Tag: Editorial

How to Train Your Dragon 3 Updates

how_to_train_your_dragon_3_posterBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

While How to Train Your Dragon 3 is a year away from release, the past ten days have been exciting for fans keeping tabs on reveals. This work has been finished for some time, and it’s supposed to get a preview at Annecy International Animation Festival next week. A teaser trailer may well be released during or afterwards.

For now, the release of the poster shows Toothless meeting the female of the species, a Light Fury, and all hearts will be aflutter for this pairing. Adorable as she is, one big question many will ask is where has she been? The world is large enough for any serpentine species to find places to hide in, hence the title.

The reason is that the new villain, Grimmel (voiced by F. Murray Abraham), has an agenda. He’s wiped out nearly all of the male of the species, and Toothless is next!

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Some Fans Strongly Want A Disney’s Gargoyles Reboot, But…

Should Disney’s Gargoyles be given a reboot? Some fans are against, and others just want a continuation.

Disney's GargoylesThe past few years have shown fond properties remade for a new generation. Duck Tales was one which started broadcasting last year. Now into its second season, Ben10 is going strong. Over the long weekend, ReBoot started streaming on Netflix (USA & other regions other than Canada). Coming later this year is yet another iteration of Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Also on the list is Invader Zim, Muppet Babies and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

In a random conversation with fellow older geeks, one pal suggested TailSpin ought to be next. I feel not every show from Disney Afternoon can make that comeback. If Darkwing Duck can appear in Duck Tales, could a spin-off be coming? My show was Rescue Rangers and it was the reason why I never got any homework done (until much later in the day). Gargoyles was also part, and the team behind crafting this fantastic series did a wonderful job. Not only did it tug at many literary allusions but it also pulled from various mythologies to craft a world that was steeped in folklore. Some were in plain sight, watching the ongoing trials of man, and others preferred to remain in secrecy.

Released over the holiday weekend is a fan trailer recreating a few moments from the opening sequence of Gargoyles. This CGI treatment shows the technology is here to bring this show to the next level. Some shots are from New York City proper, and others are digital. The blend worked very well. However, to nail the perfect voice-over is hard; I kept on wanting to hear Keith David’s voice instead of this poor man’s version. This product is a fan film. I had to disengage some filters. This tease ultimately worked. I pulled out my DVDs and started watching the series again .

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Remembering TRON the Movie, LEGO News and Reboot

Ever since the movie TRON graced the big screen, it’s become a cult phenomenon and there are no signs of it dying.

TRON Legacy movie posterEver since TRON first lit up the big screen, it’s been a cult phenomenon with no sign of derezzing anytime soon. Over at Brickset.com, the LEGO TRON: Legacy Lightcycle set has been confirmed—and if it lights up, I’ll be on it faster than a pair of dueling lightcycles cutting across the Grid. News like this always gets me nostalgic, so this weekend, I’ll be revisiting both films and imagining the what if of a third installment. If you’re curious where the franchise stands now, see TRON at 40 — Legacy, Future Films & Fandom.

In some ways, the upcoming Reboot: The Guardian Code hinted at what could’ve been. The series launched on Netflix worldwide (March 30, 2018) with Canada getting it later via YTV. Rather than slam it for “ruining childhoods,” I decided to watch and see if it could hold its own—especially compared to Legacy’s ending, where Quorra escaped the Grid into the real world.

TRON LEGO Legacy lightcycle set

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What’s Next for DreamWorks Trollhunters After Season Two?

Many watches are required to understand everything that has gone on in DreamWorks Animation Trollhunters. This season debuted Dec 15th on Netflix and with only one more to go to air in 2018, most viewers may become disappointed no further adventures are planned.

trollhunters_posterBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Spoiler Alert

Many watches are required to understand everything that has gone on in DreamWorks Animation Trollhunters. This season debuted Dec 15th on Netflix and with only one more to go to air in 2018, most viewers may become disappointed no further adventures are planned. Thankfully, Variety magazine announced Guillermo del Toro’s intention to develop an interconnected world that will not only expand the mythos but see heroes from one series appear in another. Jim Lake Jr., the Trollhunter, will not be gone.

