stores in North America. It's been four years since a new RE game hit shelves and I couldn't be more excited. Note: Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles was released in 2007, but it recaps events that occured in previous games.

There are only a handful of franchises I trust so blindly as to purchase their games without any information about them, including whether critics favor them. I would buy anything that begins with The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, Final Fantasy, Metroid and Castlevania. I would similarly buy anything that begins Resident Evil.

I discovered Resident Evil later than most, in large part due to the fact that I never owned a Playstation. The first Resident Evil game was released in 1996. At that time I was busy playing Super Mario 64 and Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire on my N64.

Luckily for me, Capcom decided to port its sequel, Resident Evil 2, to the N64 in 1999, a year after it premiered on the Playstation. Reading a positive review in Nintendo Power, I rushed to Toys"R"Us and picked up a copy, knowing very little about the RE mythology.

I remember a few things from that first RE experience. One: The cartridge was heavy. REALLY heavy. Developers were forced to squeeze two discs worth of data onto a single 64MB cartridge. Two: I HATED the control scheme. I was used to manuevering the camera around the hero; in RE2, the point of view was static. Three: I was regularly terrified by the content of the game. The atmosphere was full of dread and there were plenty of drop-the-controller moments.

Since then I've been hooked. I've played the five main titles, although not in chronological order.

Below are brief reviews of the five main titles in the Resident Evil canon (excluding Code: Veronica and Umbrella Chronicles). There are listed in order of release date.

**Spoilers may follow**

Resident Evil
Release dates: March 30, 1996 (PS1); April 30, 2002 (GCN)
Genre: Survival horror
Developer: Capcom

In 2002, Resident Evil was remade for the Gamecube. If you're new to the franchise, I suggest this is the version you buy. Resident Evil uses virtually the same plotline of the Playstation original, but adds several gameplay elements, environments and visuals that look frightingly realistic.

For those who don't know, Resident Evil takes place in fictional Raccoon City, a unassuming Midwestern town. After a series of brutal slaying are reported, local law enforcement sends two S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue Services) teams to investigate. The trail leads S.T.A.R.S. members to an abandoned mansion deep in the woods on the outskirts of town. Players can choose to control either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, two members of S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team, as the explore the mansion and come face-to-face with secret experiments gone horribly wrong.

Resident Evil 2
Release dates: January 21, 1998 (PS1); October 31, 1999 (N64)
Genre: Survival horror
Developer: Capcom

RE2 takes place shortly after the events of the first Resident Evil. A virus which turns humans into flesh-eating zombies has found its way into the heart of Raccoon City. As the streets become filled with walking corpses, two strangers enter the city. One is Leon Kennedy, a police officer on his first day at the Raccoon City Police Department. The other is Claire Redfield, Chris' sister, who's looking for her missing brother.

Once again, players can choose to survive the game as either a male or female hero: Leon or Claire.

RE2 boasts several upgrades over the original, including enhanced graphics and the ability to gauge the protagonist's health simply by looking at their body language.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
Release date: November 11, 1999 (PS1)
Genre: Survival horror
Developer: Capcom

Every family has a black sheep, an individual that doesn't quite match up to his or her siblings. RE3 is that black sheep.

The first half of RE3 takes place one day before Leon Kennedy arrives in Raccoon City and the second half takes place two days after. Players control Jill Valentine, now a former S.T.A.R.S. member, as she tries to escape from the zombie-infested city. Along the way she encounters several mercenaries employed by Umbrella, the corporation responsible for the outbreak.

RE3 is a departure from the previous two RE installments. Players can only control Jill (except for a brief episode when players control Carlos Oliveira, one of the mercenaries). There is also a recurring villain who appears in several boss fights and other set-pieces: Nemesis. Designed by Umbrella to kill S.T.A.R.S. members, Nemesis can run, use weapons and follow Jill from one area to the next.

RE3 is far from a bad game; it simply doesn't have the same effect on the player as RE and RE2. One of the biggest drawbacks is the setting: Raccoon City. By removing the action from a mansion or police station, RE3 eliminated a lot of the claustrophobic feeling associated with the first two RE installments.

Resident Evil Zero
Release date: November 10, 2002 (GCN)
Genre: Survival horror
Developer: Capcom

Made exclusively for the Gamecube in 2002, RE0 takes place one day before the mansion incident chronicled in Resident Evil. It follows the adventures of Rebecca Chambers, the medic for S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team (and a supporting character from Resident Evil) and ex-marine and escaped prisoner Billy Coen, who find themselves stranded in the Arklay Mountains outside of Raccoon City.

