Hmmm, I think I forgot to write a review for last week's Being Human episode. Never mind.
Last week, a seemingly amnesic Herrick was back to bother our friendly foursome. And indeed it does appear that Herrick has forgotten all that he did as a vampire. But that doesn't mean he's all sweetness and light. He's still plotting behind the scenes, showing Nina the Box Tunnel 20 scrapbook that Mitchell had taken from Graham. Which led to Nina tipping off the police.
This week, after Annie almost catches Mitchell reading about the Bow Tunnel massacre, things head off in another direction as Annie spots something shocking in the obituaries. It appears George's father has died and so George decides to attend the Christian (not Jewish?) funeral. Well, he sort of hides behind a tree watching from a distance and in doing so meets his father doing the same. Of course, George immediately assumes this is George Sands Snr's ghost.
Was it stated where his parents are living and thus where George is from? I'm guessing they're from Bristol but, if so, why didn't George move away from there once he "died". I always assumed George still saw his parents, albeit only rarely (and certainly not during a full moon!), and they still thought he was alive but just going his own way. Considering he's technically considered dead, I wonder how George manages to get a job, rent a place, have a bank account, etc?
Part of the way through the episode - especially when it was raining and the legs of George's father were stopping the ground from getting wet - I realised that Sands Senior wasn't actually dead. Instead, it turns out he'd faked his death in a morbid way to get at his wife for leaving him for another man. Which, of course, meant that George's talk of ghosts, doors to the afterlife and howling at the moon reaffirmed his father's view that George had spent 3 years being treated for psychological problems.
The ending of this little diversion was a bit clichéd though. George Snr reveals to his cheating wife that he's alive and still loves her, she's unsure because he's so boring and unadventurous, the other man (George's old PE teacher) tells George's father to piss off, his father decks the lover and, lo and behold, suddenly his wife is all over him and sorry she ever left him. Everything sorted by a punch? Sounds like a superhero comic.
So, other than this weak, but slightly amusing, story with George and his parents, what else was going on? Well, after Nina's tip-off, a policewoman - Nancy "Drew" - comes round to the B&B to interview Mitchell. And here's where the two best scenes of the show occurred - both involving Herrick. Herrick's feast on a bloody tissue was strangely perverted but that bit in the bathroom as Herrick leans in to 'whisper' his secret to the policewoman was wonderfully tense and scary. A well shot scene with Herrick's mouth approaching Nancy's smooth and defenceless neck, the sound of blood rushing in the background, whilst we hope he doesn't feed on her like he did her tissue. Marvellous.
Thinking she's helping Mitchell out to come clean about Daisy (his partner in crime during the train massacre), Annie rentaghosts off to the police station to leave clues for Nancy to follow. Together with Herrick's gift of the scrapbook, it looks like Mitchell may be in a spot of trouble next week whilst Annie remains oblivious - and sadly underused in the show. Though her playing detective at least gives her something to do.
So, a bit of a weak episode this week although still interesting to watch. This season feels like it has concentrated on Mitchell's fall from grace (which actually happened in the last series) and obsessive fixations on the Box Tunnel 20 and the wolf-shaped bullet far too much. I'm guessing that won't be resolved until the end of the series in two weeks time.
Of course, then there's the Becoming Human webisodes. There's not really a lot to say about this other than to repeat that the shortness of each episode harms the storyline. It's difficult to get into when, before you know it, it's over. Anyway, we've discovered that Matt really liked Christa, that it looks like a man drowned Matt in the toilet, and that CCTV recordings leading towards the toilets may help identify the murderer. My bet (right from the off) is that it's the detention teacher.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
I Shall Wear Midnight (by Terry Pratchett)
Like a pair of comfy old slippers, reading Terry Pratchett's latest Discworld book - I Shall Wear Midnight - is a familiar, pleasant experience for me that is enjoyable and welcome. Although set on the Discworld, like Nation it is one of Terry's "young adult" books and therefore slightly separate from the main Discworld series. Again, the only real differences between this and his more 'adult' books are that the protagonist is a girl (well, now a young woman), it has a linear narrative which almost exclusively follows this single protagonist, and it has chapters. It really is just a standard Pratchett book that's trying to muscle in on the lucrative Harry Potter market.
The book follows on from Wintersmith and Hat Full of Sky with Tiffany Aching settled into her role as the fully-fledged witch of the Chalk (a remote-ish part of the Discworld countryside not far from the mountains). Together with her 'friends', the Nac Mac Feegles - little blue gnomes or pixies with more than a hint of rough gaelic about them - she helps out the people of the Chalk in her own wise witchery sort of way.
