Fantastic Friday: Deja blue

Posted on September 1, 2018 by Mac McEntire

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. We’re going back to the ‘60s (except not) and the Avengers guest star (except they don’t) in issue #388.

As with the previous issue, this one begins with the Watcher providing a recap of the story so far. This time, though, the Dark Raider is in the Watcher’s home with him. There’s a lot to unpack here. First, we’ve been told that the Dark Raider is an apocalyptic evil that teenage Franklin and his grandfather Nathaniel have come to the present to stop. Second, the Dark Raider is dressed as the Invincible Man. Remember that “Invincible Man” is not a person, but merely a name and costume worn by a variety of characters whenever they need an alternate identity. The Watcher has come to the Dark Raider to ask him to change his plans, to prevent a cataclysm. The Dark Raider refuses, saying it is his destiny.

We then catch up from the last issue’s cliffhanger. After receiving a message from Sue in another timeline saying the FF are doomed, the team — currently Sue, Ben, Johnny, Ant-Man, Lyja, and guest star Namor — used the FF time sled and followed the message to its source. There, in an undefined timeline, they met the classic 1960s FF. There’s a lot of tension in the room and a fight almost breaks out, but Alt-Reed insists that more than meets the eye, and he welcomes the FF as his guests.

Franklin also shows up in this timeline, easily bypassing the ‘60s Baxter Building’s security. Inside, there’s some comedy business with the two Johnnys and the two Bens showing off their powers while Ant-Man watches. Franklin telepathically convinces the Alt-Ben into thinking Ben is a Skrull, and a fight breaks out. Ant-Man shrinks to teeny size and summons all ants in the surrounding area to help.

Ant-Man’s message is picked up by this timeline’s Ant-Man, who is still Hank Pym. He assembles a ‘60s-era Avengers team made up of him, Wasp, Thor, and Iron Man, to investigate. Back at the Baxter Building, Sue fights Alt-Sue, cutting off her oxygen with a force field. Franklin sees this and associates Alt-Sue as being more like the mother he remembers, so he stops the fight. Sue tries to reason with Franklin, saying she can free him from Malice’s psychic influence. It seems like it’s about to work, but then Franklin attacks Sue. Alt-Reed tries to break up their fight, only to be interrupted by Dark Raider teleporting into the room.

After a few pages of Ben, Johnny, and Ant-Man fighting the Alt-FF and Alt-Avengers, we cut back to the Dark Raider. He proves himself a match for our heroes, freezing Alt-Reed so he can’t stretch and shattering Franklin’s psionic armor. The others put aside their differences and team up to fight the Dark Raider. They’re too late, though, because the Dark Raider fires an energy blast that flat-out kills Alt-Reed and Alt-Sue. He says his work is done and he teleports away. While Alt-Johnny is overcome with grief, Franklin wanders off and the rest of the FF return to their own timeline, leaving their counterparts in tragedy. The issue ends with the Watcher saying the time has come for him to act.

Fade out: Sue reaching out to Franklin shows how she’s changed since Malice left her. Rather than furiously denying he’s not her son, she instead tries to help him.

Clobberin’ time: Assuming the FF are from the future, Alt-Ben tries to get stock tips from Ben, only for Ben to warn him to avoid insider trading.

Flame on: Alt-Johnny’s fire burns out during the fight, leaving him powerless. This demonstrates how much more powerful Johnny has become since the FF’s early days.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Ant-Man manages to defeat Alt-Ben by having ants crawl all over him, distracting him from the fight. Alt-Hank then wrests mental control of the ants away from “our” Ant-Man, who is Scott Long, revealing Hank to be the more powerful Ant-Man.

Four and a half: I’m having trouble figuring out Franklin’s actions during the fight. First he’s out to get the FF, but then he almost accepts their help. I guess we’ll have to chalk this up to Malice’s evil influence.

Commercial break: Has anyone ever seen Stan Lee’s Home Shopping Club show? I looked, but couldn’t find it on YouTube.

Trivia time: If we’re to assume the alternate timeline is following classic Marvel continuity, this takes place sometime around Avengers #2-3, when the Hulk left the team and the rest were looking for him, but before Captain America showed up in issue #4. That puts the Alt-FF sometime around Fantastic Four issues #22-23, where Sue got her force field powers for the first time.

The Marvel Wiki lists this alternate timeline as Earth-43487, and this story is its only appearance.

Fantastic or frightful? A lot of people on the internet want to interpret this issue as being a commentary on ‘90s comics, with classic ‘60s characters getting violently murdered. Having read ahead a little, I know this is just foreshadowing where this Dark Raider business is headed. Other than that, there’s not much to this issue. Just a lot of goofy fighting with an Avengers appears that amounts to very little.

Next: Raiders of the lost Thing.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.


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Willow (1988) rewatch – Part 30

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Mac McEntire

Rewatching the 1988 movie Willow scene-by-scene. Why? Because it’s freakin’ Willow!  A mind-control potion plus bad poetry equals LOVE, 1:09:47 to 1:13:44 on the Blu-ray.


We last left our heroes locked in a cage in the snowy NockMaar camp. It’s around this point that there are two scripted-but-not-filmed scenes that showed up in the novelization and graphic novel, but not the film. The first has General Kael, while not wearing his skull helmet, walking by our heroes’ cage and recognizing Madmartigan. Madmartigan lies and says he’s not Madmartigan, but is the man who killed Madmartigan. Kael says, “Good. He stole my woman,” and then walks off. The tie-in books and the wiki conveniently ignores this exchange, and who this woman might have been. I feel that this was wisely left out of the movie, as making these types of connections makes the world feel smaller rather than grand.

 The second scripted-but-not-filmed scene has guards escorting Willow out of the cage and into Sorsha’s tent. She can’t stop the baby from crying and coughing, so she asks for his help. Willow fears the baby is sick, saying his son once died of a cough like that. Willow heats up a pot in her tent, filling it with steam, which helps the baby’s breathing. She asks about Madmartigan, and Willow tells her “he says he’s a great swordsman,” to which Sorsha laughs. The graphic novel adds a bit of business during this where Willow secretly uses the pot to also brew a potion to help Fin Raziel change form. The scene ends with Sorsha giving Willow a warning regarding Elora Danen, “Don’t let her die, peck. My mother needs her alive.”