As opposed to earlier RE titles, where players choose a character at the beginning of the game, RE0 demands players switch between Rebecca and Billy throughout the game. This dual-character system is necessary to solving many of the game's puzzles and makes the gameplay that much more enjoyable.

RE0 has tremendous graphics, terrifying enemies and goes a long way toward clearing up obscured plot details about the Umbrella Corporation.

It is the last of the main RE titles to use the classic RE control scheme prior to Resident Evil 4.

Resident Evil 4
Release date: January 11, 2005 (GCN); October 25, 2005 (PS2)
Genre: Survival horror/Third-person shooter
Developer: Capcom

Goodbye Raccoon City. Goodbye Umbrella. It's now 2004 and Leon Kennedy, one of the heroes of RE2, is a member of the Secret Service. Umbrella is bankrupt and publicly disgraced. Raccoon City is cinder and ash.

In RE4, the best of the series, players control Leon as he journeys to a remote village in Europe on the trail of a secret cult responsible for kidnapping the daughter of the United States President. RE4 is remarkable for almost everything: graphics, sound, story, atmosphere, etc. Where it made huge leaps, however, is in its control scheme. The camera is no longer motionless above a ceiling fan or behind a window; instead it follows Leon wherever he goes, just above his right shoulder. What does this mean: the ONE fault from which RE games suffered was removed.

I can't say enough good things about RE4. When I played it, I knew I was experiencing something special. It's survival horror, action-adventure and shooter combined into one masterpiece of a game.

Note: Resident Evil 4 is currently ranked #3 on my Top 100 Games of All Time.

Arcade Treasure

Ikaruga

Release date: December 20, 2001 (Arcade); April 15, 2003 (GCN); April 9, 2008 (Xbox Live Arcade)
Genre: Vertical Shooter
Developer: Treasure; G.rev

For several years after its 2001 release, the arcade shooter Ikaruga wasn't available outside of Japan. In 2003, however, the game was ported to the Nintendo Gamecube. Five years later it arrived on Xbox Live Arcade, an archive of video games available for download to the Xbox hard drive.

Ikaruga follows the golden rule of all great arcade games: easy to learn, impossible to master. During the game players pilot the ship Ikaruga through hostile skies filled with enemies and hazards. What sets Ikaruga apart from generic shooters, beside its vibrant graphics and poetic preambles, is its dual polarity system.

Enemy ships in Ikaruga are either black or white and shoot colored bullets accordingly. The player's ship can reverse polarity - from white to black and black to white - to maneuver through ribbons of enemy fire. When polarized to black, Ikaruga can absorb black bullets and inflict more damage on white ships; when polarized to white, the opposite holds true.

Ikaruga is brief, spanning only five levels, but the replay value is enormous. The Xbox Live Arcade version is especially addictive, with its online co-op mode and leader boards.

Score: 90/100

Watchmen (2009)

Director: Zach Snyder
Starring: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson

The world will look up and shout "Save us!"... And I'll whisper "No."

Watchmen is something to behold. It is a movie that is full of faults but yet completely stunning despite all of these faults.

It is the story of an alternate 1985, where costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of society, and the US sits on the brink of a nuclear winter with the USSR. One of the heroes, The Comedian, is brutally murdered and one of his former colleagues Rorschach sets out to uncover a conspiracy against costumed vigilantes.

I don’t want to give away too much of the story; it is really very interesting. It does feel like the movie could use another hour or so to really flesh out the story; of course the movie already comes in a robust 2 hours 40 minutes. Even without a story, there is enough there visually to make the movie a must-see. You might want to brush up on your US history from 1940 to 1985, however, otherwise you’re going to miss a ton of cultural references.

Visually the movie is just a stunner; the alternate 1985 looks great. Zach Snyder is quickly becoming the king of green screen filming after Watchman and 300. He may not be a great director but he really knows how to work with the medium.
There is really much more to this film than meets the eye; there really are layers to the film. It is a beautiful allegory about human nature. This is not your traditional superhero movie; it is not the feel good type of movie where the good guy catches the villain, and wraps up nicely. It is something much more interesting.



Editor's Note: Watchmen is a film adaptation of 12-issue serialized comic book written by Alan Moore, drawn by Dave Gibbons and colored by John Higgins. DC published the limited series between 1986 and 1987. After the series concluded, all 12 episodes were collected and sold in paperback format.