However, trouble is brewing. Her defeat of the Wintersmith with a kiss have released the Cunning Man, an evil vengeful spirit - well, more of a rumour really - that leads folk to hate and distrust pointy-hatted witches. Or any old woman who happens to spend far too much time on her own and has her own broomstick - like the older witch in black Tiffany keeps catching glimpses of and seems to be watching her. The Cunning Man, a frightening phantom with holes for eyes, is coming for Tiffany and as he gets closer he causes more and more unrest.
Meanwhile, there's a hare who keeps leaping through fire and disappearing. Is it some sort of omen?
I suspect this is the last Tiffany Aching book - not that it'll stop the character appearing in other books of course - as here Tiffany's role in the countryside is firmly established and her future (or at least potential future) assured. She finds a sort of love, not with the old Baron's son who takes over running the place when his father dies, but with perhaps an unlikely, intriguing, and somewhat inept guard. And, of course, she eventually does wear midnight - but only when she's 'old'.
One of the highlights in the story is when Tiffany, the latest witch to be helped by Granny Weatherwax meets up with first 'witch' to be trained by aforementioned Mistress Weatherwax. Eskarina "Esk" Smith hasn't been seen since waaay back in the third Discworld book (Equal Rites) over 20 years ago and it's great to see that this character hasn't been forgotten - or, at least, has finally been remembered in time for an encore.
Overall, this was a relatively quick, easy and fun book full of Pratchett's intelligent but gentle humour and packed with interesting ideas. His main characters tend to be a little too wise and clever and thus, in this book, you never really get the sense that Tiffany is truly threatened. Otherwise, a refreshingly entrancing read that was difficult to put down.
The book follows on from Wintersmith and Hat Full of Sky with Tiffany Aching settled into her role as the fully-fledged witch of the Chalk (a remote-ish part of the Discworld countryside not far from the mountains). Together with her 'friends', the Nac Mac Feegles - little blue gnomes or pixies with more than a hint of rough gaelic about them - she helps out the people of the Chalk in her own wise witchery sort of way.
However, trouble is brewing. Her defeat of the Wintersmith with a kiss have released the Cunning Man, an evil vengeful spirit - well, more of a rumour really - that leads folk to hate and distrust pointy-hatted witches. Or any old woman who happens to spend far too much time on her own and has her own broomstick - like the older witch in black Tiffany keeps catching glimpses of and seems to be watching her. The Cunning Man, a frightening phantom with holes for eyes, is coming for Tiffany and as he gets closer he causes more and more unrest.
Meanwhile, there's a hare who keeps leaping through fire and disappearing. Is it some sort of omen?
I suspect this is the last Tiffany Aching book - not that it'll stop the character appearing in other books of course - as here Tiffany's role in the countryside is firmly established and her future (or at least potential future) assured. She finds a sort of love, not with the old Baron's son who takes over running the place when his father dies, but with perhaps an unlikely, intriguing, and somewhat inept guard. And, of course, she eventually does wear midnight - but only when she's 'old'.
One of the highlights in the story is when Tiffany, the latest witch to be helped by Granny Weatherwax meets up with first 'witch' to be trained by aforementioned Mistress Weatherwax. Eskarina "Esk" Smith hasn't been seen since waaay back in the third Discworld book (Equal Rites) over 20 years ago and it's great to see that this character hasn't been forgotten - or, at least, has finally been remembered in time for an encore.
Overall, this was a relatively quick, easy and fun book full of Pratchett's intelligent but gentle humour and packed with interesting ideas. His main characters tend to be a little too wise and clever and thus, in this book, you never really get the sense that Tiffany is truly threatened. Otherwise, a refreshingly entrancing read that was difficult to put down.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Fishy Friday
Namora
Strength: 8
Toughness: 8
Special Powers: 4
Status: 7
Namora is, in a way, Marvel's version of Mera. Although she's Namor's cousin, she has also been his love interest. Hmmm, Atlanteans. Since then, she's gone on to be a hero in her own right as one of the Agents of Atlas (a series that I really should read one day). So, again, Marvel beats DC.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Outcasts (Episode 5)
Now on to this week's Outcasts, which at the start almost seems like a repeat of the last episode. Another mysterious figure from the wilderness moseys on over to the frontier town of Forthaven - this time somehow able to bypass the guards at the entrance. Probably because they're all drinking at the town's only bar I suspect. Why is this the only apparent source of relaxation and entertainment in Forthaven, other than Tipper's old-time radio show?