 Back to the movie itself, we continue on after Raziel’s bird transformation, Franjean says “You want out?” and Rool adds, “Easy. We can pick a lock.” The two of them use Franjean’s spear as a lockpick, but start arguing over the right way to do it. Rool says, “No, no, like this,” although I can see no indication of what “this” is. Franjean says, “It’s my spear. Frustrated, Madmartigan says, “Let me do it.” He grabs the spear from Franjean and gets to work on the lock.

 As Madmartigan fiddles with the lock, he adds, “Out of the way, rodents.” This is apparently too much for Franjean, who gets really ticked off. He says, “Get your hand off that,” and then, even angrier, “Leave that alone you stupid fat Daikini.” As he says this, he takes out a small pouch on a string and starts swinging it around. The pouch smacks Madmartigan right in the noise with a glittery gold effect. He says “Ow!” and covers his face.

 Rool laughs, and says this is the Dust of Broken Hearts, although this was clearly an ADR because it doesn’t match actor Kevin Pollack’s mouth. In fiction, we can assume he is projecting his voice through some sort of supernatural means, which the Brownies would have to do to be heard at the same “room volume” as everyone else. They get back to work on the lock while must glowing gold dust floats around Madmartigan’s face.

 Madmartigan transitions from angry to wide-eyed and smiling. By working together, the two Brownies actually succeed in opening the lock. It’s always nice to see the goofy comic relief get a win. Franjean proclaims, “You are free!” Willow puts a hand on Madmartigan’s shoulder and says “Come on Madmartigan, let’s get Elora Danan out of here.” Madmartigan is still dazed, but says, “Yeah, it’ll be fun.”

 There’s a shot of the NockMaar camp with the mountains in the distance. The mountains appear gold/yellow at their peaks, which I believe is the movie’s way of establishing that it’s dawn now. The score goes into “upbeat adventure” tone as Willow and Madmartigan sneak around the camp. Madmartigan follows Willow while still in a daze. Willow stops to ask Madmartigan if he’s all right, and Madmartigan sits in the snow, saying, “Yeah. I feel… good.” Rool again says, “the Dust of Broken Hearts,” in case the audience doesn’t get it. Franjean fiddles with the pouch, suggesting that it’s now empty.

 Willow and Madmartigan do the steal game thing, sneaking from behind one tent to another. Willow peeks through a fold in the tent and says, “There’s Elora right there.” The Brownies chirp “Let me see” and “You always get to see” for a little humor, keeping the tone of this sequence light. Willow states that the baby is “on those furs.” We get a look inside the tent, and the baby is on furs in her basket. She’s just on the floor with a weird-looking chair next to her. The tent appears to have a solid floor, but it’s likely some sort of makeshift tarp placed over the snow. 

 Franjean, still believing himself to be the leader, says “Leave this to us.” Madmartigan ignores him and says to Willow, “Only one of us should go in there. I have experience in this sort of thing. I know what I’m doing.” He’s a little more lucid as he says this, giving the audience some hope that he’ll succeed in rescuing the baby with no ill effects from the Dust of Broken Hearts.

 It’s almost dead silence as Madmartigan sneaks into the tent. Behind him, he passes a rack of swords, all in various shapes and sizes. Are we to assume that these are Sorsha’s personal collection? He slowly approaches the baby, and is about to pick her up. He glances to the side and sees Sorsha, asleep. Sorsha is lit in a romanticized Botticelli painting sort of way, with candles all around her bed. (Fire hazard!) Her battle armor is also right by the bed, so she can suit up for battle first thing in the morning. Madmartigan appears to ignore her at first, only to perk up and look at her a second time. He stands, wide-eyed and jaw opened, completely mesmerized by her. We get some reaction shot of the Brownies, who say “uh-oh” in unison, and Willow, who says “No” and points at the baby.

 Madmartigan leans in close to Sorsha, about to kiss her Sleeping Beauty style, whispering “I love you” to her.” He then notices Willow at the tent entrance, frantically pointing at the baby. He stands, shakes his head as if coming to his senses. We think he’s going to rescue the baby, but then he turns back around and puts his hands over his heart all melodramatically. Willow and Brownies all do a comedic facepalm. As noted earlier, there aren’t any concrete rules as to how the Dust of Broken Hearts works. When it was used on Rool, he immediately fell in love with a cat, it being the first thing he saw. For Madmartigan, he’s in a kind of daze until he sees Sorsha, so the dust affects him so that he falls harder for someone he already has some amount of attraction to?

 Then we go into one of the all-time great comedy tropes: bad poetry. Madmartigan says “Oh Sorsha, wake from this hateful sleep. It deprives me of your beauty. The beauty of your eyes.” Willow has had enough, and runs into the tent to save the baby himself. As Madmartigan leans in closer to Sorsha, she whips out a knife and aims it right at his groin, saying one of the movie’s most memorable lines, “One move, jackass, and you really will be a woman.”

 She immediately stands up. It’s not clear at what point she actually woke, and then waited for Madmartigan to be in position for her to pull out the knife. Madmartigan falls to his knees, keeping the bad poetry going. “You are my sun, my moon, my starlit sky. Without you, I dwell in darkness. I love you.” Sorsha clearly has no idea what to make of this, but maintains the tough act, asking “What are you doing here?” The score goes from comedic to romantic as Madmartigan says, “Your power has enchanted me. I stand helpless against it. Come to me, now. Tonight, let me worship you in my arms.”

 She holds the knife to his neck, conveniently throwing open the front of his shirt as she does so, creating a classic romance novel look. “Get away from me!” she says, only for him to tell her he loves her. She gives him a push and says “Stop saying that!” Then more poetry: “How can I stop the beating of my heart? It pounds like never before.” They move in close to each other, and now she starts playing along, saying “Out of fear,” only for him to answer, “Out of love.” She then says, “I can stop it. I can kill you.” He smiles and says, “Death, next to love, is a trivial thing.” He spots her hand on his chest holding him back, and he says, “Your touch is worth 100,000 deaths.” This is the line that seems to get to her, and they have an almost-kiss.

 That “100,000 deaths” line is interesting, especially how Sorsha visibly reacts to it. We know that Sorsha has been raised to be an expert in warfare and she’s been commanding troops since a young age. Now here we have Madmartigan telling her that, in his eyes, she’s something more than death and killing. If we’re to assume that Sorsha’s eventual change of heart is because of more than Madmartigan’s hunkiness, then this line is the first step of Sorsha seeing herself in a new light.