Old and New Friends: News Brief 3/7/09

This week sees the return of a critical hit from last season and the premiere of a new series with a fan favorite. The former is Breaking Bad, starring Bryan Cranston as Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with terminal cancer in the first episode. In order to provide for his family after he is gone, including his physically disabled son and the daughter on the way, he uses his particular skills to cook crystal meth with a former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). Breaking Bad's first season was considerably shortened due to last year's writers' strike, however that did not prevent it from winning two Emmys (one for Crantson as Best Actor, the other for Editing) and, with the help of Mad Men, making the American Movie Classics channel a new player in basic cable programming. The thirteen episode second season kicks off tomorrow night (March 8) at 10:00 PM EST.

Nathan Fillion can only be described as prolific. Just this week Wonder Woman, an animated film based on the DC comics character, was released featuring Fillion as the voice of Steve Trevor, the love interest for the title character. He also featured in Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, a short musical film that debuted on the Internet. In Halo 3, he voiced Sergeant Reynolds (a nod to his Firefly character) and will return in the game's expansion, Halo 3: ODST. There's no doubt as to his popularity, however twice now series in which he has had a leading role, Whedon's Firefly in 2002 and Drive in 2007 (both on Fox), have led to quick cancellations. Taking the role of Dr. Adam Mayfair on ABC's Desperate Housewives last year seemed to be preparation for a third go-around by joining an established show with demographics outside his usual fan base. We will see if Fillion's charm works in his favor when his new series, Castle, premieres Monday (March 9) at 10:00 PM EST on ABC. A sort of reverse Murder, She Wrote, with younger, sexier leads, the series stars Fillion and Stana Katic, who has had small roles on 24 and Heroes, as a mystery novelist and NYPD detective respectively, who investigate a copy-cat murder from one of his novels. The show has been contracted for ten episodes and hopefully this time Fillion will get the success he deserves.

Can you believe it's been almost eleven years since Seinfeld finished its hugely impressive run on NBC? Well, if you think you're finally getting over the loss, it's time for a relapse. Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards and Jason Alexander have all signed to appear on Larry David's HBO series, Curb Your Enthusiasm. This will be the first time the entire cast has reunited on television, the separate interviews of 2004's "The Seinfeld Story" do not count, and since they are all scheduled for multiple episodes this looks to be the best chance for a reunion that Seinfeld fans can hope for.

Video Game Classics - Part II

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

Release date: November 15, 1996 (PS1); August 31, 1997 (Windows)

Genre: Action-Adventure
Developer: Silicon Knights

"When coincidence seems too convenient, I prefer to call it fate."

So says Kain, the hero of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, a petty nobleman turned vampire after his untimely death. Kain narrates most of his adventures in Nosgoth, a fictional medieval landscape filled with monsters, mayhem and magic.

Blood Omen is a top-down action-adventure game not unlike the early Zelda games (excluding Zelda II), only much darker and bloodier. Players take on the role of Kain, returned from death to exact revenge on his assassins. But fate, it would seem, has larger plans for Kain: he is charged with the task of healing the "Pillars of Nosgoth" and restoring peace to the realm.

The gameplay of Blood Omen is solid and enjoyable: exploring caves and dungeons, cutting down monsters and finding all types of treasure. It is in the story and the production values that Kain is most notable, however. The saga of Blood Omen unfolds slowly and with many twists and turns, through captivating full-motion animation and top-notch voice acting.

Most of the credit for Blood Omen lies with Denis Dyack, the founder and president of Silicon Knights, which developed the game. Dyack directed the PS1 version; he is also credited for the concept of Blood Omen and created the storyline and mythology with Ken McCulloch. Dyack also directed the production of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, another action-adventure game with horror themes and excellent production values.

Blood Omen was followed by four sequels.

Score: 91/100

Ailing Actors, Shows and Ratings: News Brief 3/4/09

Earlier today Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit's Detective Olivia Benson, was hospitalized for the third time since January. Her original ailment then was a pneumothorax, or collapsed lung for those who don't watch ER, and a spokesman for the show stated her current trip was for "routine tests". L&O: SVU, which airs Tuesdays at 10:00 PM EST on NBC, has been in reruns the past two weeks, returning next week, should not expect any delays in the production, remarked the same spokesman. All of us here wish Ms. Hargitay a speedy recovery so she can go back to what she does best, catching those sex crimes offenders and making sure they never reach trial.