The old visitor starts throwing around bags of diamonds in the bar, which causes a good ol' fashioned (though sadly brief) bar brawl and then runs out, with Cass and Fleur - the only deputies in the town it seems - hot on his tail. Again, he manages to get out of Forthaven without being stopped by the non-existent guards and heads off towards the ocean, where he wants to show the two PAS officers something.
Now, the story about the diamonds - spread by Julius Berger - causes unrest in Forthaven as everyone wants one. I'm not sure why though because they don't seem to use money on Carpathia and Forthaven doesn't seem to be an ultra-capitalist state where the rich have everything whilst the poor go hungry. So what use are diamonds to them?
Meanwhile, outside in the pleasant looking countryside, we get our first hint as to why the folk of Forthaven perhaps haven't explored the rest of Carpathia. Apparently there are Closed Zones - areas of high radiation - in the wilderness. Though Jack, later, is able to plot a course through these without too much trouble as he and Stella go after Cass, Fleur and the old man. Why only those two (and an XP redshirt who gets shot by some roving ACs) were sent to find them and not, say, a dozen XPs I don't know. Perhaps the rest of them were nursing hangovers after visiting the bar the night before?
Stella wants to go because "the ocean is where all life starts" and she wants to find out more about the fossilised remains. This seems a bit of a shot in the dark - why not just dig up the area around where that jawbone was found last week? Anyway, at least someone is finally exploring the planet whilst at the same time proving she's a crack shot with a pistol.
The old man called Pak turns out to be Patrick Baxter, the now almost-legendary person who first set foot on Carpathia. Although, as we find out from Pak, he wasn't the first to land on the planet. An AC (called Tigger? A tiger link?) was sent down first but, of course, no one considers them human so they don't count. Unfortunately, the scientists who modified the AC forgot to give him a decent immune system (seriously?) so, like a martian invading Earth, Carpathia's "invader" died of a cold.
We also find out that, after apparently killing his commanding officer, Pak tried to fly his plane to get away but crashed. It seems it's now well known that planes don't work on Carpathia. Why? What is it about the atmosphere that prevents flight? Or do they mean he tried to fly off the planet but was caught out by the same problem that hampered the transport ship in the first episode? Again, more questions.
Eventually, they make it to the unnamed ocean and find lots of cut diamonds in the water. How did the water cut the facets in the diamonds like that I wonder? They also find some more fossilised bones, though they didn't particularly look like fossils to me. Meanwhile, Pak - who somehow knows his time is at an end - heads off into the water followed by his ghost dog... where he promptly falls over and dies. Which, of course, means he's unable to tell them what his vague proclamations concerning "the planet not wanting them" were about.
So, was Pak's ghost dog linked in some way to Tate's visions of his children? Tate is adamant that he's not going crazy but isn't that the sort of thing mentally disturbed people say? After a while does the planet start to affect it's inhabitants, giving them strange visions? Whatever, Tate's admission to Stella that his children are with him will only help Julius' rise in the council.
Regarding Julius, there's another meaty cliffhanger at the end of this episode. Another transport ship is out there in space on it's way to Carpathia and someone on this one (perhaps every one on board?) has a dark motive with regards to Forthaven and Tate's 'mission'. From Julius' transmitted message, it appears he's there to clear away any resistance.
So, will this new storyline be resolved within the next 3 episodes? Will all these questions be answered? Is being a cross between Lost and Battlestar Galactica really such a bad thing? So many questions and so little time...
The old visitor starts throwing around bags of diamonds in the bar, which causes a good ol' fashioned (though sadly brief) bar brawl and then runs out, with Cass and Fleur - the only deputies in the town it seems - hot on his tail. Again, he manages to get out of Forthaven without being stopped by the non-existent guards and heads off towards the ocean, where he wants to show the two PAS officers something.
Now, the story about the diamonds - spread by Julius Berger - causes unrest in Forthaven as everyone wants one. I'm not sure why though because they don't seem to use money on Carpathia and Forthaven doesn't seem to be an ultra-capitalist state where the rich have everything whilst the poor go hungry. So what use are diamonds to them?
Meanwhile, outside in the pleasant looking countryside, we get our first hint as to why the folk of Forthaven perhaps haven't explored the rest of Carpathia. Apparently there are Closed Zones - areas of high radiation - in the wilderness. Though Jack, later, is able to plot a course through these without too much trouble as he and Stella go after Cass, Fleur and the old man. Why only those two (and an XP redshirt who gets shot by some roving ACs) were sent to find them and not, say, a dozen XPs I don't know. Perhaps the rest of them were nursing hangovers after visiting the bar the night before?