Why is the kiss only an almost-kiss? Because Kael, without his helmet, bursts into the tent, carrying Willow under one arm. (Is actor Pat Roach actually carrying Warwick Davis around like this, or is it a stunt/special effect?) We hear the baby crying, and I believe we’re supposed to think that Willow has the baby in his arms. Sorsha looks down and sees the baby’s furs empty, realizing what’s up. She cries, “Deceiver!” and attacks Madmartigan. He does an odd move where he falls onto his back while simultaneously kicking the knife out of her hand. Is that really the best way to disarm an opponent? Kael says, “Stop him!” In the next shot, Madmartigan is back on his feet, and he now has a sword in his hand. We don’t see where he got it. I suppose we can assume it’s from that rack of swords seen earlier.  Madmartigan strikes the spoke at the center of the tent, bringing the whole thing down, with the tent walls falling slowly, parachute-like. Then Madmarigan goes in for the kiss, Sorsha doesn’t fight him, seeming into it.

There’s an exterior shot of the tent collapsing, along with the sound of Kael going “Aargh!” in frustration. This also establishes that it’s fully daylight outside, which is where we’ll be going next time.

Next: All swordfights, all the time. 

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.


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Fantastic Friday: No subplot gets out alive

Posted on August 24, 2018 by Mac McEntire

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Issue #387 actually got a small promotional push from Marvel at the time, half-heartedly selling “Nobody Gets Out Alive” as a Fantastic Four-related event comic. As we’re about to see, though, it’s not much of an event.

Gimmie a gimmick: To further half-heartedly promote this issue as a minor event, Marvel produced a variant cover on hard stock paper, in which the flames around Sue’s image were holofoil, creating a shiny effect. You could also buy a regular-priced ordinary cover, where the flames around sue are just plain purple.

We begin with the Watcher inside his home on the moon. For several pages, he ruminates on all the times he’s met the Fantastic Four, and then his recap of events of the last few issues. Cut to Four Freedoms Plaza, where our heroes are chasing an alien bird around the inside of the building for a few pages, in a classic excuse-for-the-characters-to-show-off-their-powers.

After capturing the bird, new teammate Ant-Man sends the bird back to its original timeline, revealing it got loose while he was fixing up the FF’s time sled with Dr. Doom’s matter transference computer the FF swiped from Doom’s castle. All this is because Sue believes Reed didn’t die while fighting Doom, but that he and Doom were merely teleported somewhere. Note that Namor is hanging out during, having just returned from a “small shopping spree” with Sue. So, despite Sue’s protestations about Reed, she and Namor appear attached at the hip.

We then catch up to last issue’s cliffhanger, in which Lyja gave birth not to a baby, but an egg. Said egg is in an incubator inside headquarters. Johnny wants he and Lyja to talk things out, but, when summoned by Ben and Sue, Lyja says her new responsibilities as an alternate fifth (Sixth? Seventh?) member of the FF takes precedent. The reason for Ben and Sue’s call is because Ben saw Dr. Doom in a newspaper, revealing Doom is alive.

Cut to Latveria, where we’re reminded that this Dr. Doom is really Nathaniel Richards in disguise. Using a “thought imagizer,” he contacts now-teenage Franklin telepathically, saying that he’s doing all this prevent an upcoming apocalypse and he still needs Franklin’s help. What Nathaniel apparently doesn’t know is that Franklin is possessed by the Malice psychic entity. Malice says there might be a way for Franklin to reach Reed, even though Franklin believes Reed is dead.

The FF discuss the Dr. Doom revelation, only for a flaming apparition of Sue to appear in the air above them. The apparition, dressed in the classic ‘60s FF uniform, says that the Fantastic Four are dead, and she’s responsible, having led them on their final quest. As the apparition disappears, Franklin shows up inside Reed’s lab to steal the team’s time sled. Before escaping, Franklin conveniently tells Ant-Man that he’s in search of Reed to stop “the dark raider.”

Ant-Man says he made a backup of the time machine’s software, which will allow the team to follow Franklin wherever he’s going. Sue and Ben argue, with him wanting to go to Latveria and investigate Dr. Doom, while Sue argues that they should pursue Franklin. Johnny reminds them that, just minutes ago, they saw an apparition warning them of their own destruction. He says, “Maybe we should quit while we’re ahead,” and he flies away, adding “I’m through risking my neck.”

Johnny and Lyja have another heart-to-heart. Now that he has a baby (of sorts) Johnny now has a fear of death he never had before. Lyja tells him to make up his mind whether he’s going to quit the team. Sue dons her new costume, showing off her tough-girl bare shoulders, just in time for Ben and Johnny to come around and agree to help her search for Franklin, despite the danger.

The FF use the time machine tech to pursue Franklin. With the Watcher watching (natch) the heroes teleport into a familiar looking building. There, they find… Reed! Only he acts like he doesn’t recognize Sue. Then we discover that this is classic Reed from the ‘60s, as classic Sue, Ben, and Johnny show up, ready for a fight with the current FF “imposters.”

To be continued!

Fade out: I like Sue’s new costume. It does the sexy-and-tough thing, but cartoonishly so.

Clobberin’ time: The scars on Ben’s face are much less prominent than they have been, further establishing that they’re healing over time.

Flame on: Johnny’s waffling about facing death and his hesitation to join the mission are more foreshadowing for the team’s upcoming breakup story arc.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Because the apparition only mentioned the original FF, Ant-Man says perhaps he can alter the future timeline simply by being there.

Four and a half: Nathaniel tells Franklin that “my son” will aid him in finding this mysterious Dark Raider and ending the apocalypse. Franklin doesn’t know who this “son” is, since he believes Reed is dead, but he goes along with the Nathaniel’s plan anyway.

The Alicia problem: Lyja is in full-on “warrior woman” mode in this issue. This is a far cry from the loving wife she was during all that time she was disguised as Alicia. I suppose we’re getting more of the “real” her now that she’s no longer disguised.

Commercial break: It’s Venom-mania! Almost every Marvel house ad in this issue features Venom, apparently to promote the miniseries Venom: The Mace, which debuted this month.

Trivia time: Sue’s new uniform wasn’t created in the lab. She bought it on special order from “Helena’s of NYC.” I could find no info as to what this place is. A Google search shows a super-fancy residential building in NYC named Helena’s and a Helena’s tapas place that recently went out of business. In questioning how the Marvel Universe Helena’s had access to unstable molecules, I wonder if this could be the Mystique villainess Helena Carson, a genius scientist and head of the Dermafree cosmetics company, who once got in trouble for using mutants to illegally test harmful cosmetics.

Fantastic or frightful? Although Marvel promoted this issue as a jumping-on point for new or lapsed readers, it’s really just continuing the many ongoing subplots of this era. The result just feels like more wheel-spinning as we readers wonder if any of this is going anywhere.