Yesterday ABC announced the cancellation of new series Life on Mars which premiered back in October. The show focused on Detective Sam Tyler (Jason O'Mara) who, after being hit by a car, wakes up and finds himself in 1973. The series is based on the original BBC series of the same name, which ran for two seasons in 2006-7 and starred Doctor Who's new series' Master, John Simm, in the title role. The announcement is said to have been made with enough time for the producers to provide a satisfying conclusion to the series' storylines. For those fans of Life of Mars who are upset over the cancellation, there is comfort that the sequel series to the British original, Ashes to Ashes, has its American premiere this Saturday (March 7) at 9:00 PM EST on BBC America.

Last night's season premiere of Reaper on the CW came in last place with only 2.36 million viewers (over a 12% drop from the season one finale last May) tuning in to see Sam jumping back into his demon-hunting lifestyle. I personally blame the decline on the lack of Gladys (Christine Willes) from the long-awaited season premiere. That and American Idol with its 24.21 million viewers probably had something to do with it.

Shooting Gallery - Part I

Unreal Tournament

Release date: November 30, 1999 (PC); October 23, 2000 (PS2)
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Developer: Epic Games; Digital Extremes

In late 1999, video game developers began to embrace a different kind of first-person shooter experience. They choose to move away from substantive one-player campaigns (like those in GoldenEye 007 and Half-Life) and focus instead on the multiplayer aspects of the game.

The poster child of that trend was probably Quake III Arena, but nearly as popular was Unreal Tournament, both released on the PC within a week of each other. On the console front, Acclaim released Turok: Rage Wars, a multiplayer-focused first-person title for the Nintendo 64.

In 2000, Unreal Tournament was ported to the Playstation 2. The Playstation version is inferior graphically to its predecessor and only four players can shoot it out at once (opposed to 32), but the game is still undeniably fun to play.

In the one-player mode of Unreal Tournament, the player moves through a gladiatorial tournament complete with 5 ladders: Deathmatch, Domination, Capture the Flag, Assault and Challenge. Each ladder contains 4 to 12 maps, all with their own architecture, secrets and hazards. Assault has some of the most morbidly creative maps, including High Speed, which takes place on a speeding train.

In the multiplayer mode, players can take on their friends in any of the modes mentioned above. Each player can go into battle as any number of colorful characters and with a brutal arsenal of weaponry, including standards like sniper rifles, rocket launchers and miniguns plus some over-the-top firearms like the Redeemer, which fires a miniature nuclear warhead.

Score: 90/100

Rowdy Roddy Reaper Returns

Tonight at 8:00 PM EST on the CW Network, a favorite series from last year returns after having been off the air for ten months. Reaper was a breakout hit last season, for me anyway, and one of my best picks of the year. In fact, in recommending only one TV show to a friend to watch, Reaper was the undeniable best choice.

Quick recap: Sam Oliver (Bret Harrison), a perennial slacker who dropped out of college because classes made him tired, discovers that prior to his birth, his parents sold his soul to the Devil (Ray Wise). Now charged with the task of being Hell's bounty hunter, he must capture and return the escaped souls to Lucifer's dark domain. Armed with an eclectic arsenal of vessels, a stun gun, snow globe and radio controlled car to name a few, and equally lazy best friends, Bert "Sock" Wysocki (Tyler Labine) and Ben Gonzalez (Rick Gonzalez), Sam must balance his new bad ass role with his earthly dead-end profession at the Work Bench and his romantic pursuit of the equally sweet and pretty Andi Prendergast (Missy Peregrym).

SEASON ONE SPOILERS FOLLOW. The first third of the season tended to come off a bit procedurally with the weekly soul-catching becoming a bit repetitive, however this was only to allow the audience to get used to the premise and to establish the characters. Starting with Sam's quest to obtain his contract from the Devil, in order to find an escape clause, the audience discovered that Sam's parents aren't being entirely truthful about their deal with the Devil. Sam, in an attempt to get over Andi, becomes involved with Cady (Jessica Stroup), a girl the Devil has a personal tie to of his own: possible parentage. Not to be outdone, it's alluded to that perhaps Sam may also be an offspring of Satan, seeing as how Sam is the only one the Devil actually appears and talks to. A fact that a demon uprising, led by loving couple Tony (Ken Marino) and Steve (Michael Ian Black), hope to use to their advantage in overthrowing the devil and rejoining the ranks of angels in the heavens. The first season ends with San questioning if he truly is the son of the Devil following the loss, or so he thinks, of the man he previously thought was his father.