Stella wants to go because "the ocean is where all life starts" and she wants to find out more about the fossilised remains. This seems a bit of a shot in the dark - why not just dig up the area around where that jawbone was found last week? Anyway, at least someone is finally exploring the planet whilst at the same time proving she's a crack shot with a pistol.
The old man called Pak turns out to be Patrick Baxter, the now almost-legendary person who first set foot on Carpathia. Although, as we find out from Pak, he wasn't the first to land on the planet. An AC (called Tigger? A tiger link?) was sent down first but, of course, no one considers them human so they don't count. Unfortunately, the scientists who modified the AC forgot to give him a decent immune system (seriously?) so, like a martian invading Earth, Carpathia's "invader" died of a cold.
We also find out that, after apparently killing his commanding officer, Pak tried to fly his plane to get away but crashed. It seems it's now well known that planes don't work on Carpathia. Why? What is it about the atmosphere that prevents flight? Or do they mean he tried to fly off the planet but was caught out by the same problem that hampered the transport ship in the first episode? Again, more questions.
Eventually, they make it to the unnamed ocean and find lots of cut diamonds in the water. How did the water cut the facets in the diamonds like that I wonder? They also find some more fossilised bones, though they didn't particularly look like fossils to me. Meanwhile, Pak - who somehow knows his time is at an end - heads off into the water followed by his ghost dog... where he promptly falls over and dies. Which, of course, means he's unable to tell them what his vague proclamations concerning "the planet not wanting them" were about.
So, was Pak's ghost dog linked in some way to Tate's visions of his children? Tate is adamant that he's not going crazy but isn't that the sort of thing mentally disturbed people say? After a while does the planet start to affect it's inhabitants, giving them strange visions? Whatever, Tate's admission to Stella that his children are with him will only help Julius' rise in the council.
Regarding Julius, there's another meaty cliffhanger at the end of this episode. Another transport ship is out there in space on it's way to Carpathia and someone on this one (perhaps every one on board?) has a dark motive with regards to Forthaven and Tate's 'mission'. From Julius' transmitted message, it appears he's there to clear away any resistance.
So, will this new storyline be resolved within the next 3 episodes? Will all these questions be answered? Is being a cross between Lost and Battlestar Galactica really such a bad thing? So many questions and so little time...
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Outcasts (Episode 4)
After a brief break and sorting out a few problem with my BT Vision+ box, I'm finally back up to date with episodes of Outcasts. But first, let's skip back an episode...
A wounded and exhausted AC appears at the entrance to Forthaven, requiring assistance. Why Eliyah, this rogue AC, is in a bad way and why he came to Forthaven isn't really explained. I guess the latter might be because his violent blackouts are increasing in frequency and he thinks the folk of Forthaven can fix him. However, considering it turns out that Tate was the one who caused his problems in the first place and that Cass and Fleur decide the best thing for him is to return to his fellow ACs, it seems that Eliyah had something of a wasted journey.
Anyway, Eliyah is locked away in a cell with a flimsy lock where he has flashbacks of cruel manipulations and experiments conducted on him by Tate in order to produce a "better" clone. It's emphasised that Tate was only doing this to help the humans on Carpathia survive but it paints him as something of a grey man who is quick to suppress certain ethics in order to ensure survival. Before long, Eliyah shoulder-barges the door and easily escapes, free to roam around Forthaven. Security obviously isn't much of a priority.
Soon after, Lily, Stella's daughter, approaches old-school DJ Tipper and tips him off about the escaped AC. She does this by handing him a printed out memo detailing the event. Again, a lack of security there. Why the council of Forthaven needed to send this out as a memo is beyond me but it does raise something that has been bothering me for a while regarding the technology level on Outcasts.
The humans here are sufficiently advanced that they can travel vast distances on large transport ships to other Earth-like planets. The journey only takes about 5 years and yet the closest known star to our own Sun is Proxima Centauri - which is just over 4 light years away. That means these ships must be capable of almost lightspeed travel or better, which is pretty damned advanced. And yet the only other two instances of higher technology we've seen thus far are the genetically manipulated clones and that Deep Brain Visualisation thingy that Stella plays with. Everything else is equivalent to modern-day tech - or earlier in the case of Tipper's turntable. They still write things on paper (or maybe it's supposed to be a sheet of e-ink?), travel around on foot, use needles to inject people, have modern day pistols and rifles.