Next: Deja blue.

****

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Fantastic Friday: The egg and I

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Mac McEntire

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Issue #386 is part 11 of the 12-part Starblast crossover, a forgotten Namor/Quasar event series. As we’ll soon learn, you don’t need to read the rest of Starblast to get caught up.

Following the events of Namor #48, the FF’s ship, the Stealth Hawk, is buried after an undersea earthquake (a “seaquake” as it’s called in this issue), with Sue, Ben, Namor, Tiger Shark, Stingray, and an alien named Tamara on board. Namor and Tiger Shark swim outside to give the ship a push (no, really) which frees everyone from being buried in rubble. Tamara reminds of the crossover’s overall plot, in which an aquatic alien named Xylym the Formaluauti is using high-tech thrusters to flood the entire Earth, making it a new home for his water-based people.

Cut to a hospital in midtown Manhattan, where Lyja is about to give birth. There’s a lot of cringe-y talk about Skrull birthing procedures, and the Earth doctors having to learn to use a Skrull “birthing device.” After that, Johnny is doing the expectant-father-pacing-nervously-in-the-waiting-room shtick seen in so many old sitcoms. On board the Stealth Hawk, Namor appears to be putting the moves on Sue, until she tells him she believes Reed is not dead, but still alive somehow. Namor backpedals, and says he was merely offering his assistance in her quest to find Reed. In space, we meet Xylym the Formaluauti, who is a one-eyed blob monster. He says flooding the Earth was really a distraction, to prevent the Earth superheroes from learning his real plan. He instructs his henchmen, the space pirates called the Starblasters, to create a giant tidal wave.

At the hospital, Johnny fills in new teammate Ant-Man about how Lyja tricked everyone into thinking she was Alicia for so long. While Triton the Inhuman, who is also there as part of the crossover, comforts Johnny, Ant-Man wonders if all this drama means the FF is going to break up. During a quiet moment on board the Stealth Hawk, Sue contemplates how the FF have been flung from crisis to crisis recently, and she too wonders if the team is going to break up. (This is what’s called foreshadowing.)

The Stealth Hawk comes across Xylym the Formaluauti’s ship rising from the ocean, revealing he was on Earth all this time and not in space. Sue immediately fires missiles onto the other ship, with the others on board criticizing her for acting so rashly. At the hospital, Lyja explains to the doctors again that she’s an alien shape-shifter. She further explains that the Lacaroo medicine the FF brought back from the Skrull throneworld a few issues back will temporarily transform Lyja into a liquid so that the baby can “easily be born.” From there, we get a short scene in Latveria, where Dr. Doom makes a public appearance after having been missing for several weeks. We then learn that this is merely time-traveling Nathanial Richards impersonating Doom. He hopes to locate Franklin, insisting that only Franklin can stop an upcoming cataclysm.

Out in the ocean, the battle is already over, and the Stealth Hawk has Xylym the Formaluauti’s nearly destroyed ship in a tractor beam. Sue, Namor, Stingray and Tamara board the ship, with Ben and Tiger Shark staying behind to maintain the tractor beam. Namor captures Xylym the Formaluauti and brings him back to the Stealth Hawk. Rather than negotiate, Tamara goes ahead and murders Xylym the Formaluauti right there in front of everyone. This has an immediate effect on Sue, as Tamara’s brutality reminds her of the anger and fury she experienced when possessed by Malice. Namor sees this and again puts the moves on Sue, saying she doesn’t need to face the darkness alone. Ben eavesdrops on them, suddenly jealous because he’s a monster, and not as handsome as Namor.

At the hospital, there are (of course) complications with Lyja’s pregnancy. It’s more uncomfortable alien weirdness as Lyja’s body is reduced to a “spongy state” and a glowing gold implant is removed from her body. Sue and Namor arrive at the hospital just in time for the big reveal. Lyja has not birthed a baby. Instead, she has… laid an egg!!!

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed appears in flashback as Triton retells the story of how they first met, and his adventure with the FF in the Negative Zone. This is as close as we get to a eulogy for Reed since his “death.”

Fade out: Even though Sue is supposedly free of Malice’s dark influence, part of it is apparently still with her, as she opens fire on the enemy ship, ending the battle before it begins.

Clobberin’ time: Ben is no longer wearing that metal helmet to protect the sensitive scars on his face, but they are still sensitive. In this issue, the scars are covered with bandages after he got banged up in Namor #48.

Flame on: In addition to worrying about Lyja and the baby, Johnny also takes time to worry about Franklin and Dr. Doom. Basically, he spends the whole issue worrying.

Fantastic fifth wheel: While at the hospital, Ant-Man calls his daughter Cassie to check in on her. We learn he has told her he’s the FF’s newest member, and that she’s thrilled about this.

Four and a half: There are three panels in this issue devoted to now-teenage Franklin, possessed by the psychic Malice entity. All we see are him hiding in a back alley in the city, with an evil smile on his face.

The Alicia problem: Lyja explains to the doctors that Skrulls shape-change via “muscular expansion and contraction.” According to The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition, only some Skrulls use their muscles to shape-change, while other Skrulls have their entire bodies made of unstable molecules, to allow for even greater shape-changing.

Commercial break: If Pogs aren’t nerdy enough for you, there’s always Hero Caps:

Trivia time: The tiny amount of people online still talking about Starblast seem to agree that the Namor half of this Namor/Quasar crossover had nothing to do with anything, and seeing as how it unceremoniously wraps up in this FF tie-in issue, I’m inclined to agree. The real action took place in space, where Quasar led a ton of D-list Marvel to battle a cosmic villain named Skeletron. Quasar’s team included the Shi’ar Imperial Guard, the Soviet Super-Soldiers, and, in a surprise twist, all of Marvel’s ill-fated New Universe characters. The series ended with everybody from the New Universe being brought into the Marvel Universe proper.

Fantastic or frightful? Shrug. All the Tamara vs. Xylym drama is only meaningful to those were following the Namor series at the time. That leaves the Lyja plot, which is just gross and weird.

Next: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

****

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Willow (1988) rewatch – Part 29

Posted on August 13, 2018 by Mac McEntire

Rewatching the 1988 movie Willow scene-by-scene. Why? Because it’s freakin’ Willow! One character is transformed, and I continue to wonder how magic works, 1:07:16-1:09:47 on the Blu-ray. 