Reaper is by no means great television. It will probably never win major awards or even survive its sophomore season, coming late in the year on a fledgling network and competing against mega-hit American Idol. What it is though is an escape. It's fun television filled with amusing characters and interesting plot twists. While wisely choosing not to become too enmeshed in religious or philosophical implications, season one proves that the show is treating its subject matter with a sincerity to the unique beings that inhabit this universe. The Devil is never the ultimate personification of evil one would expect. He's charming, smooth and hilarious. The demons Sam has met are the fallen angels who followed Lucifer away from God, not the freak show monsters as other shows have portrayed them. It's a world populated with characters where you want to see what happens next. And tonight we get the next chapter in the life of Sam Oliver.

Beyond Wonder Woman's "Nice Rack"

Wonder Woman

by Lizzie Norris

Few films have the potential to draw comic book fans and feminists together for 75 minutes of adrenaline and laughter-filled adventure. In this way Wonder Woman is a rare find. This animated work explains the birth of Amazon Princess Diana (Keri Russell) and how she comes to be Wonder Woman, the rather undiplomatic ambassador to mankind.

Diana doesn’t mince her words, which are as sharp as her physical assaults and serve as comic relief throughout the grave struggle against Ares (Alfred Molina). Treachery in the Amazon sisterhood facilitates Ares’s resurgent campaign of global pandemonium, spurring Diana to follow him into the outside world and confront him in the United States. Coming from a peaceful island of empowered women, Diana is deeply critical of American gender norms. She makes jabs at new male partner Colonel Steve Trevor (Nathan Fillion) and denounces women who reinforce misconceptions of female weakness.

One of the most amusing and stirring scenes occurs when Diana first arrives in the U.S. and finds a desolate young girl sitting alone on a park bench. Diana is shocked to learn that two boys won’t let the girl play with them, especially after she observes their pathetic stick fighting. They would be slaughtered in warfare, she tells the girl without a hint of irony. Diana then teaches the girl a valuable fighting technique and sends her along to join the boys.

Many of the film’s gender jokes are trite—Col. Trevor’s first faux pas is mentioning Diana’s “nice rack”—but Wonder Woman doesn’t claim to be a masterpiece of social commentary. It’s a superhero movie, complete with the requisite features: special powers, odious villains, and as DC Comics puts it, “a battle unlike any humankind has ever faced.”

Yet there is a greater message for those who seek more than Wonder Woman in combat, cunningly using her Lasso of Truth, indestructible bracelets and well trained body. Men’s vulnerability to war and corruption is an underlying theme, but the film doesn’t present a simplistic dichotomy between evil patriarchy and divine sisterhood. Rather, it becomes apparent that both matriarchy and patriarchy are failed systems; women can be lovers as well as warriors; and the battle against violence and destruction demands collaboration of men and women.

*** out of ****

Editor's Note: Wonder Woman is fourth in a line of DC Universe original animated movies, which also include Superman: Doomsday, Justice League: The New Frontier and Batman: Gotham Knight. Wonder Woman is available for purchase beginning today, March 3, on DVD and Blu-ray.

Video Game Classics - Part I

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

Release date: May 13, 1996 (SNES); September 1, 2008 (Virtual Console)
Genre: RPG/Adventure
Developer: Square

One of the best reasons to own a Wii (outside of the price tag) is its "Virtual Console," an ever-expanding online library of classic video games available for download at reasonable prices. Many of the games it offers are nearly impossible to find today outside of eBay and many were originally featured on systems that very few of us ever owned.

A large percentage of the titles featured on the "Virtual Console" come from Nintendo's glory days and, as a result, involve many of Nintendo's most famous mascots: Link, Mario, Donkey Kong and Kirby, to name a few. Mario is especially ubiquitous, featured in at least 11 games in the online library.

On September 1, 2008 Nintendo re-released one of Mario's most unique games, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, an RPG-Adventure hybrid developed by Square with direct guidance from Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto.

Super Mario RPG begins like most Mario games: Princess Toadstool is captured by local tyrant Bowser and mustachioed Mario flies to her rescue. During the rescue attempt, however, a giant sword crashes through Bowser's keep and sends all three flying in different directions. As the story progresses, the player learns that much more sinister forces than Bowser are attempting to overrun the Mushroom Kingdom.

Although developed by Square, Super Mario RPG is a much simpler RPG than any of Square's Final Fantasy series. The battle sequences are less complicated; the inventory less robust; and the playing time significantly reduced. For those gamers who have always been intrigued by the RPG genre but have been hesitant to try it, Super Mario RPG is a perfect first step.

Score: 94/100