Samothrake

Wow. When we consider how much Kevin Bacon has been in (see Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon) if SLJ has been in so many movies, why do we not have Six Degrees of SLJ?

One interesting thing about pretty much all of the ‘science’ based heroes (and by that I mean the scientific accidents, experiments and whatnot), be they Marvel or DC, is that we can pretty much lump them into a single category – they survived whatever happened to them that gave them powers because of their unique genetic make-up. Which means that they survived and got powers because they are not ‘normal’ humans. In other words, these super powered people are the way they are because they are mutants who hadn’t manifested powers until their accidents. Marvel has said this a few times over the years and DC pretty much embraced it with the Invasion! crossover and the introduction of the metagene into their universe.

So, the thing about Marvel supers and mutants, if they wanted to be more realistic about mutants and the whole ‘it could be anybody’ part of the fear, is that it’s not just your neighbor’s kids that could manifest powers and kill people at any time, it’s your neighbors themselves, hell even your own family could be an unmanifested mutant! Maybe even you yourself!

I don't know about the movies, but wasn't there two books? The "Three Musketeers" and "The Four Musketeers'?

I think it's this issue had more of a story to it.

First issue had a story, but it was hidden under all the other stuff, and really was more of a teaser.

Five bucks on the Space Monkey!

He was always more resourcesful anyways.

Veeeeery interesting.
I shall keep an eye out.

So we now have an open secret that nobody in WotC can talk about, for legal reasons at the very least, I’m sure. I wonder if they will wait until Dragoncon to make the announcements or if they will announce it before and have GenCon be the 5e Blitz like GenCon 2007 was for 4e. And then use the year before GenCon 2013 to ‘leak’ information about the new edition and ‘get everybody used to the idea’ of a new edition and try to use time to get everyone excited about the new edition whilst being oblivious to the fact that they will have to spend more money on books.

Second edition of AD&D lasted for almost 11 years, all the while putting out a few products a month (even though that did cause problems for TSR at the end). 3.0 and its extension 3.5 lasted for a total of 8 years. At the rate things are going under the house of Hasbro, we will see 5e in 2013, 6e will show up in 2017, and 7e will be on the shelves in 2020. All designed to make sure that players cannot easily convert characters from one edition to the other, and further fracturing the playerbase with each edition.

Remember also, WotC flatly denied any rumors about a fourth edition right up until it was anounced at GenCon 2007. Yet it was being worked on as early as 2005. Of course they will do the same thing with the new edition in order to not canibalize the sales of any book between now and when the edition.

Fifth edition? Already?

Kinda figured this would happen when Hasbro took over.

Oh I enjoyed the show immensely while it was on (or in my case watching it on my TiVo). And I probably will continue to do so for as long as Fox airs it. Please don't let my comments and ruminations above make you think I did't.

It’s just that discussions like this and my own Vulcan-esque mind bring up questions after the fact. As I keep telling the wife, I know too much science type stuff. Sometimes stuff pops out at me while I watch things, but usually not enough so that I cannot suspend my disbelief. I blame Discovery, Science Channel and Mythbusters. And History Channel, and NatGeo channel, and all those other fact-based channels. This time.

You know, something just occured to me about the probe and alternate timeline.
The scientists sent a probe back and looked around where they thought it should be. But did they perchance take into account all the continental drift of 85 million years and the possibility of the probe being subducted with a continental plate? If such a thing happened, the heat and pressures involved would have obliterated any trace of the probe. Nowadays we think we know how the continents looked 85, 100, 200 million years ago, but it's really just a lot of educated guessing.

So, while the scientists of 2149 think they are sending people back to an alternate timeline, but they really have no guarentee. And with the amount of time involved here, there's plenty of time for the humans to either get their act together and leave the planet (UFOs are really our long lost kin checking on the motherplanet), or for things to all go south and any evidence of their existence back then to be obliterated.

I just found this on Fox’s official Terra Nova site under this episode’s summary:
” Meanwhile, Mira orders the carvings destroyed, adding that - while incomplete - they tell of someone coming on the tenth pilgrimage who wasn't supposed to be here, someone who changes everything. And she thinks she knows who that person is.”

Now I just rewatched that part of the episode. Mira says and orders no such thing. The man with her asks why Taylor doesn’t blast them off the face of the rocks, and Mira says they are the key to ‘everything’, but she doesn’t order them destroyed, and she certainly doesn’t seem to know what they mean. Other than that whenever Taylor’s son ‘gets closer to an answer he puts them here for Taylor to see’. Also, the way Mira states that Taylor isn’t going to like that the kids were by the drawings makes it seem like she still works for Taylor. Which brings into question her’s and Taylor’s motives.

Although I have to wonder if Fox's summary of the episode is taken from an earlier draft of the script, and Mira's actions that it states didn't make it into the edited version.