We begin with a cool establishing shot of the NockMaar camp at night with a sliver of a crescent moon in the sky. A howling can be heard — one of the Death Dogs, no doubt. To confirm this, the next shot is a NockMaar guard and a Death Dog walks by on patrol, the guard holding a lit torch. He and the dog walk over to a campfire nearby, with no one else around it, so I guess they’re going on break.

Cut to Willow and Madmartigan in an iron cage. They’re sitting on snow, suggesting that the cage either has no floor, or that it snowed after the cage was set in this spot and the NockMaar can’t be bothered to clean it out. Willow is repeating the magic words from earlier, while using Cherlindrea’s wand to grind up some black powder in a small bowl. (Where’d he get these?) Madmartigan watches, saying “That’s magic? It smells terrible.” Willow starts to say, “It’s the life spark,” but Madmartigan cuts him off and loses his cool, saying, “Well, it stinks. This whole thing stinks!”

Fin Raziel, still in possum form, is in her cage nearby. You’d think the NockMaar would have separated them, but no. She says, “Ignore him, Willow. He’s a fool.” This, understandably, makes Madmartigan even angrier. “If only I had a sword,” he says, gritting his teeth and pantomiming a sword move. “If only you’d quit talking about it,” Willow responds. Here we have the movie playing up the folklore-ish “swordsman without a sword” aspect of Madmartigan. Plus, after several scenes of seeing him be the nice guy, the movie is now re-establishing his edgier, unpredictable side.

Raziel keeps the plot going by saying, “Willow, you must transform me to my human self.” Willow says, “But Raziel, I’m not ready yet.” Raziel toughens up and says, “You better be. Get me down.” Madmartigan uses a long stick (where’d he get that?) and reaches through the bars of the cage to Raziel’s smaller cage, which is hanging nearby. He drops Raziel’s cage, causing it to open, and he bumps his head on the bars of his own cage for a cheap laugh. He says, “Why don’t you help me get out of here instead of chattering with that muskrat?” Because of this line, many viewers over the years have mistaken Raziel for an actual muskrat during this stretch of the movie, but a quick Google image search confirms that she is a possum, not a muskrat.

Raziel squeezes through the bars of Willow and Madmartigan’s cage and says, “When I change back into my human self, I will crush this army, and take Elora Danan to Tir Asleen where she will be safe.” This kind of talk has me wondering what kind of badass warrior woman Raziel was before she was betrayed by Bavmorda.  Madmartigan doesn’t buy it, making a mocking a face at her while she says this.

There’s a somewhat creepy shot of the possum biting Willow on the finger, complete with blood. Willow asks what she bit him for, and she says he needs three drops of his own blood to put in the potion. “You could have warned me,” he says. Madmartigan rolls his eyes, and Raziel says, “For beginners, there is some pain. But don’t let anything break your concentration.” Willow smears his blood up and down the wand (ew) and it looks like more than three drops. There a pause, with total silence, as we get closeups of Willow and then Madmartigan looking serious.

Willow stars to recite the words again, when the Brownies show up, with a boisterous “Hello everybody, we have arrived!” from Franjean and “You are safe!” from Rool. It’s not shown how they got managed to catch up to everyone. Maybe they hitched a ride on a bird. Everyone shushes them, so they go quiet.

Willow starts reciting the words again, and Madmartigan smirks, not taking all this talk about magic seriously. “What are you going to look like if this works?” he asks. She curtly says “Don’t interrupt.” But then, as Willow continues reciting, she adds, “I am a young, beautiful woman.” So of course now Madmartigan is all about the magic, saying “Concentrate, Willow!”

The wand starts to glue blue and the score gets all dramatic. Raziel’s next line is hard to understand. According to the Blu-ray subtitles, she’s saying “No, Willow, you’re losing me.” Willow’s eyes open in surprise for a second, breaking his all-important concentration, before going back to the words. Then there’s a super-gross effect of black feathers sprouting out of the possum’s body, made even more gross by Raziel moaning in pain, and some bone-crunch sound effects.

Willow falls to the side, dropping the wand and grasping his hands as if they are burned. Madmarigan catches him, now back in nice guy mode, asking “Are you all right?” followed by, “Nice try, Willow.” A bird is heard, and we see a black bird. The bird has not taken the possum’s place, but is instead somehow emerging from the shell of the half-possum/half-bird. This bird, according to the wiki, is neither a raven nor a crow, but a rook. “Farmers,” Raziel says, “Cherlindrea sends me farmers.” Now as a Rook, actress Patricia Hayes now makes her voice a little harder and rougher, to approximate a squawking-bird effect to Raziel’s speech. Franjean punctuates the joke by saying “The Nelwyn really butchered that one.” Looking defeated, Willow sits back and says, “I’m sorry.”

Once again, it’s frustrating trying to sort how magic works in this universe. It appears as if there are three levels of magic. One involves simply waving a hand and making magic happen, one involves intense concentration and reciting words, and the third involves words, concentration, and a potion. In the case of this transformation spell, it appears that Willow only needs to make the potion once, and not every time he tries. We’ll have to see if this is true in upcoming scenes.

Next: Bang your head.

****

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Fantastic Friday: Life is the bubbles

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Mac McEntire

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. I guess someone at Marvel decided the X-Men and the Avengers shouldn’t have all the fun when it came to the big crossover events, so here’s Starblast, a Namor/Quasar crossover that ran through 12 Marvel comics in 1994. Fantastic Four issue #385 is part 7 (!) of Starblast.

We begin with Ben and Sue overseeing reconstruction of Four Freedoms Plaza after part of it was destroyed during the Infinity War crossover. Sue gets a call from the Black Panther, who agrees with her belief that Reed isn’t really dead, and he says he’ll help in the search. Ben, meanwhile chases away a bunch of reporters asking about Reed’s disappearance. Johnny and new team member Scott Lang, a.k.a. Ant-Man, work on sprucing up the FF’s jet. Lyja, meanwhile, refuses the help of a human doctor, now that she has Skrull medicine to help with her pregnancy.

The FF then get a call from Namor the Sub-Mariner, who is now rocking an extreme ‘90s ponytail. He says there’s a dire emergency, but then cuts off the call after Johnny informs him of Reed’s death. Johnny investigates, and finds that Namor was calling about a series of anomalies threatening to knock the Earth off its axis. The largest of these is located at the mouth of the Amazon River and deep in the Marianas Trench, so the team flies off to check it out.