They even use pickaxes and shovels to dig a hole for a water pipe and, in the process, uncover what appears to be a fossil of a human-like jawbone. A little more on that later.
So where's the rest of the higher tech? Why does it feel like this is just set about 10 years from now but somehow space travel has advanced significantly whilst not a lot else has? It's like the writers are aiming for a western frontier-like ambience to the show whilst unfortunately ignoring the fact that it's set in the far future.
Back to the story and Fleur and Cass locate Eliyah, befriend him and then agree to help him - by sending him back out into the wilderness without treating him for his problems at all. However, Cass is loyal to Tate and betrays the AC and Fleur. Whilst some XPs and the other PAS officers (I assume there are others - we only ever get to see Fleur and Cass!) attempted to capture Eliyah, Jack - the XP leader since Mitchell's death - shoots him. Even though it looked like the AC was about to attack someone, this seems a bit harsh - and against the commands given. Of course, Jack's not reprimanded and later we find out he's siding with a clone-hating Berger.
Then at the end we get that big cliffhanger regarding the human fossil. Have humans been on Carpathia before? Or, more likely (though a bit of a let down), perhaps it was just a humanoid native of the planet that died out millions of years ago? Why doesn't anyone try digging up the rest of the fossilised body in the hole? Why doesn't there appear to be any scientists in Forthaven to give this fossil to? More questions left unanswered.
Aside from a flood of niggling little questions about how Forthaven works (this week we saw some more of the town - which seems to consists solely of empty transport containers), Outcasts does continue to improve - but it's a slow process. The mysteries, such as the fossil, help a lot but let's hope we get a satisfactory conclusion to these by the end of this series. Because, with the news that Outcasts is moving to the late slot on Sunday nights due to plummeting viewing figures, it's unlikely we'll get a second series.
A wounded and exhausted AC appears at the entrance to Forthaven, requiring assistance. Why Eliyah, this rogue AC, is in a bad way and why he came to Forthaven isn't really explained. I guess the latter might be because his violent blackouts are increasing in frequency and he thinks the folk of Forthaven can fix him. However, considering it turns out that Tate was the one who caused his problems in the first place and that Cass and Fleur decide the best thing for him is to return to his fellow ACs, it seems that Eliyah had something of a wasted journey.
Anyway, Eliyah is locked away in a cell with a flimsy lock where he has flashbacks of cruel manipulations and experiments conducted on him by Tate in order to produce a "better" clone. It's emphasised that Tate was only doing this to help the humans on Carpathia survive but it paints him as something of a grey man who is quick to suppress certain ethics in order to ensure survival. Before long, Eliyah shoulder-barges the door and easily escapes, free to roam around Forthaven. Security obviously isn't much of a priority.
Soon after, Lily, Stella's daughter, approaches old-school DJ Tipper and tips him off about the escaped AC. She does this by handing him a printed out memo detailing the event. Again, a lack of security there. Why the council of Forthaven needed to send this out as a memo is beyond me but it does raise something that has been bothering me for a while regarding the technology level on Outcasts.
The humans here are sufficiently advanced that they can travel vast distances on large transport ships to other Earth-like planets. The journey only takes about 5 years and yet the closest known star to our own Sun is Proxima Centauri - which is just over 4 light years away. That means these ships must be capable of almost lightspeed travel or better, which is pretty damned advanced. And yet the only other two instances of higher technology we've seen thus far are the genetically manipulated clones and that Deep Brain Visualisation thingy that Stella plays with. Everything else is equivalent to modern-day tech - or earlier in the case of Tipper's turntable. They still write things on paper (or maybe it's supposed to be a sheet of e-ink?), travel around on foot, use needles to inject people, have modern day pistols and rifles.
They even use pickaxes and shovels to dig a hole for a water pipe and, in the process, uncover what appears to be a fossil of a human-like jawbone. A little more on that later.
So where's the rest of the higher tech? Why does it feel like this is just set about 10 years from now but somehow space travel has advanced significantly whilst not a lot else has? It's like the writers are aiming for a western frontier-like ambience to the show whilst unfortunately ignoring the fact that it's set in the far future.
Back to the story and Fleur and Cass locate Eliyah, befriend him and then agree to help him - by sending him back out into the wilderness without treating him for his problems at all. However, Cass is loyal to Tate and betrays the AC and Fleur. Whilst some XPs and the other PAS officers (I assume there are others - we only ever get to see Fleur and Cass!) attempted to capture Eliyah, Jack - the XP leader since Mitchell's death - shoots him. Even though it looked like the AC was about to attack someone, this seems a bit harsh - and against the commands given. Of course, Jack's not reprimanded and later we find out he's siding with a clone-hating Berger.