In some ways it seems that the Novans have communication with the future, yet at the very beginning, we are told ‘It’s a one-way trip’. “I will find a way to get you there. Even if I have to come here and get youmyself” Josh told his girlfriend in the future. “It’s a one-way trip Josh, there’s no way back” was her reply.
If they can communicate with the timeline they came from, why would he need to find a way to come get her? Why would she say it’s a one way trip? And yet, when Jim asks about the Sixers and if Taylor had reported their ‘mutiny’, he is told that Taylor doesn’t know who to trust in the future, and until he does, he’s not going to report it. Which implies that there is communication with the future. But if so, why is it a one-way trip? With this being a different time-line, there really should be no way for communication with the future, unless the portal shows up on both sides, and they pass information back and forth during the time it is open. But again, there’s that little one-way trip thing…

I’m also curious about the Sixers and what their plans are. Mira also told one of her men that things were going to change soon. If there is no way to communicate with the future, how can she know this? There has to be some sort of bigger plans that the group the Sixers are part of have. Her statement also makes a person wonder if there are any more ‘Sixer agents’ in the new group of people who came across this time.

Other weird time things: Commander Taylor said that he was the first through the portal. He also said that for the others only seconds passed between him going through the portal and going through themselves, yet he was in the past for 118 days before they got there. Which makes one wonder just how long the Novans were waiting on the newbies at the entry point. How much of a heads up did they get? I suppose that in the intervening seven years they scientists in Hope Plaza have fine tuned the portal so that what happened to Taylor doesn’t happen anymore, but it does leave some interesting possibilities for future shows.

Also Taylor has been there for seven years, and yet Skye tells Josh that she doesn’t remember much of the future because she ‘was just a kid at the time’. She was also in the Fifth Pilgrimage, and if they are sending them regularly we can do some quick math and think that she can only have been there for four years tops. Yes, she’s supposed to be about 16, but I don’t know any 16 year olds that don’t remember things from when they were 12.

There have apparently been 9 other “Pilgrimages” to this time, with our family in the tenth, and an eleventh one planned with more than a hundred people and not as much time to prepare for them as the Novans would like. If the show continues for more than a season, this means that there is the possibly of an infusion of new characters.

I am confused with the whole ‘control the past, control the future’ thing that the ‘Sixers’ seem to believe in. Or at least they believe that that is what the Novans and Hoppe Plaza is doing. With 85 million years to play with, and knowing that somewhere around 65 million years the planet will face a huge calamity, just how do they think they will ‘control the future’? And since it’s a whole different timeline – or so we’re told – how can anything they do in the past ‘control the future’ that they all came from? And how could a whole Pilgrimage be replaced with people who have this philosophy?

The equations that we are shown by Taylor’s son are a big mystery. Somehow, watching the show, I figured that the equations had something to do with making a trip back to where the people came from. They also look to be sort of astronomical to my untrained eye.

The show has an interesting mix of super-high tech and rustic fort feel that I like. There has to be some sort of giant machine shops and giant lathes somewhere in the settlement. I say this because the logs in the fences are way too uniform to be otherwise. Also, in the past seven years a large amount of supplies, machines, and technology has been transported. Transported in parts and assembled at the settlement, I would think as that trek through the jungle the new arrivals took would be rather tough on high tech medical equipment we are shown if it was already assembled. And speaking of treks, in seven years, the colony hasn’t taken the time to make a good road through the jungle for people to walk from the entry point to the colony? Seems a bit strange to me.

All in all, I enjoyed the show and look forward to seeing how they resolve the conflicts and mysteries presented in the pilot. I just hope they don’t ask me to turn off my brain too much...

I did enjoy most of the issue. Yes, not a lot happened, but lots of books with big fights have not a lot happen in 22 pages. Where the book succeeds though, is that it gives us just enough mystery as to why Kara is here at this time, why she doesn’t remember anything, and what is going to happen next. Her reactions to this situation, to me, seemed natural.

However, I don’t like parts of her costume. I rather like the top part and how the cape works, but the red shield shaped ‘underwear’ we see on the bottom, and the way the ‘belt’ angles down to the legs (on both sides) just looks wrong. Instead of making it look like another piece of her suit, it just highlights her butt and crotch. And that’s not a good thing for a character who’s supposed to be underaged. I also don’t like the extra straps over her knees on her boots.

I also don’t like this ‘seconds after being exposed to a yellow sun Kryptonians have powers’. We’ve seen that in the past couple years, and especially on Smallville. Yet, we’re told that Kal took years to ‘grow into his powers’. Hell we’re shown that with the first issue of Action Comics. Yet, here’s Kara throwing robotic soldiers around and blasting them with heat rays and overpowering their speakers with a loud cry. I mean really, the fight with the super-suits couldn’t have lasted more than thirty seconds before Kal came in and stopped it.