Johnny, Scott, and Lyja arrive at the Amazon in the FF’s “old bathysphere,” where they encounter the inhuman Triton and undersea supervillain Tiger Shark battling a tentacle sea monster. Everybody fights the monster, and drives it off. Tiger Shark reveals that his lover, an Atlantean named Tamara, was abducted by a “planetary thruster” at the bottom of the river. Ant-Man communicates with insects on the river bottom to help search for the thruster.

In the Marianas Trench, Sue and Ben meet up with Namor and undersea adventurer Stingray, in his civilian guise of Dr. Walter Newell. Namor offers his condolences to Sue, with some serious sexual tension going on between the two. Ben, meanwhile, finds that Namor and Stingray have captured a small alien creature and also brought it on board.

In the Amazon, the heroes fight their way past a giant tentacle monster to rescue Tamara. They then enact a plan to destroy the thruster with an implosion device. (Is an implosion device a bomb or not?) Lyja then doubles over with pain, feeling more complications from the pregnancy. Triton saves her by swimming her and Johnny away from the implosion at the last second.

On board the Stealth Hawk, Stingray explains what’s going on. An alien named Xylym the Formaluauti is using the thrusters to flood the entire earth, turning it into a water-only planet to be a new home for his people. Quasar is out in space, fighting Zylym and his henchmen, a group of space pirates called the Starblasters. Further, the tiny alien Namor brought on board is a mind-controlling symbiont (not symbiote) that attaches itself to a host’s brain. On cue, Ben shows up with the symbiont attached to him, threatening to kill everyone.

The action then picks up in Namor the Sub-Mariner #48, where Namor and Sue fight Ben and eventually free him of the symbiont, only for the Stealth Hawk to end up trapped in an underwater avalanche.

To be continued!

Fade out: Now freed of Malice’s presence, Sue regrets the way she’s been acting, and even comments about not liking her ridiculous new uniform. She continues to wear it though.

Clobberin’ time: There’s a scene where Ben stops by Alicia’s apartment, only to learn that she has moved and not left a new address. The last time we saw Alicia was when she met Lyja a few issues ago, but we never saw the outcome of that meeting. I guess it didn’t go well.

Flame on: Johnny has a special diving suit made of (what else?) unstable molecules, allowing him use his flames while underwater.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Sue orders Ant-Man to stay behind and work on the computer the FF swiped from Dr. Doom a while back, but he instead stows away in the bathysphere, after hearing Johnny talk about some of the FF’s grand adventures.

Four and a half: There are a few fleeting references to now-teenage Franklin having gone missing, after the Malice entity possessed him. No one seems in much of a hurry to find him.

The Alicia problem: Lyja’s pregnancy is a lot farther along than anyone though. It’s explained that, as a shapechanger, she’s not going to, er, show in the same way that human women do.

Commercial break: “The children are going to have to learn about Tek War sooner or later.”

Trivia time: Johnny refers to the FF’s bathysphere as “our old bathysphere.” I think this is meant to be a reference to the bathysphere the team took to Atlantis in issues #32-33, when they fought Attuma. There’s no explanation, of course, of how it survived the destruction of the original Baxter Building. Maybe Reed kept it off-site. The Marvel Wiki doesn’t have an entry on the bathysphere, but a quick search shows it is one of many bathyspheres running around the Marvel Universe.

Fantastic or frightful? Here we have a bunch of Marvel’s aquatic/undersea characters in one issue, which is a novelty. But other than that, there’s much else going on in this issue.

Next: Egg-cellent.

****

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Fantastic Friday: Baskin-Robbins always finds out

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Mac McEntire

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. A few issues back, Reed “died” while fighting Dr. Doom, so in issue #384 we meet his replacement. Baskin-Robbins always finds out.

Our heroes return to headquarters from Latveria to discover Sharon Ventura is missing. Sue checks the security cameras, only to reveal that whoever abducted Sharon erased the footage. (We the readers know that she was abducted by Klaw back in issue #382. There’s also reference to part of Four Freedoms Plaza being destroyed during the Infinity War crossover, with Sue saying that the banks won’t lend the FF money to repair the building since superheroes are considered a risk. There’s another debate about Reed, with Ben and Johnny mourning Reed’s death while Sue insists that Reed must still be alive somewhere.

In walks Scott Lang, whom Sue introduces as an electronics expert from Stark Industries. She has hired him to help fix up the damage to Reed’s equipment. We at home know that Scott is secretly the new Ant-Man. Johnny, meanwhile, checks in on Lyja, who is waking up from a nightmare. She says she has something important tell him, but then says it can wait.

Out in New York City, Franklin, who is now a teenager thanks to some traveling, contemplates the post-apocalyptic future he’s come from. He reaffirms that his grandfather Nathaniel sent him back to this time to defeat an enemy, although Nathaniel hoped to send someone else in Franklin’s place. This enemy, Franklin learned last issue, is his own mother. He dons his Psi-Lord armor, saying that Sue is destined to destroy civilization if he doesn’t destroy her first.

Sue shows Scott around Reed’s lab, with special attention shown to the computer the FF swiped from Latveria last issue. Then Franklin bursts in and attacks. Sue fights back, still believing that this Franklin is not the real Franklin. She fires “invisible missiles” at him, which fail to penetrate his psionic armor. Sue also seals off the lab, so the battle does not harm Scott. Ben, Johnny, and Lyja all cannot penetrate the lab’s super-strong door. Then Scott pulls out the Ant-Man helmet and says, “Maybe I can help.” He of course shrinks to tiny size to infiltrate an itty-bitty opening in the door.

 

Inside the lab, Franklin reminds Sue (and the reader) that his mutant powers are potentially so great that the might destroy the earth, and that Nathaniel designed the Psi-Lord armor to both control that power and keep it in check. He then removes the armor, saying he just wants to talk. Sue buys it, and lowers her force field. This allows Franklin to connect with her telepathically, so he enters his mother’s psyche. (Ew.)

Inside Sue’s mind, Franklin meets Malice, who describes herself as Sue’s “more exciting counterpart” and “the she-devil who lies within” and “the true mistress of this domain.” They fight, and Franklin insists that Sue is a good person, and that Malice is not part of her, and an “alien” inside Sue’s mind. They fight some more, until Malice zaps Franklin in his eyes, causing him to cry, “No! No!”

Ant-Man manages to throw just the right switch inside the door machinery, and the door opens. Once inside, Franklin attacks the FF. It’s not spelled out in detail, but the idea is that Malice has now possessed Franklin. He says he has seen the true face of the enemy, announcing that he, Franklin, is the great destroyer. He summons his psi-armor and flies off. Sue, not reacting at all to Ant-Man being there, says a “monster” has taken control of Franklin, with the power to obliterate all life on Earth.