Then at the end we get that big cliffhanger regarding the human fossil. Have humans been on Carpathia before? Or, more likely (though a bit of a let down), perhaps it was just a humanoid native of the planet that died out millions of years ago? Why doesn't anyone try digging up the rest of the fossilised body in the hole? Why doesn't there appear to be any scientists in Forthaven to give this fossil to? More questions left unanswered.
Aside from a flood of niggling little questions about how Forthaven works (this week we saw some more of the town - which seems to consists solely of empty transport containers), Outcasts does continue to improve - but it's a slow process. The mysteries, such as the fossil, help a lot but let's hope we get a satisfactory conclusion to these by the end of this series. Because, with the news that Outcasts is moving to the late slot on Sunday nights due to plummeting viewing figures, it's unlikely we'll get a second series.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Fishy Friday
Mera
Strength: 4
Strength: 4
Toughness: 5
Special Powers: 3
Status: 6
Aquaman's wife from the dimension Aqua, although that's currently being retconned away in the Brightest Day series. In a way, she's sort of not a superhero on her own but more of a love interest, like Lois Lane. She and Aquaman had a baby called, of course, Aquababy who, of course, died due to the evil schemes of Black Manta. Comic books, eh?
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
Whilst browsing YouTube on my iPod, I first came across large numbers of X-Men: Evolution that Marvel have posted on the video sharing site. Amusingly (well, I thought so), in the description to these excellent X-Men cartoons, there's a note from Marvel to go and buy the episodes from iTunes. Why would anyone do that when they're able to watch these ones Marvel themselves have provided for free?
Anyway, after watching a few of these episodes, I noticed someone had (illegally) posted the recent Avengers: Earth Mightiest Heroes cartoons on there and so I had a look. And I'm very glad I did!
The series has obviously been created to ride the wave of interest associated with the recent Marvel movies, including the upcoming Avengers movie. Here, the animated Iron Man sounds quite like Robert Downey Jnr, he has a computer system called JARVIS, Captain America fights HYDRA in WW2 not Nazis and Thor meets Jane Foster who looks similar to Natalie Portman. It also uses a line-up close to that in the Avengers movie - Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Nick Fury, Captain America as well as Ant Man/Giant Man and the Wasp. And if the movie version can be half as exciting as this, it'll be amazing.
What I love about it is the way the show is organised and how a common series-wide storyline is woven into each episode.
It starts right in the middle of the action with the big four supervillain prisons - the Cube, the Vault, Big House and the Raft - shutting down, releasing all of the villains inside. So, it's a bit like the beginning of the New Avengers series in 2004 only multiplied by four! More worrying though, it also releases Graviton, a corrupt and very powerful ex-SHIELD scientist, who now has the power to command gravity itself. A number of individual heroes - Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Ant Man and the Wasp (echoing the original Avengers as Cap and others heroes join later) - arrive on the scene and join forces to take down this single, city-destroying menace in a blistering two-part opener. Following the battle, they decide to remain together as a team to help track down the other 74 supervillains.
Then, instead of continuing onwards with the storyline showing the heroes rounding up the villains, the next five episodes detail some of the heroes' background leading up to the big breakout. Each features an individual hero (or both Ant Man and Wasp for the 7th ep) and explains what the heroes were doing before the series opener plus character origins, where required. These expand on many of the unexplained threads from the first two episodes and hint at who, or what, might have been behind the simultaneous mass supervillain breakout.
Again, in a way it mirrors Marvel's method in managing its movies. Each character in the Avengers is given his own movie (or two) to introduce the character and explain his background whilst throwing a few hints regarding the overarching Avengers Universe. The same occurs here but with 25-minute episodes instead of movies. It works extremely well, keeping things episodic whilst also having an ongoing storyline.
Of course, with the whole Marvel Universe at it's disposal there are plenty of appearances from other superheroes and supervillains. From Wolverine as one of Fury's Howling Commandos in Captain America's past to Kang the Conqueror who travels back from the future to ensure his timeline isn't wiped from existence.
The stories are engaging, the action wonderfully relentless and the voice acting is decent too. The only negative thing I would say is that the art and animation is sometimes a bit rough; it doesn't look as accomplished as DC's Justice League Unlimited, for example. Still, after watching the first batch of this Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes series, I'm hooked.
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