Now as I said above, the story is just long enough and has just enough left unsaid, that I want to know what happens next. It introduces the characters, and does so in a way that makes sense. I think the issue succeeded in what it was meant to do, which is introduce us to this character in this new universe and make us want to keep reading the story.

If you don't have it already, the best thing for e-books on you PC is Calibre.

As for e-books and the dreaded DRM, well, I won't tell you where, and I can't say I advocate it, but if you bought the book, there are programs that can clean the e-book. And Calibre can convert pretty much any format to any other format, which means you don't have to worry about where you buy.

If being left-handed makes you evil, then my grand-mother, my mother, my sister, and my wife are all evil. And other than my mother joining mutants a few years ago, I can't say any of them are/were evil.

While I understand Barbara's hesitation and freezing up, did they really have to have drawn for three pages?

Yeah, for me it's that Matt Smith says his lines so blasted fast. And sometimes goes from lines kinda said under his breath (that we're supposed to catch) to loudly proclaiming the solution to the problem. All very quickly.
At this point, I pretty much know a good portion of the UK slang, but sometimes these actors act like there's not enough time to say everything they need to say.

Hmmm....lemme grab my Flashpoint thoughts from another forum...


Ah....Here they are:

Overall it was a big “Elseworlds” tale. Not necessarily bad, but not really good either. Just kinda Blah, though some of the stories were better than others.

The Lois Lane series made it look like Lois was killed by the Amazons while she was broadcasting. Yet we see in Project Superman that she somehow survived that and dies because Supes made whomever that was he was fighting go BOOM.

Project Superman was an interesting story. Sad story when it dealt with Kal, but interesting nonetheless. Do we have some sort of normal DC analogue for Subject 0?

Secret Seven was an interesting tale of the group’s betrayal by Enchantress and Shade’s madness, but overall didn’t really tie into the whole overall story at all. Just when it started to get good - where he started to come back from the madness realm – it stopped.

Outsider seems to be an entirely new character (to me at least). He had a bit of an interesting story, but reminded me of Luthor made of stone and much more proactive and hands-on.

World of Flashpoint was kinda eh-inspiring. A semi-interesting take on a character I know next to nothing about.

Legion of Doom really had nothing to do with the overall Flashpoint story. The story of Heatwave’s ‘revenge’ was just kind of there. Plastic Man was more interesting. However it was interesting to see how they incarcerated their super-villains and how they treated anyone who with powers who. Especially those who broke the law. What made me scratch my head was that they kept the villains’ costumes and weapons on Queen’s Row? Talk about stupid. Yes, those things are ‘property’ of the villains, but no law enforcement in their right mind would keep all that crap where the prisoners could get at it. Especially since we see in Green Arrow Industries that GAI is getting these things to reverse engineer. Why would Queen give that stuff back?! Those things had no business being in the same facility as the villains, other than story deus ex.

Green Arrow Industries – Tony Stark (with more years of playboy experience) in DC under the name Oliver Queen.

Grod of War – an interesting Alexander the Great parallel. I liked the end: “I want you to remember this. I want you to grow up and hate me. I want you to spend every minute of your life planning and thinking about how you’re going to kill me. And when you’re finally ready, I want you to find me, and I want you to get the job done. Now get out of here. And HURRY UP!” Just for some challenge. Good stuff.

Emperor Aquaman and Wonder Woman tell the same tale from two different sides. Aquaman made it seem like Mera jumped out of the water and got beheaded within 2 seconds. Wonder Woman showed a more successful attack by Mera, but she was still defeated quickly once Diana got around to fighting. It’s interesting that the whole messed up world with the war was because of two people’s jealousy and unwillingness to change. Orm did what he did because he wanted the Atlantean Throne, and Diana’s aunt did what she did because she was afraid of peace. Yet they were somehow attracted to each other. Makes you wonder what their plans were going to be if they were successful in becoming the rulers of their respective countries. Dis they even have plans beyond ‘And I shall be the ruler!’?

Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown could have happened in regular DC. I enjoyed the tale. They only got involved with the overall story at the end. And it would appear that the back story is going to be ported over to “New 52”, what with the new Frankenstein and the Creature Commandos series.

Abin Sur was another rather yawn inducing series. Ooooh Blackest Night without any Earth GL…..oooooh! Let’s throw in a ‘flashpoint prophecy’ to make conflict between Sinestro and Abin. Overall, I thought the whole three-shot one of the weakest.

I enjoyed Deathstroke as it showed that he is more than just a cold-hearted, ruthless mercenary. And it was really the only story with a semi-happy ending. I also enjoyed seeing the Warlord running about the normal world. I thought he made a good enemy counterpart for Slade.