To be continued (eventually)!

Fade out: With every appearance of Malice, it gets more and more confusing trying to sort out just who or what Malice is. My best guess is that the first time we saw Malice back in the John Byrne days, she was indeed a representation of the dark part of Sue’s mind. These subsequent appearances, however, appear to be a new character, a psychic entity attaching itself to Sue’s psyche and calling itself Malice.

Clobberin’ time: Ben goes for a walk in New York on one page, without his metal helmet. We see his face is no longer slashed and exposing sensitive skin underneath, but is instead merely deformed. Many fans over the years have interpreted this as the first step toward the end of his “metal helmet” phase.

Flame on: It’s suggested that Johnny could burn his way through the sealed door to Reed’s lab, but he doesn’t when Ben reminds him of the destruction he caused at Empire State University several issues back.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Welcome to the team, Ant-Man! Scott Lang is of course the second Ant-Man, taking over the title from the original, Hank Pym, who had gone on to become Yellowjacket at the time. After appearing briefly as a security expert in Avengers #181, Scott’s origin story was told in Marvel Premiere #47-48. Similar to the Ant-Man movie, Scott is an electronics expert turned petty thief who stole the original Ant-Man suit, only to use it to take down a corrupt (and super-powered) businessman. Pym saw the good in Scott and let Scott keep the suit, making Scott a regular fixture in the Marvel universe ever since.

Also, this is more or less a wrap on Sharon Ventura. This comic was published in 1994, and her fate won’t be revealed until the 2000s.

Four and a half: We get a little more info about where Franklin was up to during his time traveling and how his psionic powers work. Also, some readers suspect that those circuitry-looking bits on Franklin’s face might be the Legacy virus, which was a big deal with the X-Men for a long time. If Franklin has the Legacy virus, it doesn’t seem to be slowing him down a little.

The Alicia problem: Lyja’s dream has her fighting Paibok the Power-Skrull, with him calling her a traitor to the Skrull empire. She then dreams Paibok killing and beheading Johnny. It’s the extreme ‘90s!

Commercial break: I’m not comfortable with this:

Trivia time: This isn’t the first time Scott Lang has met the Fantastic Four. He worked alongside the FF to rescue Ben from the Microverse in Marvel Two-In-One #87. Scott didn’t reveal his secret identity to the FF at that time, though, and Ben says he learned there was a new Ant-Man thanks to gossip at one of his poker games with the Avengers. Scott then fought alongside the FF again in Marvel Two-In-One #96, during the big heroes vs. villains brawl that occurred while Ben was in the hospital. Finally, Scott and the FF both appeared in the groundbreaking Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel, though they’re not shown interacting.

Fantastic or frightful? Here we have a new team member and a heel turn for Franklin, yet it all seems like it’s going through the motions. I did a little reading ahead, and the comic is going to be like this for a while, so let’s all settle in and ride it out.

Next: Italian sub.

****

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Willow (1988) rewatch – Part 28

Posted on July 30, 2018 by Mac McEntire

Rewatching the 1988 movie Willow scene-by-scene. Why? Because it’s freakin’ Willow! It’s all about a travelogue this week, 1:06:29-1:07:15 on the Blu-ray.

This scene is merely a short travel montage, establishing that the characters are moving higher and higher into the snowy mountains. First there is a shot of all NockMaar and our heroes moving upward on a snowy path, followed by a shot of a tent town set up on a hilltop. The wiki doesn’t give a name to this location, referring to it only as “General Kael’s camp.”

Then we see Willow struggling to keep up with the cart he’s chained to, and he falls. Madmartigan immediately rushes over, picks up Willow, and carries Willow on his shoulders, further establishing that they’re becoming friends. Then we cut back to the tent town, where General Kael rides into view, wearing his skull mask, with two soldiers riding alongside him. Then back to the soldiers approaching. Sorsha gives a “Ha!” spurring her horse to pick up speed and ride ahead of the rest.

There’s a closeup on Kael’s skull face as Sorsha rides up to him. Sorsha says, “I found it, Kael.” There’s a closeup of the crying baby, so we know the baby is the “it” in this case. Sorsha adds, “That should make my mother happy.” Willow and Madmartican are apparently close enough to see this exchange, as Willow asks, “What are they going to do to her?” Madmartigan doesn’t answer, but merely looks straight ahead, angrily.

This is a short scene, so let’s talk filming locations! All these snowy scenes, and the upcoming battle in the Tir Asleen Castle were all filmed at the Snowdonia National park in North Wales. The exterior of NockMaar castle was filmed in nearby Llanberis, North Wales. The waterfall where the blackroot scene was filmed is Powerscourt Waterfall in Ireland.

Snowdonia National Park, Wales.

The cart chase was mostly filmed in Black Park Iver Heath in Buckinghamshire, England, with the Nelwyn Village exteriors shot in areas around Hertfordshire, England. The interiors were all filmed in England’s legendary Elstree studios.

Elstree Studios, England.

From there, most of the rest of the exterior filming took place in New Zealand, in and around Glenorchy, just outside of Queenstown, most notably the lake around Fin Raziel’s island. Other scenes were filmed in New Zealand’s Tongariro National Park, the same spot where the Mount Doom exteriors were shot for Lord of the Rings.

Tongariro National Park, New Zealand.

Finally, IMDb insists that Arthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park in California was also a Willow filming location, but it doesn’t say what was filmed there.

Next: The smell of magic.

****

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Fantastic Friday: Skrull and dagger

Posted on July 27, 2018 by Mac McEntire

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. In issue #383 we’re in outer space, battling those darned Skrulls.

The FF — currently Sue, Ben, Johnny, and Lyja — have been abducted by Skrulls and taken to the Skrull Throneworld, just in time for Devos the Devastator to summon his fleet and attack the entire planet. We begin with a couple of pages of Devos fighting the Skrulls, and his former ally Paibok the Super-Skrull feeling betrayed. Deep in some underground part of the city, the FF are still chained up with special manacles that sap their super-powers, making them helpless as destruction from the battle threatens to bury them alive.

In the throne room, the Skrull empress orders her soldiers to use the experimental Stealth Hawk against Devos, even though it has never been used in battle. She also declares Paibok to be a traitor, since he’s the one who brought Devos to their world. Word travels fast, as this causes the Skrull soldiers to immediately turn on Paibok as he fights Devos. Beneath the city, and now buried in rubble, the FF start getting their powers back. Sue turns the rubble invisible so that Johnny can burn his way out without harming his teammates.