Approximately half of this new season is spent with Claire and Tobey covering up for Jim’s disappearance in the everyday life around the town of Arcadia. The other deals with the threat of Gunmar (voiced by Clancy Brown), this series resident bad guy, making his way back to Troll Market. Once back in the mortal realm, his plans to expand the Troll lands means invasion.

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Ed’s Pokémon GO Journals – A Buddy System is Coming But It’s Still Not Tamagotchi

Pokémon GO CardBy Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

A new gameplay element is coming sometime soon to Pokémon GO and the question of whether or not it will be enough to win me back is in question. I have slowed down in playing, and find no excitement over catching the same pocket monster again and again. Unless it’s a particular creature, I’m not catching them all. In those that I do, the pocket monster needs to be raised to combat potential.

The upcoming “Buddy” system sounds good and the features allow building that Pokémon up, but it is still not Bandai’s Tamagotchi. When I look at the concept in writing, I see the potential to severely unbalance the game.

In the official statement by Niantic Labs:

“You will be able to pick your favorite Pokémon from your collection to become your buddy, opening up unique in-game rewards and experiences. Buddy Pokémon will appear alongside your Trainer avatar on your profile screen, adding helpful bonuses such as awarding Candy for walking together. You’ll also have the ability to change your Buddy Pokémon at any time.”

If any Pokémon can be walked, then that means the best Poké Gym defenders can easily be buffed up to impossible to take down levels. I am aware that lots of sweets are required to even strengthen the select buddy, but where there is a will, some players will take advantage of the system by hopping in a car and driving at 15kmph until enough distance is covered to get the awards even faster. These power-ups are more valuable currency than the coins used to buy incense, lure and the like.

Until this feature gets fully documented in how it works, I’m sceptical if this addition will make the game any better. The best solution is to limit how many candies can be awarded in total.

Fortunately, the developers mentioned that limits to how many candies are earned per day will be put into place. I feel a fixed cap needs to be part of this game’s back-end rules.

What’s Next for CW’s The Flash & the Extended TV Universe?

vlcsnap-2016-05-24-23h23m50s260By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

*Spoiler Alert!

Out of all the DC extended universe properties that are playing on television right now, The Flash is on top. Season one dealt with a quiet threat when Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) is not who he appears to be. Neither is Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash from a parallel universe, at the start of season two. After many pauses in the broadcasting schedule of the series, one after episode seven “Gorilla Warfare,” another two episodes following (Christmas always causes hiccups in the television network’s scheduling front) and yet another in February, I wished I had The Flash’s ability to perform time jumps. Following this series requires an exercise in patience.

For many fans, they were rewarded in the finale where our Earth-1 Flash is being driven to the dark side. Zoom, this season’s greatest threat, goads our hero to kill. He wants Barry Allen to succumb to the hate and anger within, much like how Darth Vader wanted his son to turn to the Dark Side of the Force so both can rule the galaxy as father and son. I would not be surprised if down the road we see a return of this character (revealed to be Hunter Zolomon in “Versus Zoom”) but from a different dimension (Earth-5?) where he is the father of Barry. Until then, I do not think Zolomon’s fate is completely sealed. The Time Wraiths make an appearance to literally spirit him away to a fate during the episode’s climatic moments. His soul is sucked away like these wraiths are Dementors from Harry Potter, and what remains hints at a possible direction — where the Blackest Night series is alluded to. In the comics, Nekron is Death incarnate and his goal is to reanimate dead heroes in order to have them help void all emotion from the universe. The Black Flash, in a different story arc, is the Grim Reaper. He takes the souls of Speedsters away.

When considering the big fight and reveals made in this finale episode, series creators Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg are not ready to go down that route just yet. Even though parallels have been made throughout the series about how these alternate Earth’s version of the heroes are polar opposites, there are other conflicts that could take place to define season three.

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