Citizen Cold was another story that really didn’t tie into the overall Flashpoint story. It really was a ‘what if?’ story. What if the Flash wasn’t the hero of Central City? Not sure how I feel about it overall.

Batman’s story was intriguing, as it was a story of Thomas seeking his wife to ask her permission to change the world. It was interesting to see Penguin and others working for Wayne. No Two Face because Batman is more brutal and the crooks don’t get to get out of jail as often. Was also interesting to see who knew Thomas was Batman and actively helped him in his crusade.

Kid Flash was mostly set a five hundred years after Flashpoint. Without Superman and the heroes, Braniac was able to squash any resistance to his mission of gaining knowledge. The events of this book tie in with some of the reasons for Flashpoint, but all.

Now on to the Main Story. Flashpoint’s five issues really was Flash wakes up in a different world and he and Batman change it back. The things that were happening in the overall world were only showed a few times within Flashpoint, and I suppose that’s why they had sixteen miniseries and three one-shots to tell the ‘bigger story’, but overall, the gist was really shown in Flashpoint’s five issues. With the three Booster Gold issues, there was literally 60 comics for this event.

However, there were way too many things that got changed for it all to be Barry’s fault. Yes by him ‘internalizing’ the Speed Force he changed some things, and by Bart gathering the Speed Force it changed a few things. Taking it from Max Mercury shouldn’t have changed too much. But closer to a more modern 20th century history, by taking the speed from Jay, well that’s where the changes started to add up. By not having a Flash for a Justice Society to fight in World War 2, the JSA fell apart. No JSA in WW2 means no public good faith in people with powers. Which leads to the fear and mistrust of the government and public of the super-powered when they show up again decades later. However this doesn’t cover all the other changes to the timeline. Not by a long shot does this cover all of the changes to the timeline, butterfly effect or not.

Why was Bruce shot instead of his parents? Definitely a tampered event. Flash could not have caused this.

Why did Kal-El’s ship land in Metropolis instead of Smallville? Was the earth turning a bit slower or faster (dependent on the direction the ship was coming from)? Did the ship leave Krypton sooner or later than in normal DCU. Was the ship traveling a tiny fraction faster or slower than normal DCU? There are several possible reasons as to why, but in so many timelines and parallel Earths he lands in Kansas and the Kents care, this seems like one of the more tampered events.

Apparently Captain Nathanial Adam was not framed for a crime he didn’t commit and sentenced to death. Which means he covered in alien metal and sitting on an atomic bomb as it was exploded. Which means he lived out his military career and wasn’t propelled forward in time. Then again, we don’t know if the US even did that experiment. Did that alien ship with that metal even crash on earth? This looks like another case of a tampered event. Somehow Adam wasn’t framed, which led him to live out his military career.

Apparently Deathstroke DID fight in Vietnam and get his super-soldier serum treatment. This is shown nicely in the book with his healing factor. (incidentally, when did all comics start using “healing factor” for characters with some type of regeneration? I originally saw it used with Wolverine, but see it with so many characters nowadays that I’m surprised Marvel isn’t suing, as they used it first.) This is a case of a character living out his life in the new timeline, rather than any events being tampered with in his personal timeline. By the time the story starts, so much is different, that we just see how things might have been.

Now that I think about it, it seems that there were only a few direct tamperings with the timeline. Like I said, with the entire Speed Force with Barry, we get no WW2 hero team. But we have Bruce being killed, Kal-El not ending up with the Kents, Wonder Woman meeting up with a baby kraken and Aquaman, instead of Steve Trevor, and Nathanial Adam not becoming Captain Atom (though this last one doesn’t have quite the same effect as the others). Everything else seems to be the consequences of these events. As we see, most heroes and villains still ended up with their costumed identities. Their motivations may be different, but it they still use the same weapons and costumes. It’s as if by taking what Barry did and preventing the “Big Three” from becoming what they were in normal DCU, the whole planet went to pot. Didn’t we see the whole “what if the Big Three weren’t” in already in “Trinity”?

But it’s really this picture:


that makes me wonder if DC isn’t giving themselves an out if this new DCU doesn’t work out the way they want it to. It also has an ominous overtone of ‘Hey, we know we told you there wasn’t any big crossovers planned, but here’s what we have for the next one!’ “Because the history of heroes was shattered into three long ago. Splintered to weaken your world for their impending arrival.” And the picture really makes it seem like what we are seeing now with DNnU is just another ‘what if’ universe, albeit a much more fully-committed one.

So, overall Flashpoint was an interesting exercise in ‘Elseworlds’ storytelling, but I think they could have found a better way to make the changes they wanted to.

On the other hand one of the girls I went to school with recounted how her first grade teacher made her use her left hand for writing and stuff.