We then cut to another dimension, where barbarian swordswoman Huntara has abducted Franklin. Now in his late teens thanks to some time traveling, Franklin has telepathy and telekinesis, calling himself “Psi-Lord.” Huntara says Franklin must be killed because he and his grandfather Nathaniel are threats to the “chosen realities.” They fight, with her arguing that Franklin doesn’t know who is true enemy is.

Back on Throneworld, the FF plan to make their way to a spaceport and steal a ship to get back to Earth. Lyja doubles over in pain, revealing to the rest of the team that the baby she’s carrying will die without a special medicine. Sue says the FF will split up, snatching the medicine in one direction and stealing a ship in the other.

In orbit above Throneworld, Devos returns to his ship, with Paibok using his shape-changing powers to follow in secret. Meanwhile, Huntara returns Franklin to Earth. He argues that they should work together if they have a common enemy. She says Nathaniel was insane to send Franklin to destroy the enemy. She finally reveals the face of the enemy, and Franklin refuses to believe it. She leaves through a portal, saying it’s up to him what happens next.

In space, Devos is about to unleash his final assault on the Skrulls, wiping them from existence. Paibok then shows up and reveals he just sabotaged Devos’ ship’s star drive. The ship is sucked into subspace, along with the two of them, possibly forever. On the surface, the FF find the Skrull’s prototype Stealth Hawk ship and promptly steal it, with Ben piloting a course back to Earth.

Franklin is waiting for everyone back on Earth, however, as we learn that the enemy Huntara warned him about, the one he was sent to this timeline to destroy, is his own mother Sue.

To be continued!

Fade out: Sue tries taking on a leadership role, continually asking herself what Reed would say or do in her situation. Ben points out that she rarely uses invisibility anymore, relying mostly on her force fields, and she says she’s been “in a rut.”

Clobberin’ time: Ben is able to fly the Stealth Hawk without a problem, even though it’s an experimental alien prototype. We’ve seen him pilot alien spacecraft before, both in this series and in the Thing solo series.

Flame on: Johnny refers to the Stealth Hawk as “the hottest sky chariot I’ve ever seen,” reminding us that he’s still a hot rod lover.

Four and a half: Franklin presses a button on wrist to make his Psi-Lord armor form around him, whereas previously he did this with just a thought. This suggests that the psi-armor is not made solely of his own psionic energy, but is an actual suit of armor that Franklin can summon either inter-dimensionally or with nanotech.

The Alicia problem: While we were told several issues back that Lyja is only staying with the team while biding her time to take revenge on Johnny for breaking her heart. By this issue, though, she has changed, pleading for forgiveness from Johnny and the others. Sue then gives a big speech, saying that Lyja is one of the family now. No matter what else is revealed in the future, there’s no denying that Lyja can now be considered an alternate fifth member of the Fantastic Four.

Commercial break: Can you unlock shirtless Gary Oldman?

Trivia time: According to the Marvel Wiki, the alternate dimension that Huntara takes Franklin to is the “Other-Earth” from Kang’s first appearance way, way back in issue #19, and subsequently revisited for the great “Overlord” story from issues #271-273. Its official designation is Earth-6311, if you’re making a spreadsheet of this stuff.

Fantastic or frightful? An improvement over some other issues in this run. It’s fun to see Devos take center stage and be a real badass, and there’s some nice character development for Franklin and Lyja.

Next: The boy?!?

****

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Willow (1988) rewatch – Part 27

Posted on July 23, 2018 by Mac McEntire

Rewatching the 1988 movie Willow scene-by-scene. Why? Because it’s freakin’ Willow! Our heroes are in chains, and we get to know Sorsha a little more, 1:05:18 to 1:06:29 on the Blu-ray.

Our heroes have been captured by Sorsha and a whole bunch of NockMaar soldiers. The scene opens with Raziel’s lake still in the background, so we haven’t gone far. As the NockMaar ride past, we see that their armor and especially their helmets come in all shapes and sizes. This is no doubt meant to represent that the NockMaar lands were home to roving bands of criminals and barbarians before Bavmorda gathered them all under her leadership. One of the soldiers is holding a bundle, which I believe is supposed to be baby Elora Danan.

We then see Willow and Madmartigan following behind a large wagon, both chained to it with long chains so they have no choice but to walk behind it. Madmartigan’s been given a change of clothes, an all dark blue number with pale yellow boots. Fin Raziel, still in the body of a muskrat, is in a cage hanging off of the back of the wagon. The baby can be heard crying, and Willow says she doesn’t “sound good.” Because he has two kids back home, I guess we can trust Willow’s diagnosis. Either that, or Elora Danan’s supernatural awareness of what’s happening is letting her know things have gotten bad.

Raziel says to Willow, “Hurry, practice the chant I taught you.” When did she teach him? On the island, in the rowboat, or just now in their captivity? We don’t know. Willow chants, “Tanna, tuatha,” and then he can’t remember the third word. This is the first time in the movie we’ve heard “Tanna,” so perhaps that’s one Raziel taught him. Raziel says the third word is “Locktwaar,” adding, “That’s the word that pleads for change.” Not many fantasy adventure stories give specific meaning to magic words, so good on Willow for this glimpse into whatever magic system is at work.

Sorsha rides up next to them and glares menacingly. “Elora’s cold and hungry,” Willow says. “She knows me. Please let me take care of her.” Sorsha answers, “I don’t need help from a peck.” So, there’s that word again. This time, it’s Willow’s turn to glare menacingly at her. Madmartigan also glares at her, but in a different way. She asks, “What are you staring at?” He says, “Your leg. I’d like to break it.” Not fazed, she responds, “You might find that difficult, slave, while I’m up here and you’re down there.” She rides forward, and Madmartigan utters, “I hate that woman.”

At this point there is the first of many deleted scenes referencing Sorsha and her father. Raziel says, “Sorsha, you remind me of your father.” Sorsha says, “Don’t insult me. He was a weakling and a traitor to NockMaar.” Raziel says, “He was a warrior and a great king. Your mother has poisoned you.” The official lore doesn’t say anything about Sorsha’s father betraying NockMaar, so we can assume this lie is the poison Raziel is talking about. There are more deleted scenes about Sorsha’s father coming up, so I’ll save more details about him until then.

There’s a shot of the soldiers riding forward, towards snow-capped mountains, signifying we’re about to start the snowy part of the movie.

Next: Winter of our discontent.

